Tag Archives: marketing

Using Mobile to Drive Engagement for CTI and the South Sydney Rabbitohs

South Sydney Rabbitohs

At Tacitfy we make mobile marketing simple. Connecting traditional marketing materials like posters and flyers with mobile can create highly engaging campaigns and drive results for brands. By allowing users to interact with mobile apps or webpages, your brand can provide more information and relevant content. Having well-designed physical materials, apps and websites with content that is engaging and relevant to your users are key factors to a successful mobile marketing campaign.

We worked with Capital Training Institute (CTI) to build a mobile marketing campaign for the South Sydney Rabbitoh’s members weekend campaign. CTI is a Registered Training Organization (RTO) and the official membership partner of the South Sydney Rabbitohs national rugby team. Their goals were to increase brand recognition, direct users to enter the Grand Final VIP ticket competition and encourage user generated content on social media with the hashtag #trainlikesam in reference to the Rabbitoh’s team captain.

To engage fans and drive them to the Grand Final ticket draw, we created custom Sharetapes that were handed out during Australia’s popular “The Footy Show” and printed Sam Burgess face masks equipped with QR codes to be distributed on game day. The QR codes (and banner advertisements) drove users to a special microsite where fans could enter the competition, stream a customer Spotify playlist and view more information on CTI.

The microsite received over 1,000 unique visitors and hundreds of entries for the Grand Final ticket draw. The hashtag #trainlikesam trended at number five on Twitter and was tagged on more than 430 posts on Instagram. By combining traditional marketing materials with mobile we were able to drive more user engagement and brand recognition for CTI and the South Sydney Robbitohs.

Is Mobile The Missing Piece to Your Marketing Strategy?

As consumer behaviors shift so must marketing strategies. Mobile is no longer the second screen, so why is mobile still at the bottom of business’s marketing plans? Salesforce’ State of Marketing report revealed that 90 percent of marketers agree that it’s increasingly important to “create a cohesive customer journey.” What is the most effective technology to enable a complete journey? Mobile.

There are a number of ways to implement mobile marketing into your strategy. At the very basic, all websites should be mobile responsive. A poorly designed mobile website will disrupt your customer’s journey by providing a poor user experience. For example, if a customer wants to make a purchase on their smartphone, being unable to do so because of a poor design or experience could result in not only a lost sale but a lost customer if your competitors have already optimized for mobile.

What can you do integrate mobile into your marketing strategy? Almost half of surveyed marketers use SMS, push notifications, mobile apps or location-based functionality — up from 23 percent last year. Mobile apps are one of the most expensive option but can be great for news sites and web services. For e-commerce businesses, mobile ads might be a simpler option to drive users to their website. Retailers have many innovative opportunities to integrate not only mobile ads and apps into their website but location-based technologies like iBeacons, push notifications and geofencing. Right now, only 18 percent of surveyed marketers are using these technologies.

As marketers continue to understand the power of mobile tactics, they should no longer be part of a separate strategy but an integral part of overall marketing plans.

How will the Internet of Things Impact Retail In 2015?

Retail

The Internet of Things has exploded over the last couple of years as smartphones and the ability to be always connected has become an increasingly integral part of our lives. Bonnie Cha at re/code describes the Internet of Things as “the connection of everyday objects to the Internet and to one another, with the goal being to provide users with smarter, more efficient experiences.” You can see her “Beginner’s Guide to Understanding the Internet of Things” here.

Google’s acquisition of Nest last year set the stage for IoT to expand this year and the conversation about IoT’s impact on everyday life was discussed widely at CES. Consumers are increasingly aware of connected homes and cars. A study by Affinnova showed that consumers mostly want connected home appliances and products like refrigerators that enable remote viewing of your contents and recommends recipes, smart light bulbs that notify you when a bulb has gone out and connected sprinkler systems.

But how is the Internet of Things impacting retail? First, connected home sensors that send notifications to your phone to indicate when you out of a product like washing detergent, milk, or light bulbs are great for retailers. Creating a easy way for consumers to order these products right from their phone means that retailers have the opportunity to improve customer experiences and loyalty.

