Go Mobile or Die, 8 Reasons Why It Should Be In Your Marketing Plan

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How many of you have a Facebook or Twitter account? How many of you access that account from a device other than a PC? If you do, are you using your smartphone or tablet? If so, you are considered “part of the norm.” Over two thirds of facebook and twitter traffic already comes from mobile devices. Most of you are probably reading this blog post from a mobile device.

We’ve officially entered a world where having a PC is no longer part of the norm. We can access the web from almost any handheld device and from almost any part of the world. Mobile is no longer a “wanted” support medium, it’s now a necessity. Mobile has became the GO TO medium of today’s world. george_bernard_shaw

With the ever so rising demand of mobile technology, we as humans must adjust to the fundemental shift that comes along with it. We must make and take new innovative approaches to understand and adapt to the new uses. North Social states, “without your brand promotions being accessible from any device (smartphone, tablet, or PC) you’re failing to reach 60-70% of just your social media users.”

If companies don’t adjust and accomodate a mobile strategic plan into their business plan now, then they are failing with the mobile wave opportunity. Consumers who are not happy or do not have a great experience with an accessible and well thoughout mobile site will bail and head straight to your competitor giving them the edge over you. Companies can no longer go without having a mobile plan in place, it’s now essential to succeed.

Have I convinced you mobile is the way to go? Have you realized mobile is here and its here to stay? If not, I understand. Here are 8 more reasons why marketers must add mobile to their strategy in 2013.

1. Accessibility = Intreaction

The average American spends 94 minutes per day using mobile applications versus the 72 minutes of web-based consumption. The number is growing rapidly, while the percentage of web traffic in the United States is 7.96% that number skyrockets in Asia where the web traffic there is at 17.84%. Many have stated it’s only a matter of time before mobile usage surpasses television as the go to access point for media and I mean ALL media. Most consumers access Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn through a mobile device.

2. Statistics can prove anything – even the truth.

Just like in the business world, where numbers are key. The same goes for the communication world. We thrive off numbers and statistics.

  • There are over 1.2 Billion people accessing the web from their mobiles
  • 1.08 of the world’s 4 billion mobile phones are smartphones
  • 91% of all smartphone users have their phone within arm’s reach 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
  • 60% of Facebook’s 1 billion users access Facebook through a mobile device. These people are twice as active on the social media site than those who do not have mobile access.
  • Facebook has 543 million monthly active users on mobile
  • By 2016 mobile marketing will account for more than 15.2% of global online ad spending.

3. Maturity takes time

Imagine putting together a fundraiser. You just throw your fundraiser out there and nobody shows up. You put the whole thing together but forgot one crucial step. Promoting and awareness. Same thing with brand promotions. You cannot just create a brand and toss it out in to the world and hope people visit. You have to plan and campaign your brand. Promote it and get people aware of what you are all about.

The good thing about this is that the mobile ad market it no longer “immature.” There is such a large inventory out there of the tools companies have access too. They are able to target and connect their messages to their consumers this way. For example, Facebook. This company has gone all in. They put all their eggs in one basket and it has paid off. In 2011 Facebook had a big goose egg on the board in the mobile ad revenue area. Where in 2013 they’re expected to pull in an outstanding $850 million for mobile ads.

4. So, Lo, Mo – Repeat it till you remember it.

Social, Local, Mobile. Remember social is mobile, local is mobile, mobile is social and local. As stated earlier, 60% of Facebook traffic is mobile and growing rapidly. Then we have twitter where most of their user base is mobile. Throw in Foursquare where the location-based service allows users to inform friends where they’re eating, drinking or gathering at right now – this confirms that mobile and social make great partners. Social media has the power to bring people all over the world together.

5. Flow Easily

Have you ever woke up at dawn to go skiing out on the lake, when its the most calm almost and has a glassy like look to it. It’s the best time to go skiing, right? That’s what you want it to be like when you launch a promotion. If it goes smooth and easy most likely it will be successful. You never want to go skiing on memorial day weekend at two in the afternoon. The more waves you hit the more likely you are to fall. Same goes for promotions. The more hoops you have to jump through in order to participate in a brand experience the more likely you are to fail.

So what about QR Codes (aka Quick Response Codes). These are nauseating just like the your fathers flag shirt that he wore in the 70’s. (Every dad is entitled to one ugly shirt though.) Any person in the communication sphere especially brand marketers need a reality check when it comes to QR Codes. It may look good but it’s not inviting to a perspective client whatsoever.

6. Rapid Response, Rapid Reward

I’m like a little kid when it comes to prizes in cereal boxes and Cracker Jacks. I just want to know right away what the special prize is. Smart mobile apps allow you (the business) to collect data from your consumer and turn around and hit your customer with rapid response emails. These emails can include coupons, lines, certificates and more. The way business play the distribute and redeem game has changed, because our consumer behavior has changed. All because of mobile. Statistics show mobile coupons are ten times more likely to be redeemed than traditional coupons.

