From Dotcom to Dotmobi Thinking


It is no doubt that the mobile platform will become more and more dominant in how we all communicate. There are 3 major reason why this is true:

– They’re always on
– They’re always at hand
– They are the most personal devices we own

We can’t really say all these things about our desktops or laptops. However if you are in the beginnings of a mobile campaign, or thinking about getting your content accessed through mobile, there are some fundamental things to consider about your approach to mobile. In a recent informative white paper from mobithinking, they list the 10 mistakes in mobile marketing. In this paper they talk about how in mobile, we must break free of dotcom thinking. And I quite agree. Heck, we are all still trying to get the web right much less think about another interactive platform behavior. So it is no surprise that even the best information designers fall prey to traditional web development approaches. But this is not just a design issue, it’s a marketing and content issue.

All 10 mistakes made a lot of sense. Some of them pretty fundamental. However some of them really stuck out for me. Here are some highlights of the paper:

Treating mobile user like PC users.
People’s behavior and needs are clearly different on PC vs. mobile. There is mobile time and there is PC time. Both have their own environments. This speaks to the understanding of what people WILL do and WILL NOT do on mobile. The paper goes on to state the key mobile experiences which make up these environments, and should always be top of mind as you develop for mobile:

On mobile:
– You want fast access to relevant information
– You want services that recognize you’re on the move
– You want location-aware, activity-specific experiences

Failing to exploit the capabilities of the mobile device.
There are many things the mobile device can do and we sometimes over look the fundamental features. The best mobile campaign experiences take advantage of what the phone can do and not limit it to just a wap site. When thinking about a mobile campaign, think about an integrated experience. Take advantage of what the phones can do.

– It’s a phone! – Allow people to talk to a human! Use link to call features.
– It’s a camera – Here is where you can open up to Image Recognition campaigns, photo contests, personalization etc.
– It’s a video camera – Here is where you can involve your audience into short films about your brand, or story, or better yet, mobile augmented reality.
– SMS messages – Commenting, voting, blogging, polls, and chatting can be integrated into your mobile campaign.
– Location base awareness – Enable people to find you from anywhere, send messages to them when they are close by, turn your campus into a real world virtual tour. As the audience moves around your campus, triggered messages inform them on their phone of key information
– It sends email
– It’s a music player
– it’s a calendar
– It’s a browser

Not actively promoting your mobile website.
This also applies to anything mobile whether you have an sms campaign or IR campaign. But I feel this is the one mistake that is most frequent and easy to make because we are so focussed on the mobile platform that we overlook how we are getting people to the mobile experience. You can build it, but will they come?
It is not just a media campaign to drive traffic. It is a thought out scenario of engagements in mobile environments that are relevant for the audience to use their mobile, and is relevant to the content and concept you are providing. Where are they when they come across the opportunity to opt into your mobile campaign? What are they doing? Waiting? Traveling? Commuting? Eating? Watching TV?

Try this, when thinking about your mobile campaign, grab your phone. Place yourself in the environment that would be most relevant to reach your audience. Role play. What are you doing at the moment? What will prompt you to opt in? How will the message and mobile activity tie into your current state? When carefully thought through you will realize that you are building a mobile strategy, not just a mobile site. This is critical to the success of a mobile campaign of any kind, including mobile apps. By the way does this open up possibilities for a new profession as a Mobile Cultural Anthropologist?

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1 Comment

  1. I knew from the beginning that dot mobi is going to be very successful. I’m a big fan of this new technology, myself.

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