10 Key Words of Mobile Marketing

We are in an era that urgently needs change. When traditional industries have not yet been deeply explored, the Internet thinking arrives; while we are still studying what Internet thinking is, mobile Internet comes. We are constantly in a clash between tradition and modernity, facing the end of the era of mass marketing and the rise of the micro-marketing world.

So how to define mobile Internet marketing? We believe that in the mobile Internet era, it is not about imposing on consumers, but about empowering them; equal participation and interaction are more important. Mobile Internet marketing is not about 'publishing information' to consumers through mobile terminals, but about marketing that connects with mobile consumers through relationships.

What new elements should mobile marketing capture? We summarize them into the following ten keywords.

1. Personality and Precision.

Mobile device screens are too small compared to PC screens, and users have very low tolerance for irrelevant content and ads. Therefore, personalization of mobile marketing through analysis of mobile user behavior and data mining is crucial. It can provide precise mobile Internet marketing based on user location, interests, device type, and time periods. One-to-one more precise communication will become a reality in the future. At the same time, mobile marketing needs to respect consumer individuality. For example, Japanese fast-fashion brand Uniqlo launched an app called UTme! where users can create their own UT. After downloading the app, users can doodle, use phone photos, or letter patterns to make their DIY T-shirts. This is also an opportunity brought by mobile Internet for personalization.

2. Emotion and Scenario.

The mobile phone is a terminal with emotions and feelings, and people's movement trajectories have the characteristic of scenario shifts. Therefore, mobile marketing first needs to consider how to mobilize consumer emotions. For example, recently Durex launched a new product APP on mobile where couples can take photos before intimacy, and beautify or decorate them. Many mobile apps themselves are closely related to scenarios, such as Moji Weather and Chinese Calendar. Jeep partnered with Chinese Calendar to launch four historically significant JeepDays: June 6 to commemorate D-Day, featuring the Jeep Grand Cherokee; July 23 as the All-Terrain Experience Day, featuring the Jeep Cherokee; and two more JeepDays in August and September. This allows users to gain a deeper understanding of Jeep's brand history and products while engaging with the calendar scenario.

3. Entertainment and Fun.

All industries are entertainment industries. In the mobile Internet era, we need to think about how to embed advertising within entertainment; fun becomes very important. For example, the famous lingerie brand Victoria's Secret did a stylish outdoor ad with a QR code placed on the model's chest, and the ad copy was blatantly seductive: 'Reveal Lily's secret', making you eagerly take out your phone to scan the QR code. Behind the QR code was Victoria's Secret lingerie, truly as the slogan says, 'Sexier than skin'.

4. Holographic and Interactive.

The mobile phone is also a holographic medium. Companies can combine the characteristics of smartphones to explore new advertising models, such as location-based ad push, shake, and blow interactions. Using LBS functions, ads can also tell consumers where the nearest store is. Mobile phones are terminals that can comprehensively use text, images, audio, video, and other types of information for transmission.

5. Benefits and Rewards.

Surveys show that 76.6% of respondents are interested in discounts/rewards. eMarketer data shows that in 2014, one in four smartphone users redeemed a coupon. Mobile marketing also needs to give consumers rewards. Companies can bundle membership cards with smartphone apps or WeChat to drive consumers to mobile e-commerce platforms or collect coupons and trigger actions in physical stores.

6. Instant Response and Action Acceleration.

All marketing aims to achieve action. Therefore, enabling consumers to go from seeing an ad to completing a transaction and making a purchase completes the marketing loop. Combining specific living spaces and scenarios with mobile marketing can also accelerate action. For example, in office building elevator ads, many brands launch QR code interactions to obtain coupons. This flash-sale-like approach can prompt consumers to take action while intercepting them. China Merchants Bank's WeChat banking further enables real-time interaction, helping users transfer and pay instantly. The WeChat backend staff can also communicate with users in real time to meet their needs at any moment.

7. Cross-Screen and Cross-Media.

Mobile technology becomes the adhesive that organically integrates consumer touchpoints, combining all other marketing touchpoints and screens, including TV, outdoor LCD TVs, cinema screens, print media, and in-store media. Therefore, cross-screen and cross-device are essential for mobile marketing. For example, when running TV ads, you should coordinate with Weibo and WeChat to achieve greater depth of communication value, or make TV ads interactive with mobile. For instance, Coca-Cola once launched a mobile app called 'CHOCK'. Users opened the app during designated 'Coca-Cola' beach TV ads. When the ad showed a Coca-Cola bottle cap and the phone vibrated, users waved the phone to capture the bottle cap on the TV screen, up to three caps per session. At the end of the ad, the prize results were revealed in the app.

8. Tools, Content, and Services.

Many mobile apps are tools that meet specific consumer needs. But when content appears on these tools, consumer stickiness increases. If services can be provided based on such apps, their marketing value is further amplified, becoming a precise marketing weapon for segmented groups.

9. Tribes and Communities.

Tribalization is what mobile marketing needs to study to distinguish people. Building mobile communities based on common topics or consumer characteristics has become a new marketing trend. For example, the female menstrual health management tool 'Dayima' started as a small tool, but within less than a year, it gradually developed into a 'fully anonymous' community. As of March 2014, Dayima's registered users exceeded 40 million, with daily active users reaching 2.5 million. In this community, female users can discuss various private topics related to women's health, with an average daily stay time of 20 minutes. Such mobile communities have enormous potential for marketing and services targeting female groups.

10. Localization and O2O.

For many companies, the most important goal is to bridge the last mile with consumers through mobile marketing. The diversification of user localization scenarios has spawned demand for local marketing. For example, when users search for keywords like 'restaurant' or 'fast food', they generally choose one close to them and make a purchase directly. Many media are actively exploring local integration. For instance, in the second quarter of 2013, Facebook achieved its first significant profit, largely thanks to its localized mobile advertising business, which grew to account for 41% of its total ad revenue. Focus Media has installed WiFi hotspots in some of its elevator ads. Consumers approaching these ads can connect to WiFi, and the elevator ads can interact with them, collecting their consumption and lifestyle habits, integrating mobile Internet with local services. The localized mobile advertising platform Lomark focuses on discovering local advertiser resources, aggregating the 'long tail' value of regional mobile ad markets, and enhancing ad traffic value, attracting attention from real estate, finance, and FMCG companies.

Finally, mobile marketing is not an independent entity; it can combine with all our communications. We are in an era of change. How to use mobile Internet is a question all brands need to consider. How to make individuals on mobile terminals actively spread the word for advertisers in the micro-marketing era is another question to consider.