Power To The Marketer: Mobile Gaming

Competition is one thing that is prevalent in humanity. Humans just have a natural need to want to compete with one another. You can look in nearly any business and see this. Mobile marketing is one of the newer contenders in this arena, but the competitions are pretty fierce with the ever-growing popularity of mobile devices and technology. One thing that mobile marketers can do to tap into this great competitive market is to use "gamification" in their mobile marketing campaign as described below.

You've seen just how popular apps and downloadable games have been ever since smartphones hit the market. You can't look much of anywhere without seeing something regarding Angry Birds or other popular games. Many reports claim that millions are spending at least two hours daily playing game apps on their phones. That is potential that marketers could be using to their advantage. Fun is something that your audience wants and inserting it into your mobile marketing strategy can take it to new heights.

This all involves "gamification." This principle involves inserting gaming mechanics and dynamics into activities that are not games to obtain a desired behavior or effect. Consider what it is that gives these games their competitive edge. There are things like social leaderboards, interaction with other players, and the entertainment factor that keep people playing and wanting to beat other players. Entertainment is one marketing principle that you should already be familiar with. Giving your customers the "power" of a challenge, pride, and an entertaining and compelling experience can actually help you boost your customer interaction. Many companies have taken that principle to make their own kinds of social hubs that were relevant to their audience and gained more interest and interaction from their customers than ever before.

You can boost interest in products this way, too. This could be as simple as sending emails with a great call to action and a link to a special page, quiz, or the like to your customers. By adding in some type of scoring element, you can offer some deep discounts that they can share on their social media. This will cause customers to spend more time on your page, drive up your traffic and page views, and get them sharing what you offer with even more people. 

You can follow up the above using a similar strategy for those that may not have received your message or invitation. You can try using a different call to action or even a deeper discount than the previous one. It is just simple re-targeting that can boost your customer base and traffic.

Gamification, as you can see, does not only apply to games, but also to a great mobile marketing campaign. By tapping into to people's natural competitive nature and love of gaming, you can boost your outreach and sales. Remember that you must test everything first and that you are really getting the most out of your campaign since wasted time and lost customers and sales are not a game.

Nurturing Customer Relationships Using Mobile Marketing Tactics

Only a handful of big businesses have figured out that life cycle marketing is an effective tool to market to existing customers, based on a current developed relationship. That high quality relationship is more relevant than potential customers, who will only continue to subscribe or connect to the business if they truly enjoy what is being done for them through the process.

What this means for the marketer, is that they are hurting themselves that they stop adding value to their existing customers once they have signed up and began paying for the service. The effort to make the relationship between the customer and the company its most beneficial requires extensive communication.

However, it is important to understand that a customer who is potentially about to leave, should be handled differently than a loyal one. There are six effective mobile tactics that work in keeping connected with a loyal customer, in an effort to maintain that loyalty over time. These include:

Sending Text Reminders

Part of the strategy for mobile marketing should include sending out specific text to loyal customers in an effort to keep the company brand in the front of their mind. The text should be used as a spur to gain access to a special promotional or information about new product updates and additional information.

Taking Polls and Surveys 

Offering polls and taking surveys is an ideal way to garner feedback from your loyal customers. You can quickly send them a poll, or allow them to respond instantly using their smart phones and cell phones. Additionally, these types of actions allow you to get to know your customers much better. In the end, they will feel appreciated that you are asking specifically for their unique feedback. Again, this helps support the company brand while building highly effective rapport with loyal customers.

Offering Sweepstakes

Everybody enjoys getting something for nothing. Recognize that a sweepstakes is an ideal chance for your loyal customers to when something significant value. It might be having a first look of a product preview, or something behind the scenes that is exclusive just for them. It provides the ideal avenue for telling the company story in a unique way.

Pushing Notifications

Utilize geo-location technology of your customer base smart phones to send or push notifications based on their location. When the system understands that the customer is close to your store, and ready to make a purchase, push the notification that they get a free coupon, or discount and are only steps away from the sale.

Social Integration

Take full advantage of all the major social networks when developing an effective mobile campaign. Through social integration, you can allow your loyal base to discuss their relationship and experience with the business, in a variety of ways including sharing, posting and tweeting.

Maintaining records on how many loyal customers respond to the sent messages, and exactly how much they are spending on average will help determine the best return on investment of a mobile strategy.