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Getting ‘Mobilized’

The remainder of this series will address specific tactical approaches for how public relations professionals can leverage mobile for brand activation, community building, media relations, assessing public attitudes and crisis communications.

Though there are ways to integrate mobile into other practice areas, these provide the most fertile opportunities and include the best examples of the tactics in action.  There are, however, a number of things public relations professional must consider to ensure their programs are starting from a strong foundation.

First and foremost, as with any PR program, is research. Not all mobile tactics, whether messaging, the mobile web, direct response or applications, will be appropriate for any given campaign. Care must be taken in ensuring that the right strategy and tactics are employed to reach the target audience. For example, when dealing with a very broad audience or when looking to engage less mobile savvy audiences, mobile messaging is likely the best approach.  The mobile web will work well for youth and digitally savvy consumers, though mobile web adoption is growing rapidly. If you are looking to create a rich mobile experience, an application might be the best tactic. This is even truer when reaching consumers who are Smartphone or iPhone users. Hill & Knowlton’s David Jones says, “You have to consider how people are using the mobile device. Are you trying to entertain, inform or connect?  Always be conscious of the mobile device and what types of consumers are using which device.”

A great first step in any mobile programming is identifying ways to build a database of consumers. Integrate a mobile number opt-in to any web form or sign ups that are part of your web or communications strategy. If you are considering a mobile messaging program, secure a shortcode or look for a technical partner that has a roster of shortcodes for general use.  Equally, if you are looking at a mobile web program, secure your mobile domain. This can be done through a domain registry service just like any other web address. Typically, mobile domains use a .mobi extension or use an ‘m.brandurl.com’ format. These formats indicate to consumers that the web destination is optimized for mobile browsing.

It is more than likely that a technical partner will be required to help navigate the mobile space and they can assist you in managing any of these steps.  Brady Murphy of Vortex Mobile says, “Finding a mobile partner is critical to ensure the proper execution of a mobile campaign. They will have the technical expertise and understand the regulatory landscape while ensuring mobile best practices are implemented.” As with any new technology or tactic, it is important to execute properly from the start to ensure the effort is not wasted and maximum benefit is achieved.

Up Next: Mobile and brand building for PR

Possibly Related Posts:

• Four Mobile Web Experiences You Can Offer Customers
• The 3 Dimensions Of Effective Mobile Email
• Launch and Learn – Driving Campaign Success with In-Flight Optimization
• 5 Steps To Address Mobile Customer Fragmentation
• Mobile + The New Direct White paper

(Note: I’ve scripted this post to help work through some of my initial thoughts on the role mobile can play in relationship marketing.)

If one of main factors in building a sustained and economically productive relationship with your customers is the ability to earn their trust, then the mobile channel offers a key gateway for both initiating and growing that relationship.

Mobile is a permission marketing channel. The consumer must initiate a relationship with you by actively interacting with you through a promotional vehicle  (responding to an SMS call to action, downloading an application, clicking on a mobile ad, visiting a mobile site, etc…) or by providing some other sort of explicit consent (i.e. providing their mobile # and designating the mobile as a preferred channel through a web-form). So, with mobile, the pull comes before the push.

The power of the permission is also the power of the personal.  Mobile’s are unique to an individual. They are the most direct media channel to a consumer driven by the relatively high costs of ownership and the variety of communication options they provide. Other characteristics also highlight mobile’s appeal as a relationship marketing tool: mobile’s are always on, always with. You cannot say this of any other medium.

If you’ve managed to get a consumer to engage with you via their mobile, if you don’t respect the personal and the permission you do so at your cost. You can lose trust in a heartbeat.

Here’s some of the implications of these characteristics for relationship marketing:

Always Personal:

• Bridges transaction marketing and relationship marketing
• Powerful platform for peer-to-peer referrals
• A premium must be placed on engineering a consumer-friendly value exchange
• Data collected in ‘listening’ programming has a deep connection to consumer interests

Always On/Always With:

• Mobile calls to action integrated into media can be a powerful acquisition tactic, especially if your promotion/value exchange capitalizes on consumer downtime or contextual relevance.
• Contextual relevance provides opportunities for stimulating intent to purchase. You can give the consumer what they want/need, when they want it.

