William L. Coney Blog: A Beginner’s Guide to Mobile Marketing Strategy

Mobile marketing is the promotion of one’s business on mobile and smartphone devices through websites, apps, and social media.

It is a sophisticated, technology-driven marketing tactic that fully takes advantage of the increasing mobile trends by designing, targeting, and advertising to the millions of individuals who use their smartphone every single day of their lives.

Why do you need a mobile marketing strategy?

When looking at how we consume digital media, mobile usage has surpassed desktop. In fact, mobile usage now makes up 51 percent of all internet usage.

This trend comes as no surprise as the adoption of digital devices continues to dominate the tech world. With well over 216 million people in the U.S. alone owning a smartphone, a successful mobile marketing strategy is essential to the future of any business.

Whether you are a startup just getting off the ground or a well-established player in the mobile world, it is essential that you understand what mobile marketing is and how you can integrate a great mobile marketing strategy into your business.

Improving your mobile marketing strategy

1. The right design is essential

The design and layout of a webpage are critical to the success of any mobile marketing strategy.

A webpage developed to look great on a desktop will look very different on a mobile phone. Most sites designed for a desktop feature too much text and too many icons to look nice on a mobile device.

So, when your desktop site is accessed on a mobile device it may cause an overload of visual stimulus—which ends with a mobile user exiting out of your hard-to-read, difficult-to-navigate site.

According to Mobithinking, 25 percent of U.S. mobile web users are mobile-only, meaning they rarely use a desktop to access the web. Plus, you can bet the other 75 percent of people still use their mobile devices to access the web more often than not.

These growing trends toward mobile usage are why many businesses are moving toward mobile-first development, where software developers begin to design a business’s website to look great on a smartphone screen. A mobile-first website typically consists of a sleek design with minimal text, lots of photos, and an easy call-to-action such as a discount offer or a free download button. This kind of design produces visually stunning results and helps mobile users easily navigate the site thus building a positive experience with the business.

At Enola Labs, we believe it is imperative that our clients consider mobile first development to ensure they are able to retain visitors to their site. Our marketing coordinator, Alexandra Bohigian, reiterated this when speaking on the prioritization of mobile-friendly development:

Mobile usage is increasing rapidly, which means businesses need to prioritize the development and updates of their mobile app or website to visually stimulate their audience.

This needs to be done so in a manner that displays the business effectively on a mobile screen, otherwise, the business risks losing a large portion of their traffic.

Therefore, with mobile first and responsive development, businesses can ensure their site is accessible from a myriad of devices their consumers may be using, with a strong emphasis on mobile-friendly design.

2. Make sales and promotions important

During the 2015 Christmas and holiday season, Target reported that 60 percent of their online traffic came from mobile devices. Clearly, businesses have a huge opportunity to capitalize on the crