#mobiledoneright

There are not many winners during an on-going pandemic, a time characterized by losses, fears and bad news. Still, some industries and their companies accomplish to reach their audience, even in the middle of a quarantine.

One product that is doing exceptionally well is puzzles, apparently the perfect pastime while being forced to remain in lockdown at home. For the end of march, game publisher Ravensburger reported an increase in puzzle sales by 370% in the US market, compared to last year.

Let us take a closer look at how Ravensburger, a company which is also selling board games, educational games and digital apps, is engaging with their audience via social media / mobile marketing:

Ravensburger retweets Community Content

Ravensburger promotes Community Content

Little side note: Ravensburger loves the 2pm time slot. ;)

#RavensburgerMoment

Ravensburger engages with  their Community

Ravensburger’s Instagram is built around Earned Media

In my book, this is marketing done right with an authentic feel-good atmosphere.

Day 5

This challenge made me think a lot about mobile marketing opportunities. I approached this experiment with the mindset of discovering what form of mobile marketing I am susceptible to, which may not necessarily reflect the large majority and hence should not cloud my decision making when choosing where and how to market companies who rely on my advice. Still, at the end of the day, I am also part of some company's target audience, which is absolutely the case when we speak about casual dining restaurants.

First, I was a little reluctant to explore this topic since this current pandemic absolutely changed my eating habits. "Take-out", "Curbside Pickup", "Contactless Delivery" are key terms which suddenly resonate with me; a "five star" rated restaurant has little value to me these days when the latest reviews point out safety concerns and ignored restrictions. This obviously altered the playing field within mere months.

Although I currently prioritize home cooking and take-out food turned into a rare event for my household, I still would not want to miss the chance to point out the importance of mobile marketing for any restaurant business. I simply do not visit a restaurant if it has bad or no reviews on Yelp / Google Maps. Why would I want to risk a possibly bad experience for my money? Why would I choose the place with mediocre reviews and alerts about cases of food poisoning, when across the street are three restaurant showered with positive feedback? Part of Yelp's business model is to allow restaurants to buy a sponsored number #1 slot in relevant search results. And I am certain it pays off for both parties. At least, as long as the restaurant is also good. Since any hungry app user is conditioned to scan any listing for one fact first and foremost: How many stars does it have? 3 or less; let's scroll on. 4 or more, let's click on it. Even when aware of this little filtering process, paid positioning on Yelp is mobile marketing done right. These listing are often enough still relevant to the search query, are catching attention as native advertising (sounds conflicting, but our minds skip obtrusive elements) and put your restaurant in the spotlight right next to the strongest competition.

What's left to say: Bon Appétit!