Mobile enables a brand to make a personal connection by creating engagement, adding value, and leveraging other media. 4Info shares how to make this goal a reality.
You've been hearing the buzz for years about the promise of mobile. Finally, we have results under our belt as more and more brands are successfully integrating mobile into their marketing mix. Here's how.
Patricia Clark, VP of sales for 4Info, Inc., started her Spotlight presentation at the iMedia Brand Summit in Colorado Springs by illustrating how mobile has become multi-faceted, and why it should be integrated with other advertising channels. "Connect, Engage, Repeat" is part of 4Info's message, since the mobile media company utilizes its platform to create personal connections between brands and consumers through mobile devices. This is executed as a component of a brand's marketing campaigns within TV, online, radio, print, etc.
Reaching consumers on mobile devices allows brands to reach their audience wherever they are. It's an opportunity to make a personal connection by creating engagement, adding value, and leveraging other media.
"The key to success with any mobile campaign" Clark explained, is to "define the mobile engagement by channel as well as by objective." Mobile engagement stretches beyond SMS and includes the mobile web, MMS, iPhone apps, and voice. The objective, which is the cornerstone of any campaign, is effectively served with mobile through exposure, registration, content downloads, conversation (CRM), sweepstakes, voting and purchases.
To illustrate how each of these objectives has been served through various mobile engagements, Clark shared several examples. The objective of a campaign for the Navy was to drive 18-24-year-old males to the Navy WAP site to request a DVD. 4Info utilized existing content like a Car & Driver alert that users received on a regular basis. Additional content such as Myxer, NBA Sports, Weather, and G4 were also leveraged to drive users to the Navy WAP site.
As an example of building engagement using SMS services, Clark highlighted 4Info's Coors Light campaign. The objective of the campaign was to elevate and extend the brand affiliation with the NFL Draft. Another objective was to surround the consumer by having every NFL Draft touchpoint (TV, online, mobile, etc…) carry a Coors Light association. By doing so, the brand was looking to connect with the young male audience on their terms by delivering value in the form of timely, relevant content. The delivery mechanism was in the form of branded text message advertising in sports content. Being the sole sponsorship of the NFL Draft service, Coors was able to achieve its objective of surrounding the target consumer. The 2008 campaign engagement had high relevancy, resulting in a 90 percent retention rate for the 2009 campaign the following year.
To highlight the mobile integration with other mediums, Clark pointed to The Express advertising SMS NFL Score alerts in the print edition of USA Today. Other examples included Keystone's short code within its TV ads on Fox sports to offer MLB scores, and the out-of-home campaign used by the United Methodist Church to deliver inspirational quotes.
In summary, Clark reiterated the ability of 4Info to create mobile advertising engagement and bring that engagement to traditional advertising through mobile. She recommended that anyone interested in leveraging mobile for their brand should reach out to 4Info to request a best practices guide.
Sean Cheyney is the vice president of marketing and business development for AccuQuote.