Mobile Web 2.0: Evaluate your route

Juniper Research forecasts that Voice over Internet Protocol (VOiP) and social web activities will increase sector revenue to $18.9 billion in 2014.

I was pleased to see that, In addition to the usual dazzling growth projections, Juniper acknowledges that there are many paths to market and “fragmentation at every level.”  

Mobile marketing in this tumultuous moment reminds me of mountain climbing. Rarely is there only one way to reach the summit.  And each route will give the climber distinct blessings and challenges.

Route charts reflect the investment in time and route degree of difficulty.  The benefits of each climb are expressed as scenery and traffic (lower is better of course).

If you’re attracted to the growth and revenue of mobile 2.0 marketing, consider the investment and the benefits similarly.

1) Time

Consider time in two dimensions.  One dimension is the amount of time from concept to execution.  This time “tax” is the highest for custom development (especially for a smartphone application) and lowest for a ready-to-use platform

The second time dimension is how long it takes you to interact with customers on a given campaign or promotion.  Can you deploy a social-mobile promotion in less than one week?  In one day? How about in real time?  

For both development and deployment, faster is better.

2) Information

There are many benefits to mobile marketing, but one of the most subtle and difficult to find is real-time reporting.  How quickly can you understand who is engaged with your mobile web 2.0 content?  How quickly can you act on it?  This data benefit must be acquired in any approach, but speed of information acquisition can be the Achille’s Heel of mobile marketing.

Like a climber in training, consider your route into mobile marketing carefully.  Some routes on the fragmented path are easier and faster, while others will be more difficult but more rewarding.   

Photo credits: Wikimedia.org, Casey Marshall