by Mobile marketing is a multi-channel, digital marketing strategy aimed at reaching a target audience on their smartphones, tablets, and/or other mobile devices, via websites, email, SMS and MMS, social media, and apps.
Mobile is disrupting the way people engage with brands. Everything that can be done on a desktop computer is now available on a mobile device. From opening an email to visiting your website to reading your content, it’s all accessible through a small mobile screen. Consider:
80% of internet users own a smartphone.
Mobile platforms, such as smartphones and tablets, host up to 60% of digital media time for users in the U.S.
Google anticipates search queries on mobile devices to surpass desktop searches by the end of 2015.
Effective mobile advertising means understanding your mobile audience, designing content with mobile platforms in mind, and making strategic use of SMS/MMS marketing and mobile apps.
Types of Mobile Marketing
Mobile marketing has proven to be effective as now, the consumer has an increased control over the kind of advertisements that are sent to him. There was a time when most messages sent to consumers were not very useful, posing a serious threat to mobile marketing.
Corrective actions, both by corporations and network providers have helped to weed out unscrupulous elements, making mobile marketing an ethical way of promotion and publicity. Some types of mobile marketing are as follows.
Short Message Service (SMS)
Short message service initiated the concept of mobile marketing and still is used to promote a variety of products and services. Although, it has been put to a lot of abuse, regulations in the past few years have meant a revival of this form of mobile marketing.
The biggest advantage of SMS marketing is its reach and the low cost of marketing. Every cell phone has an ability to receive an SMS, which essentially means a larger target audience for corporations.
Multimedia Message Service (MMS)
Multimedia messages score over SMS as being a more effective form of marketing as it provides the user with images, audio and video. MMS can also be used to run advertisements as one gets to see on a TV, and offers a more efficient way of marketing a product, however, the cost of sending an MMS is more than that of an SMS.
Mobile Applications
Mobile applications have proved to be a great tool for mobile marketers, as these are innovative and offer the user a host of features. There are certain widgets that are displayed on the home screen of mobile phones, allowing the user to directly log into them, and advertisements can be placed on these applications to promote a product.
Bluetooth Mobile Marketing
This type of marketing helps in customizing the type of advertisements a user will receive, and most of it is based upon the geographical location of the user. This is an effective form of marketing as it helps in delivering relevant information to the user, and helps in filtering the advertisements which may not be useful for the user.
For example, the probability of a person enrolling for a dancing or a yoga course is more if the venue is closer to where he stays. This is the prime reason why Bluetooth mobile marketing is an effective tool for serving custom ads to the user.
Mobile Internet Advertisements
When you are online, you might have seen several advertisements popping up on your computer screen. Mobile Internet advertisements work in the same way, and deliver high-quality content to users. These are mostly built for smartphone users who have a reliable Internet connection.
Apart from the general consumer advertisements, mobile marketing has also helped entrepreneurs to expand their business and network with people. The QR (quick-response barcodes) allow interested parties to know more about a business project.
Today, iPhone is equipped with Near Field Communication, which allows users to buy stuff online, as one does from a computer. Truly, there are more exciting times ahead, and innovations in technology can provide some magnificent options to corporations as well as consumers.
Mobile Marketing Strategy
As with any marketing effort, every brand and organization will develop a unique mobile strategy based on the industry and target audience. Mobile technology is all about customization and personalization, which means mobile marketing is, too.
Step 1: Create Mobile Buyer Personas
Understanding your audience is the first step to any marketing strategy, and buyer personas are a valuable tool to aid in that understanding. Buyer personas are simply fictional representations of your various types of customers. Create a profile that describes each one’s background, job description, main sources of information, goals, challenges, preferred type of content, objections, and/or role in the purchase process. It is easier to determine a channel and voice for your marketing messages when you have a clear picture of your target audience.
Make a specific point to detail your target audience’s mobile habits as well. How much of their web usage happens on mobile devices? Are they comfortable completing a purchase on a smartphone? A simple way to start is to research big data reports on mobile usage. Some interesting observations include:
- 65% of all email is first opened on a mobile device.
- 48% of users start their mobile internet sessions on a search engine.
- 56% of B2B buyers frequently use smartphones to access vendors’ content.
- 95% of adults primarily use their smartphones to access content/information.
To better understand your specific target market, monitor Google Analytics for your site’s mobile traffic numbers. You can also ask or survey clients and prospects about their mobile web usage.
A/B testing which compares two versions of the same campaign on a certain channel can also be informative for developing any aspect of buyer personas. When all other factors are the same, do your email campaign landing pages get more views when you send a related email on weekends or on weekdays? In the mornings or in the evenings? Which title or email subject gets more click-throughs?
Both the general and specific data will help develop audience personas that include mobile usage.
Step 2: Set Goals
The key to defining any effective strategy is to first decide what success looks like. Get the key stakeholders together to map your mobile marketing strategy. Identify goals by asking your team some of these questions:
- What are we currently doing for mobile? This will define your starting point, and make sure everyone is on the same page as you begin.
- If you are already doing mobile marketing, how are those initiatives performing? This conversation will identify what is already working, what is not, and what’s not even being measured.
- What are your main objectives for including mobile marketing in your overall strategy? Discuss why you’re considering mobile now, what conversations have led up to this point, and what you expect from mobile marketing.
- Who are your key audiences for mobile marketing? Talk about your customer personas in light of mobile usage updates. How similar or different is each persona’s mobile usage?
- How are you engaging your mobile audience cross-channel? This discussion will help analyze how the channels you’re currently using can be included in your mobile marketing strategy.
Step 3: Establish KPIs
Just like your other marketing efforts, mobile marketing needs to be tested and optimized. Determine which realistic, measurable KPIs define your mobile campaign’s success. For example:
- Engagement: Provide mobile-friendly content for potential customers who are searching for information about your industry or product. Make sure your website is mobile-responsive to improve mobile SEO.
- Acquisition: Make sure lead nurturing emails are mobile-friendly with clear calls-to-action. Buttons in emails should be near the top of the message and be big enough to easily tap in order to facilitate click-throughs. Then make it as easy as possible for someone to fill out a form on your mobile-optimized landing page.
- Customer Service: In a connected, social marketplace, customer service is very much a marketing opportunity. Allow your customers to easily reach you through any platform they want, including simple click-to-call buttons for smartphone users.
In order to identify the right KPIs for your mobile marketing campaign, ask yourself:
- Do I want to increase conversions from email messages?
- Am I trying to improve traffic to sales pages?
- How important is it that I generate more qualified prospects?
- Does our brand need to improve sales by converting more traffic on certain pages?
Step 4: Monitor Mobile Metrics
Google Analytics can help monitor mobile usage of your site:
- Mobile behavior data reveals how well your mobile content engages your audience.
- Mobile conversion data will indicate whether or not some of your key landing pages still need to be optimized for mobile browsing.
Adding the Device Category field to the Site Content dashboard will display the quantity and quality of much mobile traffic to each individual page on your site.
The table on the Site Content dashboard includes metrics like pageviews and bounce rate. Add the Device Category by clicking the “Secondary dimension” menu above the first column and selecting “Device Category” from the “Users” submenu. The table will then display the most-viewed pages on your site, per device, so you can see how mobile actually affects your web traffic.
That information can hint at which search queries may be leading mobile traffic to your site, what content your mobile audience is most interested in, and which pages to optimize for mobile browsing first.
