Top Benefits And Tips For Mobile Marketing
Some industries absolutely must use mobile marketing to survive, but using it well can be difficult. There is so much to learn both on the marketing side and the technical side. Read on to learn how you can easily and effectively integrate mobile marketing into your business plan.
Older cellphones cannot properly display the same sites as newer smartphones or tablets, so your links need to lead to different sites for different phones. If you use a flash player on your website, only provide the cellular link.
Do not send too many offers on mobile platforms. Stick to the essential ones. With this you know that your customers will not tire from your messages and look for to see all you have to offer.
It is important to have your own dedicated short code. The price tag is higher, but this will help to protect your brand. Doing this will also protect you legally.
Every successful mobile campaign should have a home base. Your mobile presence should be about driving people to the home base, or keeping in touch with people who already visit your home base. Do not ever base everything completely on a mobile marketing campaign.
Remember who you are talking to if you are going to make phone calls, they are people whose lives you are interrupting. Realize that is an issue and act accordingly.
Mobile Web
Check to verify that your mobile web site works on every popular mobile web browser in use. It’s important that your messages work no matter what type of phone your customer is using. It’s going to be a lot easier for you to use a simplified message, rather than trying to make a custom message work across all platforms. Mobile marketing and the KISS principle work well together.
Be sure to test mobile websites and ads on multiple mobile devices. Some mobile devices use special browsers, and others have limitations based on their screen size or resolution. Your website and content might look different on each device. Your mobile marketing campaign should be tested on all popular devices, to be sure that it looks right on each one.
Creating a mobile app with lots of helpful information for your target market is a great mobile marketing strategy. Any apps that give users helpful hints or useful information are wildly popular. You can use your app as a lead-generation tool for other products, or sell the app directly for profit.
Mobile Marketing
Understanding how mobile marketing works is very important if you want to use it to help your business reach as many people as possible. The points in this article have hopefully given you a better understanding of how mobile marketing can work for your business. Use the pointers presented here as a starting point.
Article Source: http://larne-business-marketing-advertising.co.uk/mobile-service/top-benefits-and-tips-for-mobile-marketing/
The State of Mobile Content Marketing [INFOGRAPHIC]
With all the technology that is now available, content is being consumed in many different ways and on many different devices. While desktops and tablets are big players in the game, mobile devices seem to have a big influence on click through rates and browsing. In 2013, mobile content marketing will generate a large return on investment if done properly.
We gathered research from our corporate blogging platform client, Compendium, and email marketing software client, ExactTarget, to show the impact of mobile marketing over the past couple of years and what is yet to come. When all the data was put together, there were some startling findings:
- Open rates on mobile devices have increased by 300% from October 2010 to October 2012.
- Mobile email creates twice as many conversions as social activities or search.
- Mobile may not mean “on the go.” 51% of US mobile users browse, search, and purchase on mobile devices at home.
- Web visits on a mobile or tablet device are highest on Thursday at 15.7%.
- SMS marketing messaging is becoming more popular, with 31.2% of agencies using this tactic to increase click through.
What is the state of mobile content marketing? Get in the game, or lose the opportunity for click throughs, conversions, and engagement.
Restaurant Industry Is Leading the Pack in Mobile Adoption [INFOGRAPHIC]
The restaurant and food industry is embracing the mobile movement more than other business sectors, according to a new infographic.
DudaMobile, a service that makes websites mobile ready, found that restaurants and food services from pizzerias and bakeries to food trucks take 28% of the total percentage of small to medium-sized businesses that have a mobile-friendly site.
This category is far more advanced than other industries looking to reach out to smartphone users, including professional services such as locksmiths and attorneys (16%), health and wellness including spas and salons (10%), travel and tourism such as hotels (8%) and automobile/transportation (6%). Retailer was number six on the list (5%) for small to medium-sized businesses.
DudaMobile also noted that nearly 20% of visits to a mobile-optimized website result in an immediate call to the business.
The infographic also noted that 70% of smartphone owners use their device while shopping. In addition, about 51% of business travelers use mobile devices to find out information while on the go.
For a full look at which industries are embracing mobile, check out the infographic below.
Article Source: http://mashable.com/2012/06/14/mobile-adoption/
5 Mobile Marketing Questions Every Business Owner Needs Answered
Everywhere you look, people are on their smartphones — but many aren’t talking. They’re browsing, texting and using apps, which makes them a tempting target for marketers.
According to communication technologies agency the International Communication Union, there are now 5.9 billion users of smartphones and other mobile devices, representing 87 percent of the world’s population. The ICU also reports that 1.5 billion people are using the mobile web.
