How to Build an All-Star Mobile Force

Mobile Marketing

It should go without saying: whether you run a mom-and-pop business or lead the digital team at a Fortune 500 company, mobile marketing should map to your business goals. Almost everything has changed in this wireless world, but at the end of the day we’re all still looking to sell more stuff. It’s just the how that is evolving.

The mobile channel has become more important than ever to marketers. The average mobile user checks his or her device more than 200 times a day. More web page views happen on devices than on desktops or laptops. So, how do you get started in the mobile space?

Where to Start

For one, regularly review best practices and case studies. If a week goes by and you haven’t tapped into the industry news, and you haven’t checked in with key influencers to keep up with what has happened in the last week, you’ll quickly fall behind. Also, don’t let new mobile technology (or any technology for that matter!) get ahead of smart marketing. Staying abreast of what’s new is a good thing, but there’s danger in that as well. Don’t get distracted by the bright lights. There are a lot of cool things out there you could do in the mobile realm, like augmented reality that brings added dimension and excitement, but they aren’t necessarily ready for prime-time because of a lack of end-user awareness and good marketing execution. They are technologies to keep an eye on, but necessarily implement.

But first things first—without the right team, even your strongest practices will be hard to implement. It’s important to bring the right group of people together to work on your mobile initiatives. Here are six things to look for when assembling your all-star mobile force:

How to Build (and Keep) Your Mobile Force

1. Look for a team player
I’m a huge believer in integrated marketing efforts, but when it comes to building your team with it, I have my doubts. In theory, the way this integrated approach works is very simple. You identify the best SEO person, the best mobile person, and so on. You say, “OK, you’re on my team. Now here’s the business challenge we need to solve. Go.” This sounds great on paper—everyone throws down his or her unique wisdom from the vantage point of expertise, and you walk out of the room having done what’s best in every channel.

In reality, I’ve only seen that work twice throughout my career.

You need to bring together people who are team players rather than people who are solely experts in a particular area or channel. Instead of just identifying a skill set, map out the right set of personality traits to carry out your initiative. Building a strong team means, first and foremost, finding people who enjoy learning, and who work and play well with others.

2. Look for adaptability
Populate your team with people who are able to evolve with the times. One of the most exciting and valuable traits your team should have is the ability to forge a future and roll with it.

You don’t want somebody who is singularly focused and only comfortable doing one thing. If someone is looking for a predictable job, digital and mobile probably aren’t for them. The reason we’re in this business is because we don’t want those jobs. We want to be pioneers who shape the future rather than live in the past.

3. Recruit someone with passion
Build a team that’s passionate about learning and growing, and creating opportunities to do something different and exciting that drives business results. The go-getters are often the people that won’t stop until the job is done. You’ll admire their drive to constantly better themselves and that drive will bring your team closer to hitting your target.

4. Understand the strengths and gaps
Determine your business needs—start with understanding the customer. Through mobile and by charting customer journeys, we actually have an opportunity to better understand the customer at every touchpoint. We have the ability to follow their digital activity throughout the day, to glean customer insights, and therefore become more relevant and more personalized. Ask yourself, “What do you do right to target your customers and what could you improve on?”

5. Set appropriate goals
Measure your team’s performance by your company’s goals. Eliminating distinct profit centers from success measurement is a huge key because everyone starts working toward the same goal. If your pay-per-click (PPC) lead is measured solely by the profits of the PPC campaigns she manages, she’s unlikely to pitch in her expertise to the SEO department because she’s busy somewhere else focused on her own numbers. If she has a distinct siloed motivation that’s not company centric, she’ll most likely have tunnel vision that’s focused solely on PPC.

It’s also important to measure your team by quality and not necessarily quantity. Keeping the team focused on quality output means providing ongoing education, and an ongoing understanding of roles and their interdependence. Every team member should be at least conversant in all the other functions within the digital mix, so when the team’s working together, they know what their collective resources can accomplish. Help them understand the full picture.

6. Don’t Focus on the Labels
Forget about mobile, PPC, and SEO. Internally, Google has already done away with the concept of “mobile” or “PPC” or “SEO” as distinct silos, skill sets, or tools. It’s no longer a channel centric world—rather you need to have a dialog with your customer in a way that works for them. Google’s customers (and probably your customers) are everywhere and don’t make a distinction when they are using a mobile device, a desktop, or a tablet.

In summary, the window for getting out front is, at best, getting smaller every day. Take action today and start by building a strong foundation for your mobile marketing strategy–your team.

Have you already formed an all-star mobile force are you in the midst of doing so? What other things do you look for? Share with us in the comments below.

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