If you’ve invested considerable time, effort, and finance into the development of a new product, it’s understandable that you can’t wait to show it off. Just as you wouldn’t stop running with the marathon finish line in sight, you can’t simply halt marketing efforts and place your new product on the shelf, presuming consumers will discover it on their own.
In these competitive times, traditional marketing methods like floor displays, magazine ads, and online banners only go so far. You must position your message in front of your busy, distracted audience when it matters most. Mobile marketing will help you do just that!
In this article, you’ll learn how to build awareness of a new product with the latest mobile marketing tactics.
Why Consider Mobile Marketing for Product Awareness?
If you’re on the fence about investing in mobile marketing efforts, consider these statistics:
- Over 51% of smartphone users have discovered a new brand or product via mobile.
- Thirty percent of mobile shoppers say video is the best method of discovering new products.
- Ninety-six percent of people say they’ve watched a mobile video to learn more about a product.
- Consumers spent 18 billion hours on mobile shopping apps in 2018.
- Mobile shopping app use rose to 54% in 2017, compared to other shopping app categories.
Given the impact of mobile compared to other forms of advertising, there should be little hesitation in drumming up the necessary resources for an effective mobile marketing plan.
How to Build Awareness of a New Product With Mobile
Building awareness of new product’s benefits, features, and uses can be done in numerous ways:
1. Use mobile video.
Mobile video has the capability to reach shoppers when they are most likely to purchase—in the store, with the product (or a competing product!) in hand. Mobile shoppers are more likely to begin watching a video on a mobile device, finish watching the full video, and share the video with friends, compared to desktop shoppers.
When a leading vitamin and supplement brand was looking to boost sales of its B-12 and daily energy supplements at Walmart, and other national grocers and pharmacies across the nation, they partnered with Shopkick, an innovative shopping app. Pre-shop consideration was built through educational in-app content, boosting interest and awareness. Using Shopkick’s unique video capabilities, the brand delivered its marketing message to a highly engaged audience while they were in a shopping mindset. The campaign was highly successful in boosting product awareness. In fact, 53% of users first became aware of the featured products via Shopkick. The campaign received over 36M impressions and drove purchases amongst an incremental audience.
2. Create a lookbook.
A lookbook is a collection of photos of your product designed to inform and inspire, much like a magazine spread or catalog. Visual lookbooks have long been popular in promoting fashion brands, as they offer styling inspiration. Lookbooks can help you tell a story about your brand. These moments of sustained engagement are priceless, resonating with audiences on an emotional level as they spend time actively flipping through your images.
3. Promote a bundled offer.
One easy way to encourage existing customers to go out on a limb and try something new is to include a product in a bundled offer. For example, you might package a top-selling product along with the new product in a trial size. Or you might promote your new launch with known products in a mobile marketing campaign, providing instruction on how they might work in tandem.
Beauty brands have long used small trial-sized items along with purchases of popular products to promote trial and consideration. Bundled offers are also popular among food manufacturers who might offer a recipe using ingredients from multiple brands, and provide a special deal to shoppers who follow through and buy the full bundle as advertised.
4. Attract new converts with beacon technology.
Beacons can help lure shoppers into participating stores, and facilitate the discovery of new products. Bluetooth technology can be used to send relevant, timely messages to smartphone users in the general vicinity of a beacon. This can be especially helpful when you have something exciting to debut. Successful retailers like Target, Macy’s, and Nordstrom use beacons to boost awareness and educate consumers about new products.
5. Gamify discovery.
Brands and retailers are increasingly leveraging gamification to encourage shoppers to locate, consider, and purchase new products. For example, eBay’s success is due in part to its use of one of the most iconic versions of retail gamification—bidding. Their dynamic bidding interface drives desire and instant gratification for consumers every step of the way. Similarly, retailers are finding ways to incorporate games into new product launches.
Take L Brands’ Pink Nation, a subsidiary of Victoria’s Secret, for example. The brand offers in-app games to deliver exclusives, prizes, and other incentives. During spring break season, Pink added an in-app scavenger hunt to target its college-aged core customers. There are many examples like these that indicate mobile gamification is anything but a passing phase.
Where to Begin Your New Product’s Mobile Launch Campaign
If you have a mobile app of your own already, that may seem like the most logical place to advertise new products. However, it’s not the only opportunity. Maximize your efforts and reach untapped markets by making use of existing mobile architecture. Shopping apps are one of the fastest-growing categories of apps downloaded to smartphones. Why not become part of a consumer’s typical day by partnering with the apps they already use daily?
Maximize your efforts and reach untapped markets by making use of existing mobile architecture.
Shopkick brings all of these mobile marketing tactics together in one app. You can leverage videos, lookbooks, location-based marketing, gamification, and promotions to build awareness of your new product. Then, reward shoppers for trying your latest offering with points they can use towards a free gift card. Whether you have your own rewards program in place or not, Shopkick will help you connect with a ready-made audience that is receptive to trying new products they may have never seen or heard of before.
When Georgia-Pacific launched its Dixie Ultra® Deep Dish Plates, the brand partnered with Shopkick to build product awareness. Shopkick developed engaging in-app content to drive consideration prior to the consumer’s shopping trip. In store, Shopkick incentivized users to seek out the product and pick it up in-aisle, allowing them to see and feel the difference in Dixie Ultra® Deep Dish Plates, compared to their usual paper plate. Shopkick’s unique video platform allowed Georgia-Pacific to play a branded video advertisement to further drive trial and consideration while the product was still in-hand.
Ultimately, 99% of those who started watching Georgia-Pacific’s videos completed the viewing and 50% of those who purchased hadn’t considered it before visiting the store. If you are looking for a fast, effective way to launch your mobile marketing campaign, Shopkick is the answer!
Continue reading more partner success stories; learn how to build awareness of a new product and how easy it is to get started with a Shopkick mobile campaign. Contact us today! Your success is our success too!
Image courtesy of goffkein.pro