That’s a huge business opportunity. But where do you start? Here is some insight on five mobile marketing questions every business owner wants answered.
1. Should I build a mobile website or a mobile app?
Most businesses will want to build or optimize their websites for mobile rather than build an application. Think of the fundamental reasons your customers would visit your website, especially if they’re on the go. Make sure that on a phone or tablet screen your site’s navigation is easy to use, there’s no need for unnecessary zooming or scrolling, and the main things your audience wants are easy to locate.
One of my favorite examples of a great mobile website is PapaJohns.com. There are three big buttons — order a pizza for delivery, order a pizza for pick-up and find a location. If you want something else, go to the website on a computer, not a phone.
2. When does a smartphone app make sense?
Apps don’t replace your mobile website. They supplement your audience’s experience. Some businesses — especially media outlets or those with a high volume of original content, such as blog posts or videos — may be able to develop a useful service via an app.
New York’s Mermaid Oyster Bar includes its menu, locations, hours and a reservation link on its mobile-optimized website, along with a button to install its Oysterpedia application. The app is a companion encyclopedia of all things oyster, including photos and descriptions of the many varieties. It lets users bookmark their favorite oysters and share information with their social networks.
The app is subtle. It doesn’t directly ask people to visit the brick-and-mortar location, but it certainly establishes the restaurant as an authority. And where would you prefer to dine on oysters? Where the authority prepares them, of course.
3. What is responsive design and should I invest in it?
Responsive design is a relatively new approach to web design and development that essentially bakes in mobile optimization to your website rather than your having to create multiple site designs. Think of it as having one website rather than three — one for the desktop browser, one for a tablet and one for a phone.
Some content management systems and blog themes are emerging that incorporate responsive design. Also, many developers are building new websites with responsive design techniques in mind. So, responsive design can be had for minimal investment if you’re using WordPress or a similar open-source content management system.
4. What are QR Codes and how can I use them?
QR, or quick response, codes are basically bar codes that serve as a link to send a phone’s browser to a web address. Users scan the code with a QR code reader they have downloaded to their phones.
You can use QR codes to deliver coupons, get customers to register for your email newsletter, or even send them to “Like” you on Facebook. But be sure to make the QR process simple and efficient. The web address you send people to should be optimized for mobile, and you should include instructions on using the code for newbies.
Just over 6 percent of U.S. mobile users had scanned a QR code as of mid-2011, according to digital analytics service comScore, Inc. So, the market penetration is small. But the adoption of QR use has grown exponentially since the bar codes hit the U.S. market in the mid-2000s.
5. How close are we to mobile commerce?
Depending on your definition, we’re already mobile-commerce ready with existing technology. Not only do mobile hardware accessories such as Square provide credit card readers that plug into your mobile devices, but platforms including Flint Mobile also remove the hardware requirement by using your phone’s camera to scan the credit card number.
But other products such as Google Wallet, which incorporate Near Field Communications — a far more secure radio communication from a device like your phone to another device such as a cash register — are still in limited testing phases. The carrier, device and operating system companies have yet to agree on industry standards for security and privacy protection. So you’re not likely to see people waving cell phones in front of your credit card readers in the near future. Still, keep an eye on Google Wallet and other mobile commerce developments.
We have answered some of the basic questions, but there’s a lot more to know about mobile marketing before you dive in. Helpful online resources include Google’s HowToGoMo.com and the site mobithinking.com, which includes many statistics and insights.
Article Source: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/223711
Making Sense of Mobile Marketing
The versatility of mobile as a marketing tool is one of its biggest assets. Arguably, also, one of its biggest problems – for a new brand coming to the mobile channel new, there’s so much you can do that the problem is knowing what you should do.
Think about the modern day mobile phone for a moment and, in particular, the differences between a smartphone and a PC. On the down side, the phone has a smaller screen, so whatever you do in marketing terms to a PC audience, you can’t simply assume you can do the same stuff on a mobile.
Then think about all the advantages the mobile phone holds over the PC. The first and most obvious one is that we all tend to take our phones with us wherever we go. If we see something out on the street with a call to action, such as a shortcode (a five-digit number often seen on outdoor posters) or a QR code, we can use the mobile to react instantly to that piece of marketing
Then think about the phone’s camera. Naturally, this enables the user to take still or moving images but, allied to an augmented reality app, it can serve up a totally different view of the world, one which can tell the user what’s going on around them at that moment, simply by holding up the phone in front of them.
And because the modern smartphone knows not only where you are, but which way you are pointing, you only have to turn around with the phone in front of you to see what’s going on in the other or opposite direction.
