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Marketing and advertising are constantly changing and if you are not looking ahead, you will most definitely be left behind.  And mobile marketing is no exception.  But exactly how do you look ahead and use new marketing trends and ideas that haven't surfaced yet?  Well, not to worry, because I'm going to show you exactly how to take your marketing mobile in 2016 by using time tested tactics while helping you to think outside of the box.

If you take what you know and pair it with a team who knows how to let their creative juices flow until they come up with new ways of marketing, you will definitely be ahead of the curve and your competition, because you will always be the one who provides your audience with something new.  Something that's familiar, yet has never been done before.  Believe me, your audience will appreciate that as they are sick and tired of reading the same old tired, rehashed information that seems to be all over the internet, on direct marketing pieces and every other type of marketing advert they receive.

OK, well that all sounds great doesn't it?  But exactly how do you get your team to do that, including how to take your current marketing mobile in 2016 and beyond?  Well, get your popcorn ready, because I am going to show exactly how to do just that.

Step One

Ask your entire team to do a little homework by requesting they take 24 hours prior to your brainstorming session to put together an inspiration file by gathering ideas, headlines, tag lines or other marketing concepts that grabbed their attention and putting them in their file.  You can suggest they go shopping, look at digital or print magazines, watch commercials, listen to the radio ads, browse through the emails they receive,etc. to compile their ideas.

Step Two

You will begin your brainstorming session by getting your team and their brains warmed up.  You can do that by starting your creative session with a few brain teasers.  Puzzles, questions, jokes or other thought-provoking concepts that are not related to your niche, but something that will be fun, relaxing and will get everyone in the right frame of mind to let their creative juices flow.

Step Three

Effective marketing is all about being unique and that means you and your team will need to come up with new and innovative ways to promote your brand.  Here are some ideas to help you do just that.

• Try some forced association.  You simply ask your team to look at your products or services in a different light.  Similar to using a play on words, word association or words that can mean different things.  TV commercials are masters at making light of their products and services to make you have to pay attention and think about the association.  And it's usually very funny and therefore very effective as humor is the ultimate marketing tool.
  
  
• Are there any new and unique ways to use your products and services?  Perhaps ways people might not have thought of.  You should encourage your team to take a product or service and picture themselves using them in different ways and see who can come up with the most unique ideas.  Then you can pick the best of the bunch and run with them.
  
  
• Ask your team to use all six senses.  Yes, I said six, because sometimes a gut instinct is the best one of all.  Ask them if they would envision how something could look, taste or smell, even if it's a spoof, because you might be able to build a campaign by making fun of something or simply making it something people can relate to.  And what's more relatable than something you can see, hear, taste or touch? Or perhaps a visual of your "gut instinct" talking to you or some other similar concept.  You see, it's really easy if you allow yourself to think inside and outside of the box at the same time.
  
  
• Look to other industries for ideas.  This is a great way to do something within your industry that has never been done before.
  
  
• Do the opposite of what you normally do.  Remember the old adage:  if you keep doing what you've always done, you will keep getting what you've always gotten.  Nothing could be more true.  So do the opposite and see what kind of results you get.  If you usually hold your meetings in the office, why not try a happy hour, the park or the beach or really anything different to try and spark a little creativity.
  
  

Step Four

Now that you've gotten the creative juices flowing and have come up with a mountain of great new ideas and concepts, it's time to pair them up with your traditional marketing efforts so you can take your marketing mobile through 2016 and beyond.  So let's go over a few ideas you can add to what you are already using.

Step Five

As you probably already know, you need to be creating an experience of some sort for your visitors.  Social media is an experience, an inclusive feeling is an experience, a common interest is an experience, saving money is an experience.  But how you create that experience is what either grabs and retains your customers attention, or not.  Why not try some of these concepts:

1.  Scanning is a great way to create an experience.  But the market has grown beyond simple QR codes, although QR codes still work beautifully.  So why not allow your customers to scan a standard bar code to open a personalized rewards program, a game or some other type of non-traditional shopping experience.

2.  Google Cardboard is another great outlet that will give your users a virtual reality experience that's unique and won't cost you an arm and a leg to implement.

3.  Make sure you have an app of your own.  Google is giving companies who have an app higher rankings as a large portion of Android searches are now showing up as app-indexed results.  This method is also great for deep-linking that will lead your customers to the exact page for what you have to offer, once they have entered their search term, rather than always taking them to your home page.

4.  There are plenty of effective mobile marketing techniques, but perhaps one of the most effective, if not the most effective, is by using marketing automation. Marketing automation will allow you to get increasingly personal while targeting and marketing with precision to each individual customer.  Marketing automation uses intelligent algorithms to send your personalized messages at the optimal time to interact with your particular users.  And this includes push notifications, sending your emails and in-app messages at peak engagement times.

5.  Other ideas to consider:  video ads on mobile devices, wearable technology marketing, using enhanced social media tools, making sure your business information is easily accessible to digital assistants such as Siri and Cortana.  You will also want to make sure you are making good use of Beacons.

The Bottom Line

Taking your marketing mobile in 2016 and beyond, doesn't have to be hard, but you do have to get creative while thinking inside the box, as well as outside the box.  Mixing your traditional marketing concepts so that your users feel some sort of recognition with new innovative ideas to get them excited and looking forward to receiving your messages and acting on them is a powerful combination and one that should not be ignored.

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