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Mobile is, in a very real way, an extension of the owner into the world. It’s a conduit to their social graph and a way to process, document and engage their environment.

This is why their mobile is the first thing many people check in the morning, the last thing they check at night and the one thing they keep with them at all times.

Device features and functionality serve as both a tool and accessory and this is a key mark of  social artifact.

There are only a couple of other things that are ‘fetishized’ like this: cars, certain other consumer electronics, fashion. The form is for many just as important as the function.

This is why providing genuinely valuable and useful (whether entertaining, informing or rewarding) experiences that are wrapped in some degree of personal relevance are the only way brands can expect to earn a significant ’share of mobile’.

Use this lens when thinking about how to acquire and engage your mobile customer and you will be on the right track.

You will still need to test, learn and revise.

You will still need to start by understanding your customer’s mobile profile and habits.

But now you will have a framework for talking to customers when and where they want to talk to you and be able to do it over and over again.

Note: This is the first in a series of short posts – fragments really – generated from slides I use in various professional presentations.  They are pieces of my approach to mobile marketing.

Possibly Related Posts:

• My Refresh Events Talk: the deck and some final thoughts
• Refresh Events: Talking You Down From The Bleeding Edge

Last Monday (July 20th), I spoke at Refresh Event’s Stay Fresh 10 session. The topic was how mobile can be used to engage and grow communities.

I took the line that let’s not focus on emerging applications and top of the line handsets. While they offer the richest experiences and most robust tools, they make up such a small percentage of the overall mobile market. Instead, let’s drill down to more basic tools such as SMS and even the trusty camera and look at mobile as both a set of tools that everyone has available to them and as an extension of a living, breathing, human out in the real world.

Anyway, here’s the deck:

This really just represents some preliminary thoughts on how mobile can be leveraged to acquire, engage and mobilize a community of interest. I may be way off base so feedback, as always, welcome.

The session was recorded so when that comes out I’ll update the post, or you can check out the Refresh website for yourself…the deck might make more sense with my running commentary.

You can also find the decks from the other presenters who did 5 minute talks on their experiences with community here.

I’d like to thank the Refresh team for inviting me to speak. I really enjoyed myself and had some great conversations after my presentation. If you haven’t been to one of these events, you really should. Next one is, I believe, a summer social.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Have Brain. Will Travel – Mobile As Essential Artifact
• Refresh Events: Talking You Down From The Bleeding Edge

On Monday July 20th I’ll be speaking at Refresh Events’ Stay Fresh 10. If you’re not familiar with Refresh Events here’s what they say about themselves:

Refresh Events encourages collaborative partnerships, fosters education at all skill levels and creates networking opportunities within the Toronto interactive community.

I’ll be sharing some thoughts on the role mobile marketing can play in community engagement for both brands and ‘communities of interest’. I’ll spend some time on the implications of some of new and shiny things we’re seeing in mobile but also emphasizing more traditional and accessible tactics for reaching a broader audience.

Here’s the spiel:

“Talking You Down From the Bleeding Edge: Making Mobile Work for All Communities”

The early days of widespread telephony often involved “party lines” where a community shared a single phone connection. Conversations would be shared, sometimes unintentionally; gossiping was practically a sport but important news could also be spread quickly.

Simpler times, but doesn’t it sound familiar?

Communities today are empowered with powerful digital tools and platforms for connecting, sharing, expression and organization. Increasingly, the mobile channel is extending and complementing the community experience bringing it with you anywhere you go and available at all times.

Whether you’re managing a brand or a community of interest, mobile can assist in acquiring, connecting, empowering and mobilizing your constituents. This talk will provide some tangible, practical solutions for engaging communities of all levels of sophistication proving that mobile is not just personal, it’s social.

I’m very excited to have the opportunity to share some ideas with the Refresh crowd. If you’re in Toronto, it’s only $5 to attend and you actually get that refunded at the door if you show up.

Here’s the link to register: http://stayfresh10-rfevent.eventbrite.com/

Hope to see you there!

Possibly Related Posts:

• Have Brain. Will Travel – Mobile As Essential Artifact
• My Refresh Events Talk: the deck and some final thoughts