When are CMO's going to answer the mobile call to arms?

Are CMO’s getting their head around mobile? A recent CMO Council survey concluded that only 14% of CMO’s were happy with their mobile strategy.

Staggering really. Are CMO’s as far behind on mobile as they were on the web and social?

43% honestly answered that they definitely were not impressed with their own companies mobile marketing strategy.

A mere 16% had a mobile strategy which given the numbers of people with mobiles and getting mobiles is head in the sand time. Are they just closing their eyes and their mind to the enormity of the mobile challenge? They can’t surely be hoping that it will just go away! It’s only going to get bigger lads and lasses!

The report goes further and states that only 15% are using mobile to trigger consumption, 18% use it for reactivating or acquiring customers and 18% use it for transactions. It’s like throwing money away!

Someone wishes to buy on a mobile device and you’re not letting them. What will they do? Wait? No they will go to your competitor.

Part of this is down to the creative. It’s no good just using website creative and expecting it to work on mobile. There needs to be dedicated creative geared towards the device and the way customers use a mobile device.

The best campaigns and those winning both awards and customer usage are incorporating a mobile’s unique features such as the camera, gps and touchscreens to create a specific mobile campaign that is then many times more effective than a campaign merely adapted from a web one.

CMO’s also seem to be struggling with that age old problem, measurement. They still struggle with website campaign measurement but mobile is a greater challenge. However there are many more technology innovations to track user behaviour. For example adidas have used the store locator button on a recent campaign to track customers and have identified an increase in related stores as a direct result of the mobile campaign.

On the plus side CMO’s do seem to realise that they have a problem with 53% have or are dedicating a team to look at mobile and 51% are looking at how to incorporate mobile into their business through internal training and development. What the other 47% are doing is beyond me.

This opportunity is now. It’s a land grab and those bold enough to invest the dollars and take the risks will reap the customer rewards in both first mover advantage, customer interaction and usage, positive word of mouth and recommendation and ultimately profits!