Mobile Marketing Mix For Today’s Consumer

The World is without a doubt is becoming more and more mobile, so marketing has to change. Just as though the internet created the online consumer, the mobile phone has created the mobile consumer. Where the consumers are marketers focus their efforts which are the reasons for internet marketing and mobile marketing. A Pew Internet survey reported that nearly 45% of all American adults now own a smartphone, and that number is on the rise. Mobile marketing is something many small business owners are starting to consider as part of their overall marketing mix. And if you’re not one of them, you could be left in the dust.

Here’s a list of five easy ways to start integrating mobile marketing into your small business, giving your current customers an overall better experience and ultimately bringing in more customers.

1. QR Codes: QR codes have been popping up everywhere. They’re in advertisements and product packaging. JC Penney launched a holiday campaign using QR codes that lets customers record personal greetings and put those codes on gifts. The great thing about QR codes is they’re easy to make, easy to distribute, and easy to use. Best of all, they can be very inexpensive too so there’s no reason not to incorporate this into your small business.

2. Texting for Coupons: Everyone loves a good deal, and allowing your customers to opt-in via text to receive special offers from you is another easy and direct way to reach your target audience. We’ve seen big brands offer special deals for texting a certain word to a special short-code number. You can offer that same kind of interaction with your customers too. Think about adding it to your next radio or TV campaign, or even a billboard or newspaper ad. Incorporating mobile marketing into your advertising mix just makes your message all that more compelling.

3. Mobile Reviews & Check In’s: First customer reviews; FourSquare, Yelp, TripAdvisor, YP.com, UrbanSpoon, CitySearch, Google, Facebook and the list goes on. There are so many review sites out there for small businesses yet very few are actually engaging with their reviewers on these sites. Even worse, many are completely ignoring them and letting their reputation tarnish right under their noses. Not to mention, a lot of these sites make it easier for customers to find you, so long as you update your information and make your address, operating hours and phone number are all accurate. Check ’em out, claim your business, and engage with your customers. They’re already talking about you anyway. Second Location Based Apps & the customer “Check In”; Start to post incentives for “check in’s” via your Facebook, Yelp, Google and Foursquare business account. See tips and insights on Location Based Marketing via infographic below:

Check in tips for location based services

 Image Source Intuit

4. Mobile Website: We all know it’s important to have a user-friendly website. But now, it’s becoming even more important to make sure that website is easily viewable on a mobile device. For example, you may have a website with a lot of fancy Flash components that make it look sharp on a 13-inch display, but guess what? Flash doesn’t work on iPhone or iPad and all of that beautiful content is never seen by any potential customers trying to find you on their mobile device. Use HTML for design purposes or set up a separate mobile site specifically for your business.

5. Mobile Advertising: The early bird gets the worm and in these early days of mobile advertising, getting in early means getting in for cheap. You can buy mobile ad space that’s highly targeted for very little cost through advertisers such as AdMob (owned by Google) and YP.com are great yet affordable ways to get into the mobile ad space before it gets bigger and more expensive.

For more information on these Mobile Marketing Services please Contact Us.