Everyone Starts At Zero

I want to interact with my mobile consumers but where do I start?

Having worked with many brands this is the question I get most asked over and over again.   “ I don’t have a list of mobile numbers within my database” “Since we do not have a mobile database, where do we begin?”  “How do we gather preferences on our clients and provide relevant mobile content to them?”

These are all incredible questions which companies should be asking mobile application providers.   But please understand, Everyone starts at zero. I have said this line many times to help brand managers understand that every brand starts with zero mobile participants.  Do you remember when you started with no email addresses?  (There was a time when this was the case) What did you do?  How did the brand attempt to gather this information?  Once your brand got an email address what did you do with it?   Here are some tips on my philosophy of creating a successful mobile presence with your brand:

• Decide to move forward with a long-term mobile marketing strategy and earmark budget for it.
• Create mobile campaigns which coincide with your marketing calendar.
• Use these campaigns to begin to build a long-term mobile database.
• Have multiple avenues to allow participants to opt-in.
• These tools should gather preferences and mobile opt-in information.
• Have a post campaign plan to provide relevant weekly/monthly content to mobile users (True success of a long-term mobile strategy!)

Successful brands who are utilizing mobile marketing within their marketing mix are committed to a long-term strategy.   Yes – every brand starts with zero mobile numbers!  Mentally please get beyond it!  Create a plan to build your mobile database which provides content to users which provides value.  Think like a marathon runner and you too will be successful in this channel.