Posted by Rob Schrader
When you have a good idea for a mobile marketing application, you typically want to get it to market and put your stake in the ground as soon as possible. How does 30 days sound for developing and launching an application for an iPhone, iPad or Android platform?
A 30 day development cycle may seem hasty, but it can work if your
mobile application developer uses these six best practices to deliver a timely and effective product:
1. Pick a platformBefore approaching developers with your idea, pick one platform for your application launch. With a 30 day time constraint, it will only be possible to develop on one platform, either iPad and iPhone or Android, to start. Research which type of phone your target audience typically uses, and go with that phone. Once you've built the first app, it will be easy to roll out a version for the other platform in a second development phase.
2. Build an experienced teamTo meet a 30 day deadline, you'll need to work with a very experienced team of developers. Senior developers tend to have more versatile skill sets and can dive into any aspect of a development project. In a 30 day development cycle, it will really move things along to have every person on your team ready to handle any incoming task.
3. Use agile developmentAn agile development philosophy is critical to delivering a
mobile application in a short period of time. Agile development is faster than traditional development because it allows the team to test as they go and makes communication between developers and the client more fluid and actionable. Developers can progress by building a piece of the application, testing to make sure it works correctly and then moving on to the next piece.
4. Work from existing codeIf you work with a development agency that regularly designs for mobile, they'll have created other applications similar to yours. Developers can take existing proven tested code from these other apps, and use it to build the foundations of your application. Borrowing or mimicking existing tested code, accelerates both coding and testing.
5. Hit the week one hurdleWeek one is a big milestone in a 30 day development cycle. By the first week, developers should deliver a foundation or skeleton application that is ready for testing. The rest of the development cycle can be spent filling final content into the framework app while continuing to test.
6. Launch and updateRemember, you are not trying to build a comprehensive application in 30 days. The goal is to get a basic application to market, so that you can generate user interest and upgrade the application with features and functionality in future releases. Once users have downloaded your application, you can roll-out greater functionality. Users can access upgrades through mobile stores and even in-application micro-transactions.
Do you have an idea for a mobile marketing app that you'd like to develop quickly?
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Mobile apps for iPad, iPhone and Android are a perfect way to extend your product portfolio and build your brand. Whether through branded games, social media, digital brochures or sales and marketing tools, mobile apps are a key tool to unlocking new opportunities.
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Posted by Rob Schrader
Marketers tend to experience the same pitfalls again and again while managing exhibits at live events and conferences. For example it's a common grievance for a marketer to have missed speaking to a crucial contact in the industry. Or, when the marketing team gets home from the conference and analyzes its exhibit stats, they learn that more than 50 percent of their booth content was underperforming from last year.
Fortunately, leading mobile application development agencies can build mobile applications that provide real-time reporting, monitoring and content management for marketers to better manage live events.
Companies can install exhibit management applications on the iPhone, iPad Android and other mobile devices, then distribute the mobile devices to their conference marketing staff.
From the mobile device, an employee can see a diagram of the booth with live traffic counts, content engagement stats and even updates for when a VIP attendee enters the booth. Dynamically and immediately the marketers can see what's working, what's not working and adjust the content to better meet the attendees on the fly.
Below are four common event pitfalls, and examples of how mobile exhibit management applications can help marketers solve each problem:
1. If they don't see the person entering the booth, marketers may miss an opportunity to speak with a key VIP customer.
Combining the mobile application with RFID tag technology, marketers can see when and where a VIP attendee has checked in to the booth. The RFID tag on the attendees badge will alert marketers with a real-time text message and a blinking screen, to which VIP attendee is present. In a large booth, staffed by more than 10 marketers, you can even assign different VIP alerts to specific marketers. When exhibits are spread out across a large space, knowing the VIP's location also helps staff to get to that person in a timely manner.
