Last week, we looked into the reasons why your company needs to start taking the mobile market seriously in our blog, Digital Marketing In A Smartphone-driven World. Not only are most consumers spending significant amounts of time on their smartphones, but an increasingly wide range of the general population has access to these devices as their usage and affordability becomes mainstream.
Even Google is showing their support for the mobile community with their latest mobile SEO update, penalizing the mobile search ranking of websites that fail to optimize for mobile design.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, though. Knowing that you need to take advantage of the mobile market is different than knowing what to do. That’s why this week, we want to take a look at some best practices for implementing mobile in your digital marketing strategy.
Let's Look At 5 Ways To Jumpstart A Digital Marketing Strategy For Mobile Users:
In-App Advertising
Utilizing in-app advertising can be a great way to expand the reach of your business or service, but you need to be sure you’re doing it in a way that:
-
Targets the right audience (i.e. consumers who are likely to engage)
-
Doesn’t disrupt or cause a negative association with your brand
For example, what if your favorite weather app showcased ads for snow-related services or activities when the weather permitted—vs. click bait one-liners or products you’ve never expressed a hint of interest in?
The overall goal is to build these ads with a “user experience” mindset. At the end of the day, authentic interactions are the ones that will resonate with your audience. You can’t treat in-app advertisements the same as you would a Google Ad. The smaller screen real estate limits your ability to attract the right attention and at the end of the day, the best way to reach the consumer comes down to the way in which the ad is presented.
Develop An App for Your Business:
Depending on your business or industry, a smartphone app may be the perfect catalyst for a successful mobile strategy. There are plenty of benefits, from the ability to build brand recognition and repeat business to local targeting and customer behavior tracking.
But before you get to work on the app store’s next bestseller, you need to research the market and current trends. Your app should offer consumers something original, something that hasn’t been done before. What sets your app apart from the rest of the competition?
In addition to originality, your app must offer a sublime user experience. It doesn’t matter how popular your app’s concept is—if it doesn’t have a simple, purposefully designed user experience, consumers aren’t likely to engage with it. Because of this, you need to ensure you have an experienced team behind each phase of the development.
At Stratus Interactive, we now have a handful of apps under our belt, and we’re the first to tell you—it’s a larger undertaking than it appears. Make sure your development, programming, and design teams are in sync with the demands of the project, as well as the wants and needs of the target audience.
Mobile Promotions:
Establishing a direct, personal connection with consumers has never been easier thanks to mobile devices like smartphones. Whereas print and television advertisements rely on consumers being engaged and present in a specific program at a specific time, our smartphones are rarely more than a few feet from reach.
That’s one of the main reasons mobile promotions have flourished in the last 5+ years. These promotions (phone alerts, satisfaction surveys, order status updates, other direct marketing messages) build big brand value, as long as they’re used in a responsible—and targeted—fashion. And 70% of consumers found these promotions to be valuable in their everyday lives.
So, where does your business fit in?
The benefit for those jumping on the wagon now, is that the potential for mobile promotions is largely untapped. But those that do decide to utilize mobile promotions need to understand that while mobile platforms offer most of the same capabilities as their desktop counterparts, it doesn’t mean you should treat the two the same. I.e., the most engaging mobile promotions are the ones that step away from the norm to do something unexpected in their presentation and/or design.
Mobile Phone Advertising:
There’s a huge opportunity for businesses to attract consumers through mobile advertisements, as the market for these devices continues to trend upwards.
In order to maximize potential, these advertisements are targeting the interests and lifestyles of their most prevalent users in order to form an emotional connection—the key, for many, to a successful mobile strategy. But mobile phone advertising covers more than your “average phone ads,” including:
-
Mobile web banners
-
Mobile game/video advertisements
-
Audio advertisements (in music or before voicemail)
-
Songs and ringtones
-
SMS text messaging
The large user population means your business needs to get creative when thinking of ways to attract these consumers, because mobile advertising offers many advantages.
For example, mobile advertisements take mere seconds to reach the desired target, which is a huge advantage over other means of communication. There’s a sense of instant gratification, whether the user decides to take action or not. The time investment isn’t serious either, so mobile can be a great way to reach an audience without the associated expenses—that’s both time and money.
SMS Marketing:
SMS marketing, or text message marketing, is a mobile marketing strategy that allows businesses to reach out to consumers in an instantaneous fashion. These consumers opt-in to receive their SMS alerts, which have a range of functions like time sensitive promotions and location-based alerts—in addition to being 8x as effective at engaging customers.
And with an open rate of 98% (vs. email’s 22%), it’s clear to see why businesses and marketers alike are targeting consumers through SMS. Mobile users receive your message like they would a text from their mother or significant other. But before you start creating SMS ads, you need to find an audience to opt into your service.
For this reason, many marketers and businesses will avoid this option. The key to SMS marketing success is to approach it in an authentic way. Never buy a list of contact information or spam blast your audience in an intrusive way… that’s the quickest path to disgruntled customers.
Instead, be clear in your communications and let your customers know if you plan to contact them via SMS in the future. The short-term gain of a few customers isn’t worth the long-term consequences of a damaged brand image.
Next Steps
Establishing an effective mobile marketing strategy can have major benefits for your business, from increased sales to enhanced brand recognition. These 5 ways to attract mobile users are great jumping-off points to add mobile to your digital marketing strategy, but there’s still more you can be doing to improve the range of your mobile ads—like preparing for Google’s April 21st mobile SEO update, which will affect the mobile search ranking of sites that aren’t optimized for smaller screens.
Follow the link below to learn more about what you can do to prepare.
