Mobile-First Marketing - Applying the Flywheel concept

It took me quite a while to finish what I called my humble attempt at an ultimate guide to Mobile-First Marketing :) In this article, it's all about the flywheel and how it can applied to any B2C or B2B business.

So here it is, in all its glory... Hope you'll find it useful.

For a quick refresher, read the first part: Mobile first marketing - part 1

Flywheel

The Flywheel effect is a concept developed in the book Good to Great by Jim Collins.

One of the first (and most famous) Flywheel concepts to be applied to a business is Amazon’s “virtuous cycle.” Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO, discovered the flywheel concept after reading Jim Collins’ book and decided to apply the model to craft Amazon’s continuous improvement of the customer experience. Each element in the flywheel focuses on a particular segment of their customer experience. Bezos explained to his team that providing a strong customer experience would lead to more shoppers, which would in turn bring more sellers. More sellers would then lower costs and prices through competition while bolstering selection for customers. Lower prices and more selection would eventually bring in more customers and the cycle repeats itself.

Here is a picture of Amazon’s Flywheel prior to the introduction of AWS:

Another famous company that is using the Flywheel concept is Hubspot.

Their Flywheel represents a circular process where customers feed growth. They re-aligned their marketing team to invest more in customer marketing, customer advocacy and in creating effortless onboarding for new customers.

Here is a picture of Hubspot's Flywheel

The consumer behavior changes outlined above got us to rethink how brands and publishers should be addressing their social audience in 2019. Introducing the Mobile-First Marketing Flywheel.

It all starts with the creation of engaging, relevant content that take full advantage of smartphone vertical screens. Imagine a series of visually immersive experiences where your visitors would consume your content right from their mobile, without ever leaving their favorite social app. This content must deliver on each of the four Ps outlined previously; Personality, Purpose, Promise, and Probity, in order to hit the mark with your targeted audience.

Brand messaging is only the tip of the iceberg in our Flywheel, and you need to think beyond the storytelling if you want to keep your viewers engaged and captivated by your social message. Choosing the right interaction mechanism becomes critical to achieve maximum impact. Quizzes, surveys, sweepstakes, chatbots, selfies, augmented reality filters, giveaways... This is a limited selection of tried and tested gamified experiences leading to higher engagement rate to make the most of your audience’s short initial attention span.

How can you capitalise on all this hard work now that your audience is hooked? Time to have a conversation to create a more human ‘buying’ experience. By ‘buying’ experience, we mean any meaningful conversion point for your business. It could be subscribing to your newsletter, entering a contest or ordering a product.. You need to find a way to prompt your audience to take action in the most unobtrusive way possible. This is why the traditional form collection mechanism is our dated. Drift, a conversational software platform, explained why they switched from forms to conversations:

“At some point, being data-driven started being more important than being customer-driven. As a result, the buying experience most companies provide has become cold and impersonal. Not only is it a terrible experience for potential customers, it’s also bad for business.”

The final step is maybe the most important of all since it is where you create the momentum need to move your flywheel. Now you can focus on something we find to be quite exciting as a marketer; building deep bonds with your audience and therefore developing an equally strong brand loyalty. The more you know about your contacts' preferences and lifestyles, the better equipped you are to offer personalized brand experiences that increase their loyalty. You are also giving them a reason to come back and consume/watch more of your content. This is not an easy task, but done well, it will allow you to build up the longer-term relationship with your targeted audience.

Defining goals - the SMART way

Every successful marketing campaign begins with a strategic an objective. This objective, or goal, must be defined before writing any content or designing any asset.

One of the most widely accepted framework for goal setting is the SMART methodology.

Your goal/objective should be:

• Specific – write out clear and concise goal.
• Measurable – make sure you can track your progress.
• Achievable – set challenging, yet achievable goal.
• Relevant – set goal that are relevant to your overall business plan.
• Time-bound – goal has a target finish time attached.

Here is an example of a SMART goal:

In order to establish our brand as a thought leader in the sporting industry, I will write a 50-page ebook on social media sport marketing by writing one chapter per week (or three to five pages per week). The ebook will be completed in 1 month, and will be published on Instagram, Facebook, and our website.

When it comes to setting objectives for your mobile-first campaign, think about what you would like your fans or customers end goal to be. You can start by emulating Facebook Ad Campaigns Objectives:

1. Awareness: These are the goals that generate interest in your product or service.
2. Consideration: These are the goals that motivate people to take an interest in your business and search for information about it.
3. Conversion: These are goals that encourage people interested in your business to buy or use your product or service.

Another way to get started is to start with your business outcome first:

• I want to find new potential customers:
• Lead Generation: Social campaign that allow you to collect information from visitors.
• I want to keep in touch with potential customers:
• Social Engagement: Social campaign that drive engagement with your social media channels with Like, Follow and Share Call to Actions
• App Install: Social campaign that encourage people to install app with one-click install on mobile app store buttons
• I want potential customers to remember my product when they'll need it:
• Brand Awareness: Social campaign that allow you to tell your brand story with immersive content components and a multiple screens experience
• Social Engagement: Social campaign that drive engagement with your social media channels with Like, Follow and Share Call to Actions
• I want to sell my products or services:
• Website Conversion: Social campaign that drive people to your business website with call to actions with links
• Product Selling: Social campaign that drive visitors to product transactions with Amazon buttons
• I want to inform potential customers about product news
• Brand Awareness: Social campaign that allow you to tell your brand story with immersive content components and a multiple screens experience.

Once your goal set, time to select which channel(s) to share your campaign on, as each channel will come with its own content and graphic constraints.

“A goal without a plan is just a wish” - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

This concept can easily applied to any business, B2C or B2B. We have entered the customer era, and the way we market must change accordingly.