4 Steps To An iPhone Supercharged Online Marketing Strategy

by Bill French on 26/07/09 at 10:00 pm

Bill French is an information architect specializing in Internet applications. He is also the co-founder of MyST Technology Partners and Senior Editor for iPhoneCTO.

Now that iPhone is being tested at 175 of the Fortune 500 and Apple Computer has unfurled an aggressive >enterprise strategy. C-level executives are eyeing new ideas for leveraging the iPhone for greater operational benefit.

If you’re thinking about embracing the iPhone in your business, you’re probably thinking about how your employees will use it. That’s fine, but your corporate iPhone strategy should also factor in use cases outside your company, especially in the area of online marketing, customer service, and content and brand visibility. Here are four useful things to consider when developing a corporate iPhone strategy for online marketing.

Requirements Management

There’s no substitute for good business and technical requirements. Attempting to define business requirements that build a case for iPhone must take into account the intended purpose for the device – specifically stating why this device? At the outset, good requirements planning sets aside the implementation details and focuses on the business need. Ironically, my first guidepost is to ignore the features, functionality, and coolness of iPhone’s influence so that you can (without bias) develop a clear set of business requirements that identify the objectives you hope to achieve. This is difficult to do, but it will yield rational decisions down the road.

As you flesh out requirements that are intended to support iPhone, try to be device-agnostic. A good way to start your requirements management process is to start with some bullet points that purposely avoid mentioning iPhone or specific implementation details. This process will serve to help you identify aspects of mobile marketing that are not so apparent than if you blindly assume iPhone is the only target that matters. Indeed, iPhone may ultimately be the focus of your new marketing initiative, but decide if that’s true after you’ve decided what would be best for your prospects and customers.

The Opportunities May Be Bigger Than You Think

iPhone use is growing rapidly amongst consumers. Edge and 3G always-on access to the web, along with the fully functional Safari with embedded RSS support, has inspired a new generation of people that actually use their phone as a competent web device. Couple this trend with more than 63,000 native applications, and suddenly, iPhone represents an important and growing market target.

50% all iPhone users are under the age of 30; most iPhone users have had previous Apple products; the majority of iPhone users are technically sophisticated, and iPhone represents more than a third of all mobile search queries; a segment that’s more than 50% larger than Windows Mobile. The growth of social media and access to mobile-specific social media applications, has intensified the amount of communicating that iPhone users engage in. These indicators suggest it may be time to plan for enhanced online marketing initiatives that specifically target iPhone users. The younger demographic suggests social media strategy (with viral opportunities) may be a key ingredient as well. If your company produces and wants to leverage social media for strategic gain, you might enjoy this free e-book (Social Media: Built to Last).

Baby Steps

There’s no point in trying to do everything possible all at once. It’s far better to take some small, but successful steps while gathering more information about your target and how they perceive your first steps. Here are some starting points that will help you demonstrate forward-thinking with your iPhone-carrying customers.

Use RSS for your website and/or blogsite content; test it fully for iPhone and promote the availability to iPhone users. Create a friendly URL that iPhone users can subscribe to without a lot of typing. Consider streamlining the subscription process by offering an SMS gateway to subscribe; CellTrust provides a pretty comprehensive API for this feature. Ideally, you’d have a product news feed, a press relations feeds, and perhaps a customer support feed. RSS is an ideal way to push new information to mobile Internet device users and iPhone’s Safari browser supports this content consumption medium exceptionally well and without any development costs beyond the required RSS feeds.
Provide a product-specials web site designed specifically for iPhone. It might be hosted at iSpecial.<myCompanyDomain>.com and it automatically generates offers from specifically identified products or services that you are offering with special pricing if purchased via iPhone. Couple this site with frequent Tweets from a branded Twitter account and use viral marketing to spread the word about this purchase gateway.
Commission the development of a native (branded) iPhone application. Incorporate news (using RSS), convenient one-click contact with sales and customer support, and plenty of fresh content with doorways to let your customers say something directly to you.

iPhone Chemistry 101: Think Outside the Box

iPhone brings some pretty clever technologies to the online marketing foundation. The most successful marketing initiatives that leverage the iPhone will be based on alchemies of iPhone platform capabilities and software. Here are some ideas:

Imagine a customer photographs the price tag (and barcode) of a garment that isn’t available in the right size. The image is sent (via your native app) where it is identified and a response SMS message informs the customer that the garment (in the requested size) is at the Glendale store waiting with her name on it.
Imagine a branded promotional app that uses the new push notification service to inform customers of new products or services at special prices as well as events and other news. The push app has a unique viral feature – an invitation that can be sent to a friend to install the same application. For each app installation that a customer creates, the customer is given a 10% discount coupon downloaded right to their phone and into the app. Redeeming the coupon requires only that it is scanned when a purchase is made – no paper, no printing.
Imagine augmenting your consumer loyalty program with an iPhone app. Customers manage their loyalty program on their phone as a web service; they never need to carry their card. The app uses QR codes that allow them to [literally] digitally snap up offers and rewards from the website, catalogs, etc.

Conclusion

iPhone are key gateways to more business. Much of the work ahead has more to do with determining the scope of iPhone use in your target segment and the requirements your customers exhibit with respect to mobile interactions. If you can’t justify an iPhone-specific initiative, but you still want to embrace your mobile users, consider a service such as Mofuse. This service provides a fast and simple way to provide mobile-optimized web content across all Internet-enabled devices. They provide a wealth of experience and SMS subscription support as well as optimized pages for iPhone.