Sample Mobile Tactics:

SMS:

• For acquisition via media tie-ins (database opt-ins, providing initial rewards and spurring push to web)
• Rewarding via points, coupons, tickets. I’d include the use of QR codes here but you can easily do couponing through PINs and barcodes
• Creating alert services based around product attributes or lifestyle associations

Mobile Internet:

• Customer acquisition. For example, an automotive marketer could use a mobile site to help customers book test drives or get brochures mailed out to them
• Providing location based value such as finders, product comparison/recommendation services
• Providing supplemental brand and product information that might influence decisions at point of purchase.
• Generating referrals using SMS or email or as a coupon delivery platform

Mobile Applications

• Loyalty management platforms. I don’t think it will be too long before plastic ‘points’ cards will be replaced by mobile apps (or at least exist as an option). What a great platform for pushing out redemption opportunities and driving to retail.
• Value -added experiences/services (see Kraft and their recipe helper application)
• Product browsing, sharing, customizing (see Reebok and their custom shoe design application).
• Building community and help encourage brand friendly lifestyles (see Nike and their Training Club application)

Mobile’s other features also have a place in the relationship development and management process. Mobile’s can take photos and record video for example. Each could be leveraged to help consumers build custom shopping lists or provide product feedback through image recognition and augmented reality applications).

Smartphones are also email devices. However, operating systems do not always render HTML emails properly. Any email marketing effort should have mobile-optimized versions to ensure a positive experience for all recipients no matter where they are digesting the communication.

Who should be playing in the mobile space:

The most fertile opportunities are for B2C brands in the retailing, CPG and QSR sectors.  I’d definitely include food and beverage, sporting and other lifestyle brands here. The Pharma industry could also do a lot with mobile as part of their lifestyle marketing efforts.

These are just some inital thoughts. Each point here is a juicy subject in it’s own right and I haven’t even touched on the measurement / segmentation / targeting side of relationship marketing.  But what I do see is how mobile can be a powerful platform for relationship marketing across the attraction-acquisition-conversion-retention-loyalty cycle.

Earning share of mobile is a huge first step in forming a meaningful consumer relationship.

What do you think?

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Intro to Mobile Privacy & Measurement

Two other issues that must be addressed when using the mobile device to communicate with stakeholders are privacy and measurement. The concept of mobile as permission-based communication has been introduced previously, but the debate around consumer privacy is still very much on the radar. In Canada, the Canadian Wireless and Telecommunications Association (CWTA), governs all business to consumer mobile messaging programs. They have mandated that any messaging program have consumer opt-out functionality built in. The buying and selling of lists of mobile phone numbers collected as part of a business-to-consumer campaign is also prohibited. There are no mobile-specific standards around data use and collection via the mobile web or mobile applications, though most campaigns appear to follow standard online privacy and data collection guidelines (note: if anyone has more info on mobile marketing privacy guidelines, I’d love to know more).

In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission has released a report offering guidelines for behavioural advertising. Though many privacy advocates call the guidelines ‘meaningless’, it is still a step in the right direction and MobileMarketer.com, in their analysis of the report said, “In the FTC’s report the consumer watchdog said that companies should provide reasonable data security measures so that behavioral data does not fall into the wrong hands, and should retain data only as long as necessary for legitimate business or law enforcement needs. ‘The key theme underlying this guidance is the need to balance the potential benefits of the various practices covered by the principles against the privacy concerns the practices raise,’ the FTC document says.” Mobile privacy will continue to be a contentious issue but there are enough safe-guards in place to protect both the consumer and communicator, provided existing regulations and common sense are applied.

