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Google became a multi-billion dollar behemoth one nickel at a time through its AdWords program.  Look how that turned out.  You take one billion nickels and all of a sudden you have a lot of money.

What’s the lesson here?

Building anything successful requires patience. You need to learn what works, execute it well and that will lead to a solid foundation with an attractive upside.

So what does this have to do with mobile marketing?

Well, building a successful mobile marketing channel for your brand requires careful thought and patience.   Too often there’s a failure to appreciate the opportunity to nurture extended or ongoing participation or an expectation that mobile is some sort of silver bullet.

Two of the worst examples of this thinking are ‘single scoop’ promotional campaigns and iPhone applications with limited utility or where the core customers don’t map well onto the device’s user base.

A lot of mobile marketing efforts are focussed purely on short term promotional programming.  The prime example is layering SMS contest entry over an existing promotion.  There is most certainly a place for this type of execution. SMS has reach and familiarity among consumers and it allows you to entice desired behaviour with an incentive. The problem starts when brands either don’t use the opportunity to ask the consumer to opt-in for future communications or don’t bridge to another mobile experience that prompts action or deeper brand involvement.

The second mistake was getting swept up in the iPhone hysteria. I won’t call anyone out, but I can think of several brands that launched apps that were either so gimmicky that they were likely deleted or forgotten after a single use or the customer base was clearly not well represented among the iPhone user base.  Flurry, a mobile analytics firm, has some very revealing stats about application loyalty. Unless you have a strong core user base on the device and an application that genuinely adds value, save your money.  While launching an app can open up a new audience for your brand, it also creates tremendous pressure to offer something compelling and useful.

In both of these cases, the biggest danger (apart from wasting money) is that you’ll start to view mobile as an ineffective channel. You’ll be underwhelmed with the results or not realize the power and opportunity that earning a share of the consumer’s mobile device can offer you.

Here’s my lens for viewing effective mobile programming:

Merge campaign tactics into relationship programming

Short-term campaigns do have an important role to play in mobile marketing. They are great demand generation and customer acquisition vehicles. They can help move units with ‘clicks to bricks’ offers. They can support brand building efforts among key demographics.  But make sure you’re looking at these campaigns as part of a broader strategy that uses the personal and connected attributes of the channel to deepen customer engagement, loyalty, advocacy and propensity to purchase.

Bake value into your programming

Consumers aren’t going to give you a share of mobile without getting something in return. There has to be a value exchange that’s weighted in their favour. Contest prizing certainly fits the bill, as do coupons and other discounts or exclusive opportunities. But the value can also take the form of something that offers genuine and repeatable utility. A simple, common example would be an allergy medication company sending out SMS pollen count alerts to opted-in customers.  Consider both one-time and long-term involvement with each and every consumer interaction.

These approaches take time and patience. You will need to test and learn, continuously. Some efforts will work better than others. It may take time for your audience to fully embrace your mobile efforts and for you to gain the necessary insight into their mobile habits and preferences. But thoughtful and measured mobile programs will create a solid foundation in a channel that is increasingly central to your brand’s digital footprint.

Note: This post can also be found on Profectio.com

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During a mobile advertising presentation at a recent digital marketing conference, I heard the presenter say sheepishly that this was not “the year of mobile”.  Besides injecting a self-defeating note into an otherwise interesting and compelling presentation, I have a hard time understanding why some people feel a need to constantly parrot this statement.

Mobile is a marketing channel, not a religious experience.

Would anyone know what “the year of mobile” will actually look like? Will marketing spend suddenly leap exponentially? Will consumers rise up in revolt demanding more brand presence in the channel?

Today, I’m taking a stand and refusing to participate in the “is it/isn’t it the year of mobile” discussion anymore. It’s unnecessarily apologetic and absolves everyone of the responsibility for seizing the opportunity in front of them.

And there is significant opportunity.

Mobile penetration in Canada skirts around 75% (a number greater than internet penetration at least according to some). We send over 20 billion text messages annually (and have been doubling that number just about every year). Over 20% of Canadians regularly use the mobile internet. AdMob, one of many mobile advertising networks, served just under 200 million Canadian impressions in August ‘09. And let’s not forget the iPhone, right? The audience exists and is exhibiting appealing behaviour.

There is second debate that I’m going to stop getting drawn into – the cost of data in Canada.

