Today’s mobile users range from the ages of 7 all the way to 90. Believe it or not, much of the audience you are trying to target is already an avid mobile device user. In fact, worldwide, there are more people now that own a cell phone than a toothbrush. If your marketing efforts are not optimized for a mobile screen, it’s time to rethink your strategy.
We’ll be discussing mobile marketing: what it is, why it’s so important, its different types, its benefits, and its disadvantages. Did you know that 71% of marketers believe that mobile marketing is the core of their business? Read this blog in its entirety to learn why.
What is Mobile Marketing?
Mobile marketing is a multi-channel, digital marketing strategy that reaches a target audience on their smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices through websites, email, SMS, MMS, social media, and mobile apps. When mobile marketing is done correctly, it allows you to connect with your consumers in real-time, driving brand value and increasing demand for your products or services.
Before going further, you need to understand just how critical it is for your company to have a strategy that targets consumers directly at their fingertips. If your team isn’t prioritizing user experience on mobile devices, then you’re likely losing a big chunk of your intended target audience.
Here are some quick noteworthy stats that will put things into perspective for you:
• According to eMarketer, the mobile-only audience in the United States will grow to 55.7 million people by 2022.
• Adweek estimates that 79% of smartphone users have their phones either on them or near them 22 hours a day.
• Studies show that today, there are more mobile devices in the world than people. That’s more than 7 billion devices.
The time to start optimizing your mobile marketing efforts is now. We’ve talked about current marketing trends before, but one of the most obvious trends of today is mobile marketing.
There’s even a quote that says, “Mobile is not the future, it is the now. Meet your customers in the environment of their choice, not where it’s convenient for you.”
This quote couldn’t be more accurate for today’s modern-day consumers. In this day and age, mobile devices are no longer a novelty reserved for a specific generation. They have become widely adopted and are used by so many different demographics on a daily basis. If your company isn’t marketing on mobile devices, then you might as well be obsolete.
How Does Mobile Marketing Work?
Mobile marketing generally includes promotions sent through SMS text messaging, MMS multimedia messaging, push notifications, in-app marketing, mobile websites, or QR codes that are scanned by a mobile device. Keep in mind that mobile marketing doesn’t just include smartphones, so depending on your user’s device, your marketing methods should differ. For example, studies have shown that smartphone users tend to find informative content to be the most relevant, but iPad users tend to be captivated by interactive advertising that features vivid, eye-catching imagery. Knowing the unique preferences of different mobile device users will allow your team to effectively market to their specific needs and wants.
Mobile marketing goes far beyond text messaging and apps. To ensure that your targeted users have a cohesive marketing experience, you must consider a responsive design across the board. This means taking into consideration some of the following:
• Mobile-friendly websites: Make sure that your website content fits on the screen without side-to-side scrolling or zooming. It should also load quickly and be free of mobile-specific errors. A consumer’s experience when accessing your mobile website can significantly impact their buying decision. In the last 6 months, 79%of smartphone users have made a purchase online using their mobile device. Knowing this, make sure that your website is optimized for mobile view, if not, you could be unintentionally turning away potential buyers.
At Vonazon, we have a team of designated employees who go through each one of our clients’ websites on desktop view, mobile view, and tablet view to ensure that the user experience is seamless and accessible across all devices. Consider designating a group of employees at your company who quality check all the components of your website to ensure that everything is compatible with multiple screens.
• Mobile-friendly marketing SMS and MMS messages: SMS or, Short Message Service, and MMS, or Multimedia Message Service messaging are two direct methods you can use to send content to your consumers. While SMS only allows you to send short text messages, MMS allows you to send pictures, audio, and even short videos apart from long text messages. Figure out what message you want to address to your target audience and decide which messaging method would be the best way for you to captivate their attention.
