Smart marketing is about the 3Cs

Serial changes in consumer behaviour are making traditional advertising campaigns less effective and less influential. A smarter marketing principle needs to be applied in the mobile age, namely the 3Cs: context, content and channel. Only by mastering these three core points can marketers win recognition from consumers.

Interesting and compelling content that is worth reading is definitely necessary. It must be presented in a proper context where people are familiar with one another. And it must be available on mobile channels.

In my view, marketing methods, like an image of a pretty girl holding a Coke can in a Coca-Cola display advertisement, are simplistic and ineffective.

Content marketing has evolved to become an absolute must, especially in the age of mobile internet and social media. The most noticeable problem from influential social-media platforms like Weibo is the absence of the brand’s voice. At the same time, apps on numerous open platforms developed by third parties enhance consumers’ abilities to gather information. So content marketing will bring changes to decision-making processes. 

Mobile media also requires brand owners to think from the user’s perspective. They need to upgrade their marketing messages to be service-oriented and upgrade the pace of those messages to be real-time.

The interference of various real-time distractions makes consumer behaviour non-linear, so the traditional AIDA (attention, interest, desire, and conviction) law is now broken. Marketers must know how to determine users’ needs at any given time and tie those needs to their products.

I believe that the mobile internet is exerting a huge influence on business structure, marketing methodology and evaluation systems, so each penny invested in the 3C principle will become increasingly worth it.