I tell people I text message for a living, and they laugh uncomfortably – not sure whether I’m joking or being serious. However, it’s true: I spend all day thinking about the way people interact with their phones, and how marketers can enhance their consumer’s experience by engaging this ‘new’ medium. Then I go home, and spend the night sending messages to my friends to make social plans, my co-workers to check in on any last minute/late night projects, and yes – even my mom to find out how her flower garden is going (this week: tackling the weeds around the bed of peonies). I compare the iPhone to the Evo; how the iPad impacts the mobile landscape; whether a $5 gift certificate is enough to drive participation in a particular promotion; if a client should offer a buy-one-get-one free offer or a percent off offer – and the list goes on and on.
I’ve recently noticed a rise in opinion pieces about mobile. These articles or blog postings often start with “I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about mobile lately,” and then proceed to make some valid, but well documented and rehashed points about the industry. It’s great that marketers of all stripes, sizes and interests are looking at it and contributing to the growing field of published documents, thought-leadership pieces and best practice manuals. While I really appreciate all the interest and focus on mobile, there seems to be a race to produce and contribute. As a result quite a bit of useless chatter has been created.
Last week I twice read how mobile was at an inflection point, with each author offering differing reasons as to how mobile has reached such point. I believe inflection point is a very specific term, and was shocked to have read about it multiple times. Articles like this, written by someone professing to be an expert, lure decision makers into believing that having any mobile campaign, even if it doesn’t work, is better than nothing at all.
To read about unrealistic expectations and disillusions of such a very promising and powerful medium is especially frustrating. Marketers are spending serious portions of budgets on mobile programs, and in some cases their mobile campaigns are designed to fail from the start.
In an emerging industry like mobile, where nobody has extensive experience, the rules are being defined as we go. However, while people are mentioning that adopting mobile is at an inflection point, the same can be said for the industry from a leadership perspective. It is time that opinion leaders truly emerge into the collective forefront, and distance themselves from the chatter. It is time that organizations bless and condone speakers, and help the uneducated sift through the many individuals, organizations and groups offering their perspectives.
Such a system should encompass three main components:
- Speakers Bureau Certification Program: A semi-informal process that ensures members of the database are qualified to speak on designated subjects (each speaker will list their areas of expertise, ranging from marketing to applications, mobile ad networks, SMS, mobile web, etc), are proficient public speakers and are educated on best practices and industry rules.
- Speakers Bureau Database: An online repository of contact information for endorsed speakers sorted by areas of expertise and specialty. This resource will allow organizations either based in the Midwest, or holding meetings in the Midwest, to quickly and easily identify local speakers to participate on panels, lead sessions and educate their attendees.
- Speakers Bureau Events Listings: Any event featuring a member of the Speakers Bureau Database speaking on the subject of mobile marketing will have their appearance listed on an online calendar.
I have a proposal in front of the Heartland Mobile Council for such a bureau. I spent some time today with Michael Becker from the MMA, and he assures me that the association is working on a certification program to help designate those people with the credentials to speak effectively on the subject. It’s an effort that Cellit takes seriously, as the work doubles when we have to re-educate a client who’s been given misinformation in the past.
I text message for a living, and I know there are others out there in the same situation. You want people like us talking to you, writing articles, and contributing – not the mobile hobbyist or lobbyist.
