In many respects, mobile remains an emerging communications and media channel. While consumer adoption of mobile has reached a critical mass and features such as mobile messaging are tightly integrated into day-to-day use, use of the medium as a channel for corporate and brand communications is still at a formative stage. Marketers are integrating mobile into their tactical toolkit, but the public relations discipline has yet to take the same step in any real and meaningful way.

However, mobile’s characteristics of being ‘always on, always with and always personal’ offer public relations practitioners the ability to connect with stakeholders in ways that can aid them in meeting their communications objectives.  If public relations is the practice of executing programming that earns public understanding, acceptance and support, then the permission-based nature of mobile coupled with its ability to provide contextually relevant content that can drive action-oriented response should make it key touch-point for stakeholder engagement.  In previous posts in this series, we have explored how mobile can aid in brand communications, community building, media relations, assessing public attitudes and crisis communications.  We have also seen how mobile can empower consumers in ways that will impact how public relations practitioners manage their organization’s reputation and response to external circumstances.

Mobile is a two-way communications channel. Just as the technology enables consumers to engage the world around them, it also allows communicators to manage relationships with their publics.  Careful attention to contextual relevance and creating programs that add value for the consumer can go a long way in building and strengthening relationships. The thoughtful communicator can use mobile to pro-actively establish conditions that are favourable to their organization’s messaging and that enhance reputation.  Communities of interest can be established, engaged, measured and mobilized. Crises can be controlled.

For the public relations practitioner, the opportunity to use a communications channel that is so pervasive and personal should be a powerful call to action to examine how their strategic objectives can be met by mobile.  Their publics are mobile. They should be too.

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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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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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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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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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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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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

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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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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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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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