All the latest numbers point in one direction: our society has moved to “mobile first.” For example, we grab our mobile phones first, instead of a tablet, laptop, or desktop PC/Mac, for surfing the net. In fact, many Americans don’t even have a broadband connection at home and rely on Wi-Fi and their phones for everything from watching their favorite Netflix episodes to downloading the latest game or app.
Any company that exists in a mobile-first society needs a Mobile Marketing Manager to develop strategies to improve the brand in this fickle, fast-paced digital medium.
How to Hire a Mobile Marketing Manager
Mobile Marketing Managers are tasked with promoting products or services to consumers on their digital handheld devices. While we’re talking primarily about cell phones or smartphones, this includes any portable digital device, including tablets.
The Mobile Marketing Manager works with cross-functional teams in an organization to develop smartphone strategies that engage us. The job requires an understanding of cellphone technology and how consumers use phones to communicate or entertain themselves. The Mobile Marketing Manager must also stay on top of any new trends affecting the technology and the users that love it.
What is Mobile Marketing?
Mobile Marketing Managers can use a variety of techniques on mobile phones to promote their brand. They include:
- SMS or Text Marketing
SMS stands for “short message service,” which allows the technology to transmit short text messages such as “buy one get one free.” - Mobile Web
This is banner or other advertising on webpages that display on the mobile phone. - MMS
MMS stands for “multi-media message service,” which is basically a text message that includes video, audio, or other content. - Mobile Applications
This includes placing ads within an app. - PPC
This is “pay per call,” which is cell phone advertising that includes a call to action to use a cell phone to call a number placed in an ad. - Banner Advertising
The Internet is full of banner advertising; banner ads are increasingly on your phone. - Location-Based Marketing
You probably use your GPS every day. Location-based marketing uses cellphone GPS to track your location. The benefit for advertising is that software can be programmed to send a banner or other advertising to the consumer when they’re near a store to entice them to stop by. But this is just one example of how the technique can be used. - Barcodes
Although these are maybe a bit outdated now, barcodes and Quick Response (QR) barcodes allow the user to swipe a code to access information, which could be content, coupons, or anything the Mobile Marketing Manager comes up with. - Games
Advertising can be added to mobile games now, too.
These marketing techniques are currently experiencing a high volume of views and potential responses because they are still relatively new. But advertising in these mediums is increasing, so their effectiveness may drop over time.
A Mobile Marketing Manager can capitalize on these and other techniques to promote their products or services and must stay abreast of all of them to be effective at the job.
Skills Needed
Mobile Marketing Managers are a lot like the plate spinners at a circus – they specialize in running multiple campaigns and analytics to track their efforts. They must understand things like SEO, email and content marketing, and certainly social media. That’s because users are engaging with these venues while they’re on their mobile phones.
So Mobile Marketing Managers need to know a lot about a complex set of consumer behaviors.
Some of the skills these experts need include:
- Flexibility to go with the flow because change, in the digital space, is constant.
- Keen data analytics skills. If the organization is large, the Mobile Marketing Manager may work with data analysts in order to figure out strategies. Smaller organizations may require a do-it-yourself approach.
- They must be patient and methodical to be able to wait until there is enough consumer data to discern meaning.
- Strong leadership skills in order to forge ahead with these techniques in a rapidly changing industry.
- Outstanding organizational skills. Although there is a variety of tools and apps on the market to help track simultaneous marketing campaigns, the Mobile Marketing Manager must still be very organized and efficient in order to complete the myriad of tasks on their plate each day.
- Creativity is a must for any marketing manager, but particularly for the Mobile Marketing Manager. They must understand their customers and their usage patterns across many digital platforms. They must also have a good eye for persuasive language that still seems real.
- Visual design skills. While the Mobile Marketing Manager may not be an actual designer, it’s imperative that they instinctively can pick the design that is both the most visually compelling, and the most workable for the mobile phone screen. That’s particularly important for how a concept will translate from the big desktop screen to a mobile phone. A lot can be lost in translation without keen oversight from the Mobile Marketing Manager.
The Mobile Marketing Manager must understand all of the marketing trends and advertising techniques in the mobile phone market and how they interact. They must be extremely comfortable with these channels, along with understanding the analytics behind user engagement. It’s a challenging, fast-paced role but one thing is certain – we’re going to need more of these talented producers in the future.
Need to Hire Mobile Marketing Help?
Reach out to the professional team at Artisan today to find the right match for your company. Looking for work in this industry? Click here for jobs.
