Connections, Context & Content, Part 12: Mobile and Crisis Communications

Jun 30

JonathanMobile, PR, Ryerson , , , No Comments

Mobile & Crisis Communications

The final public relations practice to examine is crisis communications. In many ways, the uses for mobile in supporting crisis communications efforts are minor modifications of what has been discussed previously in this series.  The main difference, as with all crisis communications, is the importance that prior planning plays in successful execution.

It is common practice for crisis plans to include a ‘dark site’ or website that has been built and pre-populated with content and can be instantly made public in the event of a crisis. The same effort should be made with a mobile web site. In some ways, a mobile website might be even more important as it can be accessed from anywhere. The public does not have to be on a computer in order to receive what could be vital or time-sensitive information.

Imagine a situation where a company has to do a product recall. A mobile website would allow consumers to confirm instantly if they are affect says David Jones. “People hear about a product recall, and they think everyone is affected. Mobile offers the ability to control. Consumers can take a picture of the UPC on the products they have in their home, submit it to a mobile website and know immediately if they are affected.”

Simpler methods could also be used to ensure that less mobile savvy consumers are not disadvantaged. UPC codes could be sent in and processed by text message, for example. A product recall notice could tell consumers to text their UPC to a designated shortcode. Responses would confirm whether or not the product was affected and the message could contain a click to call feature to connect consumers to a response centre set up by the company.

Mobile’s responsiveness and contextual relevance can also be used to manage public safety situations. Many universities have implemented SMS emergency broadcast services to alert students in the event of an on-campus crisis. Companies could use their mobile database development efforts to similar effect.  As we’ve already discussed, the ‘always on, always with’ nature of the mobile phone means that members of the public would more than likely receive a text message alert well in advance of any email or public media notification.

Messages could contain links to mapping applications that are included on smartphones and direct the consumer to the closest emergency response units or other safe zones. For those without smartphones, a secondary message could be set up to provide safety information in response to a reply keyword texted in by the member of the public.

Careful planning and consideration of all variables would increase the chances of containing a crisis situation.  While each business or organization will have a unique set of potential crisis situations to plan for, mobile’s feature set, connectivity and contextual relevance provide a powerful tactical addition to any response.

Next Up: Some final wrap-up thoughts on mobile and public relations.

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Connections, Context & Content, Part 11: Mobile for measuring public attitudes

Jun 22

JonathanMobile, PR, Random No Comments

Mobile & Measuring Public Attitudes

Mobile has been used in marketing circles to measure public attitudes since its early days. The most common mobile executions were text to win contests, text voting interactions or text to screen set-ups at live events. In each case, marketers were able to gather important information about their customers. “Mobile marketing has helped companies gauge if they were creating the right kind of promotions, how popular their product is, how people use their products, what geographic locations are their most active markets and what people are thinking at events,” says Brady Murphy. “I don’t see why the same approach couldn’t be used for PR people trying to find the pulse of their audiences.”

The best use case for mobile and measuring public attitudes would be mining an existing database of customers who have opted-in to receive polling questions. Hill & Knowlton Canada’s David Jones cautions that care must be taken not to abuse the permission granted by the consumer but agrees that mobile could offer a fruitful instant snapshot of the public opinion.

The mobile web could also be used as an effective tactical touch point for polling.  Customers could easily be directed to a mobile website featuring a short series of questions of interest to the organization. The website URLs can be integrated into other communications vehicles and generate a useful sample size with appropriate distribution and targeting.

As early as 2003, CNN was using mobile as a channel to get viewer reaction to questions posed during broadcasts  and the practice has since been widely adopted by other media outlets. Nielsen Entertainment has also developed a mobile polling solution that they say “transforms even a basic mobile phone into a quantitative and qualitative data collection tool, enabling clients to reach consumers at precise moments immediately before and after being exposed to specific entertainment or advertising content. The application will also facilitate unsolicited consumer comment on programming, or content more generally.”

The Nielsen example illustrates how mobile can leverage context to gather nearly real-time information on a situation. Properly timed outbound messaging can hit subjects when they are activity engaged with the content in question. Responses can be processed almost instantaneously upon receipt giving the public relations professional a living dashboard of public attitudes. Imagine a not for profit organization that is holding a public event on an issue related to their mandate. Text message voting or a mobile website promoted at the event could allow the organization to solicit attendees opinions on the issue by having them vote on a series of related statements. That data could be processed in near real-time and speakers at the event could customize their content to address attendee concerns.  The data could also be compiled with the findings used to influence the tone and content of future communications.  The precedent for using mobile as a channel for measuring public attitudes has clearly been established.