Next, connected technologies like beacons and NFC will likely increase in 2015. These technologies enable retailers to communicate with consumers in a meaningful way based on their location, delivering deals and notifications that are relevant in real time. The iPhone 6 and ApplePay will also influence retailers to adopt NFC technologies for easy checkout experiences.

The most important thing for retailers to take advantage with the Internet of Things right now is data. Whether connecting your products to home sensors or using in-store location technologies, analyzing data will enable retailers to better understand their customers. When are they shopping? Are they accessing your app while in store or at home? Do they prefer app notifications, or SMS? The more brands and retailers understand their customers, the more they will be able to connect with them at the right time, place and in the right manner.

How do you see IoT impacting retail this year?

 

5 Things to Know About Geofencing

stadium
Geofencing is a great tool for brands interested in location based marketing. Brands can push notifications, reminders, coupons and a number of other messages to consumers within a defined area. Geofencing creates a virtual fence around a specific area where companies can communicate to mobile devices within that perimeter.  Brands have experienced up to 70 percent higher click-through rates when using geofencing campaigns compared to standard ads. Why? One reason is that content is being delivered to consumers when and where they need it.

When setting up a geofencing campaign, there are a few things to keep in mind in order to achieve the best results.

Get your content down first. When using geofencing, you’re sending notifications to consumers. Getting your content down first is the foundation to any successful campaign. Know what you are trying to achieve, for example, if you want consumers to make a purchase, sign up for something, or share content with their friends. Give them a call to action, and make sure the content is enticing and relevant.

Double check the location. Geofencing perimeters can cover a wide area. That’s why they’re great for outdoor events and venues. For the best results, ensure that they are accurately placed in order to reach the right customers. You don’t want consumers outside a baseball stadium to receive a deal exclusive to fans watching the game inside.

Size matters. Setting your perimeters too big or too small will affect the success of your campaigns. If the area is too big, the content you deliver might not be relevant enough. If the area is too small, however, you might not reach enough people to achieve the results you want.

Test and retest. It’s important to test that the technology is working properly (people are receiving notifications) but it’s equally important to test different messaging (people are seeing the right notificaitons. With the Tactify dashboard, you can use A/B testing to try different notifications, analyze which messages are being responded to the most, and adjust your marketing to achieve the best results.

Analyze the data. Last, take a look at the data at the end of the campaign. Who responded the most? What demographics did your messaging resonate with? What locations saw the highest traffic? Not only will this data help design your next geofencing or location based marketing campaign, it will give insight into your audience in general. Maybe you’ll discover a new customer base you never considered before!

The Difference In Using NFC and Beacons

More and more brands are recognizing the value in adopting mobile marketing and location-based technologies to reach consumers. For brands new to these tools, it’s important to understand the different options available and the best scenarios to use NFC versus beacons. Choosing the right technology for your campaign and brand is critical in reaching your consumers in the most meaningful way, and achieving desirable results.

Cary Stemle has one of the easiest breakdowns of different location technologies:

“Think of it this way: Cellular communications provide wireless coverage with a footprint measured in miles; WiFi’s footprint is measured in yards; BLE’s is measured in feet; and NFC’s in centimeters.”

Let’s talk about beacons first. Beacons work on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) which communicates a signal between a bluetooth-enabled device and the beacon’s transmitter. If you want to reach consumers in a wide, general vicinity, beacons are the way to go. You can push coupons, store promotions and messages at very inexpensive prices. Using the Tactify platform, you can easily update your messaging and branding, and measure engagement and conversions. Beacons are great for high traffic areas, entertainment venues and events.

NFC, on the other hand, is a more personalized experience. NFC tags communicate with mobile phones only when the phone is in extremely close proximity – usually a few centimeters – which gives consumers more control over when they get notifications (and who can see their data) . NFC is best for payments and specific tickets and access cards. For example, you could place an NFC tag on an event poster. Interested consumers would be able to tap the tag with their phones and access more information. With beacons, every bluetooth-enabled  phone that passed by would receive a message about the event, which may be overwhelming. Another use case is handing out NFC-enabled rewards or business cards.

