It is important right now, with the rapid development and deployment of myriad mobile marketing strategies, to keep in mind that consumers are still very much multi-channel. That is, they routinely interact with the primary direct digital marketing channels on an equal basis. As a result, direct digital marketing software upgrades must drive improvements in every channel, because the consumer will see the difference.

For example, retailers make heavy use of promotions and coupons. But retail marketers sometimes struggle with coordinating the substantial bit of data that must be cleaned, uploaded, and properly organized to ensure every consumer’s experience with a promotion or offer is a smooth one when making a purchase.

The direct digital marketing software feature that addresses that challenge for marketers must first enable the easy upload of massive amounts of retail information. Important bits of data include discounts, offers, offer name, description, disclaimer, terms and conditions, start date, expiration date, offer code… and the list grows longer and longer.

Getting data in to the direct digital marketing software with an easy upload of a .csv file enables fast deployment of email, Web, and mobile promotions for every offer. This is a huge win for marketers because the time from the conception of a promotional idea to execution is now much shorter. While retail marketing does have its tried and true ebbs and flows (e.g. Back to School, Holiday shopping, etc.), retailers lose money in the “off-season” not because of lousy promotions but because of the time it takes to get a promotion in market. The software, or the data upload and organization, should never be the primary reason a promotion is delayed to market. The more time is spent trying to get the data setup for content deployment, the less time is spent emphasizing the content and making it great.

It should be simple for online retailers to upload a list of unique redemption codes, then use them to personalize email, Web, and mobile content per customer.

Great conversion reporting is also an important function of direct digital marketing software. But the upfront benefits of great data organization and speed to market are big time wins in the ever-evolving world of online retail. The right direct digital marketing software helps retailers by making the complex world of promotions and offers simple, and gets them in market quickly to maximize impact.

Given that general perspective from many trade publications and marketers of all levels, it makes sense to take a moment here – on a blog dedicated to explaining, defining, and refining direct digital marketing – to showcase the type of features a truly cross-channel focused direct digital marketing platform adds when the software is upgraded.

The hallmark of a true direct digital marketing platform upgrade is the ability to easily see how a new feature impacts all channels.

For example, Knotice’s recent upgrade to its Concentri software has a new feature affectionately referred to as “content consumption.” The premise of the feature, which Zak Stambor captured very well in his article on the release in Internet Retailer, is to “scrape” any type of content from the Web and publish it in within a mobile campaign (mobile Web sites, for example), email campaign, or onsite targeting/testing campaign.

This type of feature benefits marketers in two ways. First it is really easy to keep all direct digital marketing campaigns updated and relevant regardless of channel. If there is a certain online asset that is considered the content “hub” – like a Web site or a blog – the content can be published there first, then consumed by Concentri and repurposed for inclusion in any direct digital marketing campaign.

The second cool benefit is a reduction in the time it takes to get a new campaign configured and in market. If the content has only to be published in a central spot, and can be populated in other channels, the messages are coordinated for every recipient and the time between campaign conception and launch is reduced dramatically.

This straightforward feature is exactly what a direct digital marketing software feature should look like. Its impact is felt across each direct digital channel, it coordinates messages, and it is easy to maintain targeting strategies and content relevance per recipient.

The challenge is that most marketing organizations are aligned by channel, not by customer or program type (e.g. loyalty, retention, acquisition, etc.). So, when a new direct digital marketing software feature is published and accessible, the mobile marketing group has one perspective on how to use it, email another, Web site owners have a different one, and the feature sometimes does not reach its full potential.

A feature like content consumption, however, can support multiple interests regardless of how a marketing organization is aligned and everyone can take advantage of the benefits – especially customers.

Enhancements in the latest software release enabled me to see how many recipients of Knotice’s marketing emails open them on a mobile device. I can even see which mobile device and mobile operating system is in play (does everyone have an iPhone?). Even cooler, the same analysis is applied to Web content. For Knotice, that means I can see how many folks try to access our handy screencasts via their mobile device.

The new revelation led me to an immediate conclusion – the handy screencasts are built in Flash, and Flash does not get along too well with most mobile devices. So, when someone gets a marketing email from Knotice, the videos that were linked in the email campaigns were not playing on their mobile device. Even more startling, lots of people are viewing these emails and clicking on a mobile device.

Armed with this new, insider knowledge, I quickly made the decision to encode the videos in a friendlier format for the mobile device… and I was able to get everything coordinated in just a couple of days.

The stats were startling. In one particular campaign, 44 percent of the email opens happened on a mobile device, with nearly a quarter of the clicks coming from a mobile device. Absorbing that information, then quickly acting on it, will make a demonstrable difference in how effective Knotice’s marketing campaigns are.

