The mobile device industry is constantly changing and will remain to do so for years to come, leaving consumers to wonder, and sometimes predict, “what will be next?” Recently, most of the chatter has been around the iPhone 7 and iOS 10. The most obvious feature changes have been making it into plenty of blog posts and news articles, including the missing audio jack.
Consumer-Driven Content
The publicity coming from these changes, whether positive or negative, brings us to our first marketing point. As the mobile device industry evolves, the consumers will continue to play a large role with branded content. This can be done through their personal blogs, social media, YouTube reviews, and so on. Regular everyday people take on the role of a journalist to get out their opinions, and having access to the internet at their fingertips makes it an even easier process. This is such a common occurrence, not only because there is always something to talk about in the mobile device industry, but because there are always more outlets to do so.
Increased Need for Reputation Management
Due to the growth in this area, every brand will have to make sure they have enough representatives to respond to the content when necessary. What people say online can not be controlled, but it can have a controlled reaction from the brand’s side. Whether it’s managing the negative reviews or adding insight to an area where the consumer is mistaken, the need for reputation management is on the rise, and will be for quite some time.
Reevaluating Consumer Behavior
Today, when a new device is introduced, a reevaluation of consumer behavior is needed. Since target audiences may differ from device to device, it’s important for the brand to keep an eye on that behavior and alter the messaging as needed. Without this, there could be missed opportunity. Another area to be aware of is search engine standards. For example, Google uses mobile-friendly as a standard for rankings. As other devices come about, other standards may be applied.
Tracking Traffic From New Devices
With the introduction of new mobile devices comes different traffic tracking methods. For marketing purposes, brands should be using databases that provide information on the different avenues people are using to find them. Being knowledgeable of where the traffic is coming from allows the brand to react accordingly. Whether consumers are accessing the brand through an app or a website, this is important information to have in order to move forward with marketing efforts. The same goes for whether they’re accessing the app or website through a smartphone, laptop or other device.
Relating to the Mobile Device Culture in Advertising
Other than marketing the evolving products in the mobile device industry and analyzing how each new feature and device can alter the marketing tactics of any industry, there are other trends that are impacting the marketing world. Advertisers are incorporating mobile-related items and references into their ads, even if the brand has nothing to do with mobile products or services. This is because they’re aware of the fact that most people will understand and relate to this type of messaging. Some even highlight the obsession consumers have with always being connected. An example is a recent car commercial that specifically refers to a mobile device as an alternative to communicating during a car ride. The commercial shows a parent trying to attach an iPad-like device to the back of a car seat that isn’t equipped with one. The commercial moves on to display a car that does include one. This is just one of the many ad examples. Others include highlighting the popularity of taking photos of food items, the preferred choice of communicating through device rather than face-to-face, branded hashtags, the use of emojis, and various references to popular social media outlets.
This is not to say that growth and innovation is negative, in fact, here is a list of positives it has brought to the marketing industry:
- More Available Messaging Outlets
- Easier to Target Specific Audiences
- The Ability to Provide Interactive Content
- Easier to Report on Analytics
- More and More Websites are Mobile-Friendly
- The Ability for Brands to Offer Apps
- Easier to be Found When Mobile-Friendly
In conclusion, the evolving mobile device industry is impacting the marketing world from all different angles. Starting with the introduction of new and innovative devices and ending with the influence they have on both consumers and marketing agencies. This goes to show that the growth goes way beyond the industry itself, and because it has become such a substantial part of our culture, it’s making an appearance in many aspects of our life.
Contributor
Frank Cuffaro is the president and co-founder of GoodCellas, the trusted source to save money on quality used phones, and get the best trade in value on old devices.
