• by Scott Forshay , January 11, 2012

The hyper-connected consumer of today’s new digital age has little patience for clutter or noise. Their smartphones have become a re-imagined compass to engage the world. How do marketers keep pace with the medium and utilize it fully?

Given that the device is hyper-connected and nearly always within arm’s reach, the smartphone has, in essence, become a natural extension of our human selves. Yet, with the newfound wealth of opportunities available to marketers associated with engaging consumers more personally through these devices, we're doing it all wrong.

1.  De-Emphasize The Unique Nature Of The Medium
Although they share a common infrastructure, mobile is not the traditional Web. The differentiating elements of the mobile medium have few equivalents in the stationary Web world. Why construct mobile with an inactive model in mind? Mobile events are inherently transitive in nature. The differentiated elements of the medium -- constant connectivity, location awareness, personalization, and social connection -- add affinity to consumer/brand interaction.

2. Treat Connected Consumers As Stationary Targets
Mobile consumers are moving targets -- therefore, engaging with them requires that consideration be given to the variability of exchange. Where is the consumer right now? What is she interested in? How can I compel her to visit my store location? When viewed through this lens, the possibilities for engaging consumers are limited only to the imagination.

3. Ignore The Power Of Contextual Relevance
The mobile medium represents the most powerful mechanism for delivering contextually relevant consumer-brand communications yet experienced in marketing. To take advantage of its unique capabilities, successful marketing strategies must evolve beyond the unidirectional approach.

Marketers that effectively solve the variables associated with the mobile medium will provide unique experiences for consumers, regardless of time or space, in ways that are differentiated, highly relevant and intensely personal. Only then will we collectively realize the power and influence of marketing in the moment.

4. Employ Old World Unidirectional Strategies

The challenge that brands face is to become adept transmedia storytellers -- creating messaging patterns, not simply repeating a single universal idea without regard for the medium. Brands must master the art of not simply marketing to people, but marketing to context. 

5.  Not Offering Value In Exchange For Value
Establishing consumer relationships through mobile marketing requires a mutual exchange of value. Whether consumers are opting-in for brand communications via SMS or engaging with the brand in a single instance through scanning a QR code, the onus is on the brand to deliver value in return for customers’ valuable time and information.

Rather than marketing at the target with brand-centric storytelling wherever it may encounter them, allow the tale to travel with them. Communicate the narrative with an episodic structure and allow the medium to reveal ensuing chapters in a continuum of branded engagements that create a journey with the brand. In this strategy, consumers live the brand story as if they were on the page.