There are a number of creative ways brands are using both beacons and NFC to market to their customers – and reach them right on their phones! Check out Tactify’s solutions here – load, update and track your campaigns from one central dashboard.

Mobile Marketing Predictions for 2015

Shopping with mobile
We have seen some amazing breakthroughs and innovations in the mobile space during 2014. Brands have embraced the power of beacons in campaigns, ads have become more relevant, and ApplePay could potentially revolutionize mobile payments. Businesses are beginning to understand how mobile marketing and tactics can increase sales and build a better relationship with their customers. So what can we expect to see in 2015?

Mobile payments

ApplePay could make mobile payments mainstream. Brands and apps, especially those that are retail-focused, can now make the user experience even more seamless. Eighty-six percent of shoppers use their smartphone to compare prices and browse sales. Connecting these with the ability to make a purchase without entering credit card information, or by just using their phone in store, will make an easier and faster shopping experience, in store and online.

More Location Based Marketing

Major retailers like Lord & Taylor and Walgreen’s have rolled out major pilot programs to test the effectiveness of using iBeacons for in-store marketing. In 2015, expect to see more brands using iBeacons, geofencing and push notifications to engage with customers and create innovative campaigns. About half of consumers say they are open to sharing their location and information in order to join a rewards program.

Better Content & UX

With the ability to use location and big data to better understand users and customers, expect to see better content and more intelligent UX.  Advertisers, marketers and publishers recognize the effectiveness of delivering more relevant content using these tools, and are using new methods to understand how to connect better. Expect apps, ads and content to become more engaging and relevant.

What trends would you like to see in 2015?

3 Principles for Great UX

city street design
Whether you are designing an app, a social campaign or a mobile website, great design makes a big difference in downloads and engagement. With great UX and UI, users will go where you want them to, stay within an app or on a website longer, and visit the app or website more frequently. You could have great content and deals but if your users and customers can’t find it, you won’t see the results you want. Stick to these three principles when developing a seamless user experience.  (more…)

Optimizing Mobile For Holiday Shopping

Mobile Holiday Shopping
With Black Friday only a week away the holiday shopping madness will soon commence. Shopping this holiday season is projected to reach $72.4 billion! That’s $10 billion more than last year’s spending. For brands prepping their marketing and advertising, mobile and digital continue to play a huge role in influencing shopping and purchasing decisions. Check out these stats from Yahoo:

  • Half of holiday sales will be influenced by digital interactions
  • 84 percent of shoppers use digital tools before or while shopping, and convert at a 40 percent higher rate
  • 101.7 million US consumers will purchase on their mobile devices
  • 86 percent of retailers expect their 2014 online holiday sales to increase

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9 Facts That Show Mobile Is Ready for Another Huge Year

Untitled
Mobile is no longer the second screen; it’s the first. Consumers around the world are using their smartphones for everything from making payments to browsing the internet and brands are hopping on board to ensure mobile experiences are exceptional. Location based technologies and big data are helping apps and businesses deliver consumers user experiences that deliver content users want based on their location and preferences.

Mobile has come far in the last year with beacons and mobile payments getting a big boost. But those numbers are expected to grow even more in the next  year. Here are nine stats to prove it!

By the end of 2014, 6.9 billion people will have cell phone plans. That’s about 95 percent of the world’s population.

There are 143 million smartphones and 71 million tablets smartphones in the US.

Five percent of smartphone owners aged 18-44 can’t recall the last time they didn’t have their mobile next to them

A survey of UK smartphone users found that they use their phones for 221 tasks consuming three hours and 16 minutes per day.

In Europe, mobile commerce is expected to account for nearly 50 percent of all online sales by 2018, according to Forrester.

In the last year, purchases made using a smartphone or tablet increased 48 percent to $8 billion.

