Why your Q4 marketing spend will likely not help much.

I made myself giggle a little with that title but I couldn't resist. Earlier today there was an article titled "Why Target's (and everyone else) beacon strategy is doomed!" that ran on Forbes. While I respect the contributor that wrote it a great deal I can't help but wonder what data he is looking at when he wrote the piece. Sounding much like the Grinch before Christmas who was basing the article on his wife shopping habits like putting "her phone away to concentrate on the new dress or shoes she just found", he then extrapolates that to everyone who has a mobile device who shops. Despite data that shows customers overwhelmingly want offers that are time sensitive (64%), who are open to receiving location based and personalized notifications in store (89%) and who use mobile devices to check information and prices online while they shop (76%). The percentages I have quoted in other blogs I have written and are back up by studies quoted by eMarketer and IBM of all places.

Why your budget won't help. - Study after study is showing most marketers are holding true to traditional media as the main portion of their spend with mobile, and digital creeping up a little more each year. This is the main reason why the numbers still will not be much different than last year. The second reason is a utter lack of adoption of new technology by marketers at most companies. Large numbers of silos and top heavy marketing structures have made any type of agile changes and cooperation between channels or device groups (depending on how your marketing is handled) nearly impossible. A top down decision to shift budget is met with swift rebuttal and numbers that are likely meaningless when it comes to attribution, conversions and ROI. Add to that a lack of a customer centric approach on how to reach the customer and engage them and you have a business as usual scenario.

Who will win this year. - Early adopters who started in January adopting technology like beacons will have an advantage come the holidays. They likely will have the bugs worked out, have hopefully had run throughs to make sure the process is seamless for the customer, the customer is getting the right customized message, and more importantly the company is getting the right data to optimize and execute on as they go. Those who are late to adopt like Target who will have just rolled out in time for the holidays will be stress tested immediately by things like slow wifi, apps that freeze, notifications that are not personalized and more because they have not taken the time to test them in time to make the needed adjustments. Not because people are putting their phones in their pockets and ignoring them or because they delete the app after one use.  If this were the case places like CVS, Sears and more would not be planning to continue to roll beacons and other technology out on a wider basis in the rest of their stores.

The Nay sayers and your bottom line. - Your bottom line is depending on you ignoring the usual suspects with the "here's why it won't work" excuses. They are the ones like the article claiming "Beacons are stealing information from your phones without your consent" that appear every day in popular publications. They come with a deck low on numbers and large on "customer behavior" they believe will affect adoption. Though typically they can site only a few examples of where they got their insight. They are also low on understanding of the benefits of the technology or how it really works as well. They warn the little guy "it'll be years before this can be scaled, so don't bother researching it too much. it will be a waste of your time." While your competitor is looking at ROI numbers that even they can't believe, and wondering whether had not adopted sooner.

The bottom line. - As hard as it may be to take, that newspaper ad you ran is in the bottom of someones bird cage or in the trash in a hotel room, the TV ad is playing while someone went to the restroom, fast forwarded past it or is getting a sandwich, your radio ad is being talked over while they drive and it is likely turned down so as not to interfere with their hands free bluetooth system. Oh and about them turning off the Bluetooth because it drains the battery.......really? With as many cars, headphones and other peripherals that use bluetooth on the market and selling well, you really count that as an excuse for why you message didn't get through? Put down you physical copy of whatever magazine your getting your research from and look it up. People are mobile, they are using their phones for everything when it comes to shopping and if they don't buy it in store they are going home to get it from somewhere else delivered so they don't have to deal with your slow wifi, blanket notifications and the crowds. Bah Humbug.

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Thoughts? Feedback? Feel free to engage each other here and keep this an open forum. Comment here so we can keep the conversation going. If you enjoyed this article please see my others at https://www.dhirubhai.net/today/post/articles/650596?trk=mp-reader-h

Need help? - Bryan Gissiner has been in Digital Advertising for over 20 years in everything from retail to Founding his own tier two ad network. Currently, he helps companies utilize the right mix of current advanced technologies and marketing to outperform all of the other available alternative solutions in their target markets. He is a regular contributor on LinkedIn, with a large following of other experts from a number of different areas.

Bryan Gissiner has worked on both the publisher and advertiser side helping them to find ways to save budget and increase return on those budgets, often making them 2-3x more successful.

Connect with me! - , please go to www.dhirubhai.net/in/bryangiss, @bryangiss on twitter or contact directly [email protected] and send me an invite with specific requests, to discuss how he can bring his experience to add value to your company and help it continue to grow revenue and ROI.