2. Marketers do not know about important metrics until after the event.
Event management mobile applications have a reporting dashboard that shows different data views such as leads by hour, traffic and even demographics. The applications are as easy-to-use as leading mobile apps. Using real-time analytics, marketers might find that they are attracting a greater proportion of international attendees than they have in the past. As a result they can send a quick message to their web team to start working on translations for their product landing pages. At a multi-day event, marketing teams can gather at the end of the day, analyze the metrics from the exhibit and make a tailored plan for the following day to improve in key areas. Using real-time intelligence, marketers don't have to wait until next year's conference to improve their exhibit strategy.
3. Marketers often feel stuck using the material they decided on prior to the conference because it's difficult to switch out underperforming content while the exhibit is in progress.
A mobile event management application puts a full content management system for the exhibit, in the palm of the marketers' hand. There's no need to go from computer to computer to swap content, and thus derail part of the exhibit for some time. Marketers can look at real-time results to determine if attendees are engaged with certain content. By pushing a few buttons on the mobile device, they can tell any number of machines in the booth to stop playing content A and start playing content B instead.
4. When crowd dynamics become a challenge, it's tough to figure out why there's over crowding and how to re-route traffic throughout the booth without moving heavy walls, tables and kiosks.
Overcrowding makes it hard for the maximum number of people to engage with the booth's content. One of the biggest reason for overcrowding is a demand for a single aspect of your exhibit. Marketers can solve over crowding issues using the the mobile management application to switch content around from machine to machine. If there are crowds around three kiosks showing a 3D animation and other kiosks are not engaging any attendees, the mobile application can load that 3D animation content onto more machines and exhibit staff can help point the attendees towards those other 3D kiosks.
Do you think mobile event management applications could add value to your live event marketing?
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If you want to learn more about using multi-touch screens to reach your audience, register here for a free live event marketing consulation. In this FREE 30-45 minute consultation, you'll gather ideas for leveraging mult-touch technology in your offices and at meetings and live events. Schedule a consultation today.
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Posted by Rob Schrader
Army reserve colonel Lawrence Sellin, was recently fired for a rant he published about the U.S. Military's over-reliance on PowerPoint presentations. While I can't speak to the Army's use of technology, or the propriety of Sellin's rant and subsequent firing, I can say, PowerPoint is an obsolete way to engage your audience.
Remember when only a few short years ago, Microsoft PowerPoint was the latest and greatest technology for marketers and business presenters to use? The moving text and graphics between slides were pretty impressive back then. But today, much has changed in the way marketers and business people present content at meetings, live events and conferences.
Touch Screens
Engagement has become the one of the most important marketing goals when presenting content to an audience. The thinking goes; when a user spends more time with your content, they will also build a stronger connection with your brand. Screens first became more engaging when the keyboard and mouse were phased out by touch-screen technology in the early 2000s. Now touch screens are everywhere: in museums, at conference exhibits, built into customer service kiosks at movie theaters and airports, and of course in ATMs.
Multi-Touch Screens
Screens became even more engaging, when the iTouch and then iPhone were released in 2007. The Apple products supported multi-touch technology, including on-screen gestures, like pinching to zoom. The multi-touch interface revolutionized the amount of interaction a user could have with on-screen content. Yes the screen is still flat, but the content can be 3D. For example, instead of swiping up or down to move content on a flat plane, users can use the swipe gesture to turn a wheel or a sphere covered with content.
Multi-touch screens also eliminate the linear approach of a presenter, an audience and a script. The user interface allows people to interact with content in any order or orientation they prefer. At a trade show, for example, an attendee would have the option to watch a video, view documents or even interact with a 3D object. By ceding more control to the audience, users are more engaged with the content and the "presentation" becomes more of an "experience."
Surface technology
Leading-edge marketers are already leveraging Microsoft's surface technology to further engage audiences. Surface tables take the multi-touch experience one step further in that the computer can recognize tagged physical objects that are placed on the table. At a museum, when a user places a model of an airplane on the surface table, the screen might populate with all kinds of immersive content about that particular plane. Viewers could interact with a timeline about the history of flight, or unfold a navigable 3D cross-section of the plane. Developers are currently building more and more ways to blend the physical and digital worlds using surface table technology.
