Ford “Borrows” A Better Idea To Get Closer To Customers

In the late 1960s, Ford’s advertising proclaimed that the automaker had “a better idea”. During Advertising Week, the company admitted that its mobile learnings have come in large part from others.

This is hardly a bad thing. As was said more than once during a frenetic week of marketing and advertising conferences across Manhattan, a good thought can come from anywhere. Ford is wise to look outward as well as inward.

“Ford is where Facebook was when it pivoted to mobile,” Jim Farley, Executive Vice President of Global Marketing, Sales and Service, Ford Motor Company, said at the Mobile Marketing Association’s SM2 Innovation event.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Ford is hardly a newbie in mobile. In fact, an “unsexy” text messaging initiative more than three years ago that added an SMS call to action to traditional media yielded an eye-opening 15.4 percent lead conversion.

In that instance, in much larger numbers than expected, consumers who texted in to get the loan rate in their local area consented to be contacted by a dealer close by. That campaign stands out for me. I, for one, would say “no” 1,000 times in a row if asked if I wanted to field a call from a car dealer.

Still, it was striking at this week’s show when Farley said, “We are so far behind our customers' use of mobile.” That, in part, can be explained by the long planning cycles that occur with the carmakers.

Ford shared the stage with Facebook. Each spoke of mobile’s growing importance, and the coming of more personalization.

Forty percent of Ford’s web traffic comes from mobile. Farley said that much of it comes from prospective buyers walking car lots after hours. Further, he said that 29,000 cars were sold last year through the mobile website.

Farley said that the big opportunity resides in our ability to “talk to each customer”. But he warned the audience members that with that comes “a higher burden and standard of excellence for marketers.”

To illustrate the importance of creating a dialogue with customers and prospects, Farley said that transactions come second behind creating “a more meaningful relationship with our customers.” Coming soon is an owner app to assist in accomplishing that goal.

Here are some other moments that I will remember from the MMA event and the Mobile Media Summit that preceded it:

We’ve known for a long time that one of the holdout groups in the migration to mobile marketing has been the agency creative.

“The creative magic is in the context,” said Jaime Robinson, Executive Creative Director, Pereira & O’Dell. “It freaks creatives out because we don’t know how to deal with it.

“Mobile is not a one-way broadcast – it’s a two-way conversation.”

Robinson said that marketing has lived in the same “box” for decades.

“When you change the box, what the hell do you do with it?” she asked. “But, creatives are starting to understand it.” …

The MMA shined a bright light on the so-called Internet of Things. But Richard Ting, R/GA’s EVP, Global Executive Creative Director, Mobile & Social Platforms, cautioned us against spending large marketing dollars at this point.

“The very definition of mobile is still in flux,” he said. “The Internet is moving beyond laptops, desktops and mobile. Billions of devices, artifacts and accessories will be networked, but we’re still in the early days.”

Ting advised us to look at history and to certain companies for advancement.

“Just like they did with the Internet, the big platform providers are laying the groundwork for the Internet of Things,” Ting told us. …

Fresh off a rebrand of his Clear Channel to iHeartMedia to reflect his company’s transformation, Chairman and CEO Bob Pittman forecasts another morphing that will impact us all.

"I don't think we'll be in a world of impressions and ratings - we'll be in world of ROI," he said. “We’ll make more money giving them (advertisers) ROI.”

We’ll be wise to follow Pittsman’s wisdom. As I heard more than once in New York, the only thing that matters is sales. As well it should.

-

article first appeared on Mobile Marketer http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/columns/18831.html

Can Mercedes Drive Traffic Through Mobile Advertising?

In my Mobilized Marketing book, I wrote that the coolest thing in mobile was, of all things, a Ford campaign that employed an unsexy text message call to action in traditional media to produce a 15.4 percent lead conversion.

To me, cool equals business success, not necessarily innovative technology.

Many auto manufacturers employ mobile in the hopes of moving product.

In a story running today, I told Mobile Marketer that Mercedes is wise to partner with CBS News.

“The automotive industry has had great early success with mobile, mostly from the manufacturers and dealers who are delivering personalization options – as in build your own car on your device – and current inventory for those who are inclined to visit a dealer for a test drive,” I said in the story.

“Apps are just part of the mobile solution. Car manufacturers and other brands should give consumers choice on how to interact via mobile.”

The full piece is here: http://www.luxurydaily.com/mercedes-boasts-new-e-class-in-mobile-ads/

Notes From A Mobilized Marketer - The Apps Make Us Lazy Edition

Are smartphone apps making us "the ultimate consumer but also kind of lazy"?  Only if we let them.

There are 10 million active users of Starbucks mobile apps - and that's before bigger push into grocery stores.

You know what holds back mobile? Dumb stuff like this headline - Mobile Will Complement TV, Not Replace It. No kidding.

