SiteSpect’s Hansen on tackling mobile marketing
Q: What are first movers in mobile marketing doing?
A: The people that are ahead of the game are the ones that actually understand that the third screen is a new channel and a new medium. Generally, they are marketers or content providers for a site that already has regular Web or PC based sites. However, they are ahead of the game because they understand that it’s not about just taking what they’ve already done on their existing Web site and forcing it to into a smaller screen. They start out challenging the assumptions about what will work well in the mobile space.
Q: What differentiates the ways to reach mobile users from Web users?
A: The mobile user is doing different things and doesn’t have a lot of time. Good marketing to this user touches on a lot of different things. I’m using my mobile phone as a way to absorb different things in these little bites. In part, it’s like a branding campaign on the highway that you only see for 15 seconds. Another aspect is a CRM mentality, providing consumers another way to stay connected to a brand. Let’s not make it so that the end user has to spend a lot of time doing the set up – just make the brand and its perks available as an experience.
Q: How does testing benefit a mobile marketer?
A: Marketers can essentially define the parameters of their test, the content that they want to change, the content that want to show and who they want to target that particular test to. Sometimes you want to intentionally identify segments and then show special content [to them alone]. Geotargeting is a good example. You want people in major metro areas to see [a different] offer [than] people who are in rural areas. Marketers can define content that works to the objectives that they have and can then make adjustments in real time. That’s kind of the Holy Grail — and it’s here. That feedback is what controlled segmentation gives you.
Q: Are there particular verticals that mobile works best with?
A: There’s a certain degree of [mobile-specific] commerce — downloading songs and ring tones, wallpaper and other digital assets. There are campaigns in which the marketer wants people to opt in for some sort of regular communication with the brand. Going forward, more and more marketers will adopt some type of Internet [marketing]. Using mobile devices’ online capabilities is a great way to reach customers. It’s really anyone’s guess what things are going to look like in four to five years.
Q: What are some misconceptions about mobile testing that you have seen with your clients?
A: Quite often, many of the misconceptions that people have are based on what people have come to terms with as lead times. If I want to run a test campaign or a behavioral targeting campaign, it’s going to take me weeks because I need to get my site developers or my content developers to make changes to my site or my system. If I need something launched next week because that’s how long my promotion is good for than that means I’m not going to be able to test different versions of the campaigns. This is not the case; in a half hour you could have a test up and running and collecting data so that you are at the point where you can start making adjustments to optimize that campaign. Marketers need to stop focusing on the mechanics of how [to change their] sites and start focusing on the mechanics of how to get the best ideas together to put into their tests.
