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Chuck Martin’s breakthrough book, The Third Screen; Marketing to Your Customers in a World Gone Mobile (Nicholas Brealey Publishing, Boston-London, 2011), defines the implications, strategies and tactics to survive and thrive in business in a world gone mobile. The book links the technological developments to the behavioral changes that go hand-in-hand and reveals the unexpected aspects of the coming changes in mobile, preparing marketers and businesspeople for what lies just around the corner. The world has gone mobile and it is about to change everything!
In the book, Martin highlights case studies of the mobile innovators, ranging from large to small brands, and the mobile platform providers of the future. He clarifies for marketers the role of m-Commerce, mobile video, SMS messaging, location-based marketing, advertising and media, and the new laws of inbound marketing.
A Conversation With Chuck Martin
Technological advances occur all the time. What distinguishes the smartphone as the game-changer among other developments?
There are two key factors here. One is the sheer magnitude of the reach of this revolution. It is global in nature, reaching every corner of the earth. There already are more than five billion cell phones in use globally and the migration to smartphones is clear. So installed base is the first issue. The other factor is behavioral, in that smartphone technology allows and causes people to act differently. The smartphone adds the dimensions of time and location to the traditional metrics of supply and demand. This dramatic change puts the in-motion consumer more in control of when, where and how they will act, becoming what we call the m-powered consumer.
What makes a “mobile innovator”?
The innovators — and there are many — are the companies that comprise the mobile industry, which is creating the mobile platforms and capabilities for businesses to better serve the m-powered consumer. These companies are everywhere; some have been around for several years and others are relatively new. But in many cases, they are well ahead of businesses that don‘t yet realize they need to get more involved in providing access to their products and services through the third screen. Their customers are ahead of some of these businesses and the mobile innovators are there to help them catch up.
How did you begin the research process for this project?
It started some time ago when we identified the new capabilities made available through smartphones and the potential for how people could adapt and use these features in the future.
We started by researching and speaking with leaders of companies in the mobile industry and then with the leading-edge businesses that ―get‖ mobile. They are creating and testing new ways to interact with their customers through the third screen and innovative mobile marketing.
How can younger/smaller companies use The Third Screen to catch up with more seasoned competitors?
Mobile innovation is coming in businesses of all sizes. In the book, we highlight the innovation across a wide range of markets. By seeing what others are doing, smaller companies can glean
how to adapt the mobile approaches of the mobile leaders for their own organizations. In many ways, smaller companies have an advantage since they can move faster without large infrastructures and modify mobile marketing as they test and learn, which we thoroughly describe in The Third Screen.
How does inbound marketing factor into this new mobile climate?
Mobile is inherently a pull as opposed to a push vehicle. This means that businesses will be challenged to reach mobile customers on the traditional timeframe of the business, as in the broadcast world. In traditional marketing, for example, a marketer could send out a message on their timeframe, such as by TV or radio commercials or print or online advertising. The customer would receive those messages when the marketers wanted to send them. In the mobile environment, the customer, on location and often in motion, reaches into desired companies at the moment that they want the information. It might be while they are shopping and want immediate product information or while they‘re waiting for a train or bus and have a few extra minutes – or even just seconds – and want specific information at that moment. The change for businesses is that they will have to adapt to this mobile pull, to be able to serve the mobile customer at precisely the moment the customer asks.
What would you highlight as the most important strategy to execute in the world of m-commerce?
The key is to determine what the customers of any given business are doing with their mobile phones and what they plan to do in the future. For example, if the primary mobile phones used
by the majority of customers of a business are iPhones, the approach would be different than if those customers were using phones running the Android operating system, BlackBerry, or even regular cell phones.
Do you predict there will be a fourth screen in the future?
While there are tablets and netbooks, nothing approaches the magnitude, scope and reach of the third screen.
How will this new climate affect the relationship between marketer and consumer?
Since the third screen is up close and highly personal, the relationship between marketer and consumer will be different. The marketer, once invited in, will have to be highly respectful of the relationship and provide constant value to the consumer, or they risk being instantly deleted from the conversation.
How has your personal business experience helped reveal the need for this new approach?
As a researcher, running the Mobile Future Institute, directing the efforts of the Center for Media
Research at MediaPost Communication, being in the midst of all things digital, and being at many digital marketing conferences, summits and mobile meetings, as well as regular meetings with various businesses, we have been living mobile‘ for some time. Many in the mobile industry see this revolution the same way and understand how big it is going to be. And because of my involvement in mobile, the need for information about how businesses should succeed in mobile became apparent.
What behavior changes define the “untethered consumer”?
The untethered consumer is freed from the constraints of awaiting a broadcast message or any form of traditional online communication from a company. These post-PC consumers are on the move, and are willing and able to use their always-on, mobile technology to interact with each other, and with providers of the products and services they seek.
Are there any marketing tactics that will remain essential and unchanging despite technological developments?
While marketing is still about a process to create and deliver value to customers, mobile allows it to be done more efficiently and in a more targeted and intimate manner. So while the overall mission is essentially the same, the manner in which businesses interact with mobile consumers, based on where they are and what they are doing at any given moment, will be forever hanged.