As a software user and enthusiast this was a big discovery for me. The ability to quickly put that new knowledge to good use was equally significant. Statistics and industry media types all agree that mobile video is popular. I was able to see that popularity first-hand and then make immediate campaign adjustments to accommodate it.

I realize The Lunch Pail is a safe haven to learn about all things direct digital marketing, and how the core tenets of it apply to marketing as a whole… primarily retail, hospitality, and restaurants. But, my own personal direct digital marketing story was too revelatory and too immediately impactful to the business to simply ignore. Let me know if you found it as enlightening as I did!

Check out Knotice’s Mobile Email Opens Report for Q4 2010!

Brassington notes two issues, the first of which is a lack of sophisticated backend infrastructure. I firmly believe this is already getting resolved by vendors, thanks to “The Cloud.” The second issue is more fundamental, as Brassington cites an Aberdeen statistic decrying the scant 24 percent of retailers that currently leverage cross-channel loyalty platforms. There is no doubt that retailers are working to leverage the mobile channel as a means to better focus on the customer regardless of channel. There are mobile marketing vendors, and even some specific programs, that are excellent examples of this. (More details on this in a later post here.)

The point is that it has become clear to marketers that mobile is the glue between the online and offline shopping worlds. Vendors and marketers alike are working to this end, and progress is slow but steady.

Perez contributes more specifics regarding mobile couponing’s adoption lag. The first challenge she cites is the “noise” in the market regarding coupon apps. This is 100 percent true, and retailers should work to take greater control over their own couponing despite the temptation of social coupons through apps.

The disconnect some users experience when trying to use a mobile coupon at retail can easily be addressed with a well-trained staff and a straightforward couponing message out of the gate. Some retailers, like Crocs, have had a great deal of success in going to market with a simple call to action, in-store signage, and effort put into training the staff on how to help customers redeem the coupon. In a few weeks time Crocs saw 94,000 coupons fly through the stores.

The final hurdle Perez mentions is the improvements necessary to geo-targeting. This is the one area where privacy law and skeptical consumers will slow adoption. Geo-targeting must be eased into the marketplace as consumers become more comfortable with other mobile couponing options. It will happen, and some great geo-targeting programs are in market and effective right now, but the overall spread will be slow.

Do you use mobile coupons? If so, what challenges have you encountered, and how have you overcome them?

Several weeks ago Shop.org announced it was able to successfully lobby against the Federal Trade Commission’s attempt to expand its rule-making power in the recently passed financial overhaul bill. The FTC’s move was in response to a privacy bill outline offered in May by Virginia’s Rick Boucher. Boucher’s outline was not turned into a bill, and the FTC’s expanded rule-making attempt never materialized. So, what now?

Illinois’ Bobby Rush introduced a bill yesterday, specifically on online privacy, and it was received more warmly even though it is similar to Boucher’s outline.

Here’s where the political fun comes into play. Boucher heads the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet. His draft failed to gather input from Rush, who heads the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee, a group that is charged with oversight on commerce, trade, and consumer protection. According to some industry experts and insiders it appears as though Rush’s bill is more clear about the FTC’s rule-making authority.

As far as direct digital marketing is concerned – especially onsite targeting – early reaction indicates that the Rush bill adheres to the same self-regulatory principles that are already largely in play. The obvious opt-out of behavioral tracking that marketers must provide is contained in the bill. Still, these opt-outs principles are primarily applied to offsite behavioral targeting, like ad networks. Onsite targeting simply tracks customer behavior on a specific Web site, or their entry point to site, with a transparent goal of making the shopping experience better. While offsite targeting is the primary target for lawmakers, it is wise for technologists and vendors that have onsite targeting solutions to offer a similarly transparent opt-out for their customers (like this one).

The truth of the matter is that quality marketers who are talented at creating conversions and generating sales know that transparency is not optional. To retain customer loyalty and build a relationship online with a customer the brand cannot afford to fool the customer – or creep them out with poorly executed marketing that leverages conspicuously captured data.

Marketers have a lot at stake with transparency. Sure, self-regulation may scare some lawmakers on all sides of the political equation. And that is understandable. But all parties involved must first realize that before marketing transparency becomes a legal have-to, it is already a successful marketing must.

A recent article from Scientific American was very critical of user-generated content. The article, from writer Michael Moyer, offered site examples of Amazon.com, TripAdvisor, and Yelp. Moyer writes that the collective conclusions offered in consumer comments are, “inaccurate at best, fraudulent at worst.”