Yes, it’s higher than just about everywhere else and should probably be lower. Yes, the carrier oligopoly doesn’t help. But the truth is you can get 500MB of data for about $30/month. I’m definitely an above average data user and rarely come close to that amount. If you have 1GB of data (probably costing about $45/month), you’ve probably got way more data than you need unless you’re regularly streaming video.

For me, the data debate is less a question of cost and more an issue of a disproportionate value ratio. That is, it seems overly expensive because there’s a relative lack of available content and experiences. Your internet and cable bills are likely to be at least as much, and probably more, than your mobile data bill. But less issue is taken with that because of the dizzying mass of content those channels support.

So what to do? Well, there are grounds for optimism. The very fact that there is talk of “the year of mobile” suggests that we all recognize the channel’s potential and want to see it realized.  There are certainly marketers and publishers that are active in mobile and succeeding.  Perhaps the blame for the sluggish uptake is two-fold. The mobile industry needs to do a better job aligning and defining expectations, measurement and ROI. Marketers need to be willing to invest, build, test, learn and refine. There’s rarely reward without a little risk.

Elsewhere, it’s been suggested that 10% of your marketing budget should be devoted to mobile. If that number frightens you, I challenge you to invest 5% of your budget in mobile for 2010. Launch a mobile internet site. Test some mobile advertising. Build a mobile opt-in database. If you are concerned about the data issue, try SMS marketing. Text messaging offers the widest reach and enables all kinds of promotional and direct response tactics.

The right tactical mix will be different for each marketer but there are plenty of willing providers to help you navigate the options and manage the technology side.

Don’t wait. Make this your “year of mobile”.

Note: This piece was cross-posted on Profectio.com

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If part of the promise of mobile is the ability to take advantage of consumer sentiment and intent at a given time and place, then mobile should be a powerful tool for the charitable and not-for-profit sector. When you are dependant on the generosity of the public for your survival, I would imagine you’d want to make the donation process as convenient and simple as possible.

And nothing, I would argue, is more convenient and simple as sending a text message and having a small donation tacked onto your monthly cell phone bill.  Agreed?

Well rejoice.

Canadians can now do just this thanks to a just-announced partnership between the CWTA and the Mobile Giving Foundation. As of this moment, there’s only a handful of approved charities (Plan Canada, Jays Care Foundation, Best Buddies and the Children’s Wish Foundation) but expect that to rise.

Key for the success of the initiative, 100% of all donations go the charities themselves and you still get a tax donation receipt.

On the surface, this is geared towards increasing charitable donations among younger consumers who are also the heaviest texters. But text messaging has become such a common activity that it should really appeal to anyone.

A few other thoughts:

• The best use case for this is for micro-donations (say $5-10) at events or via street team solicitation.
• Charities should also be using this opportunity to build their mobile database by getting opt-ins for future communication. If they aren’t able to under this program, it should be urgently considered.
• Extend the experience by building out simple mobile websites where you can futher education around how donations are being used. You never know how that might drive up donation levels.
• Suspicion of carriers is high, so really sell the 100% donation and tax receipt.

I can’t emphasize enough the opportunity this provides to create a sustained dialogue via the mobile channel.

You’ve qualified a consumer’s interest by their very act of donating. By securing an opt-in, you can now provide updates on how the money is being used (simple SMS updates or use the SMS to push to a mobile site housing picture or video updates), new fundraising events and initiatives (why not mobile ticketing?), or even  subsequent donation calls to action.

I imagine the solicitation of future donations might be controlled and there should be guidelines around the frequency and relevance of communication. But properly designed, you can manage consumer preferences and ensure a high degree of relevance. Do that, and you’ve got a powerful new direct response channel.

So…would you spare a text?

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Mobile’s a new enough channel that some sort of education/explanation is still usually required when introducing the marketing opportunities to internal, brand or agency partners.This is especially true when reviewing the right tactics to reach your target audience.

iPhone applications get most of the attention in marketing/technology circles. While the device’s market share is growing steadily, and handsets with similar capabilities are becoming more common among the average consumer, when a brand launches an iPhone app it gets lots of attention in the trade press but the majority of mobile consumers are left to either drool jealously or yawn (if they’re aware of the app at all).

It remains true that the vast majority of consumers have non-smartphones and the more widely used non-voice phone feature is text messaging (though some studies say the camera).

I could trot out stats to back this up but they aren’t hard to find. Okay…here’s a decent summary of US-specific stats.