A BBC survey said that viewers expect more advertising than currently on multiple platforms. They said expect, not want.

I read a piece claiming that the use of mobile apps is behind the decline of American Idol and Survivor. It’s a combination of things including viewer fatigue on these shows.

Meanwhile, a study says that 80 percent of TV viewers 18-24 use a phone or tablet. The good news is that they include television in their lives.

Will Google Glasses sell on the benefit of taking photos in a second or two versus a slightly longer time with smartphones?

For all of its supposed troubles, Apple has to love a new Yankee Group survey – 91 percent of iPhone users plan to buy an iPhone for their next smartphone.

Every day, more photos are taken with an iPhone than with any other camera. And that spans age groups.

The Washington Attorney General slammed T-Mobile over deceptive ‘no-contract’ ads. An agreement is a contract – simple.

I saw a story that made the claim that the call-to-action is ruining ads. I couldn't disagree more. Ford drove a 15.4 percent lead conversion that way. Failure?

Malware and viruses in #QR codes?  That’s more ammunition for the doubters.

Sprint CEO: Wireless operators need to focus on profitability. You think?

In four years, there will be 10 million shipments of Google Glass and similar devices, according to an analyst. That’s large but not when compared to six billion phones.

Predicting Oil Prices and Aliens Arriving On Earth

There’s no better illustration of what Ford Motor Company futurist Sheryl Connelly calls the “balance between provocative and plausible” than the fact that her team talked about $100 barrels of crude oil nearly a decade ago, but also had a discussion about what would happen if aliens landed on Earth.

Of course, to our knowledge, only one of those scenarios came true. Whatever. Such is your life when your role is to create a Center of Excellence for global consumer trend insights and a forward-looking mindset that can support and inform design, product development, strategy, business and marketing functions throughout Ford.

Speaking to a packed audience (granted seemingly every venue was overflowing), Connelly offered Lessons From A Futurist during South by Southwest Interactive.

Many of her assertions were on the surprising side. Among them:

She once thought that the future is a mystery and best unexplored.

Connelly cautioned against the use of SWOT analysis that attempts to look at a company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. She said that such endeavors limit thinking and fail to take change into account.

“It’s foolish for an organization to think it owns its strengths,” she said. “Those are defined by the marketplace.”

Connelly describes her job as a mission to look outside the automotive industry to understand what's happening in social, technological, economic, environmental and political arenas so that we can understand shifts that are coming that may influence consumers' values, attitudes and behaviors. She looks for those insights and collaborates with people in Ford Design and Product Development who try to turn them into business propositions.

She said that SXSW was the perfect venue to talk about “information addiction” which she said is a medical condition. Further, she cautioned attendees from information overload, adding that it takes away self-reflection time that spurs innovation.

“Explore what you can't control,” Connelly said. “Use scenario planning - what if's.

You don't have to be a victim to the future - you can help develop it.”

(orginally posted on imediaconnection.com - http://blogs.imediaconnection.com/blog/2013/03/12/predicting-oil-prices-and-a...

Mobile Is The New Black. No, It Isn't.

Mobile Marketer asked me to comment on the assertion that mobile is the new black.

Please.

My first thought was the time three weeks ago when I was standing before some of the smartest marketers in the country. If I threw out such a statement, they would’ve thrown me out.

Here’s what I told the publication:

“It’s up to brands and not vendors to determine if mobile's time is here.

“The most successful programs, like Ford's 15.4 percent lead conversion and Macy's expanding Backstage Pass in-store campaign, involve proven products and services like SMS and the mobile Web.

“Happily, for the most part, brand marketers are smarter than to fall for shiny objects that often only move their businesses backward.”

“Of course, it's early and traditional media spends far outpace mobile ones. Mobile gives brands the ability to provide relevant, contextual information and offers and the promise of a one-to-one rather than one-to-many relationship.

“Smart marketers are thinking post-click or install as well, seeking to turn what could be a one-time interaction into the beginning of a monetizable relationship. Mobile marketing and mobile advertising are maturing.

“Consumers expect to see their favorite brands delivering top-notch mobile executions. In fact, more and more, they are punishing brands that fail to deliver. Mobile's growth is accelerating due to more consumer interest, innovation, and proof of success that has come in the industry's earliest years.”

The full piece is here. Wear black while reading, please. http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/content/13317.html

Revisiting My Mobile Predictions

In January, I posted my 2012 predictions http://blogs.imediaconnection.com/blog/2011/12/13/super-if-not-super-bowl-mob.... Let’s see where we are six months into the year:

Prediction: Device price points will continue to be brought down with offers of discounted products in exchange for a consumer agreeing to receive ads. Mobile phones with offers, including perhaps a Google phone, are coming soon.