7. Why is a Smartphone called a Smartphone?

I often find myself asking this question a lot and no it’s not because I’m a blonde. I often wonder how many things get their names. The reason a smartphone is called a smartphone is because it is the “brain” of you as the customer. We use mobile phones for essentially everything. Whether it be entertainment, exercise to even googling ptential purchases. North Social states, “71% of mobile consumer do research on their smartphones after being served a captivating television or mobile ad? … while more than 59% of B2B purchase decision makers and influencers turn to their smartphones to gather intel when purchasing products or services.”

8. There is no failure, only feedback

To be successful you want and need to know how your consumer likes your product. Brands are constantly in communication with their consumers picking their brains to find out exactly what they want and how they can improve their business. To get a large ROI from your consumer you must partake in certain initiatives.

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  • Properly incent them
  • Quick and convient feedback
  • Understand your target
  • Measure customer awareness
  • Learn more about the customer and their specific buying habit

Inorder for a customer to get a discount on a future purchase, ask them to give you instant feedback. I quarantee it will outpreform a traditional survey via email every time.

Have I convinced you now? Good. I hope so. If your a little worried about being jumping into the mobile world, dont worry. It’s always good to be late then never there. Just follow the steps and slowly ease your way in. I promise you, you will be glad you did it.

Mobile Web Strategy for Small Business

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Let’s play a game of pictionary here. Let’s say you are a local business and you want to produce a mobile site to draw bigger business in. What do you do?

Do you place more ad’s in the local paper? Do you make calls to your local radio station? What about more television commercials? What about a mobile website?

Aha, there’s that light bulb I’ve been waiting to see. Let me tell you how a mobile website can help your small business and help you gain more customers than you could ever imagine.

For starters, small businesses haven’t quite grasp the concept of creating a mobile presence for their business. Many reasons include, the non-realization of consumers changing their purchasing ways, business owners of small companies don’t understand how mobile marketing functions and how those functions work. They also are not aware of the effect of mobile marketing and what it can do for their company.

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Statistics show, out of all the mobile searches, one in three is of local intent. 61% of smartphone users search for local content. 52% of the local searches result in calls made by the customer. While 59% of customers who search on the mobile web for local places, end up visiting the store they searched for.

Just like pictionary, begin with an objective in mind. How are you going to portray your “secret?” For your business, what do you want to do? Do you just want to bring more customers in? Do you want to get involved with your company and the community more? Generate calls to your business? Have a goal in mind, even if its small. Start small and end big.

Next, create a resolution and design it. How are you going to act out this clue? How are you going to make your goal achievable? Lay it out, create a template or design on what you want included on your mobile site. Now remember, it must be clear content, contrasted correctly, simple to read, easy to load, etc. Have keywords listed, so your company will be easy to find. Make sure your address, phone number, email, etc., is easy to access. Remember a happy customer means a happy owner.

Thirdly, in pictionary you want it to be easy to view (read) so the guesser can figure it out quickly. Same thing with designing a mobile website. You want your site to look great on a small hand held device. Code it so content is visible easily, and updated regularly.

Lastly, in three-two-one LAUNCH that thing. Promote your site so the likely increase of customers visiting increases. With good search content and (SEO) your site will be found more and more over time. The more people who visit and see your site the more likely it is to arrive at the top of a search page. As I said in an earlier blog post, reputation is everything.

Many small business owners have taken such help hints like the ones listed above and have already applied them to their mobile marketing strategy. They are finding rather quickly that results are positive. 69% of small business owners are crediting mobile sites for their business growth and believe that number will rise in the next few years.

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But, what goes up must come down. Unfortunately there is a wide gap seen today between small business who do have a mobile site to those who do not. Over 61% of small business currently do not have a mobile strategy made and are missing out on the consumers that are searching for what they may offer on a mobile device.

Owners are realizing that having a mobile-friendly site provides better service to their customer, attracts more customers even more local customers over time, and they gain a competitive advantage over all other competing stores.

There is hope though, I, and hopefully you can see the light at the end of the tunnel. 64% of small business have said that they have spent more money in 2012 than any other year towards a mobile web strategy. That number is expected to rise drastically by 2015.

We’re getting there fellow mobile friends, we’re getting there.

SMS Marketing Tips & Ideas

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With the continuous improvements and rampant use of mobile technologies such as the smartphone and the tablet, SMS marketing has surged to the forefront of any and all types of mobile marketing campaigns. The fact that 98% of all text messages are opened and read, and the fact that these messages are read within mere minutes of their arrival, should tell you that mobile marketing is not just the future of marketing, it is the NOW of marketing. However, efficiently managing your mobile marketing campaign can be tricky. Simply having an SMS mobile marketing strategy is not good enough, you want to be smart about it; but no worries, we’re here to help! We’ve compiled a list of ten things that are important to remember when constructing your SMS mobile marketing campaign.

