21 Jan Are You Prepared for the Mobile Shift?
For a while we’ve been talking about the importance of having your website mobile friendly, but a big shift is about to happen that cannot be ignored by marketers: consumer behavior. How the consumer behaves regarding shopping, entertainment, ads, information, and communication is changing big for 2013.
The introduction of the iPhone changed the way consumers search, shop, research, and play, and of course, respond to advertising. The bottom line is that they will simply not tolerate less than great experiences on mobile.
How should we, as marketers, address this shift in behavior? The beauty of mobile and social media is that media is adaptable. And that is the new name of the game.
Adapt in Business
In the office employees keep their smartphone next to their computer to text, email, tweet, post on Facebook, listen to music, shop, search, map or check the news. On the road, they are leaving the laptop behind for the tablet or smartphone, both connected to corporate email. Instead of fighting it, this may a time for your business to adapt and create a system that contains all files and folders needed while on the road or in the office.
Adapt at Home
The tablet is becoming the in-house device of choice for entertainment and news, second only to the television set. The new norm is to watch TV, check out the Web and apps on the tablet, and text or tweet via the smartphone – all while conversing with loved ones in the bedroom, den, kitchen or living room. This mobile life is now a reality.
Media planners have to face that consumers are tuning out of traditional commercials to play on their tablets. Big media brands such as The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times are training consumers to pay for digital content in lieu of brand and targeted advertising. What information do you have that your buyers may be willing to pay for?
Adapt in Shopping
Mobile devices contain the content, commerce, entertainment and 1-click purchasing convenience that enable consumers to run their work, home and play lives with instant gratification. Mobile is taking product and pricing transparency to a new level. Marketers, for their part, struggle with the mobile-armed consumer, who is way too sharp to tolerate high margins for labor rendered.
What Do You Do?
Build stronger ties with consumers by offering products or services that cannot be matched elsewhere. Include them in the conversation, and reward them for their loyalty. Let them have a voice. Under promise and over deliver.
The choice for marketers in 2013 is clear: either adapt or end up last.
