Mobile technology is one of the most influential advancements in history. The innovations brought about by mobile development allowed manufacturers to find ways to make these devices faster and multi-functional without compromising portability and ease-of-use. In fact, these are the reasons consumers have slowly become dependent on their mobile devices.
Holding a smartphone allows you to do almost everything you need to do throughout the day – calling, sending text messages, browsing the Internet, taking photos, computing big numbers, playing mobile games, watching videos, organising your schedule, setting up an alarm, and even using the flashlight. Whew. That’s a lot for such a small device. No wonder the mobile phone has become an extension of the human body. Once you begin to use one, it’ll be very difficult not to have it by your side.
Today’s Marketing Landscape is Perfect for Mobile
A study a few years ago found that 66% of all the respondents cannot go through their day without their mobile phones. This means a marketing campaign that focuses on mobile phone users will almost certainly hit its mark. Why? Because everyone brings their phone wherever they’re going. It does not matter if it’s at work, in school, to the mall, inside the vehicle, or even in the bathroom – as long as they have time to spare, they’ll use it to browse the Internet, check on their social media newsfeed, or just tinker around.
In addition, recent advancements have also allowed mobile phone users to make purchases through their smartphones. All they need is a working Internet connection, a credit or debit card, a bank account, or e-wallet to connect with their mobile phones, and they’re ready to shop. Statistics show that 79% of all smartphone users have made an online purchase using their devices in the past six months. Moreover, 40% of all Black Friday shopping last year saw buyers using their mobile devices.
So, make sure to jump aboard the mobile train simply because that’s likely where your market is right now. In a mobile-centric campaign, you don’t need to worry about whether your audience notices your billboard or not, or whether they read your ad placement right.
If you can work out an impressive mobile marketing strategy, you can be sure that your target market gets the message whenever and wherever they are.
What is Mobile Marketing?
Mobile marketing is a type of digital marketing specifically designed to reach users on their mobile devices, which include smartphones and tablets. This multi-channel strategy can use email, SMS, apps, and even social media to get the message across, promote products and services, and ultimately lead prospects to become long-term customers.
The idea in mobile marketing is to make the experience as convenient as possible for the target market. Take note that any inconvenience and issue they encounter within your website or online shop may lead them to a competitor.
There are various metrics you can use to evaluate whether your mobile marketing strategy is working:
- Interaction Rate – This metric will allow you to take note of the different actions that your customers take while viewing your campaign. Interactions can pertain to the number of swipes, touches, video shares, and other user behaviour against the total number of users that saw your campaign. Your interaction rate will show whether your strategy is doing its job in piquing your target market’s interest.
- Retention Rate – The goal of this metric is to find out how many customers use your service or purchase your product more than once within a given time period. Your retention rate will help you identify and understand which factors influence your customers’ decision to stay loyal to your brand. Then, you can find ways to utilise the same strategy more or improve it to gain even more returning customers.
- Social Metrics – Social metrics will show you whether your mobile marketing campaign is gaining popularity in social media channels. One way to do this is by using social media analytics. Through these tools, you can identify which of your posts are shared, liked, and followed on social media channels.
Mobile Marketing Dictionary
Now you’re aware why mobile marketing makes sense and how you can evaluate your mobile campaign. The next step is to familiarise yourself with the different terms and concepts that will help you with your strategy.
- In-app Mobile Marketing – Also called app-based marketing, this type of mobile marketing technique takes place inside an app developed by a third-party company and published in a venue such as the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. Its goal is to reach the target audience as they are interacting with the app while making sure not to become an inconvenience for the user. This is perhaps the most cost-effective type of mobile marketing technique due to low costs for placing ads.
Mobile games are perfect venues for ad placements especially when developers provide incentives and rewards for viewing the entire ad.
- SMS Mobile Marketing – Considered as one of the oldest forms of mobile marketing strategies, this requires you to have a list of numbers of the people you want to reach. You can use these SMS marketing tactics to inform your target market about upcoming promos, events, etc. Some even have links that would open a promo or product page that the recipient may be interested in.
- Push Notifications – These are notifications that pop up from apps that are not currently open. Usually, these notifications alert users regarding a new update, an upcoming promo or event, or a newly posted article. Using push notifications is a great way to keep your target market updated with the latest news wherever they are and compel them to open your app or take the desired buyer action.
- QR Codes – QR codes are matrix barcodes that can be scanned by smartphone cameras. These codes usually link to a website that will automatically open in the smartphone, or a promo that is offered by the business that created the code. The goal in using QR codes is to combine physical and digital marketing techniques to entice to make a purchase or browse your content.
- Mobile Search Ads – This particular group of ads is used for mobile searches. Usually, when a user looks for a local business, existing phone numbers will be included in the search results, allowing for a seamless transition from searching online to calling the company. The key to making this work is to make sure that displayed phone numbers are optimised and always kept updated.
- App Store Optimisation – Also called ASO, this is necessary for businesses that plan on releasing their own apps to the market, whether it’s in the Android or iOS platform, or both. In doing so, make sure that the app page is optimised enough so that it will easily come up in app search results for the relevant categories or keywords. The app page often has short descriptions, keywords, relevant images, and a promotional video to top it off.
- Customer Relationship Management – Also known as CRM, this is a mobile marketing campaign to ensure the continuous relationship between the business and its consumers. It can ask for suggestions and comments from time to time just to make sure customers are still interested in the business’ products or services.
