• by Kendall Allen , August 22, 2011

You'd be hard-pressed today to find a marketer among us who is not enamored of mobile. But, deploying mobile today is not just an act of love; it's a consumer-driven imperative. This is based on two pronounced trends: consumer mobile adoption is booming, and consumers by default now expect cross-platform programming. So what tactics should you be deploying?

As reported by Nielsen at AppNation in April, over 60% of smart phone users use apps. And we know, generally speaking, these consumers will pay for relevant content. That's now a commonly accepted truth.

A report recently released by the Aberdeen Group provided data on the specific pressures driving mobile marketing activities. Yes, there definitely are pressures.

Of marketers polled in the Aberdeen report, the steep consumer adoption of mobile was referenced by 40% of the respondents as the top pressure on marketers, followed next by the pressure of rapidly changing consumer expectations (35%) around mobility, with the close third being the economic pressures to deliver greater ROI from marketing (29%).  "Faced with these challenges, the mobile channel offers the promise of achieving marketing nirvana for many marketing organizations; reaching consumers wherever they are, any time of day. As a result, marketers are increasingly turning to mobile for direct customer interaction." (Source: Aberdeen Group, 2011 www.aberdeen.com)

One's head might swim at the thought of this so-called nirvana. Knowing your consumer is ostensibly reachable 24/7, anywhere at all, how specifically, tactically, to engage? With the big guns of apps, social nets and advanced utilities set aside for a moment, what else are participating marketers doing to take advantage of the mobile imperative -- in very basic ways -- to connect with their customers and foster engagement and even loyalty? Well, why not sit down with your team and ponder these tangible, executable options:

1.     Mobile ad delivery. Extending your existing cross-platform ad campaign may be as simple as looking at campaign management options and new creative specifications. The tools set available for staging, serving and optimizing have greatly improved, while there's heightened attention to mobile-friendly creative specs.

2.     Mobile couponing. The next generation of offer-based messaging seems to be making headway. With improved CRM utility, opt-in mechanics and deliverability, every serious cross-platform CPG or retail marketer  should be exploring this with their team, agency or vendor partners.

3.     Other hand-held friendly methods and tactics to consider: loyalty programs; location-based messaging, offer-driven or otherwise; use of Quick Response (QR) codes; and streaming content. All can be integrated into your strategy.

The consumer adoption and expectation pressure factors alone make the quest for appropriate, convenience- or benefit-driven options very important. Still, often surrounded in the office by the not-so-useful din of: "Let's build an app!" (akin to "We need a Facebook page and lotsa likes."), you'll find that certain practical choices make a lot of sense for today's marketer, because they can be tracked, measured and optimized like the best of digital media. Thus, a few well-chosen, very tactical executions in the vein of those listed above are a worthy response to that third pressure of doing things efficiently, with your eyes wide open (because you are tracking/optimizing it all), and getting your due ROI.