Future Technologies
With new technologies coming on board so frequently, who knows what the next great product will be for presenting interactive content. Right now, many people are awaiting the release of Microsoft's Xbox Kinect. Kinect is a gaming add-on for Xbox, that uses voice recognition and motion-sensing cameras to eliminate the need for game controllers altogether. Videos on the Kinect product page, show users touching objects on-screen or jumping, leaning and running as their on screen avatars mimic every move.
If this technology becomes adopted by leading video game manufactures, it will reach millions of users. Once popularized it will most likely show up in the interactive marketing community in one to two years. Imagine a 3D surgical tutorial for physicians to interact with during a medical conference. The possibilities are limitless.
Where do you see interactive content heading in the next few years?
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If you want to learn more about using multi-touch screens to deliver interactive content, register here for a free live event marketing consultation. In this FREE 30-45 minute consultation, you'll gather ideas for leveraging multi-touch technology in your offices and at meetings and live events. Schedule a consultation today.
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Posted by Joe McBride
Before the parabolic rise in popularity of the iPhone, multi-touch technology was first brought into the mainstream when CNN debuted the screens in their 2008 Presidential election coverage.
For millions of Americans, it was the first time they had seen this technology used outside of a science fiction film. The CNN anchors made the screens look fun and easy to use and piqued the public's interest in and acceptance of multi-touch technology.
Here are some highlights from how CNN uses multi-touch to enhance it's broadcast:
- During the 2008 Presidential election coverage, CNN anchors made use of real time election data to update a map of the United States. They turned the states different colors based on which party was leading in the polls.
- The anchors use multi-touch screens to make their broadcasting smoother. If an anchor is talking and receives an update on a story, he or she can tap the screen to display that new information instantly. There is no longer any dead air time while an anchor waits for a graphic or screen to load.
- Much like the Telestrator used during Football broadcasts, news anchors can annotate videos and photographs to highlight important details that may have been hiding in plain sight.
- To make information more compelling and easier to absorb, anchors can animate icons as they are mentioned and have new content pop-up as it is addressed -- an improvement over static charts and graphics with the anchor's voice in the background.
- Before adopting multi-touch technology, anchors had limited options for presenting user-generated and online content. In the video below, you can see an example of how the anchor displays internet content in a more interesting way than just a screenshot or live feed of a screen being navigated by mouse.
Thinking about how CNN has popularized multi-touch technology, there are some big benefits for marketers who want to use this technology to connect with their customers.
3 Takeaways for Marketers
1. Multi-touch screens are cutting edge so they draw a crowd and keep the audience's attention.
2. The technology is not intimidating; it's easy enough for all generations to understand what's going on and how it's being used.
3. Multi-touch enables marketers to tell a complex, fluid story at the board level, at a trade show or a marketing event. Presenters have access to all kinds of dynamic content at their fingertips, including statistics, charts, video and 3-D animations. As a conversation evolves, they can tailor the experience to the audience
Where have you seen multi-touch screens being used?
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Often the best way to convey a message is to show it! Custom animations shown on multi-touch screens can be your secret weapon to improving your brand's connection with customers and prospects. In this FREE 30-45 minute consultation, you'll learn the many benefits of custom animation and three personalized tips for how you can use them in your business. Schedule a consultation today.
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Posted by Joe McBride
Consumers are no longer part of a passive audience, simply listening to marketing pitches on television. Today's consumers expect companies to deliver relevant, useful information in their messaging.
Moreover, engagement, or the level of interaction consumers have with your company, has become one of the most important marketing goals. The multi-touch screen is a medium for marketers to deliver engaging, relevant content to consumers.
A multi-touch screen is like an oversized iPhone screen that allows users to interact with content through gestures such as the swipe or pinch and zoom. Unlike static content presented on single touch or regular screens, multi-touch screens allow users to drill down to information that's relevant to them. The technology creates a prolonged, deeper interaction with your company's content.
