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Harness The Power of Digital

To start out the week, a “Brief” thought from an experienced audience measurement professional:

According to Dr. Stuart Pike, Executive Director, Digital Audience Measurement, Nielsen, when it comes to getting your brand messaging across to the typical smartphone user, you’ve got about 90 minutes of their day to make an impact. While the share of smartphone screen-time minutes available for potential brand marketing purposes varies around the world (75 minutes in Japan, 60 minutes in the U.S., etc.), smartphone penetration is rapidly growing, and your brand could realistically become part of the consumer experience.

There are many ways to stand out in the digital revolution, you just have to know how to harness its power. A March 2013 Harvard Business Review article, “For Mobile Devices Think Apps, Not Ads,” contends that the typical user downloads about 40 apps to their phones, but regularly uses about 15.

Aside from making a phone call or sending a text, most smartphone time is spent using apps. Apps for “me time,” apps for communicating and social networking, apps for shopping, discovery, self-expression—the list goes on, says the report.

Digital has already proven itself as a profitable medium when it comes to return on investment, but to be successful in this space, recognize that the smartphone is a personal device. Rather than rely on disruptive advertising, create apps that add value to consumers’ lives and enhance long-term brand engagement.

For example, connect with how people feel as much as how they shop, says Dr. Pike. In South Korea, the U.K.-based retailer Tesco has a grocery delivery business called Home Plus. By leveraging the walls of subway stations with life-size, high-resolution photos of products on store shelves, complete with QR codes that can be scanned with a smartphone, consumers can shop and arrange for delivery while waiting for their trains. Within the first three months of rollout, the number of registered users of Home Plus increased by 76 percent, and revenues increased by 130 percent.

To stand out with a digital app, says Pike, think about your consumer along five important value propositions and answer these questions:

  • Is it convenient?
  • What makes it unique?
  • Does it have a social component?
  • What incentive does it provide?
  • Is it fun?

Digital provides great opportunities for brand owners to reach and influence, but requires different thinking than traditional media campaigns, and each device requires its own strategy, concludes the report.

 

 

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