Businesses that aren’t using mobile marketing as part of their marketing strategy need to start right away. Yes, we know that adopting a new marketing technique right now might be difficult, considering that you may not have even mastered the ones you’re currently using.
But, technology is continually evolving and stats like 1 billion smartphone users –with about 150 million in the US and Canada- shouldn’t be ignored just because of the learning curve. This is why we have shortened the learning curve for you and provided proven mobile marketing tips you can start using today if you want.
Build a Responsive Mobile Website
Like it or not, some of your website’s visitors come from people using mobile devices. Unfortunately, you’re probably losing them because your website isn’t optimized for their devices. Recent studies by the Harvard Business Review show that people spend between 12% and 49% of their time either doing some window shopping or actively seeking out products to buy.
In fact, there are people who are beginning to prefer using only their mobiles for everything they do online, even when they have a PC. What does this tell you? It tells you that there’s a real market out there. And to properly engage them, you need a website that adapts to the device. The good thing is that responsive websites are quite affordable and budget friendly.
Focus on New Device Owners
This is particularly effective during the holiday or festive seasons. With the holidays just around the corner, take advantage of this opportunity to connect with your audience on their device.
People are consistently looking for gifts for their loved ones. Target them during the holidays with offers that are specific to this season. This always works.
Use Limited Quantity or Time Incentives
This is an oldie but a goodie. Use time based and quantity based incentives while connecting with them. For instance florists can send a time based offer like “Get 15% discount on rose orders today. Available for 48 hours only!”.
An offer like that creates a feeling of scarcity and almost compels them to take immediate action. For quantity based offers, you could give a deep discount but restrict it to a certain number. For instance, “Get 30% discount on all poinsettias today. Only 20 left!”.
Use Social Media to Your Advantage
You can combine social media and mobile marketing. More than 60% of all Facebook , Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+ users access these services on their phones and tablets some of the time.
This means that you can count on people using their non-PC devices to engage with your brand on these networks. With this knowledge therefore, you could incentivize your audience by creating a special offer for people who engage with you on your social platforms through their mobile devices.
This offer would only be visible to mobile device users; nobody else. This is always effective, particularly when you have built a degree of trust and credibility with them.
Track and Be Careful With Frequency
Many businesses often confine their mobile marketing efforts to SMS marketing. There’s nothing wrong with that if you have a small budget. But, you also need to ensure that you’re targeting your recipients correctly. Start with sending your SMS offers just twice a month.
Then monitor the feedback, response, unsubscribe rates, request for more information and conversion. Then ramp it up appropriately. As a rule, you may just want to send them an SMS 3-5 times a week. This is a better approach when you compare it to spamming sending those messages multiple times a day.
The tactic to make others go through the mannerisms of scarcity is definitely an older concept that continues to be true to this day. Especially when people are making so many subtle reactions to things on their mobile devices, it psychological makes them predisposed into getting that satisfaction of achieving something that’s limited.
Because if there’s no stakes involved, they won’t feel as motivated or encouraged of their actions of signing up, or simply going through the motions in contributing to one’s service. And also keeping a professional demeanor by calculating the frequency of how much one sends out messages is another plus that others forget every now and then. I had an individual who has a successful service, but they still spam my e-mail that are often about the same thing.
It turns me off personally, and it doesn’t give me much incentive since I know they can’t really find some means to compensate me for my time if I went through with their call to action. And I feel how one organizes and formats their call to action makes all the difference, especially for mobile marketing. People also need to be reflective of their progress to develop an experiential learning to know how to make things better. There’s always something that can be improved, and simple introspection and experimentation can go a long way.
No wonder we all started using our mobile devices for everything we do online even if we also own a PC: the smartphone is with us at all times while the PC waits patiently on the office table. And which one can you fit in your pocket or purse? 🙂
And this trend makes 2014 and the years to come a fantastic time for marketing. While in the past we had access to people only when they were home browsing on their PC’s nowadays we can market at all times since they’re permanently connected.