As a midsized business you probably have some kind of mobile support as part of your marketing mix. So what? People’s primary method of interacting with technology is now becoming a mobile device. This is how they stay in touch with family and friends, catch up on the news, or find a great place to eat. So, as a marketer it’s going to be the primary way they interactive with you as a brand.
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★ Everyone’s Got Mobile Marketing, But Do You Get How Different It Now Is? ★
Yes, everyone knows that you have to do mobile or you are leaving millions or billions of dollars on the table. Mike Riegel, IBM’s Vice President of Mobile however thinks that’s missing the point. Ninety one percent of people with smart phones have them within arm’s reach 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
This means that you can have your brand available to interact with your customers only a foot away at any given moment. What a great opportunity. This means mobile is no longer just a marketing strategy, but it’s now a business strategy. Once you embrace that, then mobile needs to be a CMO’s primary way of driving sales, and this takes re-imagining the entire customer experience.
Mike points to one example of CMOs with vision. At Visa and The GAP they’re taking advantage of this new approach. Visa wanted to reinvigorate their relationship with their customers and retail partners. The GAP saw the potential in mobile.
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So, working together with IBM, when a Visa customer swipes their card at a Starbucks in the mall, using location data, The GAP can push a coupon to them saying there is a GAP down the street and they can get 20% off anything in the store.
So, what is the outcome of this program? The GAP was able to drive a 30% increase in sales.
NOTE: This live blog update is from IBM’s Partner World Leadership Conference 2013
Interviewed: Mike Riegel Vice President, Mobile, IBM
This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. I’ve been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.
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About Steve Farnsworth @Steveology
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GirlRilla Advertising
February 28, 2013
Do you think it’s worth paying for a mobile app for your website, when everyone has smartphones?
Steve Farnsworth A.K.A. @Steveology
March 1, 2013
It really depends on your customers and how they interact with your service. If you have a lot of users and a complex service or product they need to interact with, an app might make a lot of sense, e.g., B of A, Southwest Airline. If it is for an Ice cream store probably not. A Responsive Deign would likely give them the access to the information they would want to find, e.g., locations and times.
mobile marketing
March 3, 2013
thanks for sharing this useful information with us.Great Post.