It’s a fact that more than 90% of South Africans own one (or more) mobile device, and 92% of smartphone users say that they are incapable of living without their smartphones.
Companies world-wide are taking note of the mobile trend and research indicates that they cannot ignore a mobile marketing strategy.
The next time you are in town, take a look around. You will be surprised how many people’s eyes are glued down to their phones.
Major brands are already jumping on the opportunity to talk to these customers, and platforms like Google, Facebook, and Instagram assist in making it easier for any business.
Now that the world is going mobile, there are endless opportunities and a number of different ways to communicate to reach out to potential customers.
For example: You are a restaurant owner looking to get awareness on social media. Most phones (as well as social media accounts) link to GPS, so you could use a platform such as Foursquare to reward customers for checking-in to your restaurant on social media.
That then creates a ‘reward’ system for your customers, encouraging organic reach on social media for your restaurant.
Understanding mobile marketing
As of now, more than 70% of all YouTube views are happening on a mobile device.
And when it comes to Facebook, it’s safe to say that more than 90% of users access it through a mobile device.
We already know that the e-commerce space is growing at a rapid pace, but what’s interesting is that more users are starting to use their mobile phones to make purchases.
Now, I understand not everyone uses their mobile devices in the same way. However, to succeed in your marketing strategy, it’s important to listen to your customer’s digital signals. Learn how they use their mobile devices, and do research on their shopping behaviors before you roll mobile marketing strategy.
There are numerous channels to implement mobile marketing; there is social media, SMS, search ads, email, and more.
With that said, it’s important to find out which of these channels work best in communicating to your potential customers, and which one brings in the highest ROI for your business.
Mobile marketing channels and functions
Mobile is not like any other marketing channel. As I have mentioned above, it can cover a wide range of marketing strategies, and the reason for that is because today’s smartphones can do a lot.
The average smartphone has roughly eight ways to help enhance the customer experience and communication from a brand. These channels include:
- SMS
- Emails
- Push Notifications
- Browsing the Web
- Social Media
- Bluetooth
- GPS
- Applications.
All these functions can be incorporated into your marketing strategy and can form part of your mobile marketing campaign.
Using these functions will allow you to add a whole range of different advertising methods to your brand (and campaign), not to mention that it can help your brand stay at the top of your customer’s mind.
Mobile marketing channels and functions
It’s imperative that you try to understand each of your customers’ journey, and with that, I mean, try to find out how they came across your brand, what made them decide to give it a try and what made them a loyal customer. Understanding your users’ journey, you can help streamline your marketing efforts.
You might be wondering; what has this got to do with mobile marketing? Well, today, I can guarantee you that a big part of your customers’ journey is influenced on mobile, whether you like it or not.
The purchase funnel and how it’s affected by mobile
Over the years, marketers have come up with a way to create a visual outlay, or framework, if you will, to help organise our marketing strategies. Thus, the ‘purchase funnel’ was born.
The purchase funnel visualises the customer’s journey and contains the following segments:
1. AWARENESS
Awareness is where the consumer is learning about your brand, and this is now heavily influenced by social media.
Social media and search engines are usually the first places where customers learn about a brand, and today, that happens predominantly on mobile devices.
It is, therefore, one of the main reasons why you need to ensure that your brand has a social media and online presence.
2. OPINION
The next segment is where users click through to your website (again, this happens mostly on mobile) so it’s essential to ensure that your website is mobile-friendly.
After viewing a few pages and reading a few pieces of copy on your website, the customer forms an opinion of your brand, and this is where your brand might spark an interest in the customer’s mind.
3. CONSIDERATION
The third segment is the consideration stage. Your customer now begins to interact with your brand and form an impression about your offerings.
If you are a B2C business, then there is a big chance that this stage also happens mainly on mobile.
Today, most consumers will send a message on Facebook or leave a message on your contact page if they have a specific question about your product or service.
4. PREFERENCE
You have now engaged with the customer, and they form a liking in your brand. Once you have reached this phase, your chances of converting the customer have more than doubled.
However, if your brand doesn’t have an online presence, and is not on social media, or if your website is not suitable for mobile devices, then you would struggle to move the customer past the awareness stage.
5. TRANSACTION
The customer physically buys your product or service at this stage, and this is increasingly happening on mobile devices, which makes it another reason to ensure that your website is 100% mobile friendly, fast, and optimised to improve the user’s experience.
6. ADOPTION
The sixth segment is the adoption phase. Now, this is probably one of the only segments that is not influenced by mobile or digital marketing.
The customer has now bought the product, loved it, and adopts a recurring purchasing behavior with your brand, which then takes us to the final segment.
7. LOYALTY
Loyalty is self-explanatory and can be influenced by mobile through constant communication from the brand, along with a strong social media and online presence to keep your brand top of mind.
Now that you understand how mobile is changing the way customers find, engage, review, and purchase from brands, it’s important to ensure that your business is mobile ready, to prepare for the future.
Auditing your mobile readiness
To ensure that you are mobile-future ready, you will have to do a thorough audit of your business. Is your company using some of the following tools below as a part of its marketing strategy?
- SMS
- Mobile Optimised Email
- Social Media Campaign for Mobile
- Mobile Display and Search Ads
- 100% Responsive Design Website
- Click to Call Services on Website
- Mobile SEO
- Mobile Retargeting Services
- Mobile Optimised Videos
- Mobile Applications
- Push Notifications
- Location Enablers.
If not, then you are probably falling behind.