THE THIRD SCREEN
Marketing to Your Customers in a World Gone Mobile
By Chuck Martin
Nicholas Brealey Publishing
Pub Date: May 2011
ISBN: 978-1-85788-564-4
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
The Rise of the Untethered Consumer
Mobile Is Personal
The m-Powered Customer
Mobile Makes It Direct
The Customer as Mobile Platform
Mobile Drives Behavioral Change
Traveling with the Buyers
Global Mobile
Luxury Brands and Mobile
Chapter 2
Smartphones Rule
A Computer for Every Hand
The Birth of the Cell Phone
Enter the Smartphone: The Two-Phone Era
Just Another Thing in My Pocket (vs. The Main Thing in My Pocket)
Enter the iPhone Era
The Platforms
Old vs. New Phones
Old Phone Money
The Smarts of the Smartphone
Spreading the Word on Apps
The iPad: The Lure of the Vanity Buy
The Push Behind Smartphones
Chapter 3
Real Time Moves to All the Time
Information Resides in the Smartphone “Cloud”
Real-Time Bidding for Marketing Messages
Starting with Research
Dealing with Customers in Real Time
Making the Case for Mobile Internally
The Mobile Time-Shifting Conundrum
Mobile Phone Usage
Chapter 4
Customer Engagement in a World Gone Mobile
Mobile Business Goal Alignment
Follow Your Customers
Mobile Engagement
Find Solutions That Drive Engagement
Provide Value and a Call to Action
Hyperlocal Mobile
Test and Learn
Test, Learn, Evolve
Avoid the Bright, Shiny Object Syndrome
Chapter 5
There’s an App for That: The New Broadcasting
Mobile Content and Context as King
Watching TV and Reading on a Phone
Transforming the Book Experience
Constant Content
The Role of Video in Mobile: The Reinvention Paradigm
New Content for a New Medium
Age of the Mobile Video Platforms
Advertising on Mobile Video Platforms
Where to Spend on Mobile Marketing
Closed Mobile: There’s a Map for That
Mobile Computers
Using Apps Phones
Chapter 6
On Location, On Location, On Location: LBM
Marketing in Place
Brick and Mortar as Asset
In Motion Research
Keeping Up with Customers
Driving, Keeping, and Converting Customers
Brands and Geolocation
The Long Stretch of Location-Based Marketing
Chapter 7
The Finding: Search on Steroids
The New Mobile Search: The Finders
Finding It When Needed
Finding by Codes
The 2D Bar Code Platform
The Reality of Augmented Reality
More Efficiency with Finding
Chapter 8
Social Goes Mobile
Mobile as Social Platform
Location Awareness
Self-Aggregation
Hyperlocal Marketing
Marketing with Location-Based Services
The Race to Installed Base
Chapter 9
The Push–Pull of Mobile
The Pull of SMS Marketing
One-Time Event Mobile Marketing
The Lure of MMS Marketing
Mobile Results with MMS
The Pull of the Consumer
Strategy, Goals, and Flexibility
Chapter 10
The New Laws of (Inbound) Mobile Marketing
Mobile Innovation
Do Something
Mobile Verb Branding
Bumps Along the Way
It’s Not About the Phone, It’s About the Value
Testimonials
“Chuck Martin has more than all the facts. He has the soul of the idea. The Third Screen is thoughtful and valuable.”
— Chris Brogan, President, Human Business Works and co-author of Trust Agents
“The Third Screen describes a clear power shift where the customer is in charge—and what companies must do their best to reach them on their terms. Using detailed case studies, Chuck Martin shows readers how to develop a mobile marketing strategy that will really work. Don’t wait: Get copies for your team today.”
— Charlene Li, bestselling author of Groundswell and Open Leadership
“A fascinating and eye-opening view of the mobile landscape and what companies must do to survive there.”
— Josh Koppel, cofounder ScrollMotion, leading mobile platform developer
“Our mobile devices are indispensable digital co-pilots, which is why the third screen is fast becoming the most important screen. If you want to stay relevant to your customers as they go about their lives, apply the lessons from this book.”
—Don Tapscott, author /coauthor of more than 14 books, including the bestseller Wikinomics and his latest Macrowikinomics
“In today’s mobile environment, smartphones and tablets have become ubiquitous around the globe. In The Third Screen, Chuck Martin engages the reader with important details relating to how the untethered consumer, m-commerce, and the entire mobile revolution are changing the game for marketers and what they need to do to make sure their organizations survive and prosper in this ever-changing and evolving marketplace.”
— Kent Huffman, Chief Marketing Officer at BearCom Wireless and Co-Publisher of Social Media Marketing Magazine
“Mobile is the ultimate social device. And if big and small brands don’t understand how to engage their customers there, they risk extinction. The Third Screen is a must-have for any company looking to develop an effective mobile strategy, one that will drive customers to become brand champions.”
–Julie Roehm, Marketing Strategy Consultant
“Marketing is ever-changing and The Third Screen mirrors the future of marketing. If you are new to mobile, this book makes sure you get it right!”
— Jeffrey Hayzlett, bestselling author of The Mirror Test, CMO, Cowboy
“The Third Screen distills the opportunities mobile marketing presents to business leaders in an engaging and enjoyable book.”
— Jane McPherson, CMO, SpyderLynk, mobile start-up