Digital Marketing's Remix email-experience

By Mark Simmons, Managing Partner, Founder of Mixed Digital

Digital marketing success can be a moving target. The industry changes and innovates at such a rapid pace that keeping up can seem a daunting task. The trick is to keep informed and to always test new ideas. Achieving both of these objectives enables your business to keep up. Here, we discuss how to integrate mobile marketing into your overall strategy, the importance of email marketing, and why augmented reality should be on your radar.

Mobile marketing has truly taken off in the past few years due to the huge adoption rate of smartphones and tablets. Consumers have changed the way they shop, consume media and how they interact with one another. One way businesses can capitalize off this is to take advantage of mobile search marketing. As potential customers conduct searches on the go, you want to make sure your business is front and center to take advantage. This works for local business but can also be beneficial to national and international organizations. By placing your ads in the right place at the right time, you improve your chances of increasing foot traffic, making that sale or acquiring that app download.

The next step is to ensure that you're able to capitalize on the mobile traffic you acquire. Creating a mobile site, if you don't already have one, is a vital step in the process. A mobile website is different from one that is "mobile friendly." The differences are an important and overlooked distinction. A mobile site is built specifically for the mobile experience. This addresses the screen size, the touch-screen functionality, and above all, the fact that mobile users are looking for a quick and efficient experience. Having to zoom in and zoom out to view content may just turn them away and lose you the conversion. If haven't already addressed, now is the time.     

Email marketing will always be a low cost, high ROI marketing channel. You're talking to existing customers or at least interested potential customers who care about what you have to say. Make sure you don't disappoint by having relevant, useful and interesting content to provide. You can't use this channel solely for promotional messaging. Take the time to understand your customer and provide information that's helpful. For example, if you sell women's beauty products, provide the occasional article on healthy tips and tricks to achieve that "look." Of course, you can use your products in the process but you're not overtly selling. This builds trusts and results in increased loyalty.

Take the process to the next level by creating customer segments for your email list. Use this to target groups based on common interest. This may be products, interests, repeat customers versus one-time purchasers. Review your data to see what makes sense and then tailor messages to them. Use the results to measure the success and figure out how to optimize the next round. Test subject lines and use data from other channels to find opportunity. You may find that successful keywords in paid or organic search prove to be successful in your subject line as well.  

Augmented reality is not a new topic, but it's still new to most. Depending on your business, this can be a great way to enhance the product experience. When coupled with your mobile app, this can really help your company stand apart from the competition. Recently, LEGO's used augmented reality to project an image of The Death Star for one of its Star Wars sets (see it in action here). Think about how you can use this technology to improve the customer's experience.

Start by thinking about how you can improve the experience for your customers. Are there visual elements about your brand that automatically lend themselves to augmented reality? Once you come up with some ideas and get a handle on the technology piece, it's time to think about how to use them. Does it make sense to offer this experience in stores or is it better to leverage your website and social media. The opportunities are endless. You just need to figure out what will speak to your target audience the best.

As you work through 2013, reevaluate your mobile presence, look at how you're using email, and test out augmented reality. In marketing, it's always best to test, measure, optimize and repeat. You'll learn a significant amount of valuable information if you're strategic in your approach. Keep in mind, your competition is looking at these opportunities. So should you. 

About the Author

Mark Simmons has been a digital marketing professional for over a decade. Prior to co-founding his own group, Mixed Digital, he gained his experience working for leading NYC agencies. His client roster includes SAP, Four Seasons Hotels and Wharton School of Business. Mark has a passion for digital marketing, especially mobile and social media. A graduate of Duke University, he lives with his wife and daughter in Durham, NC. Connect with him on LinkedIn, Twitter @markfsimmons or mixeddigital.com.