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Barnes & Noble exec: Retargeting is biggest mobile advertising method to drive engagement

NEW YORK ? A Barnes & Noble executive at the Mobile Marketing Summit: Holiday Focus 2012 conference said that the company?s No. 1 mechanism for driving engagement with consumers after they have downloaded an application is retargeting.

During the ?Barnes & Noble: Why the Nation?s No. 1 Books Retailer is Betting Big on Mobile? keynote session, the executive outlined how the company has ramped up its mobile strategy both with content and hardware over the past few years. Additionally, the executive revealed what marketing tactics the company is using to reach its users.

?Our core service is making sure that every consumer can read a book they love when they want to read it and where they want to read it,? said Jim Hilt, vice president of ebooks at Barnes & Noble, New York.

?Consumers are becoming much more comfortable with the idea that they will have multiple devices,? he said. ?Our job is to ultimately get consumers great content.?

Pick your poison
Besides retargeting, Barnes & Noble has dipped its toes into multiple mobile marketing mediums.

When it comes to QR codes, the company has found that they are most effective to target specific groups of consumers instead of being used to as a ubiquitous channel.

Although augmented reality might still be new, the technology has the potential to be used more in the market, per the exec. 

Additionally, 3D ads can drive up to two minutes of engagement in a mobile ad.

Given mobile video?s immersive nature, it is the medium that the company sees the greatest engagement with.

Mr. Hilt at the Mobile Marketing Summit: Holiday Focus 2012 conference

Mobile reads
Barnes & Noble?s primary goal with marketing and campaigns is about getting content to consumers.

The company claims to have 2.5 million ebooks available and more than eight million Nook reader app downloads. The company has 700 retail locations in the United States.

The tablet market in particular is hypercompetitive. 

Additionally, mobile devices tend to be bought by households, which affects how a company markets and targets consumers.

As consumers become more comfortable owning and using multiple mobile devices, Barnes & Noble has seen there is a strong audience of consumers who are interested in using a mobile device for reading.

By May of this year, Barnes & Noble claimed to have 30 percent of the ereader market share.

From 2009, Barnes & Noble?s set of products has increasingly become more mobile from the company?s first Nook to the most recent Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight.

By 2016, 34.3 percent of consumers are expected to own a tablet, according to projections from Barclays Capital. To compare, 23.3 percent of consumers will own an ereeder.

Barnes & Noble?s target consumers are mid-aged women who value technology as a simple solution to their everyday life.

In addition to mobile, social plays a big role in Barnes & Noble's marketing.

The company increasingly turns to the channel to drive awareness for its Nook products.

Additionally, Barnes & Noble used a print ad in the the New York Times? crosswords section to promote the Nook since the section of the publication attracts the company?s core consumer.

Getting users a trial subscription is one of the primary goals of the company's marketing strategy.

For instance, being able to take a user from a mobile ad to reading a book in an app can be effective at hooking a potential customer. Then the app becomes a strong commerce-driver.

When it comes to content, Barnes & Noble has found that tablet users are more likely to download large format and visual content.

Top categories for tablet users include magazines, cook books, movies and television shows and travel books. For smartphones, top categories include movies and TV shows, audio books and music.

Personalization is key
One of the main challenges for Barnes & Noble is finding ways to target two sets of consumers that view technology differently ? first adopters and consumers who use technology because it is useful.

Therefore, personalization and relevancy is the key to building an intimate relationship with consumers, per Mr. Hilt.

To help consumers find what they are looking for, Barnes & Noble has a mobile feature called Instant Collections that aggregates content into different categories.

?Given how personal these devices are, it is about how you get the messaging to connect with the person,? Mr. Hilt said.

Final Take
Jim Hilt is vice president of ebooks at Barnes & Noble, New York