So if you’re in the business of selling houses, for example, you could create an augmented reality app which lets the user see which houses are for sale around them, simply by holding the phone in front of them. It’s something the online estate agent Findaproperty.com has already done.
Now put yourself in the shoes of a marketing director for a big brand which has got its online act together, is active on Facebook and Twitter, but has not yet got to grips with this mobile thing.
Where do you start to make sense of the marketing opportunities it presents? And how do you avoid being blinded by the technology and producing something you think is very clever, but which offers little value to your customers?
Well I think a good place to start is with those customers. Ask them what services you could serve up to their mobile phone that would be of some value or utility to them. For a retailer, it could be an app or a mobile site that enables customers to buy from you whenever they have a couple of minutes to kill. Many retailers, in fact, have gone down this route.
It could be a way of locating your nearest retail outlet, branch, cash machine or post box, and finding out about any special offers that you are running at that moment – it could simply be a way of keeping up to date about the latest news from the brand.
In the early days of mobile marketing, following the launch of the iPhone in 2007, and the Apple App Store the following year – actually, mobile geeks will know the early days were actually around the year 2000, but 2007 is when it really started to gain some momentum – most brands’ answer to the question: “What should we be doing on mobile?” was: “We should be doing an iPhone app.”
Today, thankfully, things have moved on. While an app may indeed be the answer for many brands, offering, as it does, the opportunity for a deep, rich engagement with their customers, most are taking a bit more time to examine the question in greater detail.
This, indeed, is why the mobile marketing business is experiencing such rapid growth; marketers and budget holders are realising there is so much more to the world of mobile marketing than apps.
Many are taking a more rounded, holistic approach that embraces apps, but also, mobile-optimised sites, mobile advertising, mobile coupons and tickets, location-based services, and customer relationship management programs based around mobile messaging to customers who have given their permission for the brand to send messages to their mobile phone. At the last count, Marks & Spencer had more than 1 million customers opted in to its mobile database.
Those brands that got in early are now reaping the rewards, having learned what works and what doesn’t, while most mobile marketing activity was well away from the public glare. Those joining the party late are at least joining the party, driven by the results their peers have experienced on mobile, and are now shouting about.
Marks & Spencer has been shouting louder than most. Last year, it revealed it had taken an order for more than £5,000 for kitchen units via its mobile-optimised site. More recently, in May 2012, it reported that its revenues from mobile had increased by 300% over the past 12 months.
In May last year, Domino’s Pizza revealed that it had taken £10m in orders though its mobile properties, including apps and a mobile-optimised site. Then in October, it announced that it had taken £130,000 in orders through mobile devices in a single day.
These are figures that are hard to ignore, and they are helping marketers overcome one of the biggest challenges they face with any new channel – securing the budget to try it out.
As more success stories emerge, and more funds are released, so more brands are embracing mobile, recognising its unique power as a one-to-one communication channel, with the important proviso that before it is used for any direct communication, such as a text message sent to a customer, for example, it is vital that the customer’s permission is sought and obtained.
At Mobile Marketing Live on 1-2 October at the Business Design Centre in London, we will be exploring the challenges and opportunities presented by the mobile channel in more detail. Leading brands such as the Guardian, Barclaycard, Debenhams and Domino’s will discuss their experiences using mobile marketing. If you’re trying to move from what you could do on mobile, to what you should do on mobile, it’s a great place to start.
Article Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media-network/media-network-blog/2012/jun/06/mobile-marketing-retail?newsfeed=true
Reaching the Right Audience with Mobile
Today, smartphones allow businesses to better reach their target audiences. The ubiquitous nature of mobile helps brand engage with consumers in real-time, unlike any other marketing channel before.
But reaching your audience on mobile requires a different strategy than reaching your audience through other mediums, so it’s important to recognize the differences and plan your campaigns accordingly.
Businesses can reach their mobile audience through a number of ways, including standalone mobile apps, text messaging, mobile-optimized websites, mobile display ads and more.
I recently participated in a Mobile Marketing Association webinar titled, Reaching the Right Audience Through Mobile & Social Media. The webinar panel featured Michael Becker, Managing Director, North America, MMA and speaker representatives from airG, one of the world’s largest mobile social media products.
As noted by the airG executives, some of the core advantage of mobile are relevancy, scale and the ability to control the who, what, when and how of their message.
Mobile is relevant because it’s about capturing the right audience with the right message at the right time. Providing consumers with relevancy in terms of content or location is very powerful.
