Mobile Marketing

Mobile marketing is becoming more popular on a daily basis. It seems that 2012 and 2013 were the turning years for companies using mobile marketing and 2014 is projected to be even better. The most engaging ad campaigns are ran through mobile applications. (Murphy, 2013) I found some great examples online that may help you understand how mobile marketing can really benefit a business.

The San Diego Chargers wanted to be able to interact with their fans even in the off season on a more personal level so they came up with a way to take their relationship with their fans to the next level. You can text CHARGERS to 48307 and will instantly begin to receive updates about news-related Chargers alerts. These alerts include scores, statistics, player updates and injuries. (Newswire, 2012) By doing this they are allowing their fans to feel as if they are in an exclusive group and it keeps them excited about the up-coming season which, hopefully, leads to more ticket sales.

Another great example is Target’s cartwheel app. This being an app that you can download for free on your phone versus alerts being sent to you via text; this mobile marketing campaign allows the user to utilize it when they need it. Target used Facebook to promote their app and as users use Cartwheel the app can post on the users behalf onto Facebook so it shares the deals you received. (Top Five Mobile Campaigns of 2013, 2013) The Cartwheel app basically is a mobile coupon app that offers discounts to the user on select items. The items change often and as you use the app the more coupons you are able to store in your account. The great part is that it offers one barcode that they scan when you check out and the discounts come right off the total. You can even stack your Cartwheel coupon with other coupons and your 5% off by using their Target credit or debit card. This was a brilliant idea of Target as people who enjoy using coupons but maybe don’t have time to cut them or don’t get the Sunday paper now feel that they are able to get a good deal at the store. They also saw an increase in credit and debit card users as people are on a roll with saving, they might as well open a card so they can always get an additional 5% off.

Taking mobile marketing a step further you can look at location based mobile advertising campaigns. Quiznos did a campaign in Portland, Oregon. They targeted people between 18 and 34 who had visited a similar quick-service restaurant like a Subway or Jimmy Johns and were within a 3 mile radius of a Quiznos restaurant within Portland, Oregon. At the end of their campaign they saw nearly 3.7 million new ad impressions and with a 20% boost in coupon redemption's within that area as compared to similar nationwide campaigns. (Top Five Mobile Campaigns of 2013, 2013) By doing this they were able to make the user feel as if they were getting an exclusive deal that was specialized for them. This then proved to give them a great return on investment.

Return on investment is what a lot of companies struggle with when trying to decide if they want to use a mobile marketing campaign because it can sometimes be hard to determine. The way I look at it is if they get even 100 more followers online that is 100 more than they didn’t have. However, when they invest a lot of money into a campaign they can easily track their return on investment by having some sort of a promo code, or like Target, a special barcode that gets used which shows and tracks how many times it is used.

In 2014 experts are expecting to see even more from businesses when it comes to mobile marketing. They are predicting to see that large rich media ads will be more efficient. The overall audience responsiveness to larger ad formats will increase. They say that the most popular and effective mobile ads are entertainment, travel and automotive and they will remain the most popular. And they also see that in-app campaigns will become more profitable because there is more data out there to determine the ROI and also companies have gone through the processes with experience to determine what works and what doesn’t. (Murphy, 2013)

Mobile marketing is going to get even bigger and companies need to continue to push the limits and keep their followers engaged. Mobile marketing only works if users are enticed to play along. The companies that do the best and stay ahead of the game are the ones that will continue to succeed.

