 |
Mobile response rates higher than Internet, adtech panelists |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
By Dan Butcher
November 6, 2008
NEW YORK - Brands that leverage the mobile Web, SMS, applications, video and telelvision-based advertising to interact with consumers via mobile are seeing high response rates and better brand recognition.
That’s according to a panel titled, “Incorporating Mobile Advertising into Your Marketing Efforts,” at ad:tech New York. Justin Payne, manager of online advertising for John Wiley and Sons, known for the “…For Dummies” series of books, was the brand client represented.
“When we first looked into mobile, the ‘For Dummies’ brand had fantastic recognition, the trouble was we didn’t know who was reading them or how to reach them, so we were looking for a new way of reaching people, being able to speak with them after their initial contact to let them know that there is more to us than simply books,” Mr. Payne said.
The brand was looking to achieve several interrelated goals.
The company runs a “Dummies Month” promotion marketed via advertising and direct sales, and the company wanted to merge that with mobile for both branding and direct sale.
Mobile was also attractive for its ability to capture opt-in consumers’ information, which presented an opportunity to remarket to those consumers.
The “TXT4Dummies” aspect of the multichannel campaign issued call to action asking consumer to text keyword ‘Dummies’ to short code 24274.
Those who responded to the promotion sent in their profile data, including phone number and email address and they were emailed a printable rebate form they could redeem in store to get $5 back on the purchase of any Dummies book in March.
Other aspects of the campaign included online banner ads, search ads and mobile advertising to drive people to a mobile Web site.
“We were unfamiliar with mobile beforehand, but it gave us the ability to communicate brand assets through new media and familiarize consumers with our mobile sites,” Mr. Payne said. “We were able to engage the mobile space and offline space in ways that would feed each other.
He said that he saw an even distribution of the demographics, which skewed older than expected,” he said. Also, the response rate to the mobile ads was good.
“We saw significantly higher engagement with mobile ads than we ever did with Internet banner ads.”
The company that ran the mobile campaign for John Wiley and Sons was HipCricket, which was also represented on the panel.
“We recommend that brands start out by leveraging the reach and ubiquity of SMS, because 55 percent of all American with mobile phones are using text messaging, which is 163 million Americans,” said Steve Siegel, vice president of brand solutions for HipCricket, Kirkland, WA.
“We like to build mobile programs with a foundation, a call to action in traditional media ads, such as TV, radio and out-of-home, and provide an incentive to garner response and get people to opt-in,” he said. “Then you have a remarketing opportunity.”
He recommends including a link to a mobile Web site for deeper engagement with consumers.
He also touted the ability to target demographically and/or contextually with mobile.
One fact that he said most people don’t realize is that the average age of SMS users in the U.S. is 38.
Another tactic rapidly growing in popularity, especially for retail brands, is mobile couponing.
Borders recently ran a Holiday campaign using mobile coupons, where consumers could show various codes on their mobile screen, such as ‘Santa’ or ‘Rudolph,’ at the register to redeem the coupon.
The head of Borders.com told Mr. Siegel that 11 percent of all coupons redeemed by Borders are from mobile, just nine months after the initial launch of the program.
It’s best for companies to start slow to get their feet wet. Try SMS, then follow up with a mobile Web site, mobile advertising and mobile couponing. And don’t forget that incentive.
“First-time campaigns are usually very promotional in nature,” Mr. Siegel said. “Date of birth, zip code and gender are crucial pieces of information that you can do a lot with form a marketing standpoint, and they’re easy to get via SMS or a form.
“Once you know that, you can target to specific people and also by handset type and browsing habits,” he said. “Information is easier to collect with smartphones, because you can utilize the devices’ features and functionality to help collect it.”
Staff Reporter Dan Butcher covers banking and payments, carrier networks, commerce, database/CRM, manufacturers, music and software and technology. Reach him at dan @mobilemarketer.com.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