Marketers can tap into touch-screen technology to draw crowds and better engage consumers at live events, exhibits and even in their corporate offices. Here are three examples of how marketers can use multi-touch screen technology in different environments to deliver interactive and exciting content:
1. Add depth to a museum exhibit
At a museum—or in an experience you’d like to feel like a museum--a multi-touch screen can deliver multiple layers of information for visitors to navigate at their own pace. In an exhibit about ancient Egypt, for example, touch screen technology can support an interactive timeline, with multimedia pop-ups to show how objects in the exhibit coincide with historical events. Curators could also present a 3D tour for users to virtually walk through ancient pyramids or a 3D animation of a mummy that they can "unwrap" layer-by-layer using on screen gestures.
2. Use object to surface technology at a trade show
One tactic that leading-edge companies are using at trade shows and live events is object to surface technology. Microsoft's tabletop surface touch screen, is like a multi-touch screen- but laid out flat like a table. The surface table recognizes tagged physical objects, so that when those objects are placed onto the surface- related menus, controls and content can pop-up onscreen. For example, a car manufacturer could have miniatures of all its new models, and customers could place the cars on the table to view in depth animations of each vehicle. Or at a medical conference, a drug manufacturer could place organs affected by a particular disease near a surface table. When visitors pick up the human brain, and place it on the table, they can interact with content detailing how the Brain is affected by the disease and how the therapy helps.
3. Corporate welcome screens
Multi-touch screens and surface tables also have a place as welcome pieces in corporate lobbies and waiting areas. The screens can present information about the company's corporate responsibility initiatives, financial standings and even serve as a first step in the job application process. Businesses can also present industry-specific content. For example, visitors waiting to meet with executives at a financial services company could use the interactive screen to view stock indices, breaking financial news and any other relevant content updated in real-time via RSS feeds.
These are only three of the myriad possibilities for multi-touch screens. This technology not only provides personalized, interactive content, but is also conveniently built into one system. Simply plug in the computer, install software on it and the touch screen is ready to go, with no need for a hidden back-up computer.
The multi-touch interface is also more user-friendly than a single touch computer or computer with a mouse because users can move windows on screen and zoom in or out - to more comfortably view content. Whether viewers are small children or tall adults, left or right handed, or even forgot their reading glasses, they'll be able to comfortably interact with personalized content.
Are you ready to use multi-touch screens and surface tables at your next live event?
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If you want to learn more about using multi-touch screens to reach your audience, register here for a free live event marketing consulation. In this FREE 30-45 minute consultation, you'll gather ideas for leveraging mult-touch technology in your offices and at meetings and live events. Schedule a consultation today.
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Posted by Joe McBride
Which would you rather have: a regular old cell phone or a smart phone? A dial-up Internet connection or wireless?
Consumers rapidly adopt new technologies into their daily lives and it's time to add multi-touch screens and surface tables to the list. Multi-touch screens use hand gestures like pinching, tapping and dragging to navigate on-screen content instead of a mouse, track pad or keyboard.
Microsoft's surface table is a large, sleek tabletop screen that responds to gestures and physical objects placed on the table. The surface table API is currently open only to business developers, so this technology is not as mainstream as the multi-touch technology used in consumer devices like the iPhone.
Here are a few unique capabilities - only possible with multi-touch screens and surface tables, and not possible with single touch or traditional computers:
1. Trigger content based on physical objects
Surface table technology delivers a unique experience where the physical and digital worlds blend. The table recognizes physical objects when they are placed on the screen. For example, in a science exhibit, a user might choose from models of all the different planets. If they place a model of the Mars on the table, the screen might populate with content like a first-person view of the Mars rover footage, or an interactive cross-section of the planet's structure.
2. Tailor layout for a better experience
Both multi-touch and surface table technology can help users tailor the screen layout to meet their preferences. movable, re-sizable windows allow users to place content where they can most easily see it. A shorter child might want to drag a content window to the bottom of the screen to view, while a six-foot tall adult can read and view content at a higher-level. It is also easy to zoom-in for greater readability, and there's no difference between a left-handed or a right-handed person's user experience.