Where We Stand: As I write this, for a shiny (or dull, for that matter) penny, Amazon is selling the Samsung Galaxy Nexus 4G Android Phone on Verizon Wireless. That is tied to a contract, not ads. But Google is making a further wireless bet with the introduction of the Nexus 7 tablet. Reportedly the company won’t make anything off of the hardware – it’s about the ads and selling of content that makes this viable.

Prediction: Savvy marketers will follow research highlighting consumer behavior and interest. They know that just because you can do something technically doesn’t mean that you should.

Where We Stand: At a recent Hipcricket summit of top digital marketers, one of the many of the successes discussed was Ford’s 15.4 percent lead conversion seen through the combination of traditional media and text messaging. Spending on shiny objects can move your business backward – or get you fired.

Prediction: 2012 will be the year of the mobile web. As we move closer to the time when more people access the web on a wireless device than a PC, brands, agencies and others will realize that they need a mobile web offering that overdelivers. This has not yet happened, but will soon because consumers will demand it.

Where We Stand: Mobile Internet users will reach 113.9 million in 2012, up 17.1% from 97.3 million in 2011 (U.S. Digital Media Usage report, eMarketer 2012). But there is an argument to be made that this is the year of mobile apps (oh, how so many predicted its demise). 64 percent of mobile phone time is spent using apps (Nielsen, March 2012). That could not be predicted.

Prediction: In such a growth industry, more vendors will enter the marketplace making claims that they will produce ROI. Proceed with caution. While the company name may not say Two Guys In a Garage, that may indeed be what you are buying.

Where We Stand: I have not seen a stat about new mobile companies launched, but anecdotally I can tell you that we see newbies just about every day. And many are performing smoke and mirror tricks. Beware.

Prediction: Expect more pressure from senior management to produce results from mobile, meaning it’s critical to think beyond a one-time transaction. There are bigger opportunities if you think about what can happen after the click, namely an experience that can lead to an opt-in and remarketing possibilities.

Where We Stand: As mobile matures, the smartest brands like Coca-Cola are looking at lifetime value. This group has grown significantly in the last six months. More and more, we’re seeing uptake in mobile advertising that follows with an engagement plan.

Prediction: Plan on more device types in the hands of consumers, making it important to provide positive user experiences rather than products that addresses the least-common denominator. Consumers expect top notch brand experiences and the bar is higher than ever with smartphones and faster networks.

Where We Stand: In my Mobilized Marketing book, ESPN executive Michael Bayle says that brands are being punished by consumers who are given poor experiences on mobile. Bayle is right – I see it and hear it often.

Prediction: Expect more social interaction at the point of sale, making customer service vital or a bad experience will end up on Facebook or Twitter in seconds. According to my Moments of Trust consumer touchpoint survey, 40 percent of consumers with smartphones or Internet-enabled mobile devices have used them to spread word to their social networks about an in-store experience, 46 percent of them reported a positive one and 40 percent cited a negative one.

Where We Stand: Twitter and Facebook have furthered their mobile reach via feature phone apps. It’s not about smartphones or feature phones – for brands, it’s important to note that all wireless devices are megaphones.

(first posted on imediaconnection.com http://blogs.imediaconnection.com/blog/2012/07/15/revisiting-mobile-predictio...

Why Savvy Marketers Won't Bet On Shiny Objects

More than three dozen of the savviest digital marketers in the country came together in New York recently for a customer summit and sharing of knowledge.

Each brought impressive mobile success stories, none of which included the use of a so-called “shiny object” or a product sprinkled by pixie dust at South By Southwest this past spring. These pros know that none of those types of products and services will move a business. In fact, if anything, they will move a business backward.

Instead, there was discussion of a Ford traditional media campaign that included a call to action involving the unsexiest of products – texting. Why did that make the cut in a day full of discussion? The answer is: business results. Ford saw a 15.4 percent lead conversion by including a mobile component to dollars already being spent.

There was talk of the programs run at Macy’s. In its Backstage Pass program, shoppers are given choices on how to respond to calls to action that lead to information on merchandise from leading designers. The elements include a mobile website, QR codes, MMS (multimedia messaging) and, yes, even text messaging. Macy’s is wise enough to give mobile users choice.

Sure, these marketers are on the forefront. Many attended SxSW and are as up on the newest and shiniest as anyone. But they aren’t buying vaporware. They are tapping into consumer behavior and interest, not what is displayed as the hippest.

Why?

They understand that their jobs have not changed. They need to, for example, sell more beer, move more shoes, and entice consumers to buy cereal. It’s the same job that their predecessors had, in some cases, more than 150 years ago.

The what is the same: It’s about moving product. It always was, and always will be. It’s the how that is changed in the mobile era.

Of course, they aren’t betting it all on mobile. But they are making intelligent bets. For instance, few are spending anything on the mobile wallet, which dominated conversation at SxSW. With miniscule adoption, 2012 isn’t the year to bet the marketing budget on Near Field Communication (NFC) and the wallet promise.