It’s just young people shopping on mobile – 25 percent of mobile shoppers in the US are over the age of 55.

Half of B2B vendors sell through mobile phones and that is expected to rise to 75 percent by the end of 2014.

Mobile advertising has doubled from $4.4 billion in 2012 to $8.5 billion in 2013. By 2017, mobile advertising is expected to hit $31.1 billion.

It’s safe to say 2015 will be another big year for mobile! What are you most excited to see?

Tactify Will Be Competing In The Web Summit PITCH Competition!

The Web Summit in DublinWe are excited to announce we will be participating at The Web Summit annual PITCH Competition in Dublin! On November 4 – 6, 2014, we’ll be joining 200 other startups for a three round competition. We can’t wait to share what we’ve been up to at Tactify and how we’re bringing the internet of marketing to everyone.

Due to the expansion of the Internet of Things, the mobile advertising marketing is exploding and increasing exponentially year by year. We created Tactify so businesses, small and large, can easily use the newest mobile technologies in their campaigns, such as beacons, NFC, QR codes and geofencing. In two minutes, you can create fully responsive mobile and in-app content for events, info points, price promotions, product information and contact profiles. Update and measure all from our centralized dashboard without a line of coding involved!

We’ve worked some amazing brands in the last year including Spotify, Pandora, Sony and the BBC, and helped advertising agency JWT create an interactive beacon campaign for the Melbourne Writer’s Festival.

If you’ll be at The Summit, be sure to stop by our booth and hear our pitch on stage. We’ll be at booth HIP312 in The Village on November 5th and ETP107 in Simmonscourt on November 6th.

You can also help us get to the semi-finals by tweeting @Tactify with #pitchvote between 9am – 5pm on November 4th and 5th (only tweets from Dublin count). The two startups with the most votes will get a spot in the semi-finals.

Hope to see you there!

How to Use Mobile to Increase Retail Sales

mobile shopper holding iPhone

The ability to use mobile in marketing campaigns brings heaps of opportunities to increase retail sales. At Tactify, we believe that independent stores should be able to have campaigns that are as innovative and impactful as multinational stores. No matter the size of your store or staff, there are a number of ways to increase sales and expand your brand.

First off, there are huge benefits to incorporating mobile into your marketing campaigns. Almost two-thirds of Americans own a smartphone – and 55 percent of consumers who use coupons on their smartphone end up spending more money in store or online than they originally anticipated.  A new study showed that mobile plays an integral part in the shopping experience of millennial moms – with a third saying mobile played a part in the inspiration and research part of shopping, and half saying they turned to their phones in-store to communicate with friends and family about their purchasing decisions.

So how can you increase your retails sales with mobile? Here are a few options:

  • Send push notifications using geofencing or beacon technologies to communicate with your customers based on their location.
  • Use NFC stickers or QR codes around the store offering coupons and reward points.
  • Reward customers who check in on social media and/or share their purchases with friends. Use NFC, QR and push notifications to make this even easier.
  • For iPhone users, integrate coupons and rewards cards with Passbook. Customers can easily save and access these on their phones (without a separate app) and eventually this will link to ApplePay.
  • Integrate your social media with coupons and rewards to redeem in-store or online.
  • Stay on top of the latest technologies like ApplePay to give customers the easiest and fastest check-out experience.

With any marketing campaign, make sure to use analytics to constantly evaluate and optimize your campaigns. Test which tactics get the most engagement with your customers and result in the highest ROI.

Check out Tactify’s products and mobile marketing solutions here.

The Scoop on Beacons & Privacy

beacons and privacy

Location based services, specifically beacons, have raised some privacy concerns recently. Due to recent hacking and tracking controversies,  sharing their location doesn’t appeal to all consumers — though most are willing to share their location in return for discounts, coupons or other rewards. When it comes to using beacons for marketing campaigns, there are a few key points for consumers and marketers to understand in order to calm any privacy concerns.

First, beacons work only when a user has installed something – either an app or a Passbook pass. If neither of these are installed, beacons will not communicate with your phone.

