It almost pains me (pun intended) to write this mobile marketing post. The reason is so many marketing agencies are struggling with the transition from traditional marketing to mobile marketing. It’s virtually a new world out there as the customer journey happens where customers are living – on their mobile devices. Many marketing folks are struggling to adjust to (and trust) things like automation, customer profiling, artificial intelligence, customer loyalty in the digital realm, and so on.
From the bird’s eye, the struggles are largely attributed to disparate solutions, where many are taking the easy road, trying to save money, building up an arsenal of scattered digital marketing tools. The problem here is the time it takes to perform common digital marketing tasks – take this approach and you’ll quickly find out why your competition is miles ahead in customer reach and retention. But that’s not all the bird sees. There are a ton of other pain points across the mobile marketing land, but we’ve elected the top 5 pain points mobile marketers face and how to solve them.
1 – Money for Mobile marketing
“I simply don’t have it in the budget!” Marketing budget issues are certainly not unique to mobile marketing, but they remain at the top of this list because money is still the most frequent pain point when it comes to investing in a mobile marketing solution. The following dialogue says it all: “What do we want?” “FREE!” ‘When do we want it?” “Yesterday!” This is typical of anyone starting out in mobile marketing, but also of seasoned mobile marketers. And it’s no secret that free is usually associated with limitations.
The trick is to find the perfect solution that fits your customer’s marketing needs. ‘Perfect’ meaning the right price, right? But be careful here…‘perfect’ must also consider the toolset your customers require. It’s not easy, but it’s better to find a solution encompassing all the common digital marketing tools in one toolbox at a great price point. I say this is not easy because most outfits purporting this model are charging an ‘arm and a leg’ for services, and pricing solutions on a per-module basis, meaning: you don’t get everything for 1 great price.
Solution: Break the mindset that free is better. Free tools are limited in functionality and typically come with more headaches than you bargain for. On the flip side, you shouldn’t spend your full marketing budget just because someone offers big shiny marketing objects. You must do your homework. Look for the right toolset that fits your business need. Consider your own pain points. It’s also helpful to consider solutions offering the most common digital marketing tools at one price point. Some outfits may charge you by the feature, but this can be costly if, and when, your needs change. Look for solutions that include a full toolset at one reasonable, competitive price. Never compromise on quality!
2 – Time for Mobile marketing
“I don’t have enough time for marketing!” Marketing tends to fall lower on the business priority list because of the time it takes. Plain and simple. We’re busy watching the bottom line, keeping meetings and getting other mundane tasks done we think are higher priorities. A word to the wise – this way of thinking is ultimately a trap. Why? Where would any successful business be today without marketing? You’re not succeeding if you are not getting the word out about your wonderful products, solutions or services. We say this nicely, but your business is failing if you are not marketing it properly. Look at it this way: your body needs air to breath, and similarly, your business needs marketing to stay alive.
Solution: Marketing must be a priority. No matter what, you must find space and time in your 24-hour clock, and your weekly, monthly and yearly calendars for marketing. Find out what marketing platforms will save you time. But stay within your business needs; don’t pick a solution that will end up wasting time anyway. Again, do your homework. Another piece of advice – go with the times. That is, stay up to date with the marketing landscape and technology requirements. Automation, for example – huge and very efficient today. Artificial intelligence (AI) – also huge and efficient. When it comes to mobile marketing, look for solutions built on both foundations. Smart solutions require smart marketing. The bottom line: You’ve always got time for Marketing.
3 – Mobile marketing automation:
“Automation is a trend, it will fade away!” Absolutely and vehemently not! Speaking of automation…imagine removing the autopilot feature from today’s aircraft. Picture over-stressed pilots, extra pilots on every long-distance flight, longer lineups in airports due to decreased numbers of flights, etc. We take automation for granted, even in our daily lives: telephone switching, online banking, digital healthcare, household appliances, and automobiles. Things would slow down significantly if we suddenly removed automation.
The same can be said for today’s marketing. In the mobile realm, especially, we are getting more used to automation. Our mobile phones are becoming skilled little robots making our lives easier every day. How could we possibly go backwards? You’ve got to automate your marketing workflows to stay ahead of the curve, and your competition.
Solution: Automate. Automate. Automate. Never hesitate to automate. Most cloud-based marketing solutions are automating these days, which is good. But you need to ask them if they are truly automating their mobile marketing tasks, or if they are simply mimicking automation – smoke and mirrors and the like. Look for an automated marketing solution that helps you plan your strategy, create your content and plan your workflow in a few easy steps.
Automation should help you set up an effective conversion funnel and enrich your customer database with qualified contacts using the solution’s targeting capabilities, and finally, distribute your content automatically at scheduled intervals according to your business needs. You need to fuel your capability of influencing purchasing decisions and guide your buyers along the customer journey.
4 – Customer Behavior:
“I can’t understand my customers!” Many companies don’t know where their customers came from or how they made a decision to buy their products. If you’re in this boat, there is hope for your sinking ship. Your customers are all on journeys, each creating touch-points and experiences along the way, which you can use to ‘step into their shoes’ and see your business from their perspective. The customer journey helps you gain insight into their pain points, improve their experiences, and define what they need to complete a purchase. The truth is, we are all customers. We should inherently understand the journey customers take, because we’ve been there.
Solution: Pay attention to your customers. Easier said than done right? Yes, actually. In the digital realm, it’s way easier to track your customer’s behaviors than ever before. They leave digital footprints we can use to trace their steps and gain a full understanding of their buying process. Call it a customer map, customer journey, guiding light or whatever! The fact is, there are tons of benefits to paying attention to your customers. By doing so, you can:
- see where your customers interact with your business.
- focus on specific customer needs at different stages in the buying funnel.
- identify a logical order of your customer’s journey.
- see your sales process from the outside looking in.
- see gaps between your customer’s desired experience and the one they actually receive.
- highlight development priorities.
- concentrate marketing efforts and budget on what matters most to maximize effectiveness.
5 – Customer Loyalty
“I have my customer’s attention, but I can’t seem to keep it!” What’s the hardest part of marketing? Gaining people’s attention. What’s the next hardest thing? Sending them through the funnel. And the next? Keeping them as loyal, trusting customers. You are absolutely doing something right if you get even the first part down pat. But doing all 3 consistently – that requires talent, experience, being in the trenches, and a great marketing solution to help orchestrate all the above.
These 3 hard things are intricately connected, and when you mess up on one, chances are your competition will gain a customer. But that means you lose one? Absolutely. Many marketing and communication agencies struggle daily with the perfect balance because they aren’t focusing on the customer’s full journey. They only pay attention to some of the touch-points and not all of them.
Solution: Know your customer inside and out. Pay attention to their small touch-points – all of them. Listen to them as they teach you more about your business, your customer service, and most importantly, their needs. But marketing cannot live on knowledge alone. You must search for a solution that is fully centered on the entire customer journey. Every tool included in your mobile marketing solution must be designed to captivate your users, convert them to customers, and nurture the relationship thereafter. By tracking data, assigning quality scores and accurately profiling users, you equip marketers with the tools to achieve what every marketer wants: a database of exclusive qualified leads.
Whenever potential customers interact with content, their personal data and data behavior patterns are collected and stored. Platforms must provide a unique and full-spectrum view of your prospect’s habits, along with information on how they are interacting with your content. So, finding a solution that interprets and organizes prospect and customer data in real-time and automatically assigns quality scores based on user interaction with the content, is integral! Tools with lead-scoring algorithms help distinguish hot contacts from those who need further priming and contact.
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