Making the Most of Mobile - A Review

Making the Most of Mobile was held at the Bournemouth University Executive Business Centre by the CIM South West. With a healthy mix of students and professionals and Duncan Cook from 3 Sided Cube speaking, the event offered to demystify marketing in the mobile world. 

Duncan came armed with some amazing facts; for example did you know that at the end of 2012 1 Billion smart phones were being used, rising to 2.1 Billion by the end of 2013? Staggering numbers I am sure you will agree. With more people owning a smart phone than a toothbrush, mobile marketing should no longer be overlooked. Its power in distributing brand or product information is phenomenal. In 2013 more iPhones were purchased than babies born. John Lewis has stated that 75% of sales in 2013 took place on tablets and smart phones. In a retail market, brands really must start including mobile apps and mobile website provision that will not only allow customers ease of shopping, but also interactive brand activity. It is predicted that there will be 4.4 billion mobile app users by 2017. The average consumer owns 3.9 connected devices, a 67% increase from 2011. Mobile is growing that is a well know fact, what is unclear is how to best use this rapidly changing technology for brand and sales growth. Apps encourage long-term brand engagement, increase sales by giving real-time offers and promotes social media sharing of products which is ever more popular in the Gen Z purchase decision. 

Duncan suggested that apps have the potential to reach billions of people globally, quickly and easily like no other marketing medium. But before you all go running to design your apps, Duncan has some words of caution. When designing your app, it is vital that you consider the purpose from a user's perspective. As easy as it is to run away with the excitement of your idea, bring yourself back to earth with these three questions:

- Will your app be used multiple times? Why?
- Why would someone download it?
- Why would they keep the app?

If you are stumbling with these questions, than you should revisit the concept to ensure that what you are creating is the best in its category and ultimately great according to Duncan.

When talking about platforms, Android has an 81% UK market share, with open source that is cheaper and customisable, however as the platform with the most free apps it generates less revenue. iOS has 13.4% of UK market share, with the most paid downloads and most user internet activity. An insight into the future was the Samsung operating system, rumoured to be announced in February. Keep your eyes peeled folks as this could be a game changer! Microsoft has 4.1% of UK market share and so we are expecting big changes from the Microsoft camp very soon. 

When designing your app as you would a website, you must consider your audience and organise content to match their needs and user style. Every 100 millisecond in load time decreases app downloads by 1%. Due to the unique reach of app stores for distribution, thinking globally is more essential than ever before and must be considered beyond language and culture contexts. Apps are also ageless with 38% of 2 year olds using mobile devices. Mobile apps have opened up a wide ranging new market that reaches both the very young and older consumers, this is suggested to be due to the intuitive nature of apps. 

When launching your app it is key to understand this unusual distribution channel, where traditional marketing is often rendered ineffective. Marketing activity must be concentrated to a one day or one week slot to ensure your app is ranked highly on the app stores, which display in real time. Viral techniques, blogging and social media are often the most successful strategies, but must be supported by an app that is best in its category and will be supported by strong word of mouth and sharing interaction. SEO is largely irrelevant in this context, as long as the description is accurate, the screen shots are the key to pitching to downloaders.

Top tips from Making the Most of Mobile are:

1. Before you release your app, make sure you can answer the three key questions.
2. Keep and eye on Samsung, their new operating system could be a real game changer. 
3. Think globally when designing your app, as you have limited control on its distribution reach. 
4. Consider the best platform for speed in your design, remembering the 100 millisecond rule.
5. Social media and digital marketing is king when marketing your app. Utilise bloggers and opinion leaders to spread the word. 

Making the Most of Mobile was an interactive event, with Duncan bravely inviting questions at all stages of his talk. It was clear that Duncan lives and breathes mobile and deliver his talk confidently as the guru of mobile apps. 

Maria Parker-Harris

Group marketing Co-ordinator

The SPS Group 

www.thespsgroup.co.uk

Meetdraw - The Art of New Business - A review

Held in Redweb’s Loading Bar and sponsored by Jimmy’s Iced Coffee, ‘The Art of New Business’ (@theartofnewbiz )Meetdraw (@meetdraw) event promised to inspire the art of great pitching and lead generation. With excellent networking opportunities and delicious White Russian cocktails, the event was lively and informative. There were four key speakers and a panel to discuss the new business process from initial contact to pitch. Topics included relationship management, the issue of free work before pitch and how to make your first touch point engaging.

