Mobile Strategy Manager: 3 Action Items to Lift Your ROI

Many mobile strategy managers struggle to better understand the role social advertising plays but what most of you don’t know is how to break out from the clutters.  As a marketing strategist in Northwestern Medill IMC, I have found two articles, which address the subject of lifting return of mobile investment.

According to Pelleri, people spent 80% of their time on apps and only 20% for browsing, which gives a huge opportunity to invest or advertise on mobile. The concept of “Internet of Customers” address the importance of consumers who decide the way that brand should reach them. Hence it is important to avoid negative user experience before you implement any mobile strategy like implanting advertisement or launching an app. Today’s customers want to play an active role in company operation through social media which enable the marketers to listen to real-time and authentic demand.

Daniele Pelleri

12 Things You Can Do Today to Get Your Mobile Strategy off the Ground

Kissmetrics

Astegic https://www.astegic.com/services/mobile-solutions/mobile-strategy

The second article from Bechar addressed the importance of mobile strategy in rebranding process. Marketers should think about firstly if the mobile is a good fit for the brand and target market: the one-fit-all model does not work anymore. Mobile is a good place to put your new logo, new value proposition and new language so make sure to invest on a mobile-friendly and responsive app and acquire more customers.

Gilad Bechar

REBRANDING? DON’T FORGET YOUR MOBILE STRATEGY

Entrepreneur

Based on my review of these 2 articles and relevant studies I have done at Medill IMC, Northwestern University, here are 3 items you should keep in mind whenever you come out with a new mobile strategy. They are:

1.    Engage to Profit – Identify customers pain points in mobile and manage your Omni Channels in the most effective way.

2.    Test before Invest – recruit a sample of participants and test overall usability and ensure the functions and designs are easily understood.

3.   Leverage Personalization Features – Forget about one-size-fits-all strategies and maximize the ability of customization for each user.

The ultimate goal to invest on mobile is to better serve your customers and be a part of their life, not because other brands have launched their mobile plan.

As a storyteller I'm passionate about transforming data into strategy and decisions. I've worked at Advertising Agency to communicate with Mobile, Programmatic Buying and SEO team about Market Research and Talent Acquisition.
Phyllis Chen
@phyllis_xc

Content Creators: 3 Ways to Develop an Instagram Community Around Your Brand

Instagram has become one of the most popular platforms for creating and sharing branded content. As an undergraduate at Northwestern University studying Communication Studies, I have found two articles that highlight the importance of engaging customers on popular social media channels, namely Instagram. 

In her article Using Instagram to Build Brand Awareness, Amanda Clark highlights three main ways to build brand awareness on Instagram: encourage engagement, include customers as parts of the stories, and call users to action. Brands can encourage engagement with photo contests, include users in their stories by reposting and sharing their photos related to a branded product, and utilize many hashtags to call users to action and increase brand awareness.  

Hashtags for Major Sports Brands

Instagram recently updated the look of its icon and inner app design. A more major change involving an algorithm, however, is in the works. Mike Isaac in his article, Instagram May Change Your Feed, Personalizing It With an Algorithm, discusses the potential results of this new algorithm. Instagram will be implementing a new algorithm that pushes the moments it believes the user cares about the most to the front of their feeds. The order will be changed based on ‘likelihood of interest’ and relationship the user has with the person posting. The goal is to increase the personalization and engagement of Instagram. As a result, brands must find even more powerful ways to stand our from other content posters and enhance their relationships with followers.

  

Instagram User Feed

Based on my review of the these two articles and my work with content creators at Northwestern, here are three actions items I recommend you consider:  

1. Engage your followers: To ensure you don't get lost in the cloud of content, focus on engaging loyal customers by pushing them content that prompts them to act (ex. hashtags, reposting for prizes, social mentions). Just as valuable is reaching a wide enough group to hold onto a more diverse audience. 
2. Share your stories: Not only engage your followers to be active, but also engage directly with them. Share personal brand stories, create brand narratives, and allow users to tell their own stories. Listen, but be heard, and the connection will form.  
3. Show you care: Show customers that you are seeing their personal stories and that you appreciate them. Comment on and like users photos, give special shout outs, and highlight loyal customers. This will increase their relationship with the branded content and the likelihood for followers to see the brand’s content. 

