As an emerging medium mobile often ends up an after thought in the marketing mix. With a device often with the consumer 24/7, the opportunities are considerable. So what are the basic rules for thumbs when engaging on the mobile device, and how do marketers best use the medium to create persuasive customer dialogues?

Like any new place, an awareness of the environment is required however there’s no need for panic. Traditional media sensibilities still apply.  While the technology is new, the challenges are the same. Just remember  – we’ve been here before. Look at the first  TV shows. Most were  stage plays recorded with a fixed camera, complete with actors walking off and on stage with little or no editing. In no time at all agencies mastered the broadcast medium, placing images and sounds together creating compelling. Mobile is in the same infancy. Here are 5 tips that can help use the medium to best effect.

Make it 5 times simpler
Because everything you do with mobile has to be 5 times smaller. Every part of the user experience counts.  Put as little as possible between your idea and the user. Reduce all clicking, scrolling and loading required by users to share your idea. While it’s good to exploit the various mobile feature sets to best effect, it’s critical to accept and work to the constraints of the network.

Rule of Thumb – If you find yourself discussing technical issues in the concept stages, your idea is too complicated.

Be recognisable, relevant and above all rewarding
Unlike traditional media, consumers pay to use mobile. . Look for every possible way to create a more personalised engagement, be more relevant with what consumers like and don’t like. Personality is everything. The phone is an extension of our personality and the more organic and able to mimic your behaviours and patterns the more open and attached we will become to campaign content.

Successful campaigns encourage people’s natural instincts to be creative and to connect with people in the easiest way possible. With mobile, you just can’t personalise enough. Every piece of information a marketer presents to a consumer needs to be absolutely about that person. It’s a big effort to get content to a consumer and it’s a big effort for a consumer to accept and process any information you send.

Make sure what they end up is a valuable interaction.The human interface elements of the mobile are the limiting factors. You have to hold it up to your ear while you talk, you have a tiny screen, and the keyboard is more conducive to entering an alarm pin code than writing elaborate messages to your mates. Any function or service that remembers and reduces the amount of clicking tapping and scrolling users have to do to use it will succeed in attracting consumer interest.

Avoid trying to be next big thing in mobile  -you’ll end up building overheavy applications that consumers find unusable and quickly abandon. Look for ways to become as relevant and day to day as possible in the consumers lifestyle.

Rule of Thumb: Aim to be associated with everyday functions that can become part of consumers life.

Say one thing and say it well
Beware of the next big thing. Don’t let the technology bury your single proposition. Strip out everything irrelevant and focus only on the operations enabling the campaign objective. Continually evaluate how you will appear, communicate and engage. User test how you transact and how you fulfill.

Good mobile is not just about mobile
Take an integrated approach to your campaign. Think about the benefits of a device that is quite literally in the hands of the consumer 24/7. How can the mobile become the direct repsonse to your idea? Remember any mobile experience needs to reflect your brand values.
SMS continues to be the No 1 mobile revenue opportunity. This is unlikely to change in the short term, and marketers have the most to gain by looking for ways to push the boundaries of the current feature set to the very maximum. The technology need not be intimidating. Take the technology out of the equation and the basic rules of marketing can create compelling and effective campaign ideas.  Brand subsidised activity will work. However this is not licence for another channel of interruptive advertising.

Rule of Thumb: Mobile promotions enter a very personal consumer space. You must be usable, reliable and trustworthy every step of the way

Assume nothing and test everything
There’s much diversity in the networks that deliver mobile content and the handsets we use to receive it. If your idea relies on a new handset feature it is unlikely to  be a new feature by the time to realised the idea
Forget campaign cross over – digital content is always going to need a customised realisation cycle. Factor in the cost delivering any mobile content and then factor in again the cost of ensuring it displays on the majority of handsets.

Rule of Thumb: Assume nothing User test everything.

Constrained by a small keypad and screen,  it’s best to master the medium before looking for the killer app. We are continually waiting on the next big thing with the mobile platform, those that gain mindshare now will continue to own it as the network progresses, it’s better to avoid the gimmicky applications.
Author: Andrew Larkin  May 2007

Fake Boobs, Fake Tan. But Fake Blog?
It was only a matter of time before engineered truth emerged in the very personal trust circles of Blog.

A FLOG is basically a fabricated BLOG set up as a tease or reveal.

While the technique is well used in billboards, creative’s may need to do more than relying on the cross over to win over Digital Consumers.

Recent FLOG attempts from Sony, Walmart and McDonalds suggest the consumer backlash has the potential to impact negatively on how a clients’ brand is perceived.
So How do I Choose the Right Channels?
Digital introduces new places – blog, chat, newsgroups, ratings sites, social networking, social directories – entire virtual worlds like secondlife.com.
To this add Game, desktop and mobile placements – all exciting options for marketers. The constant is that the number of choices continues to grow.

Attention is vital but there’s no need to panic.   Brand credibility, accessibilty and audience remain the core building blocks of persuasive media.

A Digital Strategy Makes it Easy
A Digital Strategy is a process where we define and choose which channel best matches the Brand values and expectations of the customers. Basically – what are the most credible places to engage with the customer, and how should we act within it?

Do the Digital Strategy and every other decision become easy