mobile marketing

June 4, 2013December 23, 2016

Retailers Use Attribution Modeling to Measure the Touchpoints Driving Sales

Modeling helps assign value to touchpoints

Today’s digital consumer is exposed to a huge number of marketing messages via display ads, search, email, mobile, social media and other sources along the path to purchase. But until recently, many retailers mainly paid attention only to customers’ “last click”—an approach that ignores all other marketing touchpoints that lead to a transaction, according to a new eMarketer report, “Multichannel Attribution: What Retailers Need to Know.”

Now, however, some retailers are deploying complex multichannel attribution solutions, with Big Data power, to measure the performance of their marketing efforts. But the numbers are still small. According to an October 2012 survey conducted by Econsultancy and Adobe, only 26% of companies worldwide used advanced forms of marketing attribution—ones that go beyond simple last-click analysis.

However, retailers are under extreme pressure to better understand which marketing tactics are driving sales, so it is not surprising that more companies consider attribution modeling to be a priority.

A January 2013 survey by MarketingSherpa found that some 28% of marketers worldwide indicated that measuring attribution across channels is an important analytic objective in 2013.

May 27, 2013December 23, 2016

Moms with smartphones: Clothing and beauty were top mobile shopping categories

There is no question that mobile is becoming an essential shopping tool for many US moms. According to a March 2013 survey from retail solutions company Alliance Data, more than half of surveyed mom internet users reported using their smartphone or tablet at least weekly for some aspect of shopping, whether it be research or buying. And 35% of respondents said they used their device daily for shopping purposes.

Mobile’s usefulness for shopping is easy to see. Convenience and a better ability to price compare were the top reasons moms’ reported using their device as they moved through the purchase funnel.

Clothing and beauty ranked as the top product categories for which moms shopped on their smartphones and tablets, at 56% and 47%, respectively. Households products ranked third, researched by 42% of respondents, a significant figure for CPG brands, which have already moved quickly into the mobile advertising space.
Showrooming—the practice of going into stores to compare products and prices, often using mobile to shop around—is common among moms, as well. At both electronics and big-box retailers, half of mom mobile shoppers surveyed said they used their smartphone or tablet to look up product and price info. This was slightly less common at clothing, grocery and shoe stores, but more than one-third of respondents still had shopped at each of these locations using mobile devices.

However, mobile is not the primary method US moms prefer for shopping. Only 11% of respondents said this was the shopping method they would choose, if given only one option. And according to December 2012 research from parenting app company Alt12, about two-thirds of moms said they did less than half of their shopping on mobile.

But as mobile browsing becomes more common, and retailers improve their multichannel efforts, there is no question that more moms will favor smartphones and tablets for their shopping and buying.

March 13, 2012December 23, 2016

Using mobile apps in your business as a small business marketing strategy

Most business owners I talk to still think that mobile marketing is only for offering coupons. It is rare that they see any other use for a mobile app. They do know about games but most also don’t see the benefit of one for their business. I’ll leave the game part out for today. I want to focus on the many things you could offer your customers by having an app.

There are major benefits of using a mobile app.
* First, the web is decentralizing. We are transitioning to use more cel phones and tablets. Just making a website mobile friendly doesn’t mean much although it is necessary.

*Second, an app can teach your audience to come back to you on a regular basis and this is huge because it is very difficult to do that, specially online. If they perceive you as a content provider and want to consume your information, they will come back to you but if they carry “you” in their pocket, you just made this a lot easier for them.

*Third, when someone clicks on an app and uses it, for that period of time they are giving undivided attention to your content. Another action that is really hard to happen online. As business owners we want attention and we want undivided attention.

So here are a few ideas:

In real estate:

Display available homes with pictures
Home buying or selling consultation form
Allow clients to view nearby schools, restaurants, churches
Push messages with new offers

Restaurants, clubs and bars:

Offer loyalty coupons
Available food ordering from your phone
Reserve seats
Full menu
Push messages with special offers or events
Include your event schedule

Law firms

Legal consultation form
Blog, videos and podcasts
send clients a one touch message
market to potential clients at the app store

Music bands:

Sell your songs though Itunes
Stream your videos and audios
Display concert schedules

Gyms
Complete work guide
Track your record notepad
Full class fitness schedule
Send messages to your clients

Churches

Send donations
Prayer request
blog, videos and podcasts
Send messages directly to your members

Non-profits

Receive donations
Full event schedule
Send messages to sponsors

And there are many more things that can be done, including generating sales from the phone. We have also used as a training tool for distributors with some of our clients.

Mobile apps can be huge for your business and yes, you should be getting one. The investment is not high anymore and most business can afford building an app.

If you need more information on mobile apps for businesses, let us know.

April 6, 2010December 23, 2016

Local marketing and mobile marketing

If you do business locally, I’m afraid to say the Yellow pages is not your best option. I really don’t know many people that use the phone books other than as a door stop or seat booster.

The search engines are the new phone books, where people go to get the information they want, when they want and wherever they are.

Local businesses need to wake up and start promoting their businesses online now more than ever and if they think that they just need to wait until things go back to normal, they will never wake up. They will die a slow painful death.

Due to the economy, people are more resistant to buy and they don’t buy from businesses they don’t know about or don’t trust.

It is your job to increase the level of trust, be in places they can easily find you, (like on their phones) and promote your business more than ever.

Today is naive to think one ad in one place will do the trick. You need to do more and on a constant basis and you need to be the marketer in your business like it or not.

We live in an age where the gold rush is to be found and to get attention and this is your main job.

You need to be found on search engines, social environments, phone applications if you want to be in business for the next five years.

You will need just a fraction of whatever you have been spending in advertising and some time.

You can outsource most tasks or you can learn how to use local marketing and mobile marketing in your business.

The only thing you cannot do is wait.