Even those chasing the dough in that category are realistic. “It’s inevitable that we will use this smart gadget that most of us have in our pocket now and increasingly over time all of us will have it,” Scott Lien, vice president of Intuit’s Mobile Innovation Group, told me in my new book, Mobilized Marketing: Driving Sales, Engagement, and Loyalty Through Mobile Devices. “First it will be a basic replacement for payments but over time it will gain more and more intelligence. At first there will be early adopters. They do everything on the phone. I think it will be high travelers and people who are in transit a lot.

“There are many ways that it will add intelligence. It’s shocking in this country that there are a lot of people in tough economic shape. Credit card debt is high. Many people are living paycheck to paycheck, yet they don’t have a good adviser on a daily basis that is helping them make good buying decisions. That could happen in many ways. Helping them find substitutes — if you want to get a good cup of coffee, you tell them, ‘Here’s the cheaper, better place and a better way to get it. Hey, you have points sitting there in your frequent flier account that are about to expire and you can monetize that and buy this thing you want to get.’ We all have three or four credit cards in our wallet. We can tell them that there’s actually a better card to use on this transaction because they’re going to get triple points.”

Lien has measured expectations for adoption. “The concept is very simple — harnessing all the data and all the information that is there and putting all of that knowledge in your hand at the point of purchase or point of decision to help you make a better choice,” he says. “I don’t think we’re years away from all that. I think it will start to come slowly and come in pieces, the way they came with the iPhone. First there weren’t any apps — now there’s voice assist and all that. This will come slowly and serve segments of users like the high-traveler, high-transit user who will start to adapt it very quickly.”

In other words, there likely will be a time to spend brand dollars against the concept. Just not now, not by marketers who went to New York to learn more about how to sell more today.

(article first appeared on adotas.com - http://www.adotas.com/2012/07/why-savvy-marketers-wont-bet-on-shiny-objects/)

Serving The Mobile Consumer

For every business chasing the multi-trillion dollar retail spend with a mobile wallet product, there are thousands of little to mid-size guys and gals who just want to be serve the mobile consumer.

One way is with Square, which offers merchants a free credit card reader for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices. Square for iPad also brings a point of sale system for businesses to accept payments and track inventory.

According to Fast Company, more than one million small businesses and individuals use Square to process credit cards--a number boosted almost solely by word of mouth. Square has no business-development team and no sales force. The publication says that at least 60 of those “Girl Scouts, artists, farmers’-market vendors, political candidates, taco-truck vendors, accountants, designers, and babysitters have never accepted plastic before”.

Intuit’s GoPayment is in the space, as is the newest competitor, PayPal, which earlier this month launched PayPal Here. The product allows merchants to accept payments by swiping cards in the card reader, scanning cards and checks using their phone cameras, or manually entering card information into the app. They can also send an invoice and set payment terms directly from the app.

Another way small and medium-size businesses can succeed is by adding a mobile call to action in marketing materials and advertisements. For example, maid services have had to recruit more help after a spend of less than $1,000 as part of a radio ticket promotion brought more clean-the-house requests than the business could handle.

My favorite mobile success story involves Ford local dealers who found new prospects and customers with the least sexy of mobile products – text messaging. By adding an SMS call to action to traditional media, Ford generated a 15.4 percent lead conversion rate.

Here’s how it worked:

Customers watching a Ford Fusion television commercial could text “Fusion” to a short code to receive local offers. They were then prompted to text their zip code and applicable incentives are sent to the customer. Customers were then given the option to text their name if they would like to be contacted by their local dealer. Those who submitted names were sent to the local dealer for follow up.

Some mobile products and services, like the ones introduced at the recent South By Southwest conference, mainly drive buzz – which is fine if that’s what you want. But most businesses need more. Often, it’s not the fancy, sexy, potentially expensive stuff that drives the best results. It’s the tactics that give you reach (like the ubiquitous text messaging) and are inclusive for all your customers and prospects.

Mario Schulzke, founder of IdeaMensch and director of digital strategy at marketing firm WDCW, is one of those Gen-Xers who teaches Boomers like me something every day. His insights for us are to keep an eye on the little guy as well as the titans.

“You know, I am not smart enough to tell you about major game changers,” Schulzke says in my new book, Mobilized Marketing: How To Drive Sales, Engagment, and Loyalty through Mobile Devices jeffhasen. “But I can tell you there will be a revolution of incremental innovations that are about to take place. 

“It’s so easy nowadays to build your own website, your own piece of software or your own app. So what’s happening is that a bunch of people are starting to solve the problems that they’ve been having in their own lives and industries. We’ll see some major productivity gains in just about every vertical, driven by people solving problems close to their vest.”

-

This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. >