The list can go on. However, these are some of the key elements you need to have checked to ensure you aren’t missing on new ways to drive more sales.
If you have realised that you hadn’t checked many of the boxes, then don’t worry, because I’m going to map out where you can start, in order to catch up with the trends.
1SMS Marketing
As I have said earlier in this guide, more than 90% of our population has mobile devices. With that said, I suggest you start by collecting contact numbers from your customers, which will allow you to send them an SMS the next time you have a specific offer or promotion.
This works like a bomb as it’s an easy and convenient way to remind customers about your brand. It’s also a great way to capitalise on customers that are between the transaction and loyalty segment of the funnel.
A few tips that can help to optimise your email for mobile include:
- Include Who the SMS is From First – Due to so many ‘spam’ SMS’s flying around, always ensure to put your brand name first. That way the customer can immediately see that it’s from a brand he or she trusts.
- Be Clear – I might say this more than once in the article, but be sure to keep it simple. Have clarity in what you are trying to say. g., 50% OFF on everything.
- Include a Link – The last thing you want to do is work on a great line and realize there is no way for the customer to learn more about the offer. That is why I always suggest including a link that the customer can click on to take him to the necessary landing page.
- Optimise Landing Page for Mobile – It will be a waste of money if you went through all the trouble to create and send an SMS, only to realise that the page you are driving customers to is not optimised for mobile. Make sure the landing page is mobile friendly and be sure to see your conversions increase.
2Mobile optimised email marketing
In Part 5 we discussed how effective email marketing is, and it can be even more effective if you optimise it for mobile devices. Did you know more than 70% of people open their emails on a mobile device?
Now, imagine you had this great promotion you wanted to share with your customers, but soon realised 70% of your customers weren’t able to see it properly. All the hard work that has gone into making the promotion happen would have been in vein.
So, what to do? Make sure to code, design, and create your emails in a way that it’s suitable for mobile devices. This will allow your message to come across with clarity and it can help spark the engagement of users which will lead to more sales.
A few tips that can help to optimise your email for mobile include:
- Be Clear – Make sure to provide a clear call to action. No matter what you are promoting, make sure the customer can easily see and understand it. Think about it, there is a limited amount of space on a mobile screen, so ensure to get the message across swiftly.
- Provide an Offer – The last thing people want to do is get an email that delivers no value. Make sure to provide your customers with some form of offer which they can click on or claim in a convenient way using their phones.
- Use a Service Provider – You can make your life easy by opting to use a platform like MailChimp, Constant Contact, Emma, or Drip. They all allow you to optimise your email for mobile.
3Social media ads and mobile
It’s all good and well having a social media presence, but one will have to pour petrol on the fire if you want to drive more sales.
With that said, in Part 4 we talked about social media marketing (especially Facebook), and with that in mind, make sure to optimise your social media ads, creative, and messages for mobile users. Also, make sure to include mobile devices as part of your targeting when you run your next social media marketing campaign.
A few tips to optimise your mobile and social media marketing include:
- Instagram – 99% of user’s access Instagram on a mobile device, so an easy way to target people on mobile is to run ads on Instagram through the Facebook Ad platform.
- Facebook Mobile Feed – I love the Facebook mobile feed, as there are no distractions on the left or right-hand columns. The user’s eyes are constantly centered, and that is where you want your ad to pop up. By increasing or running ads only for the mobile news feed you will be able to see a higher click through rate.
4Mobile search and display ads
In Part 3 we talked about Search Engine Marketing (SEM). If you are currently spending money on search ads and display ads then like social media, ensure that they are optimised for mobile devices.
When running display ads make sure that your message is clear and test it on a mobile device before you roll it out to the public. Also, ensure that you include mobile targeting on both your search and display ads.
Another thing to do is to break the analytics down. Have a look at how many impressions you are getting on desktop vs. how many you are getting on mobile. Chances are you are more popular on mobile which in return gives you a better CTR (Click Through Rate) and lower cost per click.
A few tips to optimise your ads for mobile include:
- Click to Call – When running a search ad, make sure to add the “Click to Call” extension. This will allow customers to call your business or support line with the click of a button.
- Call to Action – The clearer your call to action is on mobile banner ads are, the higher your CTR will be. That will help bring your cost per click (CPC) down and increase conversions.
5Responsive web design
In Part 2 we talked about SEO and what you can do to optimise your website for search engines. One of the first things on your checklist needs to be ensuring that your website is 100% responsive to the different mobile and tablet screen sizes.
If it’s not, I can promise you that there are a bunch of annoyed customers out there that are about to consider rather buying from a competitor.
A few tips to optimise your email for mobile devices include:
- Expanding Menus – Include menus that expand rather ones that take up real estate on the page and might distract the customer.
- Short Titles – Due to limited space, make sure that you don’t over think titles and make them sweet and short.
- Images – Don’t overload your website with unnecessary imagery as that might just slow your web page down, and annoy your customer.
- Don’t Make Them Guess – So many websites aren’t clear on what they want the customer to do when they are on the page. Be clear, ensure to say, ‘Give us a Call’, ‘Click Here to Learn More’,
- Screen Sizes – Consider the different resolutions devices have. High resolutions screens will demand high-resolution And smaller screens would want smaller quality images to load faster.
There are numerous other ways to ensure you maximise mobile and its marketing capabilities, but as a beginner, I suggest you start with the five mentioned above.
By implementing the following tips and strategies, you will help narrow the gap between you and your competitors.