The examples above show how text messaging and the mobile web can be used for gathering data on public attitudes and there is even more potential in mobile applications. Rising Smartphone penetration is a key tipping point as it serves as your mobile computer.  Applications offer richer experiences with better graphic and video capabilities. QWERTY keyboards allow for more detailed responses.  However, Smartphone users make up approximately 20% of the market so usage might have to see further growth before it is a truly viable polling channel.  Until that point is reached, mobile still provides a useful supplemental channel for measuring public attitudes and applying those findings to future communications programs.

Next Up:  Using mobile in crisis communications

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What A Corporate Mobile Role Looks Like

Jun 17

JonathanAdvertising, Media, Mobile , , , 1 Comment

I’ve argued elsewhere that Canadian companies and agencies should take a serious look at bringing mobile marketing expertise ‘in-house’.

For agencies, it makes the most sense in full-service, promo and direct response/relationship marketing shops. Digital agencies also need to understand mobile at the very least for mobile web and application builds. Having in-house mobile expertise won’t be right for every company, but any youth-focused brand, consumer packaged goods firm or publisher should be taking mobile very seriously.

There are plenty of reasons why having a mobile subject matter expert, product and/or project manager makes sense. Not the least of which are: defining brand mobile objectives; conceiving, developing and managing mobile programming; managing vendor relations and; acting as a mobile advocate both internally and externally.

In an encouraging sign, I found the following job description posted for a major Canadian publisher:

This role will require tight coordination with the Creative, Marketing, Brand Management, and Project Management teams in order to meet business requirements for each initiative. It will also require the management of external partners who have been selected for the development of the mobile initiatives.  A deep understanding of mobile content and mobile devices will be a success factor, as well as experience in implementing best practices in terms of Product Development including both product planning and product marketing.

Responsibilities:

The Product Manager is expected to:
1. In collaboration with Marketing, Brand Managers and the creative team, contribute in defining the product strategy and roadmap for mobile development
2. Develop the core positioning and messaging for mobile products and manage all aspects of execution
3. Primary point of contact on Mobile for Transcontinental constituents
4. Manage day-to-day activities on Mobile initiatives
5. Work with external third parties to assess partnerships
6. Support sales teams on proposals that include mobile
7. Develop appropriate sales tools and train as necessary
8. Be an expert with respect to the competition and keep abreast of latest trends
9. Perform product demos to customers
10. Set revenue model to meet revenue and profitability goals
11. Deliver a monthly P&L forecast
12. Set rate card pricing for Mobile products & services
13. Service external clients on mobile projects
14. Act as a gatekeeper, working with Brand Managers, Product Directors or other internal departments to capture, consolidate and manage the implementation of Mobile initiatives

For me, this description makes a lot of sense and covers the core functions and responsibilities of a mobile subject matter expert/product manager. A final job description for your organization or agency will likely differ slightly, but using this as a template will go a long way for defining the role of a mobile marketer in-house and setting key deliverables.

What do you think?

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Connections, Context & Content, Part 10: Mobile and Media Relations

Jun 09

JonathanMobile, PR , , , 3 Comments

Mobile & Media Relations

While mobile cannot replace the benefits of building trusting and mutually beneficial relationships with members of the media, there are ways that it can support media relation activities. Valerie Christopherson offers this list of uses for mobile in media relations:

  • sending invitations to press conferences;
  • querying prospective media targets during a media tour for their availability;
  • locating a journalist on a trade show floor amid tens of thousands of people;
  • distributing news through the mobile channel; hosting “mobilenars” with the use of mobile video/streaming; and;
  • texting responses to interview questions while on the go.

While many of these are basic solutions (a fact Ms. Christopherson acknowledges) they do underline mobile’s role in connecting people through its ‘always on, always with, always personal’ attributes.

A more sophisticated use of mobile technology for media relations returns to use of QR codes.  The National Post, a Canadian national daily newspaper, has just launched a program where QR codes are included at the bottom on stories appearing in the print edition. When readers scan the codes a browser session is initiated and they are taken to videos and other relevant content.

While the newspaper plans to offer this as a service to advertisers, the potential for media relations activity should be immediately apparent.  Public relations practitioners could include a QR code in their media packages for inclusion in any published stories. The codes could link to supplemental content such as videos, pictures and mobile websites or relevant downloads.

To illustrate this point, consider a hospital pitching a story on a new piece of equipment that will aid in treating burn victims. An included QR code could take readers to a mobile internet site where video of the equipment in use could be viewed or interviews with burn victims that have benefited from the equipment could be played. The technically inclined could view the equipments specifications. The charitable could find links to donate to the burn ward and the curious could find out more information about types of burns and treatment options. In all cases, the media relations effort has not only resulted in press coverage, it has provided interested parties with the tools to learn more about the subject, the organization and ways they can make a difference.

Mobile allowed the media relations effort to move beyond impressions and created conditions to deepen public understanding, acceptance and support.

