Breaking the Marketing Mold: Barbara Casey Of Mobile High 5 On 5 Innovative & Non Traditional Marketing Strategies That Can Engage Audiences Like Never Before
An Interview With Chad Silverstein
Text clubs that incorporate a loyalty program. If integration is possible, integrate to take advantage of automation
Traditional marketing methods are no longer sufficient in today’s dynamic and fast-evolving market. To truly engage and captivate audiences, businesses need to think outside the box and adopt innovative and non-traditional marketing strategies. What are these strategies, and how can they transform audience engagement? I had the pleasure of interviewing Barbara Casey, CEO, Mobile High 5.
Ms. Casey founded Mobile High 5 in 2018 with the intention of disrupting the types of technology available to small businesses. To really make an impact on revenue, sophisticated tech solutions are critical, yet few small businesses have bandwidth to deploy such solutions. Ms. Casey’s 30+ years in customer engagement marketing combined with her company’s robust full service mobile marketing solutions bring much-needed expertise to serve small businesses.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! To start, could you share when and how you got started in marketing?
My roots are in direct marketing. I got my start working for the agency that has become the largest independently owned direct marketing agency in the world, Digitas. Over the years, the tools have changed but the foundation remains the same. Today one-to-one marketing is now mobile marketing. Direct marketing has always put data at its center as does mobile marketing today, which is what I find so interesting.
What has been the biggest shift in the marketing industry and can you give us an example of how it impacted you?
Oh wow. Marketing has gone through a tectonic change since I first graduated college. Coming from the agency side of the business, I have always had a client-focused attitude. What has changed is that much of what used to cost thousands of dollars to implement now costs nothing to maybe hundreds. What hasn’t changed is the importance of strategy, creative excellence and remarkable execution.
Can you explain why it’s essential for businesses to break away from traditional marketing and embrace new strategies?
It’s important to always stay ahead of the pack. If everyone is on social media, try to look for the white space where no one is. Be there first.
Could you share and briefly explain the first major change you made to break the trend of traditional marketing that was not so common?
When I first started my company, texting as a communication tactic was not as common as it is today. Today, nearly all the big brands have embraced texting. So now, it’s all noise again.
Gaining a subscriber is so valuable that it’s critical to keep them because the power is in the handset, meaning customers can unsubscribe as easily as replying STOP to any message. Most people only subscribe to about 8 businesses, so how do you ensure you are one of those?
Strategy. Understanding the communication channel’s nuances. Working with an expert can make all the difference. Because it is now so easy to hop onto a platform and start texting, businesses are screwing up for the opportunity to connect directly with their customers, by not being strategic with their programs. They are over texting, texting the wrong types of messages at the wrong time and even worse, not understanding why people sign up for these programs in the first place. They don’t understand that texting is not email 2.0. Don’t email the same message you are texting or you’ll be sabotaging your own program. Email and text programs can work super well together if they are done well.
What specific results did you see after implementing this change?
Once we realized that a loyalty program was at the center of all our most successful clients’ programs, we began to integrate those programs into POS systems and into ecommerce so that all customers, no matter where or how they shop can benefit.
How do you ensure that these new marketing strategies resonate with your target audience?
By watching my client’s analytics like a hawk. If I see high opt-outs I reassess what I’m doing. If I see a rapid response to my message, that tells me I am doing it right. I look at click through rates, I look at who is writing reviews. In short, these are not set-and-forget programs. They need care and feeding which is why I always include full- service management no matter the size of the business because I understand the constraints my clients have in terms of staffing, and I am very vested in my client’s success.
Can you share an example of something you tried that didn’t deliver expected results or ended up ended up becoming a financial burden, and what you learned from that experience?
