Go Mobile or Go Home

Once upon a time, not so very long ago, being available to your customers online 24/7 was enough. But then along came the smartphone – and its even more agile cousin the tablet – and the expansive mobile data networks needed to support them. Suddenly the Internet came unfettered from desktops anchored to offices and homes and became a ubiquitous presence in our lives. Today 24/7 just doesn’t cut it. You must be available to your customers not only anytime but anywhere. At the corner coffee shop. In line at the supermarket. At the airport. In the very aisles of your competitor’s store. You may not know for certain when or where your customers might be looking for you, but you can be absolutely sure that you must be there if you want to stay competitive in today’s market. Consider this statistic: smartphones and tablets currently drive nearly seven percent of digital traffic in the U.S. If that number doesn’t wow you, try this on for size: experts predict that by 2013 – that’s next year – more people will access the Internet via phone than computer. It all boils down to this: the proliferation of smartphones and tablets in the past few years has changed the game. If you’re in it to win it, you have to go mobile or go home. But where do you start?

Look before you leap.

Before you take the plunge into the world of mobile, it’s a good idea first to figure out where you currently stand so you know where you need to go and how best to get there. Peruse your website on as many different devices as you can get your hands on. Put yourself in the shoes of your customers, and evaluate the quality of your experience as you navigate through your site. How easy or difficult is it to select the specific link you want? If you have a lot of images on your site, how long does it take to render on a mobile device? Can you quickly and easily complete critical actions like locating contact information, filling out an inquiry form or even making a purchase? If you identify any obstacles, or if the overall experience is frustrating in any way, you need to take action to make sure you give your business the best chances of capturing and converting mobile browsers. There are a number of ways you can bring your site into the mobile era. To decide which approach is the right fit for your business, you must weigh your options based on your growth objectives and your customer’s browsing habits.

Option 1: Build a dedicated mobile site.

A good mobile website is not simply a shrunken version of your primary site. It’s designed specifically to deliver an experience that’s optimized for the needs and preferences of the mobile user. Keep in mind that these users aren’t typically casual browsers; they’re usually after a specific bit of information or seeking to accomplish a specific task. As a result, mobile websites don’t usually offer all the bells and whistles of their desktop equivalents. Rather, the content and functionality are pared down significantly to offer only those features that are most useful to those on the go. For example, while mobile users frequently comparison shop on their phones, they might not be as likely to actually go through the entire purchase process on their handheld device. As a result, you may not need to offer a full-fledged shopping cart on your mobile site. Instead, you might offer the capability for customers to log in to their account and save desired products to a wish list so they can quickly and easily complete their purchase later when they return to their desk. Great mobile websites have certain elements in common. They focus on critical needs, such as providing access to key services and products and contact information. They limit the use of images to minimize page load time. They offer easy, intuitive, finger-friendly navigation. If forms are included, they are streamlined and ask only for the most essential information. They don’t employ Flash, since Flash-based content is inaccessible to all iOS users.

Option 2: Employ responsive design.

Responsive design is the concept of building a website so that the layout of the site adapts and changes according to the resolution of the user’s browser, which means that it looks just as good and performs just as well on a 27-inch desktop display as a 3.5-inch iPhone and all screen sizes in between. The design is fluid and adapts to the the browser and the platform on the fly. However, the change is more than just a straightforward scaling effect; rather, certain key elements within the design – such as navigational menus, links and search fields – shift and transform according to the resolution of the browser. Employing responsive design allows you to deliver a robust experience to all users without the need to build and maintain a separate dedicated mobile version of your website.

Option 3: Get app-y.

A native app can be a fantastic mobile marketing tool, if done right. However, it’s not the right solution for everyone. Before you go down the app-building rabbit hole, there are a lot of questions to answer and obstacles to overcome. How big is your customer base? Apps require a certain scale to make sense. If you’re a mom-and-pop bakery, for example, you could theoretically develop an app that would let your customers design their own cupcakes and place their order right from their phone. While it would surely be a fun gimmick, it doesn’t fulfill a broad-based need, and the app’s ability to generate additional revenue would probably never offset the cost to create and maintain it. That brings us to another point: you must carefully consider your ROI. If you sink many thousands of dollars into development and get it approved, will people really use it? If you can’t develop an app that offers something people want and will use frequently – whether that’s in the form of utility, convenience, content or all of the above – chances are good that your investment will end up buried in the app marketplace collecting dust. Remember, too, that when you’re dealing with apps, you either have to develop a version for each operating system (Android, iOS, etc.), which can be a costly proposition, or choose just one and ignore the needs of a huge percentage of your potential customer base, which is never a smart business decision.

Be a contender.

When it comes to mobile, convenience and conversion are the name of the game. From a business growth perspective, it’s critical to ensure that your products or services are easily accessible to mobile users so you can boost your chances of capturing and converting an increasingly untethered customer base.

