Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to investigate the role and importance of using advanced digital marketing communication channels in retail and to analyze how adaptive the marketers are towards smartphone-based mobile technologies. This will be achieved through the synthesis of the findings in digital marketing literature, especially mobile marketing in addition to exploring the significance of adopting a multichannel or omnichannel marketing approach and investigating the role of social media and modern mobile devices such as smartphones in selecting the appropriate marketing strategy. The theoretical considerations from the literature are further conceptually developed to construct a provisional framework for empirical validation. The identified research gaps and inconsistencies are presented within the chapter as a result of systematic review of qualified literature sources.
TopIntroduction
This chapter starts with a discussion on the literature review methodology which is based on Paul and Barari (2022) systematic review methodology that explains why a systematic approach is preferred over a narrative approach. A review protocol is therefore defined, and the steps outlined in the protocol are carefully followed. The thematic analysis of literature focuses on the influence of digital technologies on the promotional mix specifically direct marketing. Then, digital marketing is discussed in more depth with special emphasis on the digital direct marketing channels particularly social media and mobile marketing. The specific objectives covered in this chapter are listed below:
- -
To understand the theory behind digital marketing communications
- -
To understand the impacts of digital technology on consumer behavior
- -
To identify the difference between permission-based and permission-less marketing communications
- -
To understand the theory behind mobile marketing communications via advanced media, i.e. smartphones
- -
To distinguish the difference among mobile marketing campaigns, the key performance indicators, and the mobile analytics
- -
To understand the concept of mobile retailing in more depth
Mobile marketing communication techniques provide the opportunity to revolutionize marketing by supporting digital marketers in dealing with their major challenges today: getting time, attention and trust from customers. For many years, marketers and advertisers have created communication strategies based on print, radio, TV, and Internet to broadcast their marketing messages. With rapid developments in technology, the effectiveness of these traditional media has significantly decreased and newer channels such as social media and mobile marketing have emerged. The purpose of this chapter is to investigate the role and importance of mobile marketing as a new communication channel for innovation management. This will be achieved by theoretically defining mobile marketing; exploring the effect of mobile on marketing innovation; investigating its role in integrating with social media; and proposing a conceptual framework towards its utilization in the wider context of innovation management in digital marketing communications.
TopBackground
The aim of the literature review is to investigate and analyze how adaptive the marketers are towards smartphone-based mobile technologies. This will be achieved through the synthesis of the findings in digital marketing literature, especially mobile marketing. To accomplish this aim, the author adopts a systematic approach for the literature review. Systematic reviews adhere to a strict scientific structure based on specific, well-organized and reproducible methods which make them reliable in demonstrating knowledge gaps in the specific research area and highlighting potential areas for future research. The use of systematic and explicit methods distinguishes the systematic literature reviews from the traditional narrative reviews and commentaries (Paul and Barari, 2022). On the other hand, the traditional narrative reviews are mainly descriptive and potentially biased because they do not specify the types of databases and methodological approaches used to conduct the review nor the literature inclusion/exclusion criteria for the retrieved articles during database search process. Due to the lack of strict methodological approaches, the retrieved data from a narrative literature review cannot be reproduced and the research questions cannot be answered specifically. The systematic reviews; however, are specifically structured, use transparent search approaches, and facilitate evaluation and reproduction of the retrieved data.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Virtual Reality (VR): Rapidly evolving technologies used in both physical and online retailing to boost the shopping experience of customers and to improve the selling environment. VR is an artificial environment that is created with software and presented to the user in such a way that the user believes and accepts it as a real environment. Virtual reality applications can be incorporated in education and training, video games, and retail.
QR Code Marketing: One of the simplest forms of mobile marketing to connect businesses with customers mainly because marketers can send a plethora of information stored online which are related specifically to a business. QR code marketing is a good place to start with mobile marketing as many companies still use print media for their marketing activities. It is of great significance to educate both the businesses and the customers to know what a QR code is, how to interact with it, and what the customer expectations are once it has been scanned.
Beacon Technology: A new form of marketing communication that mainly consists of advertisements sent through small data packets in one-way only which means the retailers can contact customers, but those receiving beacon messages on their smartphones or tablets/phablets cannot reply.
2D Barcodes: Mobile barcodes such as the commonly known Quick Response (QR) codes that are encoded with information. QR codes are small square graphical images that can be captured by the camera of a smartphone or tablet/phablet and then decoded by software on the phone known as QR code reader to execute specific tasks. These tasks could be links to any website address, geographical coordinates, scan-to-call, sending a text message or email, viewing an online video, downloadable coupons or special offers, or social networking activities such as “Like”, “Follow” or “Subscribe”.
Near-Field Communications (NFC): A set of standards for advanced mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets/phablets to initiate radio communication with each other in very close proximity to transfer data in a more secure way compared to similar technologies such as the Bluetooth. NFC-enabled mobile devices can also be used for contactless mobile payments instead of using cash, cheques or physical credit cards. Mobile payments encompass mobile wallets and mobile money transfer activities which are regulated transactions initiated through advanced mobile devices. NFC-based mobile payments are extremely secure, convenient, and the fastest payment method available to digital customers.
Location-Based Services (LBS): Digital systems that broadcast marketing messages to advanced mobile devices within specific vicinity by using Bluetooth, NFC or Wi-Fi. This form of marketing communication is known as proximity marketing via beacon technology that is mainly used to disseminate advertising and promotional content to nearby customers. Proximity marketing has the power to transform the customer experience to be more personalized and seamless, increase brand affinity and loyalty, enhance mobile app usage and boost sales, and enable the retailers to gain more detailed insight about their target customers.
Augmented Reality (AR): A live, direct, or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data. Augmented reality applications can be incorporated in education, digital games, medical apps, and retail. For example, IKEA (the world’s largest furniture retailer based in Sweden) developed an app that allows its products to be seen in augmented reality to give customers a better idea of how a specific product will fit into their home/office and to see how everything might look once assembled.