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Based on the campaigns we deployed over the past 18 months, here's a list of mobile marketing features with their consumer response ratings.
Call-to-Action campaigns (strong): Giving consumers motivation to participate -- through polls and voting -- draws passionate response. For a campaign to be effective, the vote or poll should have one of two elements, if not both. First, the vote should have an impact on the outcome. Second, the vote should make the user feel part of the brand's community. All-Star ballots are obvious examples of the former, while the NCAA Tournament Pick'em brackets and predicting a sporting event/TV show outcome (e.g., American Idol) are examples of the latter. If the poll or vote requires simple opinions and doesn't evoke passion, participation is significantly lower.
Expert blogs (strong): Blogs, especially those of a time-sensitive or on-location nature, have shown to be popular. Again, the end-user should be rewarded for using a mobile device. This reward could be in providing content so fresh and relevant to the event or location of interest that reading it on the mobile (even between PC sessions) is justified. In particular, commentators and pundits offering analysis gives consumers the motivation to go mobile, so that they're among the first to know.
Consolidated premium mobile content (strong): A portal for a music artist or primetime show is compelling to mobile consumers simply because it offers a consolidated location for a variety of mobile contents specific to a brand, something the ever-growing carrier decks struggle to offer.
Mobile message boards (moderate): In mobile, the structure of a message board offers a less challenging interface for interacting with a community than traditional chat rooms ported to mobile. It also doesn't require the community to have simultaneous users in session to get value, so the community can be smaller and still be of interest.
Quizzes and trivia (moderate): Themed trivia and quizzes have seen only moderate participation, unless they're combined with more compelling content that serves as the primary anchor or if they are coupled with a sweepstakes.
Sweepstakes (moderate): Sweepstakes offered on a mobile device typically require either a phone number or an email address to participate. Consumers tend to be more reluctant at giving up a phone number; while triple-tapping an email address is a barrier for some.
Multimedia (jury still out): While there's strong interest among marketers to push branded multimedia to consumers, traffic, thus far, to this area of campaigns remains relatively low. A primary factor is the (still) small percentage of multimedia devices in the overall mobile device population. Another factor may be that while multimedia offers a rich initial experience, it fails to deliver content that drives users back to a campaign later, unless regularly updated. If the multimedia is the key compelling ingredient to the campaign, then expectations should be tempered.
Looking before leaping
Leveraging the mobile web for a marketing campaign is certainly worth considering, especially if it can meet at least one of the key success factors. Before drafting a mobile marketing campaign, consider three questions:
1. Will it offer something that is only of value on a mobile device?
2. Will the consumer feel uniquely part of the brand's community as a result?
3. Will the campaign simplify the consumer's access to the brand or campaign offering because it was delivered on a mobile platform?
If the answer is "Yes" to at least one of the above, then based on my experience, you have the ingredients for a successful mobile campaign.
Steve Paddon is the VP of professional services at Trilibis. Read full bio.