Instead, I was thinking about a simple analogy to explain the difference.

Mobile is like pie.

Take a look at any dessert table and you have an assortment of tasty treats to choose from. Same with mobile where you have apps, advertising, internet, messaging, gaming, video, etc….

Think of apps, especially iPhone apps as that rich, creamy chocolate eclair (or cheesecake, keylime pie…). It’s a delight for your sense, offers the most intense flavour, but not everyone’s going to able to have it. For starters, they may watching their weight (just as consumer’s have to think about their wallets before getting a iPhone).If you have it at all, it will be a small portion….just like the audience reach for these devices currently.

On the other side of the spectrum is apple pie. Who doesn’t like apple pie? It’s simple, homey goodness that still gives you plenty of sweetness and won’t offend people’s taste buds or waistlines (unless you start dumping cream all over it). Apple pie is like SMS. Go ahead and have a bigger slice…and reach a bigger audience.

We can debate where mobile internet, advertising and so on fit into the continuum. But what’s important for me is that you need to find the right tactics to reach your target audience and device-specific programming may be right for you, but it could also be unneeded calories.

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With mobile devices basically glued to the hips & ears of most people, they’re a marketing channel filled with powerful opportunities for brand engagement, direct response and relationship marketing.  The device, though, gets a disproportionate share of attention – what’s the latest & greatest handset, what new features or software/applications are being introduced, etc…

It’s important to remember that mobile marketing is about people not devices.  The devices provide the platform and tools to engage, but you are still attempting to reach living, breathing human beings in all their rational and irrational glory.

Here are three people-centric ways you can go wrong with mobile marketing.

1. Abuse Consumer Permission

The mobile phone is a highly personal consumer extension. For many people it’s the most direct conduit into their lives. It’s no accident that one of the most often bandied about phrases regarding mobile is ‘always on, always with, always personal’. While this presents great opportunities for marketers to gain direct access to consumer preferences and intentions, it can also be a slippery slope if one isn’t careful about they communicate with consumers that have taken that first step and ‘opted-in’ to a marketing program.

Publisher Simon & Schuster recently got dinged for $90 million in damages for sending unsolicited text messages to consumers. If you can get a consumer to engage your brand via mobile, whether through SMS, an application or the mobile web, you have to take care to manage how any future communication is rolled out. The best approach is to explicitly ask the consumer if they want to receive future communications. You can take that one step further by getting a consumer to define the type of communication they would like to receive, when they would like to receive it and how often you can send them information.

This kind of thinking gives you more information about who you’re talking to and increases the relevance of your content. You’re happy because you’re increasing the depth of engagement. The consumer’s happy because you’re offering increased value.

2. Fail to account for context

Since the mobile is always on and always with, it’s intimately tied to what a consumer is doing at any moment and where they are. This creates a fertile ground for offering a deep utility to consumer action and habits. Applications which leverage location based technology provide the best use case for enriched utility, but even SMS marketing needs to account for context. Delivering coupons through point of sale media offers immediate value and can aid purchase intent, for example.

Content should be ’snackable’. Genuine and practical utility should be baked in to any experience. Ask yourself what are you trying to achieve and where consumers are likely to be when they’re interacting with you. More often than not, they will not be stationary, they will be on the go looking to meet an immediate need or want or entertain themselves.

3. Missing out on ‘bridging’ opportunities

Other than abusing consumer permission, creating a shallow mobile experience is the most common mistake I see in mobile programming.  This can be as simple as a text to win contest which doesn’t offer an opt-in for future information. More commonly, I see mobile advertising campaigns where the post-click experience simply fails to account for the fact the consumer is engaging via a mobile. This includes linking to a non-mobile optimized website. But I’ve also seen badly designed sites with no functionality such as an automotive advertiser who’s mobile site doesn’t include features like a dealership locator, a test-drive sign up form or even an email submit or click to call for more information.

If you’ve gotten a consumer to click on your ad why would you not take full advantage of this by extending the experience and bridging to another destination – either on the mobile device or into the ‘real world’.

As marketers become savvier at developing mobile experiences, these types of issues will (hopefully) fade into history. Keeping the consumer front of mind in any campaign design thinking is vital. The mobile device is just a tool, though one rich with features and a powerful platform for direct-to-consumer engagement. Focussing on the device rather than the user will lead you down the wrong path.  Take care to avoid these three pitfalls and you’ll be that much closer to earning (and keeping) your share of mobile.

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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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