Second, bluetooth needs to be turned on in order for beacons to work. If bluetooth is disabled, then beacons are unable to transmit any messages.  (more…)

Beacon Campaigns Taking Mobile to the Next Level

Beacons are taking mobile to a new level. They are helping add location and context to mobile communications and therefore, delivering more relevant information to consumers. What does this mean? More useful information, higher brand awareness and more innovative campaigns. These are some of the coolest beacon campaigns we have seen and worked on.

mobile beaconsHillshire Brands showed everyone how to increase sausage sales. Consumers who had the Epicurious or Key Ring apps received branded notifications from Hillshire when they were in supermarkets that work with the apps. There were also banner ads for the sausages within the app. The results? Purchase intent increased 20 percent and brand awareness increased 36 percent.

The Melbourne Writer’s Festival worked with us to put together a choose-your-own-adventure storytelling app using beacons and it was one of our favorite campaigns to date. Consumers could walk through the city listening to original short stories that referenced places and landmarks, and literally choose different endings based on the direction they walked. Check out the video here.

Lord & Taylor, Hudson Bay, Walgreens & Duane Reade are all testing pilot programs with beacons in store. Lord & Taylor and Hudson Bay stores are sending notifications based on where shoppers are within the store, giving a more personalized flair.

Last, a number of airports have introduced beacons to make traveling more easy. Passengers can receive notifications on the status of their flight, gate changes and look up nearby shops and eateries.

In addition to these innovative uses, we have seen and read about a lot of beacon scavenger hunts at conferences and in-store promotions.

What are some of your favorite beacon campaigns?

Why Marketers and Advertisers Need to Know About NFC

Marketers and advertisers have been using NFC quietly for the last few years. There have been some fun, innovative campaigns but the use of NFC has really been limited to certain Android phones as well as payments and keyless entry. But that’s all about to change.

Rumor has is that NFC is finally coming to the iPhone 6, set to be announced this month.

Tim Cook Apple

Apple has held out on enabling NFC in the iPhone due to lack of merchant interest and low-security, opting instead for Passbook. But due to the success of iBeacons and Apple’s access to 800 million credit cards from users’ iTunes accounts, reports have labelled NFC as inevitable for the iPhone.

Enabling NFC on the iPhone is more than just mass adoption of mobile payments. There are a ton of possibilities already being used that both consumers, marketers and technologists can make even more wide spread — quicker check-in at hotels using your mobile phone as a room key; controlling settings at home and work like lights, alarms and sounds; easily changing your phone settings based on location such as switching Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or music on and off; or even transferring files between two phones.

In order to fully take advantage of the possibilities with NFC, marketers and advertisers should fully understand their capabilities and how to use them. We’ll be at NFC Bootcamp in New York on September 18-19 presenting iBeacons and NFCs: Friends or Foes. Tactify co-founder Richard Dupe will discuss how to create campaigns using NFC and beacons as well as QR and geofences! Check out the NFC Bootcamp and register here. Use code “Tactify” for 20 percent off !

5 Things to Know About NFC

NFC is not a new technology but it has been gaining traction in the market over the last few years due to NFC-enabled credit cards and mobile phones. There is speculation that Apple will finally adopt NFC in the iPhone 6 — at which point, NFC might reach widespread adoption among consumers. However, the NFC rumor mill hits every time a new iPhone is about to be released. Nonetheless, the number of NFC-enabled Android and Windows phones is growing, and with that, we have seen an increase in the ways brands and consumers are experimenting with the technology.

NFC

How does NFC work?

Getting down to basics, NFC, or near field communication, transmits data wirelessly between two objects equipped with NFC chips. The two objects have to be brought within close range, usually within four inches, in order to communicate and can transmit any information.

How can I use NFC?

As we mentioned, iPhones aren’t NFC compatible. However, the number of other smartphones with NFC capabilities is growing. (You can see a full list of compatible devices here.) Payments, through services like Google Wallet, have made it possible to simply tap or wave your phone over a payments system (or laptop) to make a purchase.

