Mobile Marketing Metrics

I have now read so many executive summaries of the Nielsen Short Code Marketing Study that it’s easy to simply accept the quoted metrics and accompanying analysis. Are you convinced and are you seeing the same conversion rates and interactivity as the examples?

Before we bury everyone of our core constituents in a campaign, let’s make sure it is employs a strategic vision which takes into account all of the positives and negatives of each particular medium utilized. One recent study showed high burn factor on TV creative did more to harm the effort than the impression did good for the brand. No matter how much a message resonates initially, we all know each medium has it’s own very individual shelf-life for a message or tactic and a successful campaign will deploy very different messages and duration thereof for each particular medium. Mobile marketing or text message marketing is very much the same but the experience is so new to most, that we are really creating (or in some cases destroying) the environment and boundaries for this special new interaction between our brand and core customer and need to tread very carefully as we go to insure it’s future value.

I know we all say that hey… we’re not spamming anyone, but does the person on the other end of our message feel engaged and pleased to have received it or, increasingly numb to seeing something from us and thus we are actually eroding the value of the medium for all? I really fear many of us are doing the latter simply because we need to get another message out this week or there is a deadline approaching or maybe an event looming, so we’re not connecting with our customer with anything of real value to keep our side of the conversation going. Remember, to have a conversation both parties have to voluntarily engage and stay engaged until we communicate.  When we ask for the opt-in lets make sure we set a realistic expectation for the interaction and meet or exceed that level every time.

I guess what I’m saying is I’ve attended enough parties this Holiday Season and witnessed so many conversations with no real communication that I want to keep my damn phone out of it. It is a special place reserved for me to invite special friends to actually share something of value with each other. If that’s not a part of that equation, it better not be on my phone! I understand the psychology of texting being an option chosen because we don’t want to have to emotionally engage the other party completely and it is chosen to instead lower the importance of the exchange to a few sentence fragments with no real and lasting weight. The most magical text messages to me though, are the ones that not only prompt a response with a smile, but which force us to upgrade the conversation to something on a more personal level. Making us want to commit time, money, travel or any real consideration to continue an interaction is the metric that counts and if it’s not the goal of your next mobile marketing message, DON’T SEND IT but put it on a billboard or email it to me! Remember, at least as much thought, planning and creativity should go into the mobile medium as into any other if we are really committed to adding it to our arsenal long term (and we should be). So, did you hesitate before you hit send? Thanks!
Garry Leigh
Snafu Consulting

Media Battle?

Traditional vs. Emerging?

(as published this week in Consultant Tips on AllAccess.com)

In digesting some new research from Sapient on social networks, mobile, search and other forms of emerging (or non-traditional) media, and building marketing plans to utilize them, I was reminded of my first days in broadcasting back in the 1970s. Questions I never got adequate answers to then remain today, 30-odd years later. What measurements best sum up our interaction or relationship with our audience … and are they remotely accurate? Arbitron, Pulse, callout, Predictor, focus groups, results at remotes … come on, my compensation is tied to a metric and I need one that works. Of course, none of these have really been able to gauge the special bond that occurs between core listeners and all that makes up their favorite radio stations. The most successful and memorable stations go beyond anything measurable and into simply sharing in, and of, the day-to-day life of a listener.

There are no metrics for trusting Kidd Kraddick’s opinion on whether I should volunteer my precious time this weekend to help a cause benefiting people I’ve never met in a town I may never visit, but he communicates the need for a Habitat Home in New Orleans so strongly that I do change my schedule and thereby change my life for the better forever. Time Spent Listening, P1, core listener, cume, cost per point, reach and frequency, number of clicks, time spent per page, unique visitors, number of hits … none have any relevance in this equation. Explain to a buyer or help them explain to the client what this bond is, and why it blows research out of the water.

Now, add the ability to build out the personality of a station with other forms of entertainment via our site or other social networking sites. In fact, let the listeners build a mash-up or two relating to their experience with the station — it’s music, our town, the personalities — and then let them save it to virally spread to their friends, thus giving it a personal endorsement, and you have the strongest marketing campaign possible, but one impossible to measure.

It started with a relationship developed through traditional media, moved to social networks, mobile and probably e-mail, plus was downloaded to at least one, if not several devices for continued interaction in the future. That’s spectacular by any measure. Let’s not think of this as Traditional vs. Emerging but rather Traditional + Emerging = more and deeper engagement with our medium via other media. We are the common thread in the fabric of the daily life of a connected listener — and if that’s not the goal, the form of measurement is irrelevant and so are we. It’s time to get engaged. Your listeners already are.

Garry Leigh