A Perfect Storm is Brewing: Mobile with a Purpose

Editor’s note: This is our first guest post, from Ivan Serrano, a business and marketing journalist living comfortably in the Bay Area of California.

The reality of modern marketing increasingly boils down to one concept—if your brand isn’t relevant on a mobile device, it probably isn’t relevant in the marketplace either.

Of course, the marketing challenge doesn’t end with computing platform. If your brand isn’t relevant and meaningful in the hearts and minds (and thumbs) of your consumers, it doesn’t matter what type of device customers are using to access your marketing messages.

The migration to mobile is creating its own forces for relevance and context, beyond features and benefits, which marketers must balance against other trends in the marketplace. One of these “perfect storms” is the rise of the purpose-driven aspect of branding. Mobile provides the perfect platform for two key attributes of this consumer-led movement: mobility and engagement.

Mobile Marketing Creates Powerful Engagement

Purpose without action is a hollow proposition. The great thing about mobile device users is that they are already in action mode—they are always on the go, always ready for engaging content and always willing to share what gets their attention in a positive way. It only makes sense for brands seeking engagement around a purpose to target mobile users. If they buy into your social initiatives, mobile users will engage more mobile users in the viral model mobile users already love.

The Consumer Prerogative

Consumers today are better informed than they have ever been. Consumers want the brands they do business with to do more than earn profits for shareholders, and they are willing to switch allegiance to achieve the personal satisfaction that comes with knowing the brands they are supporting are backing causes that are important to them. This is a virtuous circle that can become a vicious cycle if corporations don’t respond to consumer demand for mutually beneficial socially responsible behavior.

As consumer awareness continues to increase, corporate transparency and corporate social responsibility will become more the rule than the exception. The primary platform for consumer awareness and empowerment? That’s right, it’s a miniature computer outfitted with a camera that goes everywhere the consumer goes—smartphones and other mobile devices.

Setting the Curve

All it takes is a superficial review of the marketplace to discover the power of social purpose in establishing brands at the top of their competitive spaces. Whole Foods, Patagonia, and Ben & Jerry’s are all brands that were founded with purpose as part of their mission. They are all noted for the superiority of their products and are considered great places to work. And all of these brands demonstrate the real power of the purpose-driven paradigm in driving profits.

One of the fastest-growing startups in history, Uber, provides another example of adding double meaning to purpose-driven mobile marketing. Everything Uber does is mobile. While it has made recently made controversial missteps that have led many to question whether it takes corporate responsibility seriously, Uber’s successful Mothers Against Drunk Driving campaign during the July 4th weekend recognized the power of purpose to increase business and social impact.

Millennials Rule

The Millennial generation will move into its role as the dominant driving force in the workplace over the next decade. Companies that don’t get the Millennial message about profitable enterprise aligning with purposeful and meaningful engagement will be penalized—and good intentions won’t be enough (see Uber above—where the verdict is still out). They will have to be demonstrated through substantive actions. And communicated on the fly in content that is mobile-friendly and ready made for sharing—that’s how you will involve your customers in the story that they are helping you create.

Previous generations may have been more willing to suck it up and let soulless corporations have their way in exchange for wages with benefits, but today’s consumers are looking at it quite differently. People are looking for companies with soul. Brands create soul, and engender loyalty, through long-term commitment to profitable and measurable social impact. Talent, along with consumer purchasing, will migrate to companies that provide this critical benefit as part of their compensation packages and value proposition.

When it comes time to allocate your marketing budget, put your money on the perfect storm of purpose and mobile. That’s where the real action will be