How to Attract More Customers with Mobile Marketing

HOW TO ATTRACT MORE CUSTOMERS WITH

MOBILE MARKETING

Learn how mobile devices are changing

the way people find information and engage

with their favorite businesses.

ATTRACT MORE CUSTOMERS WITH MOBILE MARKETING

HOW TO ATTRACT MORE CUSTOMERS WITH MOBILE MARKETING

Written and designed by Dewey Forbes

Dewey Forbes started Sales Marketing Associates, LLC to help small and mid-sized businesses grow using digital marketing technologies. Since its founding in 2011, Sales Marketing Associates has launched new businesses for its clients, produced award-winning video, and built growth strategies for small and medium-sized businesses as well as non-profit organizations throughout Connecticut. Dewey's experience running marketing strategy, sales and manufacturing operations for international businesses brings broad perspective in understanding diverse client needs.

In collaboration with the Connecticut Small Business Development Center, Dewey educates businesses about inbound marketing for success. He also serves as a Director for the Milford Chamber of Commerce and is a member of the Hamden Chamber of Commerce.

ATTRACT MORE CUSTOMERS WITH

CONTENT SUMMARY: MOBILE MARKETING

04 05 08 09 10 12 13 14

Introduction. Mobile traffic is skyrocketing. If businesses are going to survive in the new digital age, they will have to adapt to the mobile usage trends among internet users. The following chapters explain just how to do that.

New Ways to Reach Customers. Through mobile devices, mobile marketing targets potential customers with personalized messages, which take into account location and time, as well as other personal preferences and information.

Adaptive Mobile Design. Companies can reach mobile web users with a dedicated mobile site (.mobi extension), in addition to a standard website. Users are automatically directed to the site that is appropriate for their device.

Device Responsive Design. Businesses that are looking to build a new site or rebuild an existing one should seriously consider a responsive design, especially if they hope to create a high quality experience on a wide array of mobile devices.

Design Considerations. Traditional computers, tablets, eReaders and smartphones all have different sized screens with unique screen size issues to consider. These concerns can be alleviated through thoughtful responsive website design.

Maximizing Mobile Marketing Reach. Smartphone marketing is the most effective way to implement a proximity-marketing campaign. Customers can be notified of sales, watch short videos, even receive digital coupons on their phones.

Maximizing Mobile SEO. To rank well in search engine results pages (SERPs), websites still need to have well written content and rich media elements on their pages.

The Future of Mobile Marketing. If we do not adapt quickly, we will not survive in the digital world where the internet serves as primary means of networking and information gathering.

ATTRACT MORE CUSTOMERS WITH MOBILE MARKETING

INTRODUCTION

5.7Billion

3G mobile subscribers globally in 2012.

source: GSA

As internet usage grows worldwide, understanding how it's being used is essential to capitalize on the business opportunities this rapid change presents. With the proliferation of mobile devices, businesses can use these changes to their advantage when developing an inbound marketing strategy.

To prosper in the new digital age, businesses must adapt to meet the mobile usage trends of internet users. The following chapters review various types of mobile marketing, mobile website design and some specific considerations for mobile campaigns.

Mobile traffic is skyrocketing. Through cell phone towers and satellites, people can now access the internet from anywhere and at any time. With current technology, people are using mobile devices at a staggering pace. Just a few statistics tell the story:

29% of adults have a tablet or eReader ? vs. only 2% in 2009.

46% of American adults own a smartphone. 66% of all mobile device users access the

internet on their devices at least once a day.

66%

of smartphone users access the internet at least once a day.

source: Google

ATTRACT MORE CUSTOMERS WITH MOBILE MARKETING

NEW WAYS TO REACH CUSTOMERS.

96% research products and services on a smartphone.

source: Google

Mobile video was 51% of total traffic in 2012.

source: Cisco VNI

Mobile marketing includes any form of advertising that targets someone through a mobile device, such as a smart phone, eReader or tablet. In more advanced forms, it seeks to specifically target potential customers with personalized messages, which take into account location and time, as well as other personal information. Mobile marketing has developed to include a variety of communication modes:

SMS MARKETING Short Message Service (SMS) marketing targets customers with brief, timely messages. Typically these messages are read within four minutes of being sent, which gives advertisers the ability to target their messages at a specific time. In order to avoid turning off potential customers, businesses should refrain from sending unwanted spam. At the very least, potential customers should have to opt in, before receiving any SMS communications.