Mobile Marketing Strategies
Becoming aware of technical terms is one thing, but incorporating them into your mobile marketing campaign is an entirely different story. There are various ways on how to use mobile marketing to strengthen your campaign.
- Multi-touch – In order to stay competitive in the mobile marketing industry, ensure that your web pages support multi-touch features. That includes zooming, as well as scrolling up and down. In addition, your web pages should not only load properly, but quickly, and the ideal load time is under three seconds.
- User experience – Out of all the businesses that offer the same merchandise as yours, what do you think makes your business stand out? What new information can you offer to your target market that they don’t know yet? Chances are, there is very little to none, because of the vast information already available for them through the Internet. However, if you provide a personalised experience to your visitors and audience, you’re bound to make a lasting impression.
- Utilise multimedia – Not everyone has the time to check all the content in your site. That’s why you shouldn’t settle for only written content in your mobile web pages. There are various types of media that you can use to get your message across. Some of these include infographics, podcasts, and videos. Use colorful but on-brand visuals to keep people interested. Employing various multimedia tools allows you to capture a wider audience.
- Explore distribution strategies – Decide on which type of distribution strategy you are willing to publish your content. Social media is a popular option nowadays, but blogs are still relevant. You can also combine paid and free listings to increase the visibility of your mobile marketing campaign.
- Email marketing for mobile – Email marketing has been present for decades now, but unfortunately, some companies are not convinced that it can still bring in qualified leads. Believe it or not, email marketing can also be included in your mobile marketing strategy. Just make sure that your emails are optimised in such a way that they are easy to read even from a tiny smartphone.
Mobile Marketing Rules
As you begin your journey in mobile marketing, there are also a few guidelines and tips that can spell the difference between a successful and a failed campaign. Remember that like other forms of advertising, mobile marketing is also constantly changing so you have to be prepared to embrace new trends.
- Think about your audience – Whatever it is you plan to include for your B2B mobile marketing campaign, don’t forget that it is not all about you, your business or your merchandise. Prospective customers aren’t interested in what you’re selling unless you put them in a position to think that they need them. Tailor your strategies in such a way that they tug at your audience’s emotions, and argue with their minds.
- Keep it short – In addition to thinking about your audience, you must also make your campaign as concise as possible. No one wants to be bombarded with too much information. Introduce an idea and develop it until your prospective customer has fully grasped what you’re talking about to guide them towards your desired buyer behavior – making a purchase.
- Optimise, optimise, optimise – It’s already been said – optimise your websites for the smallest smartphone to the largest tablet. More people are browsing the Internet through their mobile devices, so make sure they don’t encounter any problems while doing so. Remember, it only takes a few seconds of delay for a returning customer to move on and look for another website.
- Evaluate results – Never forget to evaluate your techniques and identify where you can improve. Is your mobile marketing campaign actually working? How do you know it works? What can you do to improve it? What changes are needed to take out the negatives? These are just a few of the questions you should ask during assessment.
- Adopt new strategies – Don’t be afraid to pick up new techniques along the way. As the mobile marketing world changes, you should not get stuck just because you thought your previous techniques are already working well.
- Spend enough time to produce quality content – No matter how much mobile marketing has taken over promotional strategies nowadays, content remains king. Producing high quality, helpful, and unique content should still be among your top concerns if you want your mobile campaign to flourish.
- Marketing vs. Advertising – You have to know the difference between these two related terms. Advertising is a one-way message from the company to a target audience. Its main goal is primarily to promote and inform them. On the other hand, marketing is more than just a single message. It is a two-way communication between the business and its target audience, finding ways on how to work with one another in the long run.
- Choose the right distribution channels – There are several ways to launch your mobile marketing campaign. However, you have to know which ones would surely count. For instance, if your company is promoting a brand-new model of shoes, then using social media channels would be a great way to start. Moreover, placing ad banners on sports websites can prove to be effective as well because of the type of readers that usually visit such sites.
- Genuinely care for your loyal customers – Many businesses are not interested in providing holistic guidance and assistance to their customers. As a result, their promos, campaigns and new offerings do not improve the business-client relationship. Again, this should not be the case because eventually, these clients will start looking for greener pastures.
- Encourage customers to talk – Nowadays, enjoying a loyal customer base is not enough. Don’t be too complacent even if you’ve established brand following. Why? Because there is a huge potential for this small group to expand into a much larger market. However, it will take effort on both ends to make it work. As the product or service provider, you need to encourage your regular customers to provide feedback and share their experience with your business to their family and friends.
Match Your Mobile Marketing Strategies
Mobile marketing is certainly one of the most effective ways to promote your business in this day and age. If you are planning to incorporate mobile marketing strategies to your current campaign, working with a reputable firm will help you reach your goals. If you look hard enough, you’ll discover partners that can provide the mobile marketing services that’s tailored to your business needs and objectives.
The first thing you’ll have to check is the company’s track record. Were they successful while working with other companies in the past? What do their previous clients say about them?
Next, you need to check the business’ relevant experience in the industry. Remember that experience is as important as expertise, especially in today’s brutally competitive market.
Finally, you should compare its rates with other companies. You don’t want to spend a fortune for a mobile marketing campaign when you can get the same quality of work with another marketing agency. It would be best to ask around and do your research until you find the digital marketers that can best handle your mobile marketing campaign.
As mobile marketing continues to flourish, expect more ways to utilise mobile devices for marketing. Be sure to stay updated with mobile trends and technologies as the landscape is continuously and constantly evolving.
