Today is going to be my first post about Online Marketing. As stated in my introduction in Steemit, Online Marketing is one of my passions. I have been posting about blockchain and cryptocurrencies in the psat, and today I thought was a good day in which to write about Online Marketing.
The topic I want to discuss today is MOBILE MARKETING, and whether it is the right fit for you as a business person. Today's society is highly mobile and as such we can't be expected to be sitting at our PC's and laptops 9-5 doing our work. Which is why mobile marketing is important; to do our work work while we are on the go!. Think about how many people you see out and about with smart phones - checking emails, texting family and friends, watching video clips, and surfing the net. It is a growing trend and businesses who tap into this niche will grow their businesses and profits.
Businesses, large and small, are implementing mobile marketing strategies to bring in customers, move inventory, increase appointments and increase revenues.
ADVANTAGES OF MOBILE MARKETING
- Easy to implement
- It is cost-friendly - It won't hurt your pocket
- Requires little tech knowledge and newbie friendly
- Flexible
Mobile Marketing encompasses many different aspects and most of them are discussed below:
Mobile Websites
Mobile websites are accessed by mobile devices through a mobile network. These are designed specifically for mobile phones. Standard websites designed to be viewed on laptops and PC's are incompatible for the smaller screens of smartphones. As such, and because loading too much information on the site will obviously slow down the site, we need to focus on the most critical information about our business. At a minimum, we need to include the location of the business, what the business does, contact details of business and operation hours.
For a mobile website, less is so much more!
Many of the best mobile websites launch with an opening screen that has just a few options that are large clickable buttons to easily navigate the user to the information they need. Add links to your full website and social media links.
Text (SMS) Marketing
Text marketing is a great tool for reaching customers instantly, but if done incorrectly, it can send your subscribers straight to opt out. The most important rule of text marketing is to seek permission from customers to contact them via text.
Sms marketing is used by businesses to send mobile coupons, announce special events, sales and special offers. Text messages have a 99% chance of being opened and read compared to to emails which, if they escape the spam trap, can hope for a 9-23% open and read rate.Mobile Coupons
Mobile coupons are electronic tickets, normally bearing a code, which are solicited and delivered by mobile phones. They can be exchanged for financial discounts or rebates when you make a purchase. The coupons have very useful objectives and the main ones are for product movement, to introduce new products, to build a database, to promote a sell-through and so on.
Currently, mobile coupons are being redeemed at a rate ten times higher than paper coupons and they cost very little compared to paper coupons.
Mobile Tagging
Mobile tagging uses Quick Response (QR codes), SnapTags e.t.c, which can be read very quickly by a cellphone. Your business, no matter how big or small, could use mobile tagging. A business can place a QR code next to each product on the website. The QR code would contain all information pertaining to that particular product such that when the customer scans the code with their smartphone they will get all the information that they need.
Mobile tagging is also used to link to sign up pages for mobile text lists, mobile coupon offers and mobile app downloads. Mobile tagging saves a lot of time because it allows customers and potential clients INSTANT access to your company's mobile website.Mobile Apps
A mobile app is broadly described as a computer program which is designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet or watch by Wikipedia.
To have an effective mobile app campaign, you need to have a creative idea that relates to your business that people will enjoy using. Mobile apps downloads and usage are on the rise according to a recent study. There were 31 billion downloads in 2011 and in 2016, 66 billion mobile apps were downloaded. If implemented properly, the mobile apps strategy can increase visibility for your business, cultivate customer loyalty, build your brand, create a direct marketing channel, improve customer engagement and provide value for your customers.
CONCLUSION
Whether we like it or not, Mobile Marketing is here to stay. And the sooner we get on the bandwagon the better for our businesses. With people today busier than ever and on the go with smartphones in hand, our businesses need to be able to integrate the technology our customers prefer into our marketing strategy. And that means MOBILE MARKETING. No matter what type of device they use, more and more consumers are browsing the web on the go for places of businesses near them. Not only do consumers use their smartphones to find businesses, they actually use them while shopping, dining and spending.
A recently released survey on small business mobile usage revealed that 84% of small businesses that use mobile marketing have seen an increase in business. BUT before you jump blindly into Mobile Marketing, you need to develop a strategy, that will effectively leverage your resources to increase profits.