Expert: How to better leverage content via mobile

Once advertising and media strategists believed that smaller device equaled smaller content. If a 30 second spot was created for the Super Bowl, agencies would edit the creative asset down to a 15 second spot intended for mobile. That has changed, but some still struggle with the content aspect of mobile marketing.
by Kristina Knight


Kristina: Has the rise of mobile video created new forms of branded content?
John Sangiovanni, Co-Founder and Vice President, Product Design, Zumobi: As branded content becomes a core element of a given campaign strategy, brands are now creating highly compelling long-form content intended to educate and/or entertain a user – not just communicate a value proposition or sell a product. Zumobi has found that content-centric mobile experiences perform incredibly well with users spending as much as 6 minutes in a mobile content marketing hub. In the moments of downtime through the course of a user’s day – waiting for an appointment, standing at the bus stop, etc. – users will consume longer-form content on their phone. As further validation of this insight, fully 40% of YouTube viewership is done from a mobile device.

Kristina: How can brands leverage mobile in new and novel ways to communicate with the consumer?

John: Brands must strive to reinvent themselves from being builders and buyers of advertising, and foster a culture of an “Always-On Newsroom” in support of the products that they represent. The creation and curation of excellent content is no longer isolated to just the social media and content marketing teams. Great, engaging content is the new face of marketing.

Another step is for brands to look beyond the utility-focused functions of their own branded apps, and think about these as owned media channels… often with significant audience. Many airline and consumer banking apps have larger audiences than mainstream news outlets. However, strangely enough, these apps are devoid of compelling consumer content. Once a customer opts-in as a user of a brand’s app, the marketer should start to think of their decision as the primary conduit for communication with their audience.

Consumers no longer want a quarterly wealth management brochure printed, mailed, and delivered to their curbside mailbox. They expect this content to be curated, tailored, personalized, and available to them at all times, directly from their superphone or phablet. A brand’s app is the ideal channel for customer communication, yet almost no brands are thinking of their app in this way. Zumobi believes so firmly in branded apps as a channel for customer communication that we’ve reimagined our ZBi “Content Hub” SDK to be focused on the delivery of secure, targeted branded content – accessible from within the brand’s own high-profile app.