By Jona Jone, BreezyHub.com
It cannot be stressed enough: mobile marketing is and will continue to be a necessity for businesses of all sizes. Aside from the fact that consumers are gearing toward mobile devices over computers, the mere volume of the statistics should be more than enough for any company. The Pew Research Center states that 57 percent of Americans use smartphones while 42 percent own tablets. Moreover, the Forrester Research pointed out that smartphone users were more active on social media than PC users by almost 33 percent. Besides these figures, there are other scores of statistics all showing how promising the future of mobile marketing is - and how mobile marketing is here to stay.
Businesses - big or small - will tremendously benefit from this channel. Established companies need to constantly adapt to changing times to maintain competitiveness. On the other hand, small companies, with their smaller customer base, can definitely take advantage of various mobile marketing tools to connect with their customers. In any case, it is as clear as day how mobile marketing can be a total game changer for brands and businesses. Here are just some of the ways how.
With app usage by mobile device users last year jumping by 21 percent from the previous year, it is expected that 2015 and the following years will see steadily climbing rates. Now is the best time for companies to start creating apps not only to get added revenue in terms of in-app purchases, but also to incorporate their brand into their customers' mobile habits.
As countless mobile applications are created by competing brands, consumers have a wide variety to choose from. Once people download an app that fulfils their needs - or makes them realize their needs - the brand has successfully gained entry into the customers' mobile devices. It should be noted as well that a consumer who sees benefits from using an app will keep on coming back, increasing opportunities for purchases on the app. To achieve this, app marketers should make apps evolve with the customers' needs and demands.
Thousands of consumers are now turning to their mobile devices to look up products and services, read reviews, compare prices and so on. Moreover, they do it for a long, accumulated periods of time, with smartphones and tablets even becoming bedtime companions for most people. Companies will do best by delivering their content to the screens that today's consumers see the most on any given day.
While content is the king, every company needs to keep in mind the stiff competition coupled with people's short attention spans - if a website is not easy on the eyes, it is not very far for a customer to move on to another website. A mobile-friendly website design should not only be attractive, but it should also load fast and well on any device at any speed. This underscores the need to spearhead a multi-device campaign to ensure that a company's website reaches the target market well.
To make strategic marketing and advertising plans, a business will have to take into account where the consumers are. It only makes sense to follow the medium that they use if getting maximum exposure and mileage is one of the goals. With customers increasingly depending on their mobile devices to view and shop for products, it is no wonder then that mobile advertising has become abuzz. Aside from simply utilizing mobile ads, businesses can take it a notch higher by retargeting ads based on consumers' online habits including the websites accessed and products purchased. Using these data, digital marketing and advertising will not only help brands reach the right market, but also deliver the right content.
As raised in the SMX East in New York in October last year, search as done on mobile devices now accounts for 40 percent of customers' Internet usage. Moreover, mobile is now outdoing desktop - which used to be the breakthrough in the earlier years - by 10 times. With mobile and desktop being two very different vehicles, companies need to take heed to the changes in this sink-or-swim world of marketing or else, they'll run the risk of invisibility at the last pages of the search.
This is why a mobile-optimized website has become a necessity for any business that strives to outdo its competitors. Aside from design, approach, and speed of the website to load, marketers should carefully consider how to fare well in their content and mobile SEO. It is also imperative that marketers should know how to promote their mobile sites.
This should go on without saying that regardless of what marketing channels a brand employs, these should be integrated to the overall marketing scheme. Keeping the big picture in mind will not only prevent misaligned points, but will also reinforce what a brand wants to get across to its audience. This is especially true in the advent of mobile marketing. More so, this new channel can help businesses incorporate their online and offline marketing into a seamless combination.
The mobile-first strategy, which makes the best use of mobile's potential by putting premium on it, can do the trick. Aside from making a website mobile responsive on any mobile device, it makes a whole world of difference to hook customers with tools that maximize mobile. These include QR codes on print ads that give customers exclusive online content, apps that understand what customers' need, location-based marketing that provides personalized content, and mobile marketing that entices with great bargains.
Whatever plans are laid on the table, mobile marketers should test these before any unveiling in the public. It is important to factor in as much mobile devices, platforms, and speeds as possible just to make sure that a brand's mobile marketing channels work. Remember, a mobile user can come across a mobile site only once - and as they say, "First impressions last."
Jona Jone was a mortgage originator in Philadelphia, PA and is now a Business and Property Specialist. She writes about real estate investment, business, marketing and digital era.