Is NFC just for payments?

No! Technically, you can use NFC as long as you have two NFC compatible objects. Brands have used NFC for ticketing at events or while traveling, opening car doors with NFC-enabled security badges and car keys, tracking healthcare information, and in marketing and advertising campaigns. It can be as simple as placed an NFC-enabled sticker within a retail area that links to coupons, rewards, ads or movie trailers, social media pages, mobile apps and more. NFC extends to personal use, too. Place an NFC sticker near your front door, wave or tap with it your phone and turn the air conditioning on. Trend Blog put together a great list of 18 creative ways to use NFC.

Will NFC keep growing?

Yes. The number of NFC compatible devices increased 128% from 2012 to 2013. IHS Technology predicts that two in three devices will be NFC compatible by 2018. Plus, VISA Europe saw their contactless payments increase four fold in 2013. While brands are starting to experiment with beacons, NFC still has its own specific use and purpose. It’s cheaper and works within a much more specific location than beacons.

What’s the security like?

NFC only works within a close range — usually four inches or less — and the signals are very specific. In order for a hacker to get a hold of your information, they would have to be extremely close to your phone or credit card. In addition, any data stored on your phone like credit card information is encrypted and usually has a number of added security features like pins and passwords. Get a full explanation of NFC security here.

Bottom line, NFC is here to stay but there are a multitude of other technologies disrupting the space. When it comes to designing a marketing or advertising campaign, make sure to consider your goals, budget and customers when deciding which one to use.

 

Photo Credit: Kārlis Dambrāns

What is Geofencing?

9583733811_ebd75013d9_zBrands are embracing proximity marketing as a way to engage with their audience and customers in unique, targeted, and personal ways. Thanks to mobile adoption and increased technologies, marketers are experimenting with all kinds of location-specific messaging — alerts and messages, coupons, local search, social media interactions and more.

For brands with physical locations to use, geofencing is one of the options for proximity marketing. Geofencing creates a virtual fence around a specific area where companies can enable communications to mobile devices within the perimeter. Geofencing works through an app or a network-based geofence. When deciding which way to go, it really comes down to your budget and long term goals — if you’re looking to increase app engagement and mobile sales, you might want to build or leverage an app. If your budget is smaller or you there are no long term benefits of having an app, just use network capabilities.

One important thing to mention is the difference between geofencing and iBeacons. Geofencing is optimized for larger and outdoor locations, between 50 and 50,000 meters while beacons have a maximum range of 30 meters and are better used indoors. Beacons require special hardware to be installed, Bluetooth must be enabled and work on iPhone 4s or newer, and iOS 7 or newer. Geofencing does not require special hardware or connection to access points (though WiFi will create higher accuracy). Geofencing will work on iOS 5 or newer, and iPhone 4 or newer.

Location based marketing — whether utilized through geofencing or beacons — brings huge opportunities to marketers to increase ROI, build customer loyalty and reduce expenses. Since the messaging is locally-targeted and contextual, you can engage in meaningful ways. If sales are slowing down at a specific time, send a coupon. If you’re having a special event, send a reminder. Encourage your customers to connect on social media. And most importantly, use data to analyze and adjust your marketing campaigns.

Let us know how your brand is using geofencing!

Photo Credit: Doug Zwick

Integrating iBeacons into Your Mobile Strategy

Context, not content, is the new king. The opportunities to add customization to marketing strategies are endless with the use of big data, social media and location tools. iBeacons present the perfect opportunity to use these tools to better engage with audiences and customers. Using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), iBeacons send notifications based on proximity to bluetooth-enabled smartphones. For retailers, event marketers and travel brands (amongst many others), implementing a context-heavy iBeacon strategy can result in higher sales, brand awareness and strong customer engagement. These are some of the first considerations to take when integrating iBeacons into a marketing strategy.

To App or Not to App?

