How to start thinking like a mobile marketing leader
We have seen year-on-year growth in the number of APAC marketers who view mobile as an effective marketing channel. 2016 saw this value rise to 59 percent, an increase from 39 percent in the previous year . Alas, this gives rise to a new era of marketing known as context marketing. Aside from delivering the right content to the right consumer, brands must also consider the platform and environment it is done so.
Therefore, context marketing starts with a mindset shift that helps drive strategies to deliver exactly what customers need, right when they need it. As more consumers come to expect the experiences delivered through context marketing, marketers who don’t adopt it will fall behind, and those who do will be one step closer in becoming mobile leaders.
Here are three things mobile leaders must address when taking on this change:
1. Place customers in the centre
Consumers move at the speed of the Internet and they are mobile in every sense. A typical consumer journey might include checking email offers; heading to the web to research and browse; reading up on other consumers’ reviews; and connecting with friends on a social media app. This shows that while marketing departments and platforms are often defined by silos, consumers are not, and they expect brands to deliver personalised content across every touch point. Simply put, everything hinges on the customer experience, and that is where brands should start their strategic planning.
Moreover, they have to take into account varying consumer behaviours across the Asian markets. Take for instance, in China, more than half the population make offline purchases based on promotions sent to them on chat apps, whereas in Hong Kong, 39 percent prefer to receive ads via emails . Putting consumers at the heart of strategies enables brands to create personalised content delivered on the most desired platform.
2. Apply a smart approach to data
Mobile leaders understand that mobile is only a single channel among many others. In order to provide a cohesive consumer experience, marketers must ensure data not only aligns around the individual consumer in real-time and at scale but also on all platforms. Delivering experiences relevant to customers must be a holistic process, not a one-off project.
When mobile is a project—rather than a process—data, experiences, and content (and the teams responsible for them) can become siloed, making it impossible to gain a single view of the customer and adding unnecessary cost and complexity.
Focusing on standalone mobile technology and content prevents marketers from interacting with customers in a consistent and engaging way. Ideally, content should be created once and used everywhere, regardless of channel. With the right technology platform, it will be possible to reuse content in multiple channels. It is also possible to combine social listening with web analytics and marketing automation to ensure that all delivered content is more relevant and contextual.
By integrating these previously siloed touch points, marketers can begin to gather real-time data on consumer movements and patterns – harnessing it into valuable insights showcasing what makes them tick thereby allowing brands to gain a better understanding and cater their strategies accordingly.
3. Measure, learn, and optimise
By developing an integrated space where content is to be created and managed, brands can easily monitor and organise consumer experience, streamlining the measurement process. To ensure the single customer view required for accurate mobile measurement, marketers should integrate their mobile website and apps. If an app does not recognise that a customer has used a site, marketers lose a lot of valuable and contextual insight. It is also vital to combine mobile metrics with data on email opening, click-through rates, social interactions, and commerce activity to truly understand the customer’s current state.
Once brands have the ability to analyse individual consumers’ patterns, they will also have the tools required to continually optimise the customer’s experience and turn insights into truly personalized interactions.
Mobile leaders put customers at the heart of their strategy, employ a smart approach to data and optimise interactions based on continual measurement. By making the shift to a mobile leadership mindset and focusing on a holistic customer experience marketers become mobile leaders and quickly outperform those who choose to cling to the past.
This article is part of a three-part series on successful context marketing, and how it can help brands and marketers become a mobile leader in the age of the consumer.
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