Though mobile is one of the most highly measureable communication channels available to the professional communicator, unified standards around measurement are still in a nascent stage. Text messaging programs that use keywords and shortcodes offer the most consistent measurement platform. Shortcodes are 5 or 6 digit numeric codes that work just like phone numbers but are more accurately thought of as the URL of mobile messaging (Ex. Text WIN to 12345 where WIN is the keyword and 1235 is the shortcode.). Among the measurement points are total number of users, total number of interactions, location and time of interaction and content of the interaction.The mobile web and applications offer many of the same measurement points as online communications such as page views and visits, time on site, handset type and location though not at the same level of granularity.

Market research firm Nielsen has been working to advance mobile measurement by introducing a mobile segmentation targeting solution that organizes targeting data into easily interpreted and manipulated groups, or “segments,” to help advertisers better target their key demographics. Solutions such as Nielsen’s allow communicators to serve up content relevant to a particular user based on information contained within the handset, such as geo-location, or from information provided by the user. Hill & Knowlton’s David Jones says, “Because mobiles are registered to real people, there are some good tracking options. Specifically, the typical mobile measures such as interactions, area code, time, and so on, but also looking at more traditional web-tracking options. It would be great to get access to more detailed user demo info, but can that be done without being too invasive?” As with any communications program, setting the right objectives is essential. By understanding the strengths and limitations of the mobile experience and by properly addressing user privacy concerns, objectives can be set that map onto the available measurement metrics.

Up Next: An introduction to mobile tactics for public relations

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• The 3 Dimensions Of Effective Mobile Email
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Mobile Strengths & Limitations

Mobile is a permission-based communications channel. In order for any organization to communicate with stakeholders via mobile, the consumer must take the first action.

This permission can be gained in many ways: from a website sign up; via text message in response to a promotional call to action; by a click on a mobile ad or a visit a mobile website; by downloading an application and so on. Some of these forms of permission are more explicit than others. In all cases though, the consumer initiates the interaction.

At least in Canada, you cannot buy a list of mobile numbers. You cannot send unsolicited messages. You must provide a way for a consumer to opt-out of any marketing or communication program. In some respects this creates a barrier to reaching a target audience. But once the barrier is overcome, communicators can be confident that the audiences they are reaching have demonstrated an interest in what is being said or offered and have an explicit willingness to engage with the company, organization, or brand.

The power of this permission becomes clear when we return the Canadian Public Relations Society’s definition of public relations which says that the objective of public relation is to build and manage communication channels, and to use those channels to generate favourable attitudes to an organization’s operations, goals and policies. A strong argument can be made that your chances of creating favourable attitudes are greatly increased when you audience has actively volunteered to listen to what you have to say.  Mobile becomes, in many important ways, earned media. Content is consumed because it was found to be useful and credible to the individual. The main difference between this type of earned media and traditional earned ‘coverage’ is the opportunity to have an unfiltered connection to the target audience.

When making those connections to a target audience, there are also other limitations and strengths of the mobile medium that should be considered. It’s a well-worn saying in marketing circles that marketers tend to initially approach every new medium in the same way as they approached previous ones. Early websites were digitized versions of print brochures, for example.  The reality, of course, is that each new medium comes with its own operating principles, technical requirements and user or social dynamics.

From a content perspective, the mobile handset and its features requires communicators to pay close attention to limitations mandated by the device itself or, in some case, the wireless carriers that provide the telecommunications infrastructure. Text messages can only be 160 characters long (less in some cases and places).  Any communicator using text should ensure the message can be conveyed within that limit. Distributing a single message or response over multiple texts undermines the consumer experience. Remember that a text message can act as a bridge to another destination. Phone calls or hyperlinks to downloadable content or the mobile web can all be activated from a text message.

