Best Practices: The Mobile Widget

For marketers, mobile widgets are interactive tools that enhance a marketing strategy. The flexibility of mobile widgets maximize screen space and allow marketers to create and build a direct-to-consumer subscriber lists for strategic targeted marketing. Mobile widgets change the way marketers approach a marketing campaign.

What is a Mobile Widget?
A mobile widget is simple code (flash or html) placed on a site, company page, Myspace, Facebook or marketing banner. Customers enter their mobile phone number and receive a text message. The text could be a mobile opt-in to receive mobile alerts, WAP site to a mobile internet page or channel to send multimedia content to subscribers’ mobile phones.

Here are a few great examples of mobile widgets designed by Waterfall Mobile partners and a few considerations to help deliver on your strategic mobile marketing objectives.

Create Direct-to-Consumer Channels
With mobile widgets, marketers can create exclusive direct-to-consumer marketing channels. For example, marketers interested in targeting younger audiences can use mobile widgets to deliver news, updates, coupons, discounts and sell multimedia content, ringtones, wallpaper and more. Subscribers have agreed to receive mobile information and updates sent to their personal phones.

Good Exposure
Show off the widget, give it exposure. A well placed widget allows potential customers to easily sign up and make it easier to build mobile marketing subscriber lists. Identify space on the homepage above the fold or one just click away. Hidden widgets are not effective in supporting online promotions.

Mobile Widget Integration
A well integrated widget with recognizable brand attributes will perform better than a generic widget. Widgets that capture the the brand will receive greater attention. Remember, people don’t give away mobile numbers easily so the more a widget looks and feels like a trusted service offered by a brand the more responses it will receive.

Clear and Concise Messaging
Mobile widget messaging should have a clear and concise call-to-action and a message for subscribers to understand what they receive after signing up: news, updates, coupons, product alerts, event information, etc. Once subscribed, customers will need to know an opt-in message has been sent to their phone and to complete the sign-up and must reply Y to the message. Marketers that fail to include this message to subscribers often receive low opt-in rates.

Mobile widgets vary in greatly in color, size, shape and design. Mobile widgets are changing the way advertising agencies, publishers and consumer brands view marketing. Mobile widgets can advertise a product or can also be a product. Marketers can enhance customer relationships and reward consumer loyalty with mobile interactivity. Creating and building subscriber lists often begin with a mobile widget. Determine what goals the widget can accomplish and how the campaign elements can work together.

For more information on mobile widgets, Waterfall Mobile or mobile marketing, please contact sales@msgme.com.