The toughest part of running any form of marketing activity is the basis on which one measures its success. Ultimately we all anticipate a positive impact on to the bottom line - Effectively, more sales, new customers.
Defining the outcome of an activity is relatively easy, therefore justifying the spend in some instances is generally acceptable, for most corporate departments - for example placing an advert in an audited publication where you know you'll have a reach of a predefined readership and audience of 2 million – is justifiable.
What I fail to grasp, with most publications is how they actually justify the spend to their customers. There is no definitive outcome and no definitive measurement - in other words as an advertiser I have NO idea who has been impacted by the advertisement I have placed. I have no clue whether new customers are as a result of my Print, Radio, Television or Outdoor media.
This poses a problem for me personally for when I look at the power of Mobile Media vs. the traditional methods. Through Mobile media I can now categorically control my market. I can target specific industries, LSM groups and drive regionally based activities. I can also define the level of interaction I engage with my customer and most importantly I can measure the outcome of any activity driven through this medium. Have a look at what Grapevine Mobile is doing www.grapevine.co.za.
Every activity has an outcome and every campaign is linked through to a Mobi-site where a new form of interaction with customers has been defined.
This together with the power of social media marketing in my mind have to be the only platforms that offer definitive outcomes and in my opinion is the NEXT generation of engaging/interacting with ones customers.
Vive L’Mobile.
2 comments:
My only problem with mobile is that possibly its strongest point may also be its weakest: interactivity. Traditional media have the power to get their messages across in an almost forceful way - you see the ads on TV, hear them on radio (repeatedly), or see them while paging through a magazine. Mobile campaigns almost certainly have an "opt in" component, and unless you make it thoroughly attractive from the first second, you run the risk of having you message completely dismissed as nothing more than spam.
Spike, thanks for your input and I agree that you have a valid point and one which I believe is being experienced currently particularly with SMS based marketing activities.
I am of the opinion that whilst there is a massive opportunity for mobile media there will always be the mix of traditional media prevalent in any form of communication with ones customers. However I view the mobile platform as one where I can engage my customer in a way that traditional media never has been able to – Adverts, Clips, Animation, Games – you name it and I can point them to an environment such as a Mobi-Site where I can interact with them on many different levels.
In addition I can absolutely track the activity of my customer as well as the outcome of my ‘spend’ which means that my campaign is now for the first time truly backed by a measurable outcome.
In my opinion that gives me an extremely powerful platform as a corporate and the best part about it is that if I do become too intrusive to some of my customers - they can simply opt out.... thereby protecting my brand.
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