Today, more people watch television while using a tablet, laptop or mobile phone than ever before. This new behavior can create opportunity for marketers. But candidly, it’s a silly thing to prioritize right now. People watch television with two screens because they are hyper-distracted; like dopamine addicts, we can no longer sit through one distraction without searching for an even better distraction. This hardly qualifies us a message-receptive audience.
That’s why brands must start by getting their single screen messaging right. No, not their television ads; marketers must focus on their mobile presence and messages. Last week’s Black Friday sales and a recent study on mobile audiences prove how increasingly critical it is to optimize information and messaging about products for quick access on smartphone and tablet screens.
An analysis of Black Friday’s online sales by IBM showed that over sixteen percent of all online sales came through mobile platforms–an estimated 162 million dollars. Clearly, we’ve become comfortable shopping through these omnipresent devices. In fact, Black Friday’s mobile online sales rose a full sixty-five percent overt last year.
These numbers become really fascinating in the context of the latest JiWire Mobile Audience Insights Report, which among other fascinating learnings shows that more than eighty-five percent of shoppers consult their mobile device in-store. They most frequently use them to comparison shop, but they also rely on them heavily for product reviews, coupons and general information. Some marketers want to ignore this behavior because it often results in “show rooming”: checking online information and then choosing another option, frequently while still in-store. Sure, that’s tough, but it’s an inevitable by-product of the rise of our consumer-driven economy. But the upside for marketers savvy enough to optimize their mobile search results shows huge promise.
A smart multi-channel strategy aims to optimize your content with context. For mobile and online, that content must be persuasive recommendation and information through search optimization.
Because they do that just a short stroll away from cash registers.