If you are looking to engage consumers on the mobile web, the screen size presents both opportunities and challenges.  The DotMobi Advisory, a mobile internet lobby group made up of leading companies within the mobile space, offers a guidelines for building websites that are optimized for handset browsing. Among their recommendations are to always keep the limitations of the device in mind. A mobile device has a smaller screen, no mouse, no printer, not always keyboard, restricted bandwidth, memory costs and any sites should be design accordingly. The same guide, Ten Mistakes in Mobile Web Marketing, also points out the opportunities that the mobile web can provide such as reaching new audiences, deepening relationships, delivering new services, demonstrating brand values and tying into wider campaigns and suggests ways to exploit the capabilities of the mobile device.

It’s also important to remember, just as in more traditional communications, that messaging and targeting have to be seamlessly merged. The right tone and content for one audience may fall flat with another audience. Similarly with mobile communications, it’s important to understand who you are targeting and their mobile consumption patterns. Larry Harris, president of Ansible Mobile offers this advice (p.16), “The best mobile programs are hyper-targeted. Use your traditional media channels to drive a clearly defined audience (engineers, doctors who are experts in a certain disease, attendees at an event, fans of a certain sports team, young males, pregnant moms, care-givers for certain disease indication, C-level executives, music aficionados, people near a certain retail outlet, repeat customers of a certain product or service, etc.) to interact with your brand via the mobile device. The more general your mobile campaign, the less likely the campaign is going to succeed and have a demonstrable ROO or return on objective.”

Though Mr. Harris is speaking primarily about marketing programming, the advice is equally true and relevant for public relations programs.  When targeting youth or less mobile savvy audiences, text messaging programs might be most effective as that feature is used most widely and ubiquitous on mobile devices. A more urban and digitally savvy audience may be best reached through a mobile web or application experience as they are more likely to have sophisticated handsets and expansive mobile data packages. Jennifer Wasley says, in regards to which mobile features are most appropriate for public relations campaigns, “I think it really depends on the goals of the campaign. Do you want people taking photos and submitting them? Do you want them to text and have your spokesperson call them? The utility is completely dependent upon the needs of the campaign but each one does have a place in the PR mix – even if it’s just a line in a media release that says ’service X is available on your mobile phone’.”

Up Next: Some thoughts on mobile privacy and measurement

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• The 3 Dimensions Of Effective Mobile Email
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• Mobile + The New Direct White paper

Mobile As A Content Platform

We have now seen how mobile technology enables connectivity and context for consumers and have begun to review those implications for public relations practitioners. The third ‘C’ we’ve introduced is ‘content’. And while technology underpins mobile content, the public relations professional needs to understand how mobile allows content creation and consumption.

From a content creation perspective, the biggest impact on the public relations industry is the rise of citizen journalism. This term was first used in response to the rise of blogging but now refers to a more widespread and significant phenomenon.  The mobile device now means any consumer can become both witness to and reporter of events as they happen.  With mobile devices that can take and send pictures, emails or messages to social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, news can travel around the world in seconds with unfiltered clarity and often before mainstream media can get on the scene. “Remember Rodney King?” asks David Jones, referring to a video-taped beating of a civilian by police during the 1991 Los Angeles riot. “That was weird then. But it’s common place now. People have mobile news gathering and distribution tools with them at all times. You don’t know who has their eyes on you and where it could end up.”

Today, most major news outlets encourage consumer photo or email tips. An increasing number have Twitter accounts to gather consumer contributions and feedback.  After a plane crashed into the Hudson River in January, the first accounts and photos from the scene came from a Twitter user named Jim Hanrahan approximately 15 minutes before mainstream media alerted their audiences. Similar ‘on the scene’ accounts flowed via mobile devices during terrorist attacks in Mumbai and earthquakes in China.

These examples are all major news events and it would naïve for the public relations professional not to acknowledge how the same dynamic could cripple their response to a crisis. “In marketing programs, we’ve used the viral potential of mobile to great effect. It’s easy to see how the same could dramatically impact PR response to an emergency. The good news is that mobile can also be used to respond in a crisis situation and regain some control,” says Brady Murphy.  However, before looking at specific tactical solutions, we must acknowledge some important factors in communicating with consumers via the mobile channel.