3. Attract larger audiences
Interactive screens are cutting-edge and still very exciting to audiences. When used at a trade show or live event, a multi-touch screen or surface table is guaranteed to draw a crowd. If there are two booths side-by-side, one with a keyboard and mouse and one with a multi-touch screen, the people will all be gathered around the multi-touch screen exhibit. While both technologies are good for generating interest, the surface table especially, is easy for a group of viewers to gather around.
4. Drive deeper engagement with content
Not only do these screens draw a crowd, they also retain that crowd for a longer time than traditional computers. The medium provides an engaging experience that will resonate with users more than a static video kiosk, or a slide presentation with a fixed point of view. When visitors interact with the multi-touch screen or a surface table, they can customize their own experience and remain in control of which content they see. People who learn better by reading may choose to view text, while the visual learners can activate animations and video.
Learn how to develop content for multi-touch screens and surface tables
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At your next live event or meeting, unveil engaging applications built with multi-touch and surface table technologies.
To learn about how your company can develop content for multi-touch or surface table formats, please register for a free consultation.
Schedule a consultation today.
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Posted by Rob Schrader
A biopharmaceutical company sought to develop a highly interactive experience for their disease state awareness exhibit. Their primary objectives included booth traffic builders, flow dynamics, multiple interactive educational experiences, immersive content and post-show analytics.
In this case study, I think you'll find some of the approaches interesting. What are some other interesting and effective tactics you seen to drive attendee engagement?
View the case study
Are you getting the most out of your tradeshow investments?
Posted by Chris Atkinson
When was the last time you saw a 40 foot long LED screen broadcasting video from a live event? Odds are, if you saw such a presentation, you (and countless others) would be drawn over to the event to find out what was happening.
The use of technology, such as a larger-than-life LED display, is just one feature of a successful automotive event. By taking a closer look at automotive event marketing—namely the concept of a ride and drive—marketers from other industries can identify actionable takeaways to use in their own campaigns.
What is a Ride and Drive?
A ride and drive is an automotive marketing event focused on intercepting consumers from their normal routine. The goal is to have consumers test drive a vehicle and gather feedback from them about the experience. These events take place in parking lots outside of malls or other heavily trafficked areas. As mentioned above, the event customarily uses interactive displays and technology to draw visitors in. The larger the crowd, the more likely other people will be drawn to the event.
What can marketers in other industries learn from automotive event marketing?
The ride and drive model can be applied to many different industries—it just happens to be predominant in the automotive industry. The objectives of a ride and drive event are valuable to all marketers and they are as follows:
- Get the consumer to try the product
- Capture consumer feedback and insights
- Generate buzz and interest in additional trials or purchasing the product
Regardless of your industry, below are four main tenets of a ride and drive event which marketers can implement in their own live events:
1. Use technology to draw a crowd
At a smaller event, with limited space, position outward facing interactive touch-screen displays or mobile devices to draw people in. At a recent Ride and Drive event with a lot of square footage, one automotive manufacturer had consumers give live video testimonials about the product on site. They broadcasted those testimonials, along with other powerful multimedia content, on an enormous 20’x 40’ LED wall. This real-time display attracted tons of foot traffic and adds to the buzz of the event.
2. Digitally capture customer insights
At automotive events, representatives will scan driver's licenses for those who wish to drive. During this process they will digitally collect customer information, including an opt-in to an e-mail subscription for future product updates and sales offers. Contact information is dispersed directly after an event to the sales team, who will follow up with another marketing touch. Automotive companies also capture customer data for vehicle prototypes at live events. This way, before the vehicle launches, marketers have a pipeline of potential buyers.
Capturing insights from prospects and customers is the best way to gather real-time insights about consumer behaviors and attitudes that ultimately determine their willingness to buy. A good approach is to utilize standard questions at each event, so you can measure trends and changes in consumer sentiment. You can also augment these questions with questions specific to the event or products you are marketing to get point-in-time data.
