• by Laura Lang , January 10, 2011

Our digital lives are no longer deskbound, but mobile. People are growing accustomed to personal, instant access everywhere and anytime--we read, shop, chat, learn, organize and work on mobile devices, with more platforms and apps appearing every day.

Welcome to the world of instant gratification, the natural "next step" for a society that has become constantly connected, even when we're on the move.

We share more with each other than ever before, we expect the world to answer back personally and immediately, and we make little distinction between relationships--personal, professional or commercial. This demands profound changes in how we market, even compared to the epochal shifts of recent years. To survive, brands must be available, participatory and useful to a consumer in all the right moments in the mobile lifestyle, because purchase decisions on the mobile platform happen fast. Consider this: When searching for a consumer electronics product on a personal computer, 40 percent of consumers purchase the product within 30 days. But when they search from a phone, 40 percent make that purchase within one hour. Imagine how quickly the new mobile consumer will act on low-cost, fast-choice decisions such as restaurants and movies, and you get the idea--marketers have to stay out in front of consumers both figuratively and literally, and consumers are moving faster than ever.

Mobile marketers have several new advantages, such as the massive amounts of data that the mobile environment generates. With careful analysis, we can know more about the purchase process and consumer habits than ever before, and we can use this to tailor effective messaging and engagement based on individual habits, even down to time of day. Broad demographic slices are no longer the latest and greatest game in town. We can also use data to support the nature and content of ongoing engagement, desirable because brands that continuously express their fundamental character in fresh and cutting-edge ways forge stronger connections with consumers.

Another new advantage in the mobile world is the ability to create real-world experiences. Effective brands leverage the interactive and "always-on" nature of the mobile environment to engage consumers not just with messages but with activities, which are inherently more memorable or "sticky." Mobile consumers do things, because mere observation is passé. "Brand champions" are a particular kind of participant--and valuable, too: they promote to their friends the brands they like and trust. These powerful advocates offer the valuable incentive of personal recommendation within a trusted community. Marketers should nurture and reward them--and respect them.

Mobile advantages are powerful. Culture is not only moving toward instant gratification, it is seeking to tear down barriers between users and technology. For instance, Microsoft's Kinect literally removes the controller from the gaming experience. All a player has to do is move. It's one less "hurdle" between the user and the experience--one less step.

Mobile consumers seek fewer steps in their experiences, too, but they're not yet finding the ease they demand. The familiar desktop browser yields a point-and-click experience, but the mobile world often demands many steps. In a world of instant gratification, a multiple-step purchase means multiple opportunities to abandon the purchase--and to leave a customer frustrated about a brand. It's time to work with platforms toward a common, consumer-friendly infrastructure for immediate and easy mobile purchase. Brands that don't overcome this problem in 2011 are going to be behind in 2012, because successful brands will find an answer over the next 12 months or less.

The mobile world is personal. It's always with us, it's always available, and it's quickly coming to feel like a natural extension of ourselves. But it's still not natural enough. Successful brands will act quickly to reflect this new reality.