Andy Edwards from @nine5three spoke enthusiastically about ‘Relationomics’. His talk made us think about consumer behaviour and about how our personality traits can be utilised when pursuing new business. Splitting the audience into four personality colours, it was interesting to see how our approach should be tailored depending on the colour of the client. I was Yellow, which means enthusiastic, persuasive and sensitive, but also frantic, self-centered and superficial. He suggested that instead of treating people how you would like to be treated, treat them how they would like to be treated. Build rapport, relationships, respect then the result is killer advice for contacting prospective clients!

(R x d) + (V x t) + A = Sale – A sale comes from deep relationships, that add value, are timely and have good attitude. Simple! To summarise Andy said, “The real currency in any organisation is not £, but it is relationships”.

Chris Head from @xopherhead talked about the use of comedy when pitching. The classic use of set up – punch to frame your point, give impact and drama. Far more memorable and impacting than just stating the point. The subtle use of comedy skills such as framing, context, misdirection and pacing, give pitches engagement. This vital for making your pitch memorable and successful. Duncan Cook from @3SIDEDCUBE discussed personalisation of contact with prospective clients. His anecdote about the personalised invitation, web questionnaire and app was inspiring! I would absolutely have followed the golden invitation, through the un-branded digital journey to find out what I was invited too and who had taken the time to understand me and my business. The results were clear, with an extremely impressive response rate and many pitch meetings in the pipeline. Duncan’s mantra is simple – be the best at one thing, not average at many.

Katie Streetwise and @randomapricot from @redweb pitch to win, believing that you should win no less than 80% of all pitches. If you do lose a pitch, in depth analysis is key to understanding why, gain feedback from the client and improve for the next pitch. Ensure your resource library is up to date, for easy strategy and collateral build for each prospective client. Show your workings and the creative journey rather than what you believe should be the end product. You don’t know enough about the client to give accurate end solutions at this stage, but a client can understand you process and how this way of working would complement them. Clients buy people, so asking them to view your team and office are important to set the scene for you as a business partner. Ensure your pitch is well prepared, know the room and key players to bring to your pitch, understand your audience and have key word on the slides, not the full pitch. Keep the conversation flowing after the pitch and challenge the brief to give the best result to client are all excellent tips from Redweb.

How many times have you been cold called by someone that has no idea about you or your business? Imagine a personalised point of contact that appeals to you as an individual, for example the supplier that contacted Jim from Jimmy’s Iced Coffee focused on their mutual love of surfing rather than ramming product in his face. He offered a surf meet, rather than a standard pitch meeting, and mention of his service offering was subtle and much further down the agenda. The result, the client agreed to meet for a surf and the start of a business relationship. The panel were bogged down with cold contacts, so much so that it impacted their ability to complete work. Do you want to be another irritation lost in the noise of cold contact? No? Well personalisation and research is essential!

Key advice from Cliff Van Wyk @bournemouthuni, Jim Cregan @jimmyicedcoffee and Jon Darch @farrowandball included not dominating the conversation with your agenda, don’t copy and paste and build the relationship first, the business can then follow. Don’t just accept any client if they are a bad fit for you organisation and strong creativity wins over in the end. The industry is so over populated with awards that clients never know which are worth noting and the impact of all awards is lost. Don’t shout about your noise, let word of mouth and your client portfolio shine through. Finally case studies are interesting, but aren’t the tipping point for a sale. Instead show that you understand your client and demonstrate strong working union.

Top tips from The Art of New Business are:

1. Understand you client as a business but also on an individual level. What is their context?
2. Personalise your touch points, use creativity and demonstrate your process to hook the client.
3. Focus on being great at one thing, be the best, be the experts and the awards, word of mouth recommendations and inbound enquiries will come organically.
4. Relationships come before business; nurture and prioritise them.
5. Research research research! Research the client, their business, the pitch and well everything!

This event was diverse and engaging. I picked up some great tips, insight from clients and research and perspectives I had not previously considered. The cocktails were delicious and the event had a great atmosphere with relevant speakers. My only negative was that as a newbie to the group, it was very difficult to network as everyone already knew each other, so thank you to those that came and chatted with me.

Maria Parker-Harris

Group marketing Co-ordinator

The SPS Group 

www.thespsgroup.co.uk

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