The scale is impeccable. There are 1.2 billion mobile Web users and 5.9 billion mobile subscribers worldwide. The global penetration of mobile devices continues to skyrocket, and thus the opportunity is constantly growing for marketers.
Another benefit of mobile is the ability to control your message content, the recipients, the time and the method. You can target mobile users by demographic, location and interests, and control their engagement and interaction.
With that being said, to reach the right audience through mobile there are a few things your brand should do. First, know your campaign goal. What is the desired outcome of your marketing or advertising efforts? Identify the audience you are trying to reach!
Next, target core prospects—not everyone. Don’t waste your time throwing your message out to everyone when, in reality, you only want certain ones to see it.
Lastly, run your campaign and measure the results. The only way you will know if it worked is to analyze the metrics. Know what success looks like and don’t accept anything less.
The Scope of Mobile Today
We’re almost halfway through 2012. Can you believe it?
The skyrocketing number of smartphone users and amplified mobile marketing budgets tell us one thing: the scope of mobile is broadening more and more each day.
As we near 2012′s median, here are insights into the booming world of mobile:
Mobile Web
- Mobile Web is predicted to reach 2 billion users by 2015.
- The largest age group of mobile Web users is ages 25-34, making up 25.6% of the user population.
- When looking at the entire population of mobile Web users, 51.3% are male and 48.7% female.
Mobile Activity
- An average mobile device user has their smartphone with them 23 hours per day.
- The most common mobile activity is text messaging (74.3%), with photos (60.3%) and email (40.8%) trailing close behind.
- 58% of all SMS opt-ins are done by the 25-34 age group.
Mobile Advertising
- The average mobile marketing/advertising budget is between $75,000 and $100,000 per campaign.
- The mobile advertising market is expected to surpass $5 billion by 2015 (compared to the $1.24 billion in 2011).
- Mobile search makes up the largest investment of advertisers (49%), and following that are display advertising (33%), SMS/MMS marketing (12.2%) and mobile video (5.8%).
- 71% of smartphone users have used mobile search after seeing an ad.
Mobile Shopping
- Nearly 1/3 of consumers say mobile is their go-to shopping method.
- 87% of consumers shop via websites on a laptop, 14% on a smartphone and 9% on a tablet.
- Men and women engage differently on mobile devices when it comes to shopping: women use smartphones to make their shopping experience more social, while men use it to find information about their potential purchases.
- Mobile coupons generate 10x the redemption rate as traditional coupons.
- 70% of smartphone users use their devices when shopping in-store, and 29% who do end up purchasing the item online–this is called the Showroom Effect.
- 53% of those mobile searchers have made a purchase after a smartphone search.
QR Codes
- 50% of smartphone owners have scanned QR codes, and 18% of them made a purchase after scanning.
- 48% of companies plan to invest in advertising with QR codes in 2012.
So, there you have the numbers and be you informed! Ignorance is no longer an excuse for marketers not tapping into mobile. It’s clear that advertisers certainly have a wide range of mobile options to choose from, with mobile Web, advertising, SMS, coupons and QR codes at their fingertips.
Hello generation mobile!
Check out the following sources to see where the numbers came from:
Mobile Marketing by the Numbers [INFOGRAPHIC]
10 Commandments of Mobile Marketing
Brands need to wise up in their approach to mobile marketing.
SMS is now a top channel in the mix, but there are still misunderstandings in terms of how campaigns should be implemented.
I thought I’d share my version of the 10 Commandments of Mobile Marketing to set some guidelines for how brands should be utilizing the power of text to reach that mobile audience.
1. THOU SHALT NOT SEND SPAM
Be aware of sending text messages to users who have not subscribed to receive them. Also, the rule of thumb is to send no more than four messages per month to subscribers to avoid being marked as spam.
2. THOU SHALT INCLUDE A CALL-TO-ACTION
Don’t leave it up to the subscriber to know what they need to do next. Make sure your mobile call-to-action includes relevant contact details and clear instructions telling them what they need to do.
3. THOU SHALT PROVIDE VALUE
You have the opportunity to reach consumers on the one device they are connected to all the time. Don’t blow it! If you want customers to interact with your brand, you need to make their experience worthwhile. It’s really easy for them to click “unsubscribe” if they feel like they aren’t getting anything out of their subscription. Don’t let it get to that point.
4. THOU SHALT OPTIMIZE, TEST AND COMPARE
When sending out text broadcasts, take into consideration the day of the week, time of day and message content to see which will elicit the best response. Test out a few different types of messages and play around with the day and time that you send them. In doing that, you can weed out the underperformers and move forward with the ones that garner success.
