Who is not suited to mobile marketing?

Who is not suited to mobile marketing?

Don't believe all the hype, there are companies for whom mobile marketing isn't the answer—not yet at least:

Those Without the Resources— The mobile marketing industry is still under development, and isn't yet a steadied ship. The channel needs to be far more solid and predictable before companies without the means to test and try experiment. For some companies, the tools to simplify the mobile marketing process need to be developed further before they enter the fray. Mobile marketing is not for the timid. New channels require planning, money and manpower and it might take a few goes before you get it right.

Those Without a Clear Objective— Mobile phones provide marketing mediums the potential for a direct response. Specific calls to action are crucial to winning mobile marketing campaigns. Calls to action encourage anything from responding to print or TV, signing up for text alerts, website calls to action or requesting directions to your store. Calls to action mark 'conversion events' in your campaign. When an action is taken that you suggest you have a 'convert'. Multiple conversion points are needed in a campaign and each should be given monetory value to assess return on investment for the campaign. Just because mobile marketing is new and exciting is not reason to initiate a campaign. Any marketing efforts must create some type of value or return on investment to be successful. Clear objectives and targets allow you to evaluate success.

Those With Inadequate Technical Resources to Handle the Response — Even your first mobile marketing campaign has the potential to be fantastically successful and highly viral, so you must plan. Before a campaign is launched, backend technology should be process and load tested. This includes anything used to send or receive text messages, take calls, provide downloads or any other conversion events. Technology failure wastes time and money, but more importantly eliminates any value created in the communication. Technology failure can lead to a mobile campaign actually damaging the relationships with your customers.

Those Without the People or Inventory to Handle the Response — It can be difficult to predict response rates to a mobile marketing campaign. It's important to plan for both extremely good and disappointing response. 'In person' mobile campaigns, for example creating foot traffic to a store, require that the location is staffed and ready to handle any surge in customers. In some cases, such as billboards or banners near your brick-and-mortar store, you have less ability to update the messaging. If you are trying to drive foot traffic into a store for a specific offer, and you run out of that item, you are in a similar pickle. Basically, if you don't have enough inventory or availability at this time you should re-think mobile marketing, until those things are more secure, or until you have a more understanding of expected response rates.




PR1 Media (www.pr1media.com)