In previous posts, you have learned how to come up with effective goals. To recap, you know goals need to be S.M.A.R.T. Smart goals are those that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-based. If you need more information about goals, read our previous blog post here.
Even though goals are extremely important while planning your mobile marketing campaign, you need to know how to determine your mobile marketing campaign strategy as well. Goals are simply the what while the strategy is the how.
It is important to define your strategy while planning your mobile marketing campaign. So here are ways on how to determine your mobile marketing campaign strategy.
We recommend using the famous “Six W’s” — questions whose answers are considered basic in any information-gathering endeavor. They’re often mentioned in journalism, research, and even police investigations because they constitute a formula for getting the complete story.
In relation to your bank’s mobile marketing campaign, your Six W’s are:
What
As previously mentioned, the what of your campaign is having the right goals.
Who
Who is your target audience for the campaign, or who is most likely to sign up for your offer or be interested in your product. You can glean details on the ideal audience for each of your products based on previous experiences and trends, as well as first- or third-party data sources. Your who also includes the status of your potential audience–whether you’re targeting new customers, cross-selling existing ones, or maybe both.
Remember that with mobile marketing tools, you will be able to hyper-target your audience using demographic factors, such as age, gender, education, income level, marital status, occupation, etc. At the same time, mobile allows you to target data lists that would help reach the right customer with the right product.
When
Not every product or offer is going to perform effectively all year round, so be smart about when you choose to launch a campaign. For example, push your student checking accounts before kids go back to college and advertise your credit cards right after Thanksgiving, as people starting to plan their holiday budgets.
Look into your bank’s data and check for patterns that might repeat over the years. When do you see spikes on mortgage loan applications? When do people usually request personal loans?
Where and Where
The title’s not a typo. There are actually two important wheres to keep in mind while laying out your strategy.
Where, as in location: It is important to carefully select the areas or neighborhoods you want to target. It’s a common mistake to blanket an entire city with your mobile marketing messages; you’ll inevitably show terrible results. Instead, invest some time to perfectly pinpoint where your potential customers are geographically before launching your campaign.
Where, as in device: There are lots of places you could buy ad space for your mobile campaign, and not all of them will give you the same results. Research done by MobiLoud shows nearly 90% of mobile users’ time is being spent in apps and not on mobile websites, it’s essential to allocate the majority of your mobile advertising campaign budget there. On a more granular level, you’ll need to determine in which specific apps your bucks are going to be most valuable.
If you were launching a mobile campaign today to promote your bank’s new student checking account, what apps do you think a college student is more likely to check: Forbes and CNN or Snapchat and Instagram? Exactly.
Why
Only you know why you’re launching a mobile marketing campaign in the first place, but it’s important to keep that thought in mind during the entire process. It might take a minute for the campaign to start delivering the results you want and that could get frustrating. But when you start to wonder if you’re doing the right thing, remind yourself why you chose this route in the first place, and remember it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
How
Lastly–and even though it is not a W–it’s important to ask yourself how, as in “How are these people going to convert?” Determine whether you want them to call, come into your branches, sign up online, or fill out a form. Define your KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and adjust your landing pages accordingly. If you will judge the results of your campaigns by the number of people who call in, make sure your phone number and call buttons are being displayed on your site and that they’re trackable.
Once you’ve set your S.M.A.R.T. goals and have a solid answer for each “W” (and the “H”), consider your mobile campaign ready for takeoff!