• Mobile-friendly emails and landing pages: Studies have found that 53% of emails are opened on mobile platforms and 69% of mobile users delete emails that aren’t optimized for mobile. Because of this, it’s crucial that your emails have a responsive design that automatically formats webpage content for optimal viewing on any device. But don’t forget about your landing pages! Many marketing emails are often linked back to a designated landing page. It’s not going to do you much good if your emails are optimized for mobile, but your landing page isn’t. You need to ensure that all your click-throughs go to a landing page that is also optimized for mobile so that your users don’t click away out of frustration.
At Vonazon, before our automation team sends out marketing emails on behalf of our clients, they always send test runs to a designated group of employees first. These employees then check these emails on desktop view and mobile view to ensure that the emails have a responsive design before they are officially sent out on behalf of the client. It’s little precautionary measures like these that can be the difference between a user clicking out of your email or clicking on it.
• Mobile-friendly apps: 20% of mobile apps are only used once, and most people have anywhere from 50 to 100 apps on their phones. How can you ensure that your company’s mobile app stands out from the rest? Consider integrating smart marketing automation within your app to drive app downloads, user retention, engagement, monetization, and more. No one wants to use an app that’s slow and difficult to use.
• Engaging social media ads: Recent studies have found that 71% of users access social media on their mobile devices. If you aren’t advertising on social media, then you could be overlooking an entire audience. Be sure to analyze marketing data that suggests what social media platforms your target audience is utilizing the most, and then try to create engaging content that stands out from all the other ads that users see on a daily basis.
Advantages of Mobile Marketing
Now that you’re familiar with some of the key areas your mobile marketing strategy should consider, let’s discuss three advantages of mobile marketing.
1) Simplified mass communication: Since there are far more people on mobile devices than there are on desktop computers or laptops, mobile marketing helps companies reach a wider and diverse audience, especially in remote regions of the world. Consumers can be reached in real-time, no matter where they are! With geo-location features, you can send location-specific content to users within a specific area, making it easier to segment your audience.
2) Cost-effective: Mobile marketing offers a variety of options to choose from, which makes it ideal for any budget. For example, social media ads are far cheaper than purchasing ad space for radio or television ads – and sometimes they reach just as many people.
3) Convenient design: Mobile devices have smaller screens than desktop computers and laptops, which means that the scope of content that can be displayed is limited. This simplifies the job of your design team and content curators since it decreases the amount of space they have to work with.
Challenges of Mobile Marketing
Even though mobile marketing is an extremely effective and streamlined approach for reaching a wide group of people instantly and simultaneously, it has some downsides as well. To keep things fair, here are three challenges or disadvantages of mobile marketing:
1) Data privacy: In recent years, many people have expressed concerns about the data that is collected from their mobile devices, how marketers use this information, and whether they are even entitled to it. Some fear that the data collected from mobile marketing is not based on their consent and that it increases the risk of identity theft, and the selling off of private information to third parties. Also, some feel as though mobile tracking measures are too invasive. In fact, not long ago, tech giant Apple rolled out a system update, iOS 14.5, which limited mobile app tracking by requiring users to “opt-in” to sharing information when they opened an app for the first time after downloading it. Measures like these ultimately limit the amount of data marketers can gain from mobile users.
2) Risk of procuring user costs: Sometimes, depending on the type of mobile marketing measure that is deployed, there is a chance that the user will have to pay for it. For example, campaigns that utilize MMS messaging such as picture texts, or links that direct a user to a video that takes up a significant amount of data can procure user fees. If marketing efforts like these are regularly sent out to users who don’t have an unlimited mobile plan, they may become frustrated with your company.
3) Little room for error: On average, desktop users tend to spend 2.5 seconds on any piece of content, compared to mobile users who spend about 1.7 seconds. Mobile users have a smaller attention span and a variety of companies that are competing for their attention, so you must grasp their attention right away. This means that your mobile marketing strategy doesn’t have room to serve as “trial and error,” it must be well thought out from the start.
Conclusion
As companies expand upon their marketing efforts, they not only need to see what platforms their target audiences are on but also what devices they are accessing these platforms. If your mobile marketing strategy is outdated or nonexistent then you are significantly hindering your company’s long-term success. Get creative and start reaching out to your consumers where it matters most.