Re-Examine Your Mobile Marketing Strategy

Contributor: Chris Pemberton

First-order principles are the raw ingredients that power great thinking and discovery, from rocket science to battery design and even mobile marketing. First principles are the base facts and truths upon which a creative solution can be built. Think of it this way: all material designers have to account for the first principle of gravity when designing anything on Earth.

Elon Musk used first principles of astrophysics to build a rocket for 2% of the cost of conventional rockets. Musk again used first principles to design a battery that cost $80 per kilowatt hour instead of $600.

For marketers, fully exploiting the capabilities of smartphones and tablets on the path to a connected mobile strategy starts with some key principles, noted Mike McGuire, research vice president, Gartner for Marketing Leaders.

Here are the first principles for mobile marketing success:

Implement mobile analytics

Enable your website or app with mobile analytics to provide the data you need to understand how best to engage with your customers and prospects on mobile devices. Implementing mobile analytics is a key step in progressing on the path to mobile marketing maturity.

Know your mobile value proposition

How do your customers use mobile devices? Where and how customers use mobile devices affects your ability to engage with them at every stage of the purchase journey. Depending on your product or service, some stages are not well-suited for mobile. Understanding customer use and interaction with mobile devices is a first principle that paves the way for a number of follow-on decisions, such as whether to develop a native app.

Get permission

While it seems a truism, securing a customer or prospect opt-in and making sure it’s reflected in your CRM is a cornerstone of a connected mobile strategy, regardless of where you plan to engage or invest. Whether it’s push notifications to an app or sending SMS text messages with offers, it’s a mobile marketing best practice to get the customer or prospect to opt in to such engagements.

Where and how customers use mobile devices affects your ability to engage with them at every stage of the purchase journey.

Once you understand and implement these three principles, then it’s time to start leveraging mobile offers or coupons delivered via email, mobile websites, SMS or push notifications. Understanding and incorporating these principles enables advanced approaches such as leveraging mobile wallets which can provide both the payment capability and engagement opportunity that drive customers to stores.

Gartner for Marketing Leaders clients can read more in Three Steps Toward a Connected Mobile Marketing Strategy: Step 1 by Mike McGuire.

Mike McGuire will provide additional mobile marketing insights and analysis during the Gartner Digital Marketing Conference, May 17 – 19 in San Diego, CA. Follow news and updates from the event on Twitter using #GartnerDMC.

For more visit Smarter With Gartner website.