3. Provide engaging activities
Aside from the test drive, automotive marketers create additional, fun activities for consumers. At a recent automotive event, one manufacturer offered an iPad application where consumers could create a customized picture of themselves driving the featured vehicle. There was a camera on site to take photos. Then the consumer could choose a background, a vehicle color and personalize the city landscape and theme of the image. Finally, these images were uploaded to a microsite for the vehicle and shared widely with family and friends via social media sites like Facebook. This activity was fun and brand-centric. It also drove purchase behavior by having the consumer visualize herself in the new vehicle. It allowed every consumer to create their own art.
4. Listen to customers
Market research and customer insights are another great benefit of automotive marketing events. At a ride and drive event, marketers conduct a digital survey with consumers after their test drive, asking for opinions about the vehicle's features. Collecting survey answers along with live video testimonials, automotive manufactures come away with valuable insights about the product. These insights are unique because they are taken directly from the consumer. Ultimately, real customer insights can drive future pricing, product development and messaging. Companies that let their customers drive their offerings and often very successful.
After reading this article, what are some take-aways that you would apply to your industry?
What marketing insights can you get from a live brand experience?
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The more you know about your prospects, the better your marketing campaigns will perform. With on-demand lead analytics, you'll provide your salespeople the insights they need to focus on their next best customers. To learn more, schedule a live demo of PMG Reports |
Posted by Chris Atkinson
Have you ever wondered what your company could do differently to get more out of its event and exhibits budget?
Many leading interactive agencies offer trade show audit services that sends consultants or auditors out to the scene of a live event. The consultants will observe the live event, gauge the exhibit's baseline performance and identify ways to improve the exhibit experience and results.
Marketers walk away with an actionable report of suggested changes to increase the impact of their live event marketing spend. Here is a behind-the-scenes look at how a trade show audit works:
1. Schedule the audit
It's best to conduct the audit during an actual event. This is the most effective way for consultants to get a clear picture of what's happening, which activities are taking place, what tactics are being used and which content is being delivered and how it’s being delivered. Be sure to let the auditors know which day of the conference is expected to draw the biggest crowd as they will be able to measure traffic flow and booth congestion best on those days.
2. Gather competitive intelligence
Alert the auditing company to your major competitors and to those non-competitors who are viewed as thought-leaders in your industry. The auditors can observe these other companies to find out which tactics they're using to appeal to the audience. For example, a pharmaceutical company might want to take marketing insights from a medical device company that is exhibiting at the same conference.
3. Study attendee behavior
To increase the impact of your exhibit, auditors will watch attendee behaviors such as how long they participate in the exhibit and the amount of time they spend with certain areas of the booth. Let's say you have interactive kiosks delivering information. Do attendees stay at the kiosk for the entire presentation, or do they leave half-way through? These insights can help companies tailor their messaging and delivery to better engage attendees.
4. Evaluate exhibit technology
Consultants will also focus on the exhibit's use of technology and how it either improves or hinders user experience. They'll ask questions such as: Are there enough screens to accommodate the crowd? Is the technology contributing to success metrics? Are the computers fast enough? Do the graphics look clear? And are the resolution and video cards optimized? Auditors will identify technology gaps and suggest new technologies like the iPad or a surface table kiosk that might amplify the exhibit.
5. Increase data capture
A trade show audit will evaluate how well a company is capturing attendee data. While many organizations spend tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars on market research, a trade show audit can identify efficiencies where the market research and trade show budgets might overlap. Companies can reduce money spent on focus groups and round tables, by instead collecting valuable information right at the exhibit. This also enables marketers to have deeper conversations with customers than they would be able to gather through other research tools.
