10-29-2012
For just around a year now, I?ve been contributing this ?Mobile Column? to RadioInk. And most of the pieces I?ve submitted have been offering up suggestions on how our industry can better use the medium to help our own medium not just survive, but thrive.
I?m taking a bit of a departure for this one and turning to a totally different industry for inspiration: consumer packaged goods. More specifically, ones from Clorox.
There?s a broadly-quoted statistic from the Chief Marketing Officer Council: just 16 percent of companies have a strategy for using mobile for meaningful customer engagement. Well, if you?ve read this column for the past year, you probably know what I?m going to say next: this is way, way too low, but also characterizes the huge potential still untapped for you and your sponsors to reach your listeners on a device that?s always at arm?s length.
Recently, one of the 16 percent?Sarah Ortman, the senior group manager, customer and shopper promotions for The Clorox Company (and, in the spirit of full disclosure, a Hipcricket client)?spoke at the Shopper Marketing Expo and outlined the case for mobile marketing through a discussion of mobile shopping at Clorox, the ?mobile path to purchase.? Now, clearly, I?m not trying to draw a straight line between radio, bleach, and other consumer products; but there are some common truths from her talk I?d like to share with you, ones to keep in mind when trying to figure out how to bring mobile into your marketing mix.
In order to create the ultimate mobile experience, brands need to focus on four key benefits: utility, relevance, location, and convenience. And I believe these hold true for us in the radio industry:
? Utility: Enhance your audience via services and tools on their mobile devices, and provide multiple touch points. For radio, this could mean mobile loyalty clubs, special content on mobile websites, news alerts via SMS, branded content with your sponsors?ultimately, finding as many ways as possible to interact meaningfully with them on their mobile devices.
? Relevance: Make certain your content is highly contextual and personal?and mobile is a medium that allows for this more than almost any other. Your listeners will opt in for content that is meaningful to them?and you, and your sponsors, should keep that in mind. The minute you start making them feel like they are being ?marketed to? rather than ?engaged,? you?ve lost them.
? Location: Use the location-based technologies of mobile to your advantage. Precise location data allows for highly-effective targeting?of content, of advertisements, and of means by which you can engage. For example, a local sponsor could end their spots with a call-to-action to register for a mobile loyalty club that utilizes ?geofencing? capabilities?the opted-in listener receives, say, a 20-percent-off coupon every time they are near the sponsor.
? Convenience: Mobile is an always-accessible channel?both in hours (24/7/365) and reach (it?s as far away as your listeners? phones, which means, typically, arm?s length. For your retail sponsors, it?s important to recognize that studies show a whopping 97 percent of consumers have their devices turned on when they are in a retail setting. There are tremendous opportunities here to reach an always-on audience well beyond the realm of traditional radio and spots.
There?s a great deal we can learn by taking some cues from the world?s leader in consumer products?by using mobile for the benefit of our listeners, our sponsors, and our medium.
Ivan Braiker is the president of mobile marketing company Hipcricket. He can be reached at ivan@hipcricket.com.
Read more articles from Ivan HERE
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