Mobile Marketing Playbook by 360i
Reading the Mobile Marketing Playbook truly feels like thumbing through a carefully detailed and well thought-out strategy for influencing a consumer’s behavior from his or her cell phone. This book was authored by the capable staff at 360i, a digital marketing agency with years of experience creating digital campaigns for Fortune 500 companies. Written at the end of 2010 the Mobile Marketing Playbook draws on observations from the boom of iPhone and Android based devices. By noting at the outset, and at multiple points throughout the book, that every year is predicted to be “the year of mobile”, the Mobile Marketing Playbook inserts itself into the timeline of digital media as an important book to have around.
Though I have been a mobile phone user for years, there were quite a few points that 360i brought up that surprised me. For example, the book dedicates a chapter to marketing through searches on mobile devices. The search engine optimization (SEO) principles that generally work on browsers on a desktop might be different on a smaller, more mobile screen. The book advises that marketers “get to the point faster” since mobile users aren’t searching for a leisurely perusal of a website. Mobile users are in motion, and need their information as soon as possible. Additionally, smaller screens and touchier keyboards mean that searchers keep their query character count short. This can drastically change the SEO strategy. Using points like these, the authors of this book proved that they were approaching new mobile media analytically and practically.
I was disappointed that there weren’t more anecdotes that exemplified how the book’s advice helped 360i with its mobile marketing efforts, but the logic provided is sound. The authors also used a number of studies by reputable firms like Nielsen and Merkle to prove its main points. Every chapter was framed by statistics, like the chapter on social mobile marketing, which begins, “more than 150 million people access Facebook from mobile devices each month,” which is a statistic provided by Facebook.
This book outlines a clear-cut strategy for its audience of marketing professionals. Using a combination of sensible goals, cited statistics and the credibility that comes from years of experience, as well as outside interviews contributed by working professionals, 360i’s Mobile Marketing Playbook is an excellent resource for those looking to beef up their marketing efforts with mobile outreach. However, this book briefly glosses over some of the very real pitfalls of mobile marketing in the very last chapter. Issues such as the incredible speed at which mobile technologies are changing, the resources marketing departments need to invest to make a mobile marketing campaign successful and the fact that “the year of mobile” might have already happened don’t get nearly as much attention as they should.
Despite this oversight, 350i’s Mobile Marketing Playbook provides a good overview for those interested in trying out mobile marketing. Its industry specific predictions and case studies are invaluable guidance in the quickly changing world of mobile technologies.
Roxanne Dyer
Book online: http://blog.360i.com/pov/mobile-marketing-playbook
My review at bn.com: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mobile-marketing-playbook-360i/1026820410?ean=2940011107825&itm=1&usri=mobile+marketing+playbook