Next Up: A Review of the strengths & limitations of mobile from a PR POV.

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The big sexiness in mobile right now are iPhone apps. No question they are impressive and the opportunities for brand communications are many. But as they only reach a sliver of the overall mobile audience and are expensive to build, I wouldn’t recommend jumping in with an app unless you can conclusively prove it will reach a huge chunk of your target audience.

Here are three relatively easy and cost-effective tactics for getting started in mobile:

• Build a mobile database: In Canada, you can’t buy a list of mobile numbers. If you find someone who will sell you one, say ‘no thanks’ and walk away slowly. Not only is it illegal it also undermines a key strength of mobile marketing – it’s permission based. Don’t be a spammer. There are a few ways to go about building your mobile database but the easiest is to add a mobile number capture to any web contact/sign up forms. Include a short ‘what’s this‘ description stating that the numbers won’t be sold or rented to any third parties and will only be used to deliver product or service information from your company. Now, I’d recommend working with a mobile services company to execute your database build and any subsequent programs but you’re taking a big first step by building a qualified audience and have a leg up for any promotions, CRM programming, or product/service alerts.

• Register Your Mobile Domain: Whether or not you’re ready to launch a mobile internet site, you should at least ensure that your brand site isn’t being squatted on. The dotMobi initiative has brought together many leading mobile carriers and technology companys to support a special domain extension for the mobile internet. This lets consumers know that ‘yourbrand.mobi’ is optimized for browsing on their handsets. Opinions do vary about the necessity of having a dotMobi domain. Many brands have used an m.yourbrand.com format for their mobile internet sites. But for about $20 a year, its a good investment to own your dotMobi domain. DotMobi domains can be purchased through most (maybe all) domain registry services.

• Optimize Your Email Content: If you send out B2B or B2C email communications, you should make sure your emails are optimized for reading on a mobile device. The increasing adoption of smartphones means that a significant percentage of your recipients will be viewing your emails on their handsets. This is especially true if you’re communicating with business professionals. There are two ways to go about this. The first is to strip down your HTML coding and simplify your email format/layout. Here’s a good resource for more on email to mobile optimization. The second is to include a link at the top of the email to a mobile version of the email. When clicked, the reader would then be taken to a mobile web page hosting your email content. Either way, you are ensuring your recipients don’t have to navigate through a jumble of HTML code to get to the substance.

There are nuances in each of these steps to make sure you’re getting the most out of your mobile marketing efforts, so I’d again recommend connecting with a mobile services company to help you navigate the landscape and ensure you’re implementing best practices.

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Mobile As A Technology Platform

When assessing mobile as a technology platform and how it impacts communications, we must consider three main factors: connectivity, location awareness and the enabling of transactions.  This article started with the claim that mobile is ‘always on’. Take that one step further and consider how the mobile consumer is always accessible. It’s not just that the device is always powered on; it’s also that the consumer is always available.  The expectation is that you can reach someone no matter where they are or what they are doing.

There are many ways to connect to that someone. Voice calls for something personal, important or even entertaining. Text messages can be for concise messages and emails for something that requires more explanation.  But mobile is not a one-way broadcast. Mobile enables two way communications.  Calls are answered, messages replied to, actions taken as a result of content that’s consumed or instructions that are received. The public relations industry has embraced social media for its ability to create conversations between organizations and their stakeholders. While there are limitations to the mobile platform that make ‘conversations’ difficult, mobile stands beside the internet as a channel offering the tools for a genuine dialogue, a connection, between parties.  For the PR professional, the key is to understand that mobile enables consumer response in real -time, no matter where they are or what they are doing. However, context cannot be ignored. Connectivity leads to contextual relevance.

Many newer model handsets come equipped with GPS technology that adds a new layer to consumer location and context. Even without such spatial awareness, the personal nature of the mobile device implies consideration of what the consumer is doing and where they might be and crafting messaging and calls to action that exploit a consumer’s context and environment.  The Canadian Marketing Association’s white paper on mobile, Personal, Powerful, Pervasive: Future of Mobile is ‘In Hand’, notes that “The marketing trifecta for mobile is immediacy, location and personalization.”