The article did make valid points, with analysis and quotes from established and very smart contributors such as Wharton professor Eric K. Clemons. He offers a judgment of user-generated content based on its inherent biases, that those reviewing have a stake in their comments since they invested money. Consumers could be happy with their purchase, or upset about it, and those conclusions will skew collective conclusions inappropriately.

I believe what’s missing from this article is a dose of reality – that “crowdsourcing” and user-generated content should never be on the receiving end of quantitative analysis. A numbers-first analysis simply does not do justice to what those reading product and service comments or ratings and reviews value – the qualitative opinions of fellow consumers. Anything from a story about using a product to a user’s knee-jerk reaction can be valuable to any consumer making up his or her mind. For many shoppers, these comments are so important they seek ways to reference them while in a physical retail location. Smart manufacturers are accommodating this evolution in consumer behavior.

Online marketing, in all of its iterations – from search to display to onsite targeting and email – creates a “measure-first” response from many marketers. But, as Einstein so eloquently stated, “Not everything that can be counted counts; and not everything that counts can be counted.” Consumers place tremendous value on the opinions of fellow consumers, and then draw their own conclusions.

User-generated content is the ideal companion to direct digital marketing. The value a consumer places on email, mobile, and Web communications is the key to effectiveness – and there is plenty of evidence that consumers LOVE user-generated content. The core direct digital marketing channels are the key to delivering that valued content more efficiently and effectively.

What types of user-generated content influence your purchases?

My complete mobile strategy piece elicited some interesting, insightful responses from readers, both in the comments and over email. A central theme to the commentary has been that striving for a complete mobile strategy is conceptually sound, but how do marketers actually develop trusted and valid partnerships to make a complete mobile strategy a reality?

Readers, as usual, bring up important points for discussion. There is one, solitary tip marketers must use as a guide for identifying the right partnership. The goal is getting some help in sorting out the mobile space and formulating – then executing – a winning and complete mobile strategy.

Great strategy is possible only when the partner understands how to execute, not simply strategize, successful mobile marketing.

This comment is not meant as an affront to mobile agencies or some respected folks in the industry. The simple truth is that no partner can legitimately provide informed, tactically agnostic input if there is a lack of understanding about one or more of the key, primary mobile tactics.

For example, consider the still burgeoning world of mobile apps. Decisions that are informed by knowing how to build and distribute an app are very different than simply asserting that an app is a good idea. Developing a strategy for executing app distribution around the right demographic breakdown of smartphone users does not happen by accident. Knowing when a mobile Web microsite makes more sense than an app is important. Knowing when a more easily produced and developmentally sound hybrid app is the best approach to achieve marketing objectives requires an understanding of how the process works, not just that the process is important.

Here are the essential tactics that the right mobile strategy partner can help guide marketers through:

• Basic marketing and advertising programs like sweepstakes, coupons, etc.
• An understanding of segmentation and message targeting – and knowing the software that is best at it across mobile tactics .
• SMS – bi-directional, not just a Web app sending the dreaded “blast” texts out. Targeting and personalization principles from the Web and email must be applied here in full force.
• The importance of the mobile Web, its accessibility, and its universality. Also, tricks like software that recognizes the device accessing the mobile Web page, then renders to the device.
• Development of apps, hybrid apps, and when apps are – and when they are not – the right approach.
• The role of mobile video.

Tactically broad companies are agnostic, and therefore the best strategists because a capability limitation is not driving recommendations. Of course there are many other important tactical and strategic bits of understanding a good partner must have in place. What are some other tactics you think are important for the right mobile strategy partner to understand?

When making the worthy investment in the mobile Web there are three basic considerations to keep in mind. While these points will not capture every bit of useful knowledge when strategizing the mobile Web, they are good considerations prior to launching a vendor search.

Consideration #1: Audit Your Web Site

I know, “audit” is a scary sounding term. In this context, however, it means take a hard, critical look at your current Web site and pare it down to what content is essential to reach your marketing goals. Therefore, agreeing on the marketing goals for a mobile site is paramount. Chief among the goals must be an enjoyable, easy user experience. Nothing torpedoes a brand’s image in a mobile consumer’s mind more quickly than a lousy mobile Web experience. Goals like clicks and conversions are still important, but everything must come back to the quality of the user experience.

Consideration #2: The Mobile Web is NOT the Web

The mobile Web is not a “light” version of the Web; it is its own, specific communications channel that must be treated as such. While the end user wants to see the same brand on the mobile site that they would on a Web site, the information that is communicated – and how it is packaged – must be different according to the personal nature of the mobile experience.