Yes, when the carriers began to signal they were no longer supporting shared short codes and that everyone needed to move to dedicated numbers, we initially converted several accounts to a 10DLC because we thought having a recognizable local number appear when a text came through would be preferable to a unrecognized toll free number. That turned out to be a mistake as we have many more issues with the aggregators and carriers with 10DLCs than we do with 800 numbers. So, after making that change, we had to undo that and bring everyone over to toll free numbers. We mitigated our concern about customers not recognizing a phone number by integrating a V-card into our program which encourages customers to download a branded contact card for each texting client.
Great. Now, let’s dive into the heart of our interview. Could you list “5 Innovative & Non Traditional Marketing Strategies That Can Engage Audiences Like Never Before”?
1. Text clubs that incorporate a loyalty program. If integration is possible, integrate to take advantage of automation
2. Community text programs that tie multiple businesses together to jointly promoted a business district
3. Use texting to learn about your customers by conducting a poll. Thinking of adding hours or a product extension? Ask customers to reply by text and you’ll know your answer in a few hours.
4. Create a text-to-win program to help build your list
5. Use texting for fundraising during an in-person event. People text their pledge in and it shows on a large screen that uses a text-to-screen functionality. As people text their pledge in they get a bounce back message with a link to complete their donation. Throughout the evening those pledges are shown on the big screen, which encourages others to donate. As pledges come in the thermometer shown gets filled on the screen.
What challenges might companies face when transitioning away from traditional marketing strategies, and how can they overcome them?
When it comes to mobile marketing, it’s all about list building. I caution clients to understand that their email list wasn’t built overnight, and neither will their mobile subscriber club. Patience, yoda, patience. Once that list is built, it is worth gold. Most people have multiple email addresses but people generally only have one personal cell phone so if they share that with you, it can be a long term relationship….if you do it right.
How do you measure the success and ROI of these new marketing strategies?
See answer above: By watching my client’s analytics like a hawk. If I see high opt-outs I reassess what I’m doing. If I see a rapid response to my message, that tells me I am doing it right. I look at click through rates, I look at who is writing reviews. In short, these are not set and forget programs. They need care and feeding which is why I always include full service management no matter the size of the business because I understand the constraints my clients have in terms of staffing and I am very vested in my client’s success. ROI is measured by adding up all the extra revenue you have realized after starting the program minus the cost of the program.
Looking forward, how do you see the role of innovative marketing evolving in the next 5–10 years?
I think texting will continue to evolve and hopefully Rich media will start to be adopted by all carriers as that allows businesses to send truly branded messaging at a reasonable cost.
What advice would you give to business leaders who are hesitant to move away from traditional marketing methods?
If you keep doing the same thing, you can expect the same results. You must try new things to move your business forward.
Can you share any upcoming initiatives or plans you have for further innovating your marketing strategies?
We continue to work on new direct integrations with ecommerce platforms. Currently we can integrate directly to Shopify and next up is Woo Commerce. Of course, many integrations can happen utilizing zapier already but our goal is to simplify that and connect directly. We are also about to release a new way to collect online reviews using a tap-to-review technology that is very exciting.
How can our readers follow your work and learn more about your approaches to modern marketing?
https://mobilehigh5.com/blog or on instagram @getmobilehigh5 or linkedin at https://linkedin.com/in/barbaracasey
This was great. Thank you so much for the time you spent sharing with us.
About the Interviewer: Chad Silverstein, a seasoned entrepreneur with over two decades of experience as the Founder and CEO of multiple companies. He launched Choice Recovery, Inc., a healthcare collection agency, while going to The Ohio State University, His team earned national recognition, twice being ranked as the #1 business to work for in Central Ohio. In 2018, Chad launched [re]start, a career development platform connecting thousands of individuals in collections with meaningful employment opportunities, He sold Choice Recovery on his 25th anniversary and in 2023, sold the majority interest in [re]start so he can focus his transition to Built to Lead as an Executive Leadership Coach. Learn more at www.chadsilverstein.com
Breaking the Marketing Mold: Barbara Casey Of Mobile High 5 On 5 Innovative & Non Traditional… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.