The ability to deliver a message that is directly relevant to a consumer’s context is powerful as it enables a customized response that can potentially motivate a specific behaviour in response to experienced circumstances. David Jones, vice president, digital at Hill & Knowlton Canada, rates location-awareness as one of the most important mobile features saying, “Anything you can provide to someone on the go to make the experience hyper-local is incredibly useful. It adds relevance and responsiveness to a real-world experience.”

Along with being a self-sustained media channel, mobile can also act as a bridge to other things and places. Mobile enables transactions. On the self-sustaining side, mobile can take a consumer through a series of actions. A banner ad click or a sent SMS can lead to a phone call, a web visit or a download to the handset. But what is even more interesting is how mobile can spur action outside the confines of the handset. “Mobile’s presence at the consumer’s side means it can serve as a powerful gateway where a marketer is taking the consumer from a point of interaction to a point of action,” says Mr. Murphy. “Marketers are starting to leverage mobile’s transactional nature through mobile coupons and tickets to drive a consumer from a media interaction to a retail visit, for example. I’d say that PR people can use those same principles to spur cause-based actions, enhance event experiences or to aid response in certain crisis situations like product recalls.”

A study by market research firm Razorfish supports this point of view by arguing in its 2008 digital outlook report that SMS is a perfect example of a very personal and relevant communication form that can be used to facilitate direct response into the upper rungs of a consumer’s social hierarchy. If a message is allowed onto a consumer’s mobile device it is because it is meaningful for them in an immediate and satisfying way.

For the public relations professional, the key lesson is that you can use mobile to move very quickly from message acceptance to consumer action provided you are providing an experience where the value exchange (on either a commercial or psychological level) is weighted in favour of the user.

Next up: Mobile as a content platform

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The Current State of Mobile

To fully appreciate the importance of mobile in the global communications landscape, three recent statistics are highly illuminating. There are over 4.1 billion mobile phones currently in use globally. By comparison, there are approximately 1 billion personal computers in use globally. Equally impressive is that 74% of all electronic messages are now sent through a mobile device. This is a massive increase over last year’s 59% of all global electronic messages.

Though Canada lags behind the rest of the world when it comes to mobile phone penetration, some 72% of Canadians have a mobile phone (with numbers even higher in urban centres) and the total number of mobile phones in use is greater than the number of conventional land-lines.  While Canada has a long way to go when compared to many European and Asian nations where mobile phone penetration is typically near or even exceeding 100%, impressive year over year growth in mobile penetration and increasing feature use shows that Canadians are mobilizing in ever-growing numbers.

In particular, Canadians have embraced text messaging (SMS) with over 77 million SMS sent daily according to CWTA.ca. Mobile internet and application use is also on the rise. The launch of Apple’s iPhone in Canada ushered in new levels of awareness around the potential of the mobile internet and early signs show it to be addictive upon discovery. Harris Decima’s study of Canadian attitudes towards mobile usage shows that adults who browse the mobile internet do so, on average, four times per day.

Encouragingly for the mobile industry, Canadians are wanting even more out of their phones. They are looking to sophisticated handsets (often referred to as ‘Smartphones’) as their devices of choice. According to a study by research firm TNS, “The increase in the breadth and leading-edge nature of demands appears to have occurred relatively quickly, in direct response to the well-publicized capabilities and lifestyle aspirations conveyed by the iPhone and similar devices.” The outcome of this consumer groundswell is the emergence of an audience equipped with media creation and consumption devices that are defining how they interact with each other and with the world around them.

