Time to re-think the mobile marketing game plan! (Part 2)

Last week, I posted about my frustrations in the game of mobile shopper marketing. I think marketers are misfiring on mobile with the overuse of coupons. This week is about the upside. The opportunity is to change what mobile can accomplish beyond extending unprofitable price promotions is vast, especially when you consider the insights from a solid research summary as a basis from which think about the shopper.

INSIGHTS: These are indeed facts from the study, but serve as hugely insightful behavioral snapshots into a highly sought-after target shopper: Moms with smartphones!  Think about what the facts below as stimulus for commercial innovation in mobile shopper marketing.

Moms with Smartphones:

• Spend 37% of their daily media time with their smartphone, double the time with TV and more than with any other form of media
• 51% say they are “addicted” to their smart phones
• Are using the camera #1, the video #2, and #3 is Apps – 25% of those Apps are for her kids
• 33% have used it for health and wellness activities; top activities are family health tracking and researching conditions
• Are 284% more likely than the average adult to use their smartphones to text their friends rather than call them.
• Are 40% more likely to use their phones for social networking
• 56% rank reading social newsfeeds as top social activity, 48% read and post answers to questions
• Smartphone ad campaigns have 39% effectiveness in capturing customer attention, and are:
• 30% more effective than feature phones in unaided awareness, (17% vs. 13%)
• 25% more effective in purchase intent (15% vs. 12%)

OPPORTUNITIES: I could go on all day with ideas these insights inspired. I’m open to workshopping that any day. But this was my AHA! Moment:

I ask you all, when is the last time a shopper used the word ADDICTED and your brand in the same sentence?

The fact is you may be using mobile to encourage shoppers to become addicted to coupons, instead of a productive, engaged relationship with your brand. It’s time to change the mix.

I think it’s time for shopper marketers to re-think their mobile objectives and lean toward  more solution oriented engagements with Moms and smartphones? Is a coupon really the best you’ve got to offer?

Consider doing these things:

• Conversing (maybe a survey?)
• Socializing (suggestions on how to live better with your brand)
• Inspiring mobile users to share benefits of life with your brand
• Listening (what do you want to learn from shoppers?)
• Solving problems
• Creating solutions WITH shoppers (crowdsourcing ideas)
• Storytelling
• Connecting Moms to each other and to your mission

All of these things are measurable. It’s just not as easy as a TPR (temporary price reduction) or a coupon or a Groupon. Mobile represents a huge opportunity, but as an industry we defaulted to easy and non-profitable.

It’s time to work harder to imagine ways to use  mobile in a more inspired manner. And we can if we concentrate on insights and start to add measured activities for the long term. Inches of movement forward add up to fourth downs more often than a perfect pass.

Anne Howe is founder of Anne Howe Associates, LLC, a consultancy that specializes in shopper marketing capability, innovation, positioning and communication strategies. She blogs as ShopperAnnie.