I found this great clip on YouTube that really makes you stop and think for one minute how much you may use your mobile device and where the future is going when it comes to mobile marketing. It really helped me make full sense of this. Enjoy! (Gonzy, 2012)

http://youtu.be/5lVkcG5GJTI

Bibliography

Top Five Mobile Campaigns of 2013. (2013, September 25). Retrieved December 10, 2013, from Martin-Wilbourn Partners: http://mwpartners.com/mobilecampaigns

Gonzy, G. (2012, December 2). Mobile Marketing 2013- 12 Amazing Facts. Retrieved December 9, 2013, from You Tube: http://youtu.be/5lVkcG5GJTI

Murphy, D. (2013, November 22). What 2013 Tells us About 2014 in Mobile Advertising. Retrieved December 10, 2013, from Mobile Marketing Magazine: http://mobilemarketingmagazine.com/what-2013-tells-us-about-2014-in-mobile-advertising/

Newswire, P. (2012, May 30). Vibes and San Diego Chargers Kick Off New Mobile Marketing Campaign. Retrieved December 10, 2013, from Academic OneFile: http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA291380553&v=2.1&u=mnapcl&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=1c7ac5924ef0dfad840d4778c3b515f4

Social Media in the Workplace

Social media is everywhere. It is a part of our personal lives but it can play a very beneficial role in our working lives as well. Social media is a great way to market your company to external people, but have you ever thought about continuing to “sell” your company to your employees?

“Organizations are under even more pressure to keep staff engaged.” (Chesworth, 2013) It has been reported that employees are under more pressure at work and feel insecure which can lead to higher rates of turnover within a company. Only six in ten employees feel their organization cares about their opinion and respects their views. (Chesworth, 2013) What can a company do about that? Focus on marketing to your employees.

Social networks, such as SharePoint, can provide employers and employees an outlet to communicate to one another in a less time consuming manner. SharePoint is a great way for companies to create an internal social networking website and not only can they use it to talk to one another, they can also utilize features that will allow them to store, organize, share and access information from any device with a simple log in. (What is SharePoint?, 2013) By having an internal social network employers can do something as simple as posting an annual employee survey or even offer an outlet that is available to employees at any time that allows them to place confidential (if they choose) complaints or ideas. By having this outlet for employees you are letting them know that you care about what they have to say and they feel better by being able to express their opinions or share their ideas whenever they want in a comfortable fashion and then have there be direct response back to them to confirm that they were heard and their suggestion or complaint will be dealt with or reviewed.

To very large companies having this outlet may seem like an overwhelming project to manage, and yes, if you have thousands of employees it may be someone’s full time job to go through the incoming complaints and suggestions. But, in my opinion, if you can pay one person to filter through these to make thousands of employees happy, the cost would be a benefit in itself. Organizations can also continue to market to their employees by the means of social media by getting involved with current trends. More and more people are carrying around smart phones and tablets that allow them to communicate in many different fashions. Allow people to work from home, do face to face meetings via Facetime or Skype, and/or give them access to check their emails on their personal devices. By allowing employees some freedom and ability to use personal devices that they have glued to their hands anyway, you may notice people choosing to go the extra mile and notice their work productivity increasing. I have the ability to get my emails on my phone and when I am bored I have no problem checking my messages and responding to some on my own personal time just because I feel like it. I enjoy having the freedom to use these devices at work and show my appreciation by staying connected.

Social networking is part of most people’s daily lives. Some companies use to block these websites but I think the benefits of allowing people to go onto them outweighs any cons. Have you ever noticed when someone does a post or status update that it often will automatically post the location in which the person was at when they posted? What a great way for companies to advertise! Just by me doing a personal post I now have a location stamp that displays my location or I can even tag my place of work in my status, and now all of my friends or followers have read the company name and have that name in mind.

Social media is more than just Myspace pages these days, or a time waster. Your employees are your marketers, they help spread the word about your company on a daily basis and what a great way to ‘repay’ them by allowing them to use social media. As the baby boomers start to reach the age of retirement it is now time to bring in Generation Y employees. These are the employees of the future and they are ready to be hard workers and to work quickly and with passion. Companies that want to continue to be successful need to engage these employees and understand that these workers communicate in a different way and they need to leverage that. (Chesworth, 2013)

Bibliography

What is SharePoint? (2013). Retrieved November 13, 2013, from http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint-foundation-help/what-is-sharepoint-HA010378184.aspx

Chesworth, N. (2013, May 28). Going online to keep work in line. Evening Standard. Retrieved October 28, 2013, from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1355737105?accountid=41205