First to capitalize on this shift, from a professional communications point of view, has been the marketing and advertising industry. Ever since consumers have been sending text messages there have been marketers looking for ways to reach this audience and get them to ‘buy-in’ to whatever is on offer. The real breakthrough moment for mobile in North America was text message voting being included in the popular television program American Idol, says Brady Murphy, founder and managing partner of Toronto-based mobile marketing firm Vortex Mobile.  “In 2005, there were over 40 million text message votes for the season finale.  This number surprised a lot of people and really opened marketers eyes to the fact that mobile was a viable channel to engage consumers…provided you can offer them something of value, something that they’re interested in,” adds Mr. Murphy.

Today, the majority of mobile marketing programs still include some sort of text messaging element. It’s by far the most widely used mobile feature and, as a result, will reach the widest consumer audience.  The marketing and advertising community has also embraced more advanced forms of mobile communication. Many brands are launching mobile-optimized internet sites. There is a growing revenue stream for mobile advertising on publisher sites and portals such as Yahoo! and Microsoft’s MSN. The mobile application environment is punching above its weight in terms of awareness due to Apple’s iPhone and App Store and every major manufacturer is launching a similar storefront to sell downloadable applications to consumers.  So where does the public relations community fit in?

One view is that the lines between marketing and public relations are blurring. Mary Sachs, U.S. Chair and Worldwide Director of Marketing Communications at Hill & Knowlton says that corporate marketing leaders are recognizing the link between brand and reputation. Discussing the modern, digitally savvy consumer, Ms. Sachs says, “These consumers and audiences can drive and talk about your reputation. They are actually in control of it, because they can shape what people think of it. That means they also impact brand. That’s the link. So this is another area where PR as a discipline can really support the brand-and where other disciplines aren’t as well positioned. Put simply: Marketers aren’t used to dealing with these audiences that inform reputation and brand-but PR sure is.” In this view, public relations practitioners need to start using more conventional ‘controlled’ media tactics in order to properly shepherd an organization’s reputation.

A second view would be that a channel like mobile offers opportunities for increasing the effectiveness of traditional public relations practices.  Public relations is not so much being re-defined by emerging technologies and changes in consumer behaviour as being empowered with more tools to achieve its objectives.  Jennifer Wasley, a senior consultant at Porter Novelli in Toronto seems to support this latter perspective when she says that, “Every touch point with your brand must be consistent. Mobile gives us another opportunity to communicate with stakeholders because, at this point, you need to be available ‘on demand’ wherever and whenever consumers may want to talk with you. If you’re not communicating consistently, consumers will call your brand out on it. This applies day to day but becomes even more critical when you consider your brand’s reputation.“

This article is not the place to argue for one view or the other. Both have merit and how new technology and communication channels are used will likely depend on the organization, agency or individual practitioner.  Regardless, it is important for public relations practitioners to understand mobile as both a technology and content platform and the implications their business.

Up Next: Discussing mobile as a technology platform and its implications for PR.

Possibly Related Posts:

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• The 3 Dimensions Of Effective Mobile Email
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• Mobile + The New Direct White paper

“Always On. Always With. Always Personal”.  These three short phrases are often cited as characteristics that differentiate the mobile platform from other media channels. A common-sense evaluation of these statements would certainly back this up.  A quick visual survey of any group of consumers would show mobile phones powered up, close at hand and ‘owned’ by a single individual. Underlying these statements, however, are broader issues of how consumers interact with their environment and peers and how they consume information.

What the three ‘always’ statements are really referring to are connectivity, context and content. Mobile phones offer consumers connectivity, whether through voice, messaging or the internet, to their friends, family, peers and the world at large. Since the mobile phone is an essential accessory for most consumers it needs to be thought of in context with what that consumer is currently doing and where they find themselves physically located. While some refer to the ‘personal’ in relation to device choice or how it is accessorized, a deeper reading points to what the consumer does with the device – what they send and receive, what features they use or what information they consume.

A recent opinion piece from MediaPost offered this by way of analysis: “The technology altered the nature of communication, in that case turning email from memo-writing into a real-time thing.  Thanks to the mobile Internet, we also expect to have access to the sum total of the collected knowledge and wisdom of mankind in our pockets at all times.” What is said about email is equally true for other mobile communication features such as text and picture messaging, mobile applications and direct response tools such as QR codes. While a rapidly growing marketing and advertising ecosystem has blossomed around the mobile device, the public relations industry, at least in Canada, has been slow to adapt and integrate mobile into its tactical toolkit.

