Demystifying Mobile, Part I
Four questions to ask before getting into everywhere advertising
In this, the first of a three part series, Paul Cushman, Director of Mobile Sales Strategy at Yahoo! explores some basic questions that advertisers should ask themselves before diving into the mobile marketing space.
In my role as Yahoo’s director of mobile sales strategy, I’ve met many clients confused by mobile advertising. But just because it’s mobile doesn’t mean that the laws of advertising have changed. In fact, mobile advertising today follows much the same pattern and rules as traditional and Internet marketing. Below are four simple rules that I tell our mobile advertisers when considering and creating campaigns in the mobile channel.
Mobile is a channel, not a strategy
A lot of brands come to me and say, “We don’t have a mobile strategy.” And I say, “Great, you don’t have a radio strategy, do you?” No! You have an advertising strategy, and within that advertising strategy are all the various channels: TV, print, billboards, bus shelter posters, back-of-taxi ads, radio, online and so forth. Mobile is just a part of, and an extension to, your communications strategy.The questions you have to ask yourself are much the same as with any other channel.
1) Who is your audience? Five years ago mobile was just “teens who text,” and three years ago early tech adopters were added. Today, with more than 276 million Americans using mobile phones, it’s a mass medium that appeals to all audiences. OK, if you’re targeting retirees in Florida, mobile may not have the reach you are looking for. But the core mobile audience, for whom this medium has become part of their daily life, is a very attractive group. They are in the “first job to first baby” life stage, have disposable income without much overhead, socialize a lot, adopt, set trends and are highly communicative. And even that core is broadening rapidly. Smart phones with full HTML browsers are now widely available, and we’ve seen good traction among soccer moms and so forth in the last 12 months.
2) What is your objective? Is it to build awareness of a product? Drive traffic to a store or event? Generate leads? Acquire customers? Promote a sale? Open a movie launch? Sample or sell products? (Tired of questions yet?) All of these objectives can be executed in mobile. Perhaps not exactly the same as online. But even though you can’t show your movie trailer on the radio, both online and radio are good at getting people to go the movies.
3) What is the communications strategy? Most plans these days are integrated—each channel performing a task as part of an overall strategy. Mobile has a role to play. In many instances this will be an extension and expansion of the online plan, but it could also link well with events and sponsorships, promotions or to help offline media become interactive.
4) Does your brand fit mobile? Is it relevant to the space? Some things just don’t translate to the small screen. Keep that in mind when planning your strategy.
—Paul Cushman, Director of Mobile Sales Strategy, Yahoo!
Next up: Paul discusses the ins and outs of testing your mobile campaign
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[ 6 comments | Categories: Ad Creation, Audiences, Guest Posts, Industry Trends, Mobile ]
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