MMS MARKETING Multimedia message service (MMS) marketing is similar to SMS marketing, but it includes richer visual images. MMS includes images, audio and video, in addition to the text of SMS. With MMS, can reach customers using a rich media experience.

ATTRACT MORE CUSTOMERS WITH MOBILE MARKETING

NEW WAYS TO REACH CUSTOMERS CONTINUED...

PUSH NOTIFICATIONS Push notifications are messages that appear on the top of mobile user's screens. Since the user is notified of new messages automatically, the message is more likely to be read. At the same time, unwanted messages that interrupt mobile internet users may annoy some customers.

MOBILE WEB MARKETING Mobile web marketing is online advertising specifically targeted towards mobile users. Through your local marketing company, you can target mobile devices exclusively. These ads take up a larger percentage of the screen than online ads viewed through a traditional monitor so they tend to have a higher clickthrough rate (CTR) than generic web marketing campaigns.

QR CODES Quick Response (QR) code is a matrix grid code that functions similarly to a UPC code. It can be placed anywhere, including on signs, magazine pages, exhibits, store windows , etc. When people take a picture of the grid with their phone's QR reader, they are taken to a web page . Companies can capitalize on an impulse with these and bring people to their website, display special offers, and exchange exclusive information.

ATTRACT MORE CUSTOMERS WITH MOBILE MARKETING

NEW WAYS TO REACH CUSTOMERS CONTINUED...

PROXIMITY MARKETING Proximity marketing is still developing as a mobile marketing strategy and it has shown great potential. In proximity marketing, advertisements, such as coupons and sales notifications, are sent to mobile users near a specific location. When combined with personalized information, these have a high potential conversion factor.

THE ULTIMATE GOAL: CONVERSION THROUGH A WEBSITE The goal of all these mobile marketing techniques is to attract, engage & convert prospects into customers that result in a sale of the product or service offered by your company. The actual conversion varies from business to business and campaign to campaign. Proximity marketing aims to bring a user from a virtual message to a physical location, while QR codes encourage a user to visit a website from their physical location. In every case, mobile marketing puts your website at the heart of any mobile advertising strategy. The following chapters will cover how to design a website that complements a mobile marketing strategy and converts prospects into purchasing customers.

MOBILE DESIGN BENEFITS: Buttons are thumb-friendly. Single click commands. Mobile-optimized sites are easy to view on a small screen. Pages load faster using less bandwidth.

ATTRACT MORE CUSTOMERS WITH MOBILE MARKETING

ADAPTIVE DESIGN DELIVERS A SMARTPHONE EXPERIENCE

When designing a website, companies are faced with the challenge of reaching both people who access the internet through a traditional computer and mobile web users. There are two ways businesses can go about reaching these people. One solution uses two separate sites: a standard website and a mobile website. The other solution includes only one, responsive website.

.MOBI DRAWBACKS: Webmasters maintain 2 websites. SEO work done on 2 websites. .mobi only works on smartphones.

CREATING A SEPARATE MOBILE WEBSITE The initial solution developed for reaching people on their mobile devices was to create a mobile site (.mobi extension), in addition to a standard website. One of these sites has a .com, .net, .org or similar extension, and the other would have .mobi as its extension. Customers do not have to worry about typing in the .mobi extension if they are using a smartphone or eReader. Users are automatically directed to the site that is appropriate for their device. This was the initial solution web developers created for reaching customers through mobile devices, and many companies quickly adopted it. BMW, Ferrari and ESPN are just a few of the major companies that have had a .mobi website.

While this solution is effective, it has several drawbacks. First, webmasters must maintain two separate sites. Second, in the current highly competitive search engine optimization (SEO) environment, it is easier to promote one site than two. Finally, a .mobi site effectively reaches smartphone users, but it fails to fully capitalize on the possibilities presented by tablet-sized screens.

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download