6. Improve key message delivery
At most conferences, exhibitors will have multiple audiences within the attendee base. For example, attendees at a medical conference, might be physicians, nurses, physician's assistants and nurse practitioners. Each group might only be interested in messaging on a particular topic. Trade show auditors will measure how well your exhibit delivers key messages to target audience. They will suggest ways to better deliver specific information to each group so those groups can benefit from personalized and education content
7. Maximize valuable relationships
ROI is often difficult for companies to measure at a live event exhibit. A trade show audit can help companies to better measure their success. For example, an auditor might suggest outlining a list of 100 VIP targets prior to the event and measuring their attendance and time spent at the exhibit through technologies like RFID. As a result, marketers could report back to senior management that 80 percent of the targeted VIP customers visited the booth and 65 percent of those visitors spent more than 25 minutes engaged with the company.
8. Build better follow-up
A trade show audit can also help marketers to improve their post-conference strategies as well. Auditors ask important questions, such as: How quickly is the marketing team getting information over to the sales team? Is the conference data collection system integrated with other sales force management and CRM systems? What insights are collected at the event and how does that enhance the success of the salesepeople? And does the company currently measure ROI from leads generated from these events? They might suggest tracking strategies like offering a promotion code to attendees and tracking sales generated from that code. They also might utilize insights gathered to prioritize sales follow-up to those attendees who have the highest probability to purchase.
Common trade show audit results
The end of result of a trade show audit, is a report with recommendations for exhibit improvements. This actionable advice helps marketers to achieve a more effective overall exhibit experience, with greater measurability on the back end.
What tactics have you used to audit your tradeshow investments? I’d love to hear your comments.
Are you getting the most out of your tradeshow investments?
Posted by Rob Schrader
If only the iPad had an application that predicted the future. In the next five to ten years, there's no way of knowing which new technologies or software platforms might have the biggest impact for marketers.
Facebook, which has more than 500 million active users, launched only five short years ago. Twitter, with more than 100 million users, launched in 2006. Yet from looking at today's digital marketing landscape, there are several emergent technologies and trends positioned to affect the future of digital marketing. Let's take a look at some of them below:
1. Rise of the mobile device
As mobile devices become more integrated into the workday, marketers will have access to more real time data and business insights to help them make decisions. For example, a pharmaceutical sales representative may have a database of medical professionals interested in diabetes medications. If there are new studies or data released on a pipeline diabetes drug, then that sales rep can push the information out to his list in real time. Sales managers can also use mobile technology to track orders and gauge a sales team's success with more immediacy, enabling them to respond with a visit or phone call if required.
2. Growth of micropayments
Micropayments are a new mobile feature enabling consumers to purchase upgrades from within an mobile application. There's no need to leave the application and go to a separate online store. Micropayments are widely used in the gaming community. For example, in a first-person combat game, a player can pause the action, purchase a more effective weapon through a microtransaction, and then continue playing. Even with its roots in gaming, microtranscactions will drive business behavior as well. As consumers become more comfortable with microtransactions, it’s a short leap to make them a mainstay in consumer electronics.
3. Importance of analytics
As mobile devices become ubiquitous, analytics are becoming the cornerstone of every marketing investment. Businesses are looking to build mobile applications with hearty back-end reporting. Developers can even integrate a mobile application's back-end data with the reporting dashboard of the company's existing sales management or CRM systems. Having these real time results will help marketing managers to justify their spending and tailor their strategies more effectively.
4. Wider use of mobile tagging
Quick Response, or QR codes are 2D barcodes readable by using the camera and software on mobile devices. When scanned, these codes send the user a text message with a relevant link or content. They also send the marketer information about who has activated the code. The marketing and educational uses of Mobile Tagging are limitless. For example, during a presentation at a conference, a speaker could provide QR codes in his slideshow with links to additional references. At a conference exhibit booth, QR codes can be used to send visitors to an application download page, landing page with more product information, or to an online form to request more information.
How do you think mobile trends and new technologies will change digital marketing in the next five to ten years? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
What marketing insights can you get from new marketing tools?
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The more you know about your prospects, the better your marketing campaigns will perform. With on-demand lead analytics, you'll provide your salespeople the insights they need to focus on their next best customers. To learn more, schedule a live demo of PMG Reports |