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Meredith Xcelerated Marketing exec: New mobile establishment must focus on customer knowledge

CHICAGO ? A Meredith Xcelerated Marketing executive at the Results 2013: Mobile Marketing Day said that the new way of thinking about mobile will be more about consumers rather than technology.

The ?Mobile versus Mobility: A New Era of Connectivity? session laid out the four new rules of marketing that focus more on consumer behavior instead of technology. Additionally, the session presented examples from brands including Kraft and Allrecipes.

?I think it?s now at a point with mobile where the establishment that we knew is no longer the establishment we will know going forward,? said Doug Rozen, chief innovation officer at MXM and head of MXM Mobile, New York.

?It?s evolving to a place where it?s no longer going to be about cool devices and the uncluttered screen capacity because in the new mobile establishment, it?s really about the unique consumers, and how consumers are constantly connecting, sharing information and more importantly looking for all these great new experiences that they want to not just visit but revisit,? he said.

?In the new establishment, it?s going to be critical that mobile is not just a novelty anymore, and it?s really necessary to rise above the device-centric approach that we are using right now. So the new establishment is really going to focus on customer knowledge and how those two things come together versus the devices themselves.?

Results 2013: Mobile Marketing Day was hosted by the Chicago Association of Direct Marketing. The event was co-sponsored by Microsoft, Sumotext and Mobile Marketer.

Rethinking mobile
According to Mr. Rozen, there is an evolution going on in mobile from a user perspective.

Mobile is more about the technology - including the operating system and hardware - that marketers use to connect with consumers.

Mobility focuses on the consumer mindsets and tendencies as a result of the technology.

In the past, mobile marketing was focused on targeting a plethora of mobile devices.

However, Apple?s iPad has changed the mobile space because the focus became more on screens.

Consumers nowadays have multiple screens available to them and often use them in conjunction.

As mobile evolves, there are four rules that marketers need to abide to.

The first rule is all about connecting with the consumer.

Per Mr. Rozen, marketers are focusing too much on the technology parts of mobile.

Take Apple or Samsung?s media campaigns, for example. Both manufacturers tout the technology features for consumers and are just now beginning to tap into the utility purposes behind the devices.

Similarly, many marketers might have an idea of who their mobile users are in general. Many though do not have a grasp on what their customers are doing with their mobile devices.

To tackle this problem, marketers can focus on persona-based marketing, which demands that marketers think about consumers and their behaviors.

Successful brands intersect technology and customer behavior, per Mr. Rozen.

For example, since desktop users tend to use their PCs and laptops to discover, plan and compare information, inspiration should be the main focus for marketers going after desktop users.

Smartphones on the other hand play an important role in the middle of the shopping journey with planning and buying.

Although there is a place for responsive design, mobile users have unique needs that marketers need to tailor content towards.

Redefinding CRM
The second rule of the new mobile mindset centers around CRM.

With marketers connecting with consumers wherever and whenever, marketers need to think about how to build a longer-lasting relationship with consumers.

The focus of CRM traditionally has been on how marketers manage relationship through many channels.

With the shift to mobility though, the focus needs to be more on the customer. Mobile users should be rewarded not only for the money that they spend, but also for the time that they spend with their devices.

?For the most part we are still doing old things in new ways, but as consumers really internalize mobile, their relationship expectations will change,? Mr. Rozen said.

?As mobile becomes more ingrained in consumers? day-to-day lives, expectations will change for how consumers interact with brands,? he said.

The third rule Mr. Rozen spoke about was fostering engagement.

Similar to the other rules, engaging with mobile users is more about the experiences, not the technology.

Consumer relationships lead to two things - behavioral insight and transactional data, per Mr. Rozen.

This represents the first step towards engagement, but marketers need to also apply predictive elements to engage with consumers.

For example, Mr. Rozen said that the formula for mobile engagement with mobility will take behavioral insights and transactional data and apply location and context to them.

Location and behavior go hand-in-hand in establishing consumer engagement and will work in tandem to create context around marketing.

The fourth rule from Mr. Rozen is about providing relevance for consumers.

Instead of only providing the right content, marketers also have to deliver that content at the right time.

Extreme relevance includes personalized, seamless, anticipatory, pragmatic and exploratory content.

When marketers create extremely relevant content, consumer spend can go up.

For example, a survey from Ipsos found that more than one-third of adults are more likely to make an in-store purchase if they can find a coupon or offer for an item via their mobile devices.

Mobile results
Mr. Rozen also presented a few examples of how brands are embracing mobile, including Allrecipes.

Allrecipes brings in 25 million unique visitors and has nine mobile apps. Additionally, Allrecipes has generated more than 14 million app downloads.

When it comes to advertising and marketing opportunities, Allrecipes is working on new ways to integrate brands into content, such as shopping lists or video.

Examples from Kraft were also presented.

Kraft originally launched its popular iFood Assistant app as the first paid and branded app.

Since then, the app has gone through several revamps. Now the app is free and uses in-app purchases to unlock content.

Both of these brands illustrate how context and content is crucial for marketers, per Mr. Rozen.

?Really it?s about connecting with consumers wherever, whenever, whomever they are, and don?t get blinded by the flashy devices,? Mr. Rozen said.

?In the new mobile establishment, we need to rise above the current ?what can mobile do?, which is very tactical, and think about it more strategically around why is mobile right,? he said

?Success is really going to have context and content to create a new level of relevancy between us as marketers and us as consumers.?

Final Take
Doug Rozen is chief innovation officer at MXM and head of MXM Mobile, New York