Social media use will continue to increase, and content will continue to be moved on to user-curated platforms. With over 400 million users on Instagram, instead of just selling a brand, we should think about forming relationships with followers. Instagram is not only a platform to send creative messages, but has become a place for conversation and connection. 

Helen Chen is a undergraduate studying Communications and International Studies at Northwestern University. She is currently completing the Integrated Marketing Communications certificate, and is interested in a future in creative advertising, nonprofit work, as well as starting her own small business. She is also very passionate about education and is involved in a student-run nonprofit called Supplies for Dreams. Connect with her on LinkedIn here.

Digital Media Planners: 3 Tips to Succeed in the Future of Media Buying

As a digital media planner, you know how important it is to put your content on the right media platform. As a graduate student in Integrated Marketing Communications [IMC] program at Medill, Northwestern University, with an interest in digital marketing and media buying, I have found two articles discussing the future media trend that may help you better deliver your content. 

In the first article, The Future May Belong to Web and Mobile Video, but TV Will Survive, the author, Randall Rothenberg, the president and CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau points out that television will still lead. Television will enter into its new digital form, providing great customized content to the audience. By saying that TV has proved remarkably resilient and adaptable during its history, he believes that TV could evolve rapidly to meet changes of consumer interests and marketing needs. On the one hand, consumers will have a better experience on media consumption with the bigger screen. On the other hand, now nearly every program is available on demand through cable providers and online through their own networks' websites. Moreover, the sticky advertising concepts are defined by innovation and time. 

source: http://www.samsung.com/us/microsite/2012-smart-tv-bb/

At the same time, Rene Rechtman, the president of international at the Disney-owned multichannel network Maker Studios, predicts that in 10 years, TV land will be more with on-demand streaming services. On “The viewing habits would soon move completely away from traditional scheduled live TV”, Reported by Lara O’reilly on Maker Studios exec: "TV will be dead in 10 years", he says that people might still consume media on TV, but not in a linear way. Researches from on millennials’ media consumption from the Ofcom, Intelligence and BTIG show that millennials watch far less linear TV and the prime time still exists. In conclusion, TV will still be consumers’ media consumption platform, but companies should diversify themselves to build safety nets to protect businesses against the threat of falling linear TV ratings.

After reviewing these articles, and based on my experience through the graduate program at Northwestern Medill IMC, here are three actions which you should think about to lead in the future media buying:

• Retreat from linear TV- Online streaming service will win over linear TV, and it is the time pull back from traditional TV.

• Invest on streaming service on all channels- The customized way to offer consumers great content will lead the future. Don’t give up TV totally, because TV will survive and might be a channel to deliver on-service streaming service.

• Make flexible media buying plans- The technology development will reshape people’s media consumption behaviors and it changes quickly and dramatically. The media buying plan will be adjusted every time technology booms.  

In sum, TV will still be the media consumption channel, but TV service will be more streaming than linear. Based on that trend, digital media planners should pay more attention on streaming service.

Beth Yanjin Mi is a full-time M.S. candidate in Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) at Medill, Northwestern. I’m interested in technology and CPG industry. I envision myself working in digital marketing upon graduation in Dec.2015. 

@ her at Twitter!  @YanjinMi 

Connect her on LinkedIn: 

www.linkedin.com/in/Bethyanjinmi

The Future Trend of branding--Mobile Marketing

  The arrival of digital era changes the way brand establishment and brand communication.  Generally speaking, people believe that the interactivity of mobile device can be very helpful for branding. However, the speed of change, the large amount of data, and the empowering customers make branding more and more difficult. Marketers are trying their best to market through mobile devices, but how to improve the efficiency remain a big problem. 