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A Tale of Two Tweets – And Five Takeaways for Brand Survival in a Consumer-Driven Culture

It was the best of times…and the best of times. Two very different brands, two very different markets, two very different tweets – but it all adds up to one very big lesson in the power of word-of-mouth marketing in today’s consumer-driven marketplace. Our story opens on October 1, when ESPN NFL Nation reporter Terry Blount tweets a photo from Houston restaurant Skeeter’s Mesquite Grill, where the specials board advertises the “Matt Schaub”: “Pick six toppings for your burger and pay dearly for it.” This clever play on words was a reference to an interception the Texans’ quarterback threw during their September 29 game against the Seahawks – an interception that was returned for a touchdown, turning the tide of the game and paving the way for the Seahawks to claim an overtime victory. The photo quickly rippled through the Interwebs, and over the course of the next three days, this local mom-and-pop eatery received over 400,000 hits on its website, and its managers gave more than 50 interviews to media outlets across the nation, including ESPN’s SportsCenter and Mike & Mike as well as The New York Times and the New York Daily News. From Houston we travel to Richmond, Virginia, where John and Sherry Petersik, masterminds behind the hugely popular home improvement blog Young House Love tweeted a photo to their 27,000+ followers of a package delivered to their doorstep with a little something extra for their famed four-legged family member (coincidentally named “Burger”). But they didn’t just tweet it. They also posted it to their Facebook Page, where they have more than 86,000 followers. And to Instagram, where they have nearly 56,000 followers. Assuming that some of those followers overlap (as they surely do), that’s still a lot of valuable publicity garnered for the price of a dog treat. Even more noteworthy? The many commenters that eagerly chimed in to sing the praises of their own thoughtful neighborhood UPS delivery driver. So what do these moments of marketing kismet mean for you? After all, they are lightning-in-a-bottle moments to be sure. But the point is not to replicate them; it’s to learn from them. Here are five key takeaways that you can apply to help your brand not only survive but thrive in today’s consumer-driven marketplace:

1. Deliver delight.

How much effort did it take for that UPS delivery driver to leave a treat along with the day’s package? How much did it cost the company? Nearly nothing, yet this seemingly insignificant gesture of care and courtesy garnered thousands upon thousands of positive impressions on social media. That’s an ROI that’s nearly impossible to beat. So ask yourself: what can you do to delight your customers? How can you invest a little extra effort, time and thoughtfulness into making their lives easier or bringing a little bit of unexpected joy into their day? Even in today’s tech-centric world, it’s the personal touches that make the most lasting impression.

2. Follow the trickle-down rule of happiness.

It’s a formula as simple as it is true: Happy employees = happy customers. It starts with hiring the right people – people who are the right fit for your corporate culture, who share your passion and your vision and who are driven to go the extra mile. Then empower those people. Make sure they know that you have only one rule when it comes to serving your customers: do whatever it takes to show them that they are valuable and appreciated. When you surround yourself with a top-notch team, you can entrust them to make the right decisions when the rubber meets the road to uphold your brand’s reputation.

3. Know your tribe.

There’s no magic spell you can cast to make your marketing efforts go viral. However, when you know your tribe, you know what they’ll respond to. You know what they’ll find funny or clever or quirky or cool. You know how to stay on the right side of the line between being in on the joke and making a pandering marketing ploy. Skeeter’s hit the right note among their sports-loving clientele with their timely, cheeky special. By having a little fun at Matt Schaub’s expense, they sent a clear message to their base of Texans fans: We know the feeling. We’re one of you. It’s the marketing equivalent of saddling up to the bar with a pint to commiserate over the outcome of the game.

4. The walls have eyes. And ears. And blogs.

Did that UPS delivery driver know that the home where he left the treat for the garrulous Chihuahua was inhabited by bloggers? Probably not. Was he following a PR plan carefully researched and plotted by UPS’s corporate marketing team. Most certainly not. But that’s exactly the point. In today’s era of social media, you should treat every customer as though they’re the Petersiks. Not every one of your customers has their own blog, but nearly every one of them has their own Facebook page, Twitter account, Instagram, etc. Each of these platforms is a megaphone that they can use to sing your praises or rip you to shreds. You never know whose megaphone is the loudest, and there’s nothing people love more than jumping on a bandwagon. Which direction that bandwagon is heading is up to you.

5. Brands are made in moments.

This is a corollary to #4, but in these times when everyone has their own soapbox, brands aren’t defined in board rooms; they’re shaped moment by moment in homes and in cars and on screens across America. Every encounter between your brand and your customers – whether real-world or virtual – shifts and redefines your reputation. Whether your annual marketing budget is in the thousands or the millions, there’s nothing you can do that carries the weight of the word of someone who has experienced your products and services first-hand. So rather than obsessing over every word on your website, put your time and energy where it counts – on the front lines where your brand and your customers come face-to-face.

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