Awareness is the Key

There are several key ingredients to a successful mobile campaign. One of those is important above all the others.

Mobile campaigns must be engaging. Because of the opt-in/opt-out nature of mobile, engaging the consumer will ensures that they will want to continue to receive messages from a brand. But this is not the most important component.

Mobile campaigns must offer added value. Coupons, delivered wirelessly, are one of the best ways to achieve this. Without added value, a text message is just words on a screen. However, added value, although important, is not the top feature for a mobile campaign to be successful.

Above all others, mobile campaigns must promote themselves. The best-designed mobile campaign ever will be a complete flop if nobody knows about it. Awareness is key.

So how does a brand promote a mobile campaign? How does the consumer find out that they can text-in-to-win? The answer is simple - mainstream advertising. Print, radio, tv and web. All these mainstream media channels can drive consumers to mobile. The call to action of many mainstream ads of the future will be to text the keyword to the shortcode. After that, the mobile campaign can take over and provide the consumer engagement that it is so good at.

I've heard numerous mobile evangelists claim that mobile will take over from other types of media. They are wrong. Mobile marketers must be aware that their new media relies on the old media to be successful. Indeed, mobile will become another, important, part of the overall marketing mix.