In order for iBeacons to work, there has to be the actual beacon hardware, a bluetooth-enabled mobile device and something for the beacon to communicate with. Most brands choose to use their own native app to push iBeacon notifications because they are already built and have additional functionality such as mobile shopping, rewards programs, etc. Building these apps can be extremely time consuming and expensive, though. Perhaps you want to consider creating a pass that works with Passbook instead. This will still allow context-aware notifications based on location but save on time and money. Choosing the best option depends on budget and marketing goals.

2. Proximity and Context

The next step in developing an iBeacon strategy is choosing the proper communications to send. With iBeacons, you can send a variety of notifications based on a smartphone’s proximity to the hardware. For example; a welcome message can appear when walking through the door and a notification about a special sale can appear when the user approaches a specific product. Keep the customer in mind when developing these commuications — what are they interested in learning about? How many times do they want to receive notifications? Remember, context is key. Know your customer and use appropriate language. Don’t overwhelm them with too many notifications!

3. Integration

Once you have decided on an iBeacon strategy that works with your brand, integrate it into your overall marketing plan. Drive app downloads or pass installs on Passbook, and encourage people to the vicinity of the iBeacons, in social media and email communications. Make sure your customers have the ability to share their experience on their own social media channels and through email and text messages. Implement A/B testing and appropriate measurement systems to test and improve your communications.

Check out these best practices for mobile marketing for more tips on optimizing your iBeacon strategy.

Best Practices for Mobile Marketing

Mobile advertisingimages is growing five times faster than desktop internet marketing and the reasons are simple. Consumers spend the majority of their time looking at their phones and use their smartphones for everything from communicating to finding the next deal to research and games. No matter your business, mobile marketing is something to consider. If you’re ready to make the leap, these are some best practices to consider when developing your mobile marketing or advertising campaign.

 

Relevance

Mobile marketing is all about relevance. Define your audience and figure out what they want. For example, Millennials are constantly looking for the best deals and coupons.

Personal

Make your messaging personal — don’t just use a generic message. The power of mobile and big data is that you can identify locations and interests. Use this to your advantage.

Simplify

Mobile screens are small so keep your design simple and intuitive. The easier to launch and navigate your app, Passbook or website, the more likely consumers will use it and return.

Location

Forty percent of searches on mobile are local. With the power of NFC, iBeacons and geofencing, you can use location to send hypercontextual and personalized messages. With iBeacons, you can send two different notifications when a customer walks into a store and when they approach the sale rack.

Social

As if we had to say it — be social! Make it easy for consumers to both follow your brand on social media and share with their networks. Automate fun, personalized messages that will increase engagement with your brand.

What is the best mobile marketing campaign you’ve seen?

 

The iOS 8 Feature Marketers Need to Know About

At Tactify, we take the complexity out of complex technologies to help businesses connect with their customers where they spend most of their time — on their phones. One of the technologies that has been booming lately is iBeacons. So of course, we were curious if Apple would announce updates at WWDC.

Turns on, the rumors were wrong. Apple held out on even mentioning iBeacons but within their iOS 8 announcement was a significant update when it comes to location services.

Photo via MacRumors

With the updated software, relevant apps appear on the lock screen based on your location. Walk into an Apple store, Starbucks or Vons and their apps appear in the bottom left of the lock screen. Apps for banks and train stations were also reported to appear. According to MacRumors, the feature works using both the App Store app and Location Services (which have to be turned on). Even if you don’t the app of a nearby establishment, it will appear in the lock screen and bring you to the App Store where you can download it.

Why is this update important? First off, it will be much easier and faster for consumers to launch apps for in-store purchases and coupons. For businesses with apps, it lets customers know that they have an app – and makes them easier to download. Furthermore, it gives businesses even more reasons to use iBeacons by addressing one of the biggest hurdles – the need for consumers to download a separate app. If businesses want to use iBeacons to offer discounts through their app, the process to download the app has been simplified to swipe and download. Plus, with the ability to now use Touch ID with third party apps makes it even simpler.

We’ll be sure to report on additional details to this feature in the upcoming weeks! Follow us on Twitter!