Consideration #3: Onsite Targeting and Content Testing Works for the Mobile Web, Too

The mobile Web is a different communications channel, but customer segments are all the same. Make sure the data environment is capable of feeding the same segments into the mobile site experience as it would any other channel. Use behavioral data captured from the Web site to determine content and tests on the mobile site. Use email behavior to drive mobile site content. Each touch point is an opportunity for the user to tell the marketer what they like. Marketers must avoid annoying users by showing the mobile Web is really an extension of the brand to a new channel, not just another means for push communication. The key to achieving this is great data capture and multi-channel application of all relevant data.

There are other considerations, but these are few to contemplate when researching the mobile Web from scratch. What are some other considerations worth adding?

A couple of weeks ago RSR published a recap of a roundtable discussion with six CIOs at leading companies in the retail sector. I won’t recap the discussion here, because I encourage everyone to read it on their own. Before you click away, however, I’d like to offer a couple of insights based on bits of the discussion.

Those involved in the discussion generally stated their belief that apps were disposable, and that the mobile Web may win out in the long run. I tend to agree on this point, enthusiastically. Apps, especially branded apps, lack the all-important stickiness. Consider the apps on your own phone for a moment. The apps I use on a daily basis – aside from the Star Wars app my three-year old loves – deliver valuable information to me in a timely way (I am a news junkie) or generally enhance the features of my phone (like a spell checker, for example.). Those apps plug into my personal lifestyle very well and are woven into my daily experience. Those essentials for an app to be a part of my life are very difficult to penetrate for a branded app. A branded mobile Web page, however, is equal parts useful and disposable. I will use it when I need it. But, it IS necessary.

The essential app metric floating around the still burgeoning mobile marketing space is “seven.” Consumers generally have seven apps they use on a daily basis, and a branded app’s goal must be to penetrate the top seven.

To reach that lofty goal, an app has to deliver real, measurable, and timely value. It must be easy to navigate, first and foremost. But, it must also seamlessly weave together the entire mobile experience, allowing for push messages through an integrated SMS program for alerts and reminders. For an app to sustain success in the top seven, it must become a brand’s mobile hub, a mobile store for the brand that allows access to a great deal of useful information on-demand and full interaction and engagement.

I do not want to come across as completely dismissive of branded apps. They are very useful if done well. When considering the current landscape of consumer adoption, however, the mobile Web is vital – for reasons that go beyond the ease of development.

As with many of the challenges facing modern and sophisticated marketing organizations, the old battle of “who owns what” comes into play when thinking about developing a mobile strategy. Mobile, because it is still new(ish), often gets lost in the fray. Mobile is, arguably, the most direct and personal line of communication a brand has with a consumer. Therefore, a strong case for marketing shouldering the responsibility of the mobile channel can be made. But realigning can be hard.

I recently read about DuPont’s substantial 1921 management shift in Richard Tedlow’s Denial. The then-venerable company was facing a crisis as it added new products that were different from its core competencies. The personnel in the entire organization was aligned functionally, and not around products. As a result, DuPont’s sales for its newest product line – paint – were flagging, and the company was losing money in that division. When DuPont made the long, slow transition to an product centered alignment (which was ideal for that era of business), rather than personnel function, sales for paint improved dramatically – and even survived the Great Depression.

Marketing organizations have a similar decision to make now as mobile is a mandatory marketing channel. Will the direct digital arm of the marketing organization be aligned by channel discipline – email, Web, mobile, etc. – or will it be aligned with a focus on the customer? If customer focus is the mantra, then mobile must be owned by marketing.

If marketing rightfully owns mobile, then a complete plan – including a breakdown of a separate mobile marketing mix – is crucial to sustained success in the channel, and with the consumer.

Take a quick pass at successful retailers, for example, and it is easy to see which organizations have embraced planning for mobile, and which are employing a piecemeal strategy. Macy’s has an excellent mobile strategy that spans the mobile Web, device specific apps, and a smattering of SMS at a more local level.

Of course mobile strategy and success is not limited to the retail sector, either. I have seen cable and telecommunications giant Charter Communications have success by leveraging an entire mobile strategy that spans SMS, the mobile Web, and apps. The hallmark of each tactic is an intense focus on creating convenience for the consumer, which is smart given that mobile is best suited to deliver on that all-important marketing mandate.

Mobile success is possible when a deep understanding of the personal-nature of the channel is diffused throughout the marketing organization, and therefore a major influence on the strategy. Marketing must own mobile, and it must earn the right to retain ownership through smart planning and superb execution.