Up Next: Mobile as a tool for measuring public attitudes

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Connections, Context & Content, Part 9: Mobile and Community Relations

Jun 04

JonathanMobile, PR, Ryerson , , , No Comments

Mobile & Community

The practice of community relations is another area where mobile can play an important tactical role.  Enhancing public service campaigns, providing information services, and mobilizing support are three excellent examples of tactics that can be enhanced by integrating mobile. “Mobile offers communicators a tool that’s both responsive and personal. When the public is using mobile to communicate with a brand or organizations, it’s because they’ve bought into what that organization is saying,” says Brady Murphy.

There are two primary starting points for community engagement via mobile: a database that has been built by the communicating organization or an awareness campaign that drives opt-in. With an established database, communicators have an audience of stakeholders that they can influence through value-laden content. The US-based not for profit Do Something uses mobile as a tool to mobilize volunteers. After signing up, participants receive one to two text messages per month featuring volunteer opportunities that match preferences established at the point of sign up at http://www.dosomething.org/textme. Encouragingly, Do Something recognized that ensuring the content was relevant to the recipient greatly improved the chances of the program’s success.

The same practice could be applied to any organization that needs to be in regular contact with its stakeholders.  Service outages, environmental conditions, community building events, public forums are all types of notification content that could be delivered to stakeholders via mobile. Within the text messages, practitioners can also include opportunities for subsequent communications. From the message, stakeholders could click on a link to call an information hot-line or be directed to a mobile web page which has additional information.

The user experience can also start with consumer opt-in. The Partnership for a Drug Free America has launched a mobile public service campaign for “parents interested in learning how to start and maintain conversations with their kids about drugs and alcohol, and teens who may be experimenting or using. The partnership is running banner ads on mobile Web sites that drive to WAP (mobile internet) sites where parents can sign up to access tips, tools and advice from the Partnership’s “Time to Talk” program.”

Communities of interest can also be mobilized from more traditional communications collateral. QR codes, basically barcodes that can store lots of information and can trigger actions on a mobile phone, can be included on printed material. Consumers with the proper devices and software can scan the code and be driven to related destinations. For example, a newsletter focusing on a park clean up effort could include a QR code which, when scanned, triggers a mobile web browsing session that allows the user to find the park closest to them and other relevant details about the event.  The website could also include volunteer sign up tools and methods for informing other interested parties.  Not only is this environmentally friendly, it also deposits key communications material onto the handset where it can be referenced and easily shared among the users peer group.

Once again, mobile serves as a channel to engage communities that are important to the organization, provides valuable and relevant information, creates circumstances to motivate action and strengthens the organization’s reputation.

Next Up: Mobile as a media relations tactic

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Connections, Context & Content, Part 8: Mobile & PR Brand Building

Jun 01

JonathanMobile, PR, Random , , , , , No Comments

Mobile & The Brand

Recalling Mary Sachs’ comments that the lines between marketing and public relations are blurring, the first place where mobile can fit in with a public relations strategy is in the area of marketing communications. While traditional marketers would look to mobile as a way, ultimately, to sell product, the public relations professional can use mobile as a tactic for extending brand equity and experience.  David Jones, also of Hill & Knowlton, says, “The obvious starting point for mobile and PR is branded content, games or mobile applications that connect people to the web experience. PR is starting to play in brand extensions and direct to consumer communication is starting to become everyone’s space. Anytime you’re trying to influence public behaviour there’s an opportunity to reach them through the mobile device.”

A perfect example of this approach comes from global fitness giant Nike. Nike launched the ‘Nike Training Club‘ application for iPhone users. The application targets women and provides tools for customizing workouts, training tips and peer to peer interaction. This type of application builds positive brand associations and can create a community of advocates.Similarly, an application called ‘My Diabetes Guide‘ allows the 24 million Americans living with Diabetes to develop strategies for coping with the disease. The CEO of the firm responsible for the application says, “The amount of information on the Web about healthcare is too much to digest but mobile’s small screen is actually a plus in this case – it makes it easier to sift through the content. We are transforming into a teacher and a coach, giving advice and encouragement when people need it most.”

Both of these examples demonstrate approaches for building favourable opinions about an organization or an issue.  While these examples involve applications, mobile messaging and the mobile web provide plenty of opportunities as well. Absolute Vodka used text messaging to promote responsible alcohol consumption with its ‘Recognize the Moment‘ campaign while Barak Obama created mobile websites to promote his policies, notify supporters of upcoming events and provide the tools to engage potential voters at the grassroots level.

Using mobile to promote brand information or create a branded experience relies on the some of the same principles as more traditional PR activities: creating messaging that is relevant to your audiences, provide value to the recipient and inform with the objective of stimulating action.  Ultimately, the objective of brand communication efforts is to build community confidence in, and goodwill towards, the organization and its operations.

Next Up: Mobile for community relations

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