  The first article talks about the importance of a mobile-first strategy in the market. Mobile is not about informing customers what are available in the store; it’s about connecting dots across earned, paid and owned media and anticipating needs of customers. Agencies should be the one to create mobile programs to drive business results for the clients. See Agencies: It's Time to Drive a Mobile-First Strategy for Brands by Puneet Mehta on: http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/time-drive-a-mobile-strategy-brands/295037/.

  The second article talks about the specific tactics the company can use to build a mobile app. Mobile app is a significant part of mobile marketing. The article points out the key to make mobile app include being integrated with other marketing strategies, be real-time and be valuable for the customers. See How Brands Can Build a Successful App Strategy by Kunur Patel on: http://adage.com/article/digital/mobile-marketing-brands-build-a-successful-app-strategy/139233/.

  Based on the contents in both of the articles, there are three actions plans I recommend for marketers in digital era:

• Mobile marketing is the priority to brand building in the changing and interactive environment.
• Mobile marketing should be consistent with other marketing channels. Integration is the key.
• Mobile marketing should focus on personal interactions with customers; engagement is the key.

In generally, the key is to adopt mobile strategy as soon as possible. Mobile strategy should be part of a consistent marketing strategy and focus on increasing engagement with customers. 

"Cathy" Qinxin Hu is a M.S candidate in Integrated Marketing Communications in Medill school, Northwestern University. with a bachelor background in international business economics. She is interested in brand communications, strategic planning and consumer insight in both quantitative way and qualitative way. You can follow her on: @QinxinHU on twitter. 

CMOs: 3 Ways to Succeed by Becoming Digital to the Core

As a CMO, you know digital has radically changed the way we develop, curate and distribute content. It is no longer a supplement but it is the essential center of every program, campaign and product. As an undergraduate in the Northwestern Medill IMC program with an interest in digital media, I am constantly reading articles about how companies can take initiatives in the digital world. I have found two articles on digital you will find interesting.

     The first article, “You Don’t Need a Digital Strategy, You Need a Digitally Transformed Company” by Tom Goodwin, gives a lot of insight into how you can succeed by utilizing digital. Goodwin discusses how you do not need a digital or mobile strategy; you need a business strategy for the modern world. The digital transformation does not have to do with digital departments or steps, but with the whole process starting at the beginning. In order to accomplish this, you need to bring digital thinking to the heart of your company and not just place it on the side. Goodwin explains how you must ignore existing companies in the marketplace, reevaluate your company, and use new technology and market dynamics to prosper.

In the second article, “The Seven Traits of Effective Digital Enterprises” by Tunde Olanrewaju, Kate Smaje and PaulWillmott, authors from McKinsey & Company discuss how the age of digital experimentation is over. According to the article, you must transform your company into a complete digital business. The authors explain how you need to research where digital is going and then be the first to take your company in that direction. You should hire for digital skills, challenge the status quo, and constantly look to improve the customer’s digital experience. In addition, you need to rely on big data analytics so teams can quickly identify issues and improve strategies.

After reading these two articles and based on my undergraduate studies in the Northwestern Medill IMC program, I have placed three action items you should consider in the graphic above. In a short review, they are:

• Hire for skills over experience: Digital skills are becoming more valuable. Hire people who are innovative and looking to explore the digital marketplace.

• Break from the field's norms: Try asking questions that a new start-up in your field might ask. Always look for ways to redefine yourself digitally by seeking out digital innovation and searching for new digital partners.

• Focus on customer's experience: Constantly look for ways to use digital channels to improve the client's overall experience.

     Many companies are hesitant to incorporate digital into their traditional ways, or they end up placing digital strategies on the side. These articles explain how that is not the way to go – you must prioritize digital and make it the center of your company and its processes. Utilize the digital tools that already exist (and mobile) and find innovative ways to bring them to the next level.

Nicole Kreizel is currently a senior undergraduate student in Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing Communications, majoring in journalism and the Integrated Marketing Certificate program. She has interned at Seventeen Magazine and Mode Media within the past year. Nicole is active in the world of digital media and is also a dedicated writer. Feel free to comment and repost.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/nkreizel_nu (@nkreizel_nu)

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=321301383&trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile_pic