With the help of html5, mobile web allows different types of content to be displayed in various ways with attractive effects, enabling smoother user experience. But why mobile web – what are the benefits? The example below give reasons for creating a mobile web that integrates with your marketing events.

Wall Street Institute (WSI) launches a mobile site to support the participation at HKTDC Education & Career Expo in 9 – 11 Feb, 2012. Users can simply scan the QR code displayed inside the WSI booth in the Expo to access WSI’s mobile site.

Remember the days when tons of brochures were given away and a lot of the copies ended up piling on the rubbish bin? Worse still, many marketers do not have any clues whether the marketing messages are properly communicated to the potential customers.

Mobile site is definitely a more environmental friendly way to provide information during exhibition and connect with the visitors. With a mobile site, the unique behavior of each user can be track, generating data that immediately reflect the site effectiveness, such as what information are the users most interested in? Is there a general trend in users behavior? This information not only have evaluative values, but it also let the marketer know more about the behavior of the customers to facilitate the planning of future marketing strategy.

Mobile site can present the content in an interactive way that can catch the eyeball of the users. In this example, the site allows users to test their own English proficiency without pen and paper. Mobile site also allow information to be instantly updated, offering flexibility that cannot be provided by traditional offline media.

Mobile web supports all OS, guaranteeing a wider coverage of audience. As smartphone penetration is rising rapidly across the world and more people would have access to mobile web, it is no longer a marketing tool targeting at specific groups but a channel that reaches out to the masses.

Mobile devices provide great flexibility for execution of marketing strategy, it outcompetes other media in one area – customer services – as it allows customer to get information they need anytime and anywhere they want. An app in a smartphone can act as a direct communication channel from the brand to the customers that not only constantly remind the customers of the brand, but can also strengthen brand loyalty.

AXA, renowned for offering a wide range of insurance, investment and retirement solutions, create an app that provides information related to MPF and employee benefits, which is optimized for viewing in mobile devices. It includes features that can best demonstrate how the mobile platform can help sustaining customers’ loyalty.

The app provides a medical network search engine, which allows current members of the AXA Group Insurance and Doctor Network to search the clinics nearby easily. This feature provides great convenience for the members to find the most suitable doctor anytime by self-service which ease out the workload of the customer service hotline and yet created better customer experience as the member does not need to wait for the response from hotline in case of the peak hours.

In addition, the app also provides Wellness Programme list, from which the employees can understand the benefits they can enjoy, including offers from various medical services. A lot of times, employees do not really aware that their Employer had taken care of them with these great insurance benefits, but with the app communicating these benefits proactively, employees can visualize these benefits they can enjoy thus increasing the employee loyalty to the employers. Employers will also become stickier to AXA with these great and intimate customer services provided by AXA.

The frequent use of the app by the users and constant communication of the wide range of benefits from AXA using the app can build an association between the users and AXA, thus strengthening customers’ loyalty towards the brand.

As we wave goodbye to Christmas, Chinese New Year is on its way! This January is certainly a busy month for Hong Kong marketers and advertisers. With all the fierce competitions in the market, it is difficult to capture consumers’ attention even with attractive promotional offers like discounts and coupons. Want a quick and direct way to deliver your marketing message during this festival season? Let’s look at what you might have overlooked – SMS and MMS.

While mobile allows many different ways for marketing, including mobile apps, sites, QR codes, etc, MMS and SMS remain to be the most popular ways for marketing communications, as they are supported by most of the mobile phones, with impressions guaranteed! They are also retailers’ favorites as they are particularly effective at driving short-term campaigns, such discounts, promotional offers and openings.

For example, this Chinese New Year, Home Square sends its message of discounts and promotion to their target customers through MMS, a simple yet very straightforward and effective delivery of message. Consumers see the incentive on their phone, like it and pay a visit to the mall. MMS is indeed a direct rich media method that drives a large number of visits in a short period of time, helping the tenants to boost their sales before the end of the holiday season.

So do not forget to include SMS and MMS to your media plan this year, they can bring magical result to your campaign if used properly! Nevertheless, when consider using SMS or MMS or any tactics to reach the audience, marketers must make sure the campaign is compliance with privacy policy and government ordinance, such as Unsolicited Electronic Messages Ordinance (UEMO).

A lot of mobile applications are designed just for branding and communications, however, most people will imagine mobile is much more powerful than doing that. People are now more adaptive to a mobile lifestyle which creates impact on the ways we communicate and spend. In 2012, we see mobile commerce will start to flourish.

Maxim’s Cake, a renowned bakery chain store in Hong Kong, is a forerunner of mobile marketing and launched its first mobile application earlier this year. To further strengthen the connection between its brand and the consumers, the application’s latest update in mobile commerce supported with social media truly demonstrates the integration of commerce and social media to drive another stream of revenue on mobile.

The application features a birthday calendar in which users can mark the birthdays of their friends by importing data from Facebook. Users would receive push reminder prior to their friends’ birthday, so that they can select and purchase birthday cake directly and instantly from the app, without visiting the retail store. The customer journey is not only made more convenient this way, but also saving resources for Maxim’s and generating more sales.

Users can even send a virtual birthday cake to the wall of their beloved ones in Facebook – a customized message that includes a very soft promotional message. These user-generated content can immediately increase exposure thus enhancing brand awareness and increasing brand loyalty.