Putting Mobile in Context

Public relations, as laid out by the Canadian Public Relations Society, is the management function which evaluates public attitudes, identifies the policies and procedures of an organization or individual with the public interest, and plans and executes a program of action to earn public understanding, acceptance and support.  This broad definition includes many practice areas such as government, investor, media and community relations, and array of strategic approaches and tactical executions.  However, as digital technologies and emerging media such as social media and mobile become more deeply embedded in consumer behaviour, the pressure on public relations practitioners to understand and use these tools increases. Valerie Christopherson, managing director of Global Reach Communications, says, “Mobile marketing does not replace tried-and-true PR activities, such as media relations, event marketing and trade shows. Rather, mobile augments and strengthens all of these outreach vehicles.”

If the use of the term ‘marketing’ by Ms. Christopher ruffles feathers among public relations veterans, it’s worth taking the point of view that her intent was to suggest how mobile can be an effective tool in generating message awareness, acceptance and action. In short, communicating to persuade. However, even that represents a narrow view of mobile’s potential. For the public relations practitioner, mobile needs to be understood as both a technology and a media or communications platform. The technology and communication implications make a strong argument for mobile as a public relations tactic and one that will be increasingly important for measuring public attitudes, driving public understanding and support and creating favourable attitudes among an organization’s stakeholders.

Next we’ll take a look at the mobile landscape and start the discussion of mobile’s role for public relations.

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• Mobile + The New Direct White paper

Over the next while, I will be posting excerpts from a paper I completed for the final course in Ryerson University’s certificate in public relations.  The focus of the paper is the intersection of mobile and public relations.

While mobile as a marketing channel and consumer communications device receives a great deal of coverage, I noticed there was very little information about how mobile can influence and be used in the practice of PR. Certainly some of what is written about mobile marketing can be applied to PR activities, but the lack of dedicated coverage on the subject seems like a missed(missing) opportunity.

Here’s the abstract (yeah, it was an academic paper, Chicago Style and all):

The mobile device has brought with it significant changes in how consumers interact with each other and the world around them. Over 70% of Canadians have a mobile device and the increasing sophistication of these devices is creating new levels of connectivity and contextual relevance and new methods of content consumption. It has also created an emerging media channel for professional communicators.

This article explores how mobile, as both a technology and content platform, provides new opportunities to engage stakeholders and earn understanding, acceptance and support for an organization’s policies and activities.

Mobile messaging, the mobile internet and mobile applications will be examined as new tactics for the PR toolbox and how they impact practice areas such as community and media relations, the measurement of public attitudes and crisis communications.

A few admin notes:

• Most of the sources cited are digital, some are treeware. What I can link to, I will. But in cases where I can’t, I’ll make every effort to provide proper citations.
• As part of the research process, I interviewed David Jones (VP, Digital at Hill & Knowlton Canada), Jennifer Wasley (Senior Consultant at Porter Novelli Canada) and Brady Murphy (Managing Partner at Vortex Mobile). Their contributions and insight are immensely appreciated.
• My goal is to, over time, post the entire paper. But I’ll reserve the right to edit where appropriate or necessary to keep it digitally digestible.

These excerpts reflect my initial thinking on the subject and the paper was meant as a survey of the opportunities mobile can provide to public relations. It is by no means exhaustive and I will continue to evolve my thinking on the subject.

Please comment and critique. It’s the best way for us to move forward on this subject together.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Four Mobile Web Experiences You Can Offer Customers
• The 3 Dimensions Of Effective Mobile Email
• Launch and Learn – Driving Campaign Success with In-Flight Optimization
• 5 Steps To Address Mobile Customer Fragmentation
• Mobile + The New Direct White paper