This week on my Blog Talk Radio show, Talk Business With Howard, the guest will be Marion Lewis, CEO of Movilo Digital. On LinkedIn, Marion describes herself as a “Serial Entrepreneur and Mobile Evangelist”. Which is exactly what Marion is! And why I’ve invited her to be on the radio show.
One of the objectives of Talk Business With Howard is to keep CEOs, presidents and business owners ahead of the curve so not to be left behind in this fast paced, technology driven business environment. That’s why the topic of building a mobile strategy is so important to your business today. Thank you, Marion, for the blog post and for being a guest on the radio show this Wednesday, August 22 at 11 AM/ET. -Howard-
“Mobile is so important; put your best people on mobile. If you don’t have a mobile strategy, you are no longer relevant”.
– Eric Schmidt, former CEO, Google
The stats are all around us: 73% of consumers say they have used their mobile phone in a store (Interactive Advertising Bureau, 2012), 64% of affluent app users say they view brands with mobile apps more favorably (Luxury Institute, 2012), and 85% of merchants say mobile commerce is a focus in 2012, up from 68% in 2011 (Etailing Group, 2012).
A recent article from The Atlantic cites that the average American spends 94 minutes per day utilizing mobile apps vs. 72 minutes of web-based consumption, and that mobile will likely surpass television as the dominant consumer access point for all media. The trends are clear, and online merchants ignore them at their peril.
Need more proof? In the first quarter of 2012, Apple sold nearly 12 million iPads. Global tablet sales exceeded 64 million units in 2011 and are on track to soar to 232 million units in 2016, according to the latest Tablet Technology and Markets report from Futuresource Consulting. Studies show that 1 in 4 Americans now own a tablet, and the average person looks at their phone 150 times a day.
So, how to start? At the risk of sounding flip, how about the beginning? A successful entry to the mobile space means more than just building an app or mobile store. To truly please your customers and keep them coming back, you need to give them something of value and you need to have a strategy. Despite the droves of companies going mobile, few do so with a coherent mobile strategy in place. And as the saying goes, if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.
To begin developing an effective mobile strategy, ask yourself some key questions:
- What is my current presence on mobile? Is it working? Am I measuring the results?
- What do I hope to gain by entering or expanding in the mobile space? Sales? Traffic? Brand presence? All of the above?
- Who is the audience for my mobile app or mobile website? Am I trying to gain a new audience? Provide another point of contact for my existing customers?
- Which phones and/or tablets are my customers using and how are they using them?
- What can I provide of value to my customers that can be delivered via mobile in a better way?
- If I am a multichannel merchant, how does my mobile strategy mesh with my offline strategy?
- What is my competition doing? (You don’t necessarily want to replicate what the competition is doing. But you do want to know where the bar is set.)
The data you collect about your customer via the web, marketing campaigns, and social media can help shape your mobile strategy. What content do your customers like to see? What types of experiences do they prefer? When you execute on your mobile strategy, continuing to collect this data and analytics on your new mobile efforts is critical. The more you know about how your customer interacts with your mobile initiatives, the better you can respond to and enhance their mobile experience.
Like most things in business, a well-thought out strategy will enhance your chances of success. Another thing you can count on — if you don’t meet your customers’ growing needs and expectations for mobile, someone else will. Let’s start planning!
Marion Lewis, the CEO of Movilo Digital, is a results-driven entrepreneur with over 30 years of sales, marketing and operational experience. After a 22 year run as the CEO of Tachyon Solutions, a web development and marketing firm, she founded Movilo in 2011 to provide companies with mobile enablement and mobile strategy services. Marion has received a number of awards for her work and involvement with the entrepreneurial community.
Remember to listen in on the conversation I have with Marion on Wednesday, August 22 at 11 AM during the live broadcast on Blog Talk Radio. The replay of the show will be posted at the top of this page on Wednesday afternoon.