Background

Millward Brown’s AdReaction (2014) study of 30 different markets ascertains the amount of time a day we spend glued to our mobile screens. It found that globally around 3 hours a day are being spent on mobile devices, 147 minutes on smartphones and an additional 50 minutes on tablets.

However, the chart below indicates that although Smartphones occupy most of our time, TV ads have the highest percentage of marketing favourability. Which means there is still room for improvement when it come to mobile marketing.

Millward Brown’s AdReaction (2014)

Large companies often use mobile apps as a marketing tool. Merzlova (2013) describes the importance of an app being useful during a persons ‘downtime’ and that they should create interesting leads. However, goes on to advise that an effective marketing activation function is essential, for example, a game instead of being pushy and simply advertising a product or service.

An example of a very ‘useful’ app is the Ikea augmented reality home planner that allows customers to take a picture of a room in their home and position a piece of Ikea furniture in place to see it’s suitability. In the same article the importance of mobile marketing is further reinforced by the fact that 91% of smartphone owners have their device within touching distance 24/7 (Rajeck 2015).

Another interesting insight by DeMers (2016) who describes the benefits of providing timely communication to customers via text message. This recommendation is justified by statistics from Wachs (2013) who states that 98% of promotional text messages are opened compared to 22% of similar emails.

As we know there are many methods of mobile marketing some examples seen above, however, as the heading of this blog suggests getting the balance right is crucial in order to target, retain and enhance a customer’s journey. Rowles (2014) suggests that a company should not have technology for the sake of technology; there should be clear aims and objectives of what the initiative is going to be used for. In addition he recommends a company focuses more on and has a strong site optimised for mobile before creating an app.

One of the most common and widely recognised marketing concepts is the ‘Marketing Mix’. The mix consists of four p’s, Product, Price, Place, Promotion these four principals have become known as the most important consideration of any marketing campaign (Hopkins and Turner 2012). In addition to Borden (1964) four p’s there is now a modern version known as the four c’s of the Marketing Mix, Customer, Cost, Convenience and Communication (Acutt 2015). Lauterborn (1990) developed this modification shown below focuses more on the customer, for example, the third C convenience, instead of just placing a product somewhere the accessibility is emphasised (Hamilton 2005).

Lauterborn (1990)

Data from Ofcom (2015) confirms that Smartphones have over taken desktop PC’s and laptops for online browsing and that two thirds of people now own a Smartphone.

With the data above the importance of mobile marketing becomes even more evident. However, a more recent concept known as location-based marketing is now all the rage. “Take your brand to the people, don’t just think about retail stores,” Khan (2015).

An example of a very interesting and effective location-based initiative is by Nivea. The company attach a bluetooth proximity wristband to magazine ads that customers children can wear. The wristband links to the Nivea app which sends alerts to a parent if their child goes out of a certain proximity on the beach for example. This initiative gives an incentive for customers to download the Nivea app, which could lead to sales and brand loyalty (Rao 2015).

Jones (2016) expresses the importance of location-based marketing not breaching the consumers privacy. He suggests giving customers the option to opt in or opt out and jokes that there is a ‘fine line between creepy and cool’. Cohen (2016) states that 43% of people like brands that approach them with relevant offers but 55% reject brands that overload their phones with content whatever it may be. To summarise it is worth mentioning mobile marketing is about communicating valuable information at the right times to the relevant people.

References

Email is one of the most powerful and personal ways businesses connect with their customers. The ten main benefits of email marketing by Pure360 are listed below:

1. Return on Investment
2. Immediacy
3. Global
4. Easy to Share
5. Easy to Track
6. Easy to Create
7. Calls to Action
8. Segmentation
9. Target Fans of your Brand
10. Low Cost

I received a personalised email from Tripadviser an American Travel Website Company allowing people to share their experience of hotels, restaurants, landmarks and various other attractions. It all started on the 5th February 2016 when I visited a local Italian Restaurant. After receiving the bill the owner asked if we enjoyed the food and if so could we log into Tripadviser in our own time to write a positive review.  I wrote a review and since then I receive an email from Tripadviser monthly. The most recent one had a subject line of “Dan, thank you! You’re on a roll: here’s a summary of your recent activity”. The fact that Tripadviser personalized the email subject line to say my name certainly meant that it caught my attention as well as using an explanation mark and telling me I’m on a roll… as we know the subject line is probably the most important part of the email, if it fails to entice the customer then they are a lot less likely to open it (Ellis Chadwick 2011) . However, iContact an email marketing specialist firm offer a long list of words not to use in your email message and other solutions and services on their website. Looking at the list below there are some similarities between ‘you’re a winner’ and ‘you’re on a role’ which could put off some customers.

After opening the email I was met with another personalized message in the email heading, it read “Hi, Dan”. The company logo was positioned in the top left corner, according to the Journal of Business Research 2011 99% of emails in their sample had logos that were positioned in the top left hand corner.

Moving on to the content of the email, there was some interesting statistical data letting me know how many people had read my review and where they were from. As well as a piece of text letting me know I had 100 ‘TripCollective’ points and I could build up more by writing another review which would lead to earning badges. I was curious as to what these badges meant so clicked on hyperlink for more information. The landing page gave details of the ways in which to gain points and the amount of points you needed to level up. This did not appeal to me as the badges just meant other readers could see you were an active reviewer and there did not appear to be any other benefits. In this case Tripadviser’s call to action failed as I did not write another review, they should have offered discounts on hotels for example depending on the amount of reviews you post. This is a form of permission marketing where users are just rewarded with badges and nothing more…

Scrolling down the email I was met with another call to action. However, this time it was a promotion/offer. Although the words ‘special offer for reviewers who book’ were in orange and in capital letters I could have quite easily of exited the email by now. In my opinion the promotion should have been positioned beneath the heading at the top of the email for better effect. I was more enticed by this than I was by finding out how many people read my review. I’ve been receiving this email once a month for 6 months and this is the first time I have noticed a promotion. After reading what was on offer it would not make me book a trip immediately, however, I would probably re visit Tripadviser to book a hotel through them if I was looking to go on holiday in the near future in order to receive the £25 gift card to spend in their online store.

The image by the side of the promotion made me click on the ‘see details’ hyperlink to have a look at the other items on offer. The landing page gave brief instructions on what to do in order to qualify for the gift, some terms and conditions and another link to the bookings page. I liked the simplicity of the instructions and the imagery used on the landing page, however, there were many different colors. TripAdvisor should have used green, white and orange like in the email so that there’s a familiarity from the email to website.

References

Ellis-Chadwick, F. Doherty, N.F. (2011). Web Advertising: The Role of e-mail Marketing. Journal of Business Research, Vol. 65, Issue. 6

10 Benefits of Email Marketing (2015) Available at: www.pure360.com/10-benefits-of-email-marketing/

Words to Avoid Using in Your Email Message (2016) Available at: https://www.icontact.com