5. THOU SHALT MOBILIZE THY WEBSITE
There’s nothing more embarrassing than a mobile call-to-action that isn’t optimized for mobile. If you’re taking the time to engage a mobile audience through text message marketing, you better make sure your site is mobile-friendly.
6. THOU SHALT MARKET THY CALL-TO-ACTION
Sure, you created a text message marketing campaign. Now what? You won’t be successful in building your subscriber database unless you learn how to promote the campaign. Use social media, flyers, table tents, or whatever else is out there in order to spread the word. After all, no one will opt-in to your campaign if they don’t know about it.
7. THOU SHALT REWARD LOYAL CUSTOMERS
Loyalty is built through good experiences, trust and that feeling of importance. Loyalty also leads to customer retention. So how do you get these loyal customers? Let them know you appreciate them. Sending rewards to your most loyal customers lets them know exactly how much you value their business, and THAT will keep them coming back for more.
8. THOU SHALT MEASURE RESULTS
Just like with any marketing tool, it’s critical to measure the success of a mobile marketing campaign to evaluate what needs to be adjusted in order to meet objectives. Tracking opt-ins, opt-outs, conversions and ROI will help determine the value of the campaign and the importance of the channel going forward.
9. THOU SHALT OBEY LAWS AND REGULATIONS
Text message marketing is not a free-for-all. Campaigns must comply with laws governing unwanted spam texts, as spam complaints can lead mobile carriers to block a retailer from sending future messages on their network. Also, make sure to be explicit with the campaign’s “terms and conditions” so you don’t run into legal problems down the road.
10. THOU SHALT FOLLOW ALL COMMANDMENTS
Even though these commandments aren’t inscribed on a stone tablet, take them seriously. Failure to do so will likely result in the demise of your campaign. Mobile marketing isn’t rocket science. Just play by the rules, and nobody will get hurt.
Why Mobile Content Is So Hard to Get Right
As a foreign correspondent in London 10 years ago, my job was to unearth innovative new startups for my business magazine’s readers. I traveled across the Continent, from Helsinki to Milan, meeting entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and big company researchers to write about the next big thing.
In the summer of 2002, I attended a launch party for a startup demonstrating their nascent service at a swanky Haymarket bar. Upon walking in, there were printed instructions to visit one of the tables playing music and then navigate through a maze of confusing WAP mobile phone menus. What resulted was my phone magically telling me the name of the song playing in the room. The event was Shazam’s coming out party. It took almost 10 years for the music recognition app to truly gain widespread recognition but, for me, it was the first time I saw firsthand what was only possible with a mobile phone.
Ten years later, publishers are still plotting the best ways to engage readers on mobile devices.
The stakes are high. As technology continuously improves, the percent of content consumed from mobile devices increases. On average, 20% of sites’ content is now being consumed in mobile browsers. But, evolving technology platforms and consumption patterns makes it far more difficult to succeed on mobile than it is on desktop.
And the challenge of building a great mobile experience isn’t solved by simply ensuring the content displays in the right way in the right environment. The bigger challenge is to figure out how best to match the content and mission of that publisher with the unique properties associated with varied operating systems, devices, browser and app environments.
Different technology translates into different consumption patterns. For example, users are consuming content in very different ways in apps than they are on the mobile Web. Gaming and social apps account for 80% of all app activity. By comparison, those activities account for just 40 percent of time spent on the desktop. Mobile Web consumption more closely mirrors what people do at a desktop with news, utilities, entertainment and topic-specific content accounting for the bulk of activity. Most publishers are responding to the rapidly evolving technology landscape with a wait-and-see approach.
A brave few are experimenting early, and with promising results.
Food52 has tailored its approach to the screen size. Its iPhone app is focused on its Hotline, a forum for user questions and answers. To take advantage of the bigger screen and encourage users to take their iPads into the kitchen, Food52′s Holiday app included a variety of entertaining tips, such as step-by-step instructional videos on how to prepare a dry-brined turkey or Tuscan onion confit.
The logical first step for publishers into mobile publishing is to create a mobile-optimized site. SAY makes that easier with technology used by Remodelista that automatically resizes the page based on the screen size the content is being accessed from.
Still others are pushing the envelope even further. Kinfolk Magazine’s luminous iPad app complements its quarterly books about small gatherings by encouraging readers to experience the content in a way unique to a tablet device. Whether swiping down for a peek at an intimate dinner by a freezing lake or rearranging the layout and size of photos of a salty dinner of buttered clams and beer in Maritime Canada, readers have never been able to personalize content like this before.
