The Challenge: SoLoMo(Social, Local, Mobile) marketing presents marketers with a chance to reach consumers when they want, where they want, and in the format they prefer. But with so many different elements, can marketers coordinate them properly?
SoLoMo marketing represents a powerful opportunity in the field of social commerce, allowing marketers to better serve today's multi-channel, multi-experience consumer. But with so many moving parts, getting all three areas to coordinate seamlessly can be difficult, especially as mobile marketing technology continues to evolve.
Russ Whitman, chief strategy officer at Ratio Interactive, says "many brands have challenges across all [channels] individually and definitely as an integrated approach...The biggest challenge...is that it's difficult to determine best practices and how to measure results."
When combined, social, local, and mobile channels are incredibly effective at driving customer engagement. But in order to fully take advantage of ever-changing technology, marketers will have to dedicate themselves equally across all channels and ensure a solid multi-channel approach. Wilson Kerr, VP of business development and sales at Unbound Commerce says "retailers and brands should start by asking themselves what their landing zone looks like for the mobile consumers they engage via SoLoMo...there are any number of exciting ways to target by location, engage via social and use mobile to deliver messaging at the exact time and place when consumers are most likely to act."
L'Oreal is one of the companies that has had some success in gaining local ground with consumers, but like many other SoLoMo users, doesn't believe that it has perfected its multichannel marketing mix. Beauty products tend to be a very personal purchase, and are often selected based on recommendations from friends or stylists.
With this in mind, L'Oreal created a social and local platform that, according to L'Oreal VP Rachel Weiss, "allows [individual] salons to be marketers with the help and overview of L'Oreal...we want to do real-time marketing so when someone's...making a purchase decision we can provide an offer to tell them where [a salon] is."
Unfortunately, L'Oreal suffers from one of the greatest challenges for marketers trying to run integrated SoLoMo campaigns: determining how to transition from strong offerings in one or two channels to seamless integration of all three.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
1. Accommodate customers' existing shopping behavior.
The key to any good multichannel campaign is convenience, which means integrating your message into your customers' lives at the place, time, and manner that they prefer.
2. Simplify your messaging.
Again, simple, no-nonsense messaging makes it easier for consumers to make choices, which allows them to more easily traverse the purchase path without being overwhelmed by information.
3. Spread your efforts equally across all channels.
The strength of a SoLoMo approach depends on giving equal credence to each channel, and using the synergy of the three channels to deliver a highly concentrated level of engagement and convenience.
About Ernan Roman Direct Marketing Corp., (ERDM):
ERDM provides Voice of Customer-driven Customer Experience Marketing consulting services for companies such as IBM, MassMutual, QVC, NBC Universal, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, and Symantec Corp. They have conducted over 9000 hours of in-depth interviews with customers and prospects of these clients to gain an in-depth understanding of their expectations for a high value customer experience.
Ernan Roman, President, is recognized as an industry pioneer and was recently inducted into the Marketing Hall of Fame for creating three transformational methodologies: Integrated Direct Marketing, Opt-in Marketing, and Voice of Customer Relationship Research.
He was also named by Crain's B to B Magazine as one of the "100 most influential people in Business Marketing".
His latest book on marketing best practices is titled, "Voice of the Customer Marketing: A Proven 5-Step Process to Create Customers Who Care, Spend, and Stay." 
Ernan is also the author of the widely read blog, "Ernan's Insights on Marketing Best Practices", (www.erdm.com), and author of "Opt-in Marketing" and "Integrated Direct Marketing".
www.erdm.com
ernan@erdm.com