11 Things CMOs Need To Know About Mobile Marketing Strategy And App Development

by Steve Olenski

I honestly cannot believe I actually have to write this but this just in, pretty much entire world is on a mobile device on pretty much the whole time they are awake. In other words, the world of mobile marketing and its ridiculously enormous benefits should come as no surprise to anyone.

I have written countless articles on the topic of mobile marketing going back years. I don’t say to imply I am some sort of soothsayer or anything like that. I merely bring that point up to highlight the fact that mobile marketing is not something someone in the marketing world should just be waking up to.

OK, enough about that.

I’ve put together a high-level list for CMOs or any marketer for that matter to consider when looking at their mobile marketing strategy.

1. Mobile App or Mobile Website?
Many companies rush forward and create an app just because their competitors have one. But not every company needs an app. Often a mobile-optimized site will meet most requirements. Mobile apps, however, generally allow for more creativity and better interaction with your targeted users.

According to Janna Badalian, Director of Marketing at MobileSmith, “When it comes to customer engagement, native mobile apps can give your website a run for its money. You can engage various groups of customers and offer them a superior user experience — even without a reliable Internet connection.”

2. How Are Your Customers Using Mobile?
Use analytics to understand how your target audiences are using mobile. Are they transacting or using it to gather information? Are they mostly on Android or iOS; smartphones or tablets? Translating this data to IT will help them make the right decisions and prioritize development plans. However, sometimes requirements can get “lost in translation.” Marketers usually know best what their customers expect from a mobile app, and they can get their idea to market quicker if empowered with the right app prototyping and development tools.

3. Get to Know ASO
What is ASO? App Store optimization. The App Store can be a great source of new customers, or it can be a competitive nightmare where your app never sees the light of day. Getting to understand ASO is a critical part of gaining traction and maintaining traction in the App Store. Sites like apptamin.com offer great information on the subject.

4. Get to Know Your Competitors
Download your competitor’s apps — not just you, but everyone on your team should get to know what’s out there and how the competition operates. Not only will you get some ideas, you will find out what they are not doing well which will give you an opportunity to identity ways to beat them.

5. Check Cost Per Download
This is a fundamental issue that hits the business side of marketing your company with an app. It’s one thing to develop an app, it’s entirely another to motivate customers or potential customers to download the app.

6. Consider In-App Advertising
CMOs should look at the app landscape and focus on popular apps with frequent usability. Popular apps like Twitter allow in-app advertising or mobile advertising, and that’s one way to quickly distribute your app.

7. Use Social Media to Acquire Users
You should consider every distribution point that you think is efficient, but certainly use mobile social media platforms. The technology offers an almost immediate access to download your app. Your creative plan to drive consumers to download must be spot on, or your app will fail.

(the remaining four come courtesy of Momchil Kyurkchiev, CEO of Leanplum)

8. Double-Down on Mobile
The future of marketing is mobile. Mobile is the most personal device we possess, which makes it the best device to market to. Additionally, time spent in mobile apps has already surpassed time spent on desktop Web, and for some parts of the world, mobile devices are the first and only computer people possess.

9. Use Mobile App Marketing Automation
CMOs are already familiar with marketing automation on the Web; however, mobile apps present a lot of unique challenges and opportunities. On the Web, marketing automation is predominantly a B2B market, whereas apps are primarily for consumers. Also, the primary use case for marketing automation on the Web is lead nurturing, whereas with mobile apps it’s about engagement, retention and lifetime value. Therefore, CMOs responsible for mobile apps should adopt marketing automation solutions specifically designed for mobile.

10. Take Advantage of Real-Time Location
Location is one of the great opportunities for marketers on mobile. CMOs should experiment with iBeacons and geo-fences, not only to be able to segment users based on where they’ve been in the past, but also to design marketing interactions for users as they enter or leave certain locations. For example, switch the user experience in the app to “in-store mode” once a user passes by the iBeacon at your storefront, or send a survey to hotel guests as they leave the geo-fence of the hotel.

11. Be Lean!
Mobile holds tremendous promise, but it’s also uncharted territory for a lot of CMOs. We can’t rely on gut feeling of past experience to build a successful mobile app. Instead CMOs should adopt a culture of data-driven decision making and build their app incrementally. That involves relying on A/B testing and analytics for optimizing both the in-app experience and all marketing interactions, such as push notifications.

*This article originally appeared on Forbes.com.

Steve Olenski was named one of the Top 100 Influencers In Social Media (#41) by Social Technology Review and a Top 50 Social Media Blogger by Kred. Steve is a senior creative content strategist at Responsys, a leading marketing cloud software and services company. He is a also a member of the Editorial Board for the Journal of Digital & Social Media Marketing and co-author of the book “StumbleUpon For Dummies.” He can be reached via LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter @steveolenski or at the nearest coffee shop.