Conduct an SMS Poll

Sometimes simply orchestrating an SMS poll, whether it be a multiple choice poll or an open vote poll, can be much more effective than you think. An SMS poll doesn’t just engage your SMS subscribers by asking their opinion on something, but it allows them to let their voices be heard and gives them a sense of power and control when it comes to your product or service; subscribers love this. If you feel like you’re not getting enough participation, offer a coupon or reward to subscribers to entice them into participating in your poll. There are also platforms where you can post the poll results live on your website or blog so subscribers can get more immediate feedback. SMS polls are generally great ways to increase brand recognition with your customers, get feedback from them, and generate excitement and interest around your product or brand.

Attach Media to Your Texts

If you want to increase the odds of people engaging in your text, you will want to attach media links to them. This can be a simple photo to spice up your text, or it can be something more sophisticated such as a link to a landing page with more information, or a video explaining how to do something. Sometimes, just posting some fun media that’s related to your business will generate buzz around your company or product, even if it isn’t necessarily directly related.

Create a Social Media Widget

Integrating your texts with social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter, is probably one of the best things you can do for your SMS campaign. A lot of SMS marketing platforms offer easy-to-use social networking widgets that you can simply copy and paste into your texts, as well as your website’s HTML code. Adding a widget like this will allow your SMS subscribers to easily access your social networking pages, announces any poll you conduct on the social network as well as through text, and makes it much easier to add more people to your customer database.

Keep the Texting Lingo for High Schoolers

Sometimes conductors of SMS marketing campaigns fool themselves into believing that if they text their subscribers in the modern day lingo that is common with text messaging, they will connect more with their subscribers. This is not true! Most of the people you will be reaching out to are not teenagers (unless you are directly marketing to that demographic, then this is appropriate), but they are adults with cash to spend. Today’s text lingo such as “OMG”, “TTYL”, and “BRB” will come across as childish and immature to adults, and will most likely end up hurting you more than you think it will help you. You will have time to construct your text messages before sending them out, make it sound like you took the time.

Keep Your Message Simple and Singular

It can be tempting to mention several different promotions, sales, or offers in one message, but this can confuse your customers. Remember, you only have 160 characters to work with (140 if you’re posting through Twitter); don’t try to cram too much into one message. Keep your scope limited to one central idea per text. If you want to mention 3 different sales that your company has going this week, then construct 3 different text messages, one for each sale. This will make things much simpler for your subscribers and you will be much less likely to lose customers through either sheer confusion or just annoyance.

Efficiently Time Your Text Messages

Just blasting subscribers with a plethora of text messages at all times of the day and night is a recipe for disaster. You want to make sure you time your messages effectively so that you can get more people reading and responding to them. Traditionally, it has been found that SMS messages get the most responses when they are sent in the late afternoon, early evening, or any time during the day on weekends.

Keep Purchasing Simple and Easy

This is probably the most important thing to remember when constructing an SMS message. Make sure it is easy for customers to make purchases using your texts! If the buying process become too complicated, or is too many steps, most potential customers will just give up and leave you hanging without making the sale. Also, when making promotional codes, make sure they are easy to remember. Remembering the code “SHOE25” is much easier than remembering “SHOE85763652”. Using a simple code like “SHOE25” is especially effective if you are offering 25% off of shoes for any customer that shows the text to participating retailers. It’s easier to remember and reminds customers of the deal they are getting.

Begin Messages With Action Words

Beginning your text with an action word, or verb, is a great way to get customers moving while also livening up your text messages. Action words generate action on the part of the consumer and also help shorten what would otherwise be long and lengthy sentence that can put you over the 140 or 160 character limit. Words like “buy”, “sell”, “jump”, “run”, “save”, “spend”, “purchase”, and “stop” are all great action words to start your messages with. Rule of thumb: whatever you want your customers to do as a result of your text, start with that word.

Use Short Sentences

Writing long, lengthy, and descriptive sentences will not only cause you to go over your character limit, but it will also bore subscribers before they bother finishing reading your message. Short sentences allow your subscribers to forward your messages to other people; they cannot do this if your long sentences take up the entire 140-160 character limit. Short sentences also improve your writing and force you to cut to the chase much quicker and more efficiently. Not only will this make constructing SMS messages easier for you, but your customers will have a much easier time reading them.

Don’t Overdo Capitalization

This rule goes hand in hand with text lingo, but there are instances where capitalization is important. Using it in text lingo, such as “UR”, is a no-no. But if you’re trying to emphasize an event like a sale or promotion, using capitalization is a great way to ensure your customers see the event in the message, as well asremember it. But keep your capitalization to a minimum; overdoing it will confuse your customers, or just make them look down on you.

Using these ten tips will dramatically help your SMS mobile marketing campaign and make it more efficient. A lot of companies have already jumped on the SMS marketing campaign train, so when you do, you want to make sure that you stand out from the crowd. Using these tips will help you do just that!