Michael Becker, who serves as strategic advisor for London-based Somo, the largest mobile marketing agency in the world, told Loyalty360 that marketing has changed fundamentally.
“It’s not just about our view of the world,” Somo said. “It’s about the customer journey now. It’s having that customer-centric understanding. Marketers have to be there when customers are exposed to opportunity. There’s no silver bullet to loyalty today. At every moment of truth, loyalty is a marathon, not a sprint.”
Becker is the former Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) North American Managing Director, said Somo aims to make sense of mobile by solving business problems (increasing sales, developing customer engagement, and enhancing productivity ) through cutting-edge mobile strategy, innovation, and technology.
Somo’s clients include Groupon, Disney, Audi, and Red Bull and many more top brands. Somo has created numerous award-winning mobile campaigns for major brands in the automotive, food and beverage, and travel/entertainment businesses, including:
An award-winning Audi A3 application that lets users virtually experience the car and features
An interactive mobile microsite promoting The Lion King 3D allowing users to watch the trailer and play a game with the film’s characters
A design-your-own DeBeers engagement ring app
Marketing has become a data science, Becker said, understanding how to leverage data in a way to achieve a 360-degree view of the consumer. One of the biggest challenges is navigating the landscape between the retailer and the manufacturer and each working with each other to be able to service the customer and meet their individual needs.
As huge a buzzword in the loyalty industry as mobile is, it seems like many companies remain spectators.
“In general, they’re still trying to figure out what it means to be mobile first, to be mobile optimized, and to be mobile first across departmental silos,” Becker said. “Mobile is the one piece that connects the digital and physical worlds together.”
Most companies are more product-centric, Becker said.
“In the mobile world it’s not about the product,” he explained. Consumers are buying experiences and value they can get.”
Part of the challenge for marketers, Becker said, is they’re compartmentally focused.
“The infrastructure isn’t aligned to deal with the individual consumer at scale,” he said.
Mobile requires a significant investment, Becker said.
“It’s investment, it’s education,” he said. “Customers are now in control. Marketers need to leverage customers at scale.”
When it comes to mobile, Becker believes there is a major misunderstanding in the marketplace.
“There is a gap between awareness knowledge and execution,” he said. “We’re addressing the awareness issue. We’re knee-deep in the knowledge issue that leads to execution. There are a lot of nuances to the dialogue. Mobile has now become a commercial imperative because the consumer is mobile.”
Becker said as the loyalty industry heads into a connective age, speed will be challenging for marketers.
“You’ll have the capabilities and the technology is there, but what we need is mass marketing adoption. Now marketers need to understand what mobile is and what it is to have a mobile presence.”
For loyalty marketers, Becker believes they should consider optimized mobile sites, mobile optimized email, and the role of messaging within the customer database.
“That’s where the marketplace is right now,” he said.
Only 55% of Fortune 500 companies have mobile optimized websites, Becker said, and 100% of those companies are in the very early stages. Companies need to define a mobile strategy and create mobile marketing teams.
“Companies are having a tough time with that,” he said. “They’re looking at it as a tactic, and not a strategy.”