Social media is now an essential element of any marketing plan. It has also evolved to become more mobile-centric as the platform allows instant sharing, therefore making marketing messages to be spread more easily. Driving mobile commerce via app with social media is an indispensible mobile marketing strategy that worth the dedicated attention by marketers in 2012.

A lot of marketers launched their App and believed their job was done. In fact an App is the excellent tool for marketers to engage with their customers. It is like a gold mine, marketers just need to dig deeper and be creative, and they will find a lots more can be done to capitalise their App. Below illustrates how marketers can incorporate a game in an App to build brands awareness, rewards customers and drive traffic.

Metro City Plaza (MCP) is the largest shopping complex in Tseung Kwan O offer shopping, dining, leisure and entertainment. It is located in Po Lam MTR Station that is close to a few big residential buildings.

MCP launched its smartphone apps in October this year with basic functionalities like the general information about the shopping centre. To continue the momentum and to further engage with the customers, recently it added a mix and match game on both iPhone and Android version of the app.

The mix and match game is a simple yet interesting memory game, it allows players to match the merchant logos of the tenants in MCP. As the players proceed to the next level, more tenants logo will be shown and increased the challenge and excitement of the game. This helps to create awareness of the merchants available in MCP.

To motivate more customers to participate, the top 50 game players who earn the most points of the month will be awarded with $50 coupons which can be spent in the merchants inside MCP, and thus drive traffic to the mall.

Players have to register simple information including email address to join the contest and this allows MCP to establish long-term engagement with the customers for future communications.

What other idea can you think of capitalizing your App?

With the sophisticated functions supported by mobile nowadays, it opens up a wide range of possibilities for marketers to market and advertise their brands or products via mobile marketing. Yet when it comes to driving instant visits and gaining high exposure, do not forget that a simple SMS can just make it without any complications. Below we will discuss the benefits of SMS.

When considering which channel to use in marketing, the first question to ask is always “what result is your campaign aiming at?” If you want a simple, fast and effective way to drive visits and gain high exposure, SMS is definitely a good option to consider.

The major reason for its effective is the simplicity of SMS – it ensures 100% penetration as it is supported by all phones and it is directly pushed to the target audience, resulting in a high impression rate. A SMS campaign can be executed within a very short leadtime and it has the greatest flexibility to support any tactical marketing activities such as event and sales promotions.

Marketers can select specific demographics and only deliver the right message to the suitable audience if the information is available. Yet even without demographics details of the audience, marketers can also make use of location based SMS to recruit people of target group and to elicit immediate response from them especially if the target can be qualify based on certain locations.

For example, CENTRAL/CENTRAL, a one-stop fashion and accessories lifestyle store targeted the upscale market, advertised its presence through LBS. The target audience nearby the shop can receive an SMS with a coupon for free T-shirt redeemable at the store and hence drive immediate visit to the store. This LBS promotion can certainly uplift its brand awareness among its target audience in the vicinity.

As mobile platform becomes a more popular channel for running promotion and capturing customers’ attention, more and more companies eyed on making use of mobile devices to assist their frontline selling process. The case below illustrates the advantages of having a mobile sales kit, and the essential elements that should be included to maximize effectiveness.

Luxe Place, Mingly Metro, located in Haining, Zhejiang Province, is a property project that targets the affluent sector. Its developer, Mingly Corporation, wanted to develop mobile sales kit that can help their frontline team to present Luxe Place in more dynamic and interactive manner.

Whereas traditional sales brochure can only display the property in two dimensions, mobile brochure enables a more vivid depiction of property, which help the customer to visualize the property and therefore allows the frontline team members to sell better.

As with all channels, having a cohesive, consistent brand image and message is always important. The design and graphics of this app echoes the prestigious image of the project and in line with the overall branding of the property. As the pictures speak for themselves, frontline members can focus more on understanding customers’ needs using the tool.

Another key factor is a clear navigation that allows frontline staff to easily present the story. The staff could find out the needed information easily without any complication that could avoid confusion or embarrassment when the staff could not find the required information easily via traditional sales tools. Simplicity is crucial element to a user-friendly tool.

Mobile applications definitely help selling products that require complex and detail information, explanations and illustration. The use of mobile sales kit for products like medical aesthetic products, cars, financial products, property can effectively assist frontline staff to tell the story with easily accessible accurate information, create much better customer experience and thus increase the chance of closing a deal.

Mobile devices are portable and also available to use anytime and anywhere. The update of mobile sales kit is much easier and quicker. It is definitely an environmental friendly option with much better marketing effect.

Most people agree that mobile phone is not just to make a call. When it comes to customer service via phone, surprisingly, many companies still rely heavily on hotlines or IVR system, which can be inefficient and even inconvenient at times. In the following case, we will explore how to leverage on the mobile platform to uplift users’ experience for customer service support.

Recently Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited launched an app for its latest property project, Avignon, to facilitate after sales customer services and property management, including the handover process and clubhouse booking system.

The key to great customer experience is to truly cater for their needs. This app provides useful information such as a checklist of required documents and inspection tips for the handover of the flat, a function that would be certainly appreciated by potential residents for the best customer experience.

Making services more accessible can be another way to enhance the customer experience thus increasing customers’ satisfaction. This app intends to enhance the quality of its property management by offering a convenient platform that allows residents to manage their life at Avignon anytime, anywhere. Residents can access their own account and browse information such as management fees, as well as booking clubhouse facilities inside the app.

Apart from handling customer service the traditional ways, try to make use of the advantage that mobile phone can bring to improve customer experience.