Mobile Marketing 3.0: How to Reach a Moving Target

Join Alicia Dietsch, vice president of AT&T business marketing communications, when she keynotes BMA’s next Marketing Innovators Luncheon Seminar on Thursday, May 5, at The Standard Club.

 

Dietsch will focus on emerging mobile applications, customer examples and lessons that AT&T has learned through its b-to-b mobile marketing campaigns.

 

“Mobile marketing creates value for your customer by providing more utility, user choice and interaction than traditional forms of advertising,” Dietsch said. “Successful marketers can take advantage of new capabilities like location-based services to reach the right customers at the right place and at the right time.”

 

While mobile marketing is still in its relative infancy compared with the broader interactive marketing industry, increasing adoption of smart phones and the development of standards for mobile marketing point to big growth in the future.

 

Forrester Research predicts that b-to-b mobile marketing spending will reach $106 million by 2014, which will be a fourfold increase from the $26 million spent in 2009. That’s still a small figure compared with the amount being spent on interactive marketing, but Dietsch contends that b-to-b marketers who don’t get involved in mobile now may get left behind.

 

Among the industry trends to watch today is mobile bar code services, and Dietsch will be able to speak from experience on the subject. Last year AT&T launched a program to test the use of 2D bar code scanners on AT&T mobile devices. It chose enterprise customers from key sectors, including consumer packaged goods, retail, hospitality and financial services, to participate in the program. AT&T also launched a b-to-b mobile campaign on Apple’s iAd platform to drive awareness of mobile bar codes and how companies can use them in marketing efforts.

 

Dietsch said location-based services are another upcoming area to watch. Location-based marketing efforts tap into the GPS technology present in today’s mobile phones to send messages keyed to where the user is at any given moment.

 

To register online, go here.

 

Alicia Dietsch is vice president of business marketing communications at AT&T. She has been part of AT&T’s sales and marketing team since 1991, serving in a number of highly visible, strategic roles. She’s demonstrated her interpersonal and organizational skills in complex business negotiations and has a long history of leadership, characterized by concrete performance, a keen analytical approach and imaginative thinking.

 

In 2004, Dietsch was selected by AT&T’s chief marketing officer to organize and lead a new team charged with creating and delivering high-impact channel activation programs. In this capacity, she supports more than 15,000 salespeople, driving more than $30 billion in annualized customer revenue.

 

Dietsch leads a wide array of customer programs extending from thought leadership to customized customer briefings to AT&T’s branded special events. Central to bringing these programs to market is an integrated communications program, leveraging marketing campaigns, events, email, newsletters, websites, intranet portals and other media-rich formats.

 

With the announcement of the merger of SBC and AT&T, Dietsch was asked to develop the communication plans that would launch “the new AT&T.” Working in partnership with teams at SBC, she was a key resource in the development of the new company’s unique value proposition, as well as the design of the associated collateral and marketing plans. In this role, she again managed a comprehensive effort to produce essential launch materials, which included websites, training and robust customer touch plans.

In 2003 Dietsch helped form a new sales and service advocacy team charged with improving efficiency and effectiveness. She developed new processes for product launches, improved the quantity and quality of sales collateral, and established a new sales support center providing real-time inquiry support for all business sales teams.

 

In 2000 she served as chief of staff for AT&T’s president of business sales, managing the business office and advocating for the needs of sales teams and AT&T customers throughout the company.

 

Earlier in her career, Dietsch worked in complex offer development for the financial services sector, helping drive more than $3 billion in annual revenue. She started her AT&T career as an account executive in White Plains, N.Y., selling voice and data networks to commercial customers such as Kraft General Foods and Philip Morris.

 

Dietsch holds a bachelor of science degree in marketing from Lehigh University and is a trustee of the New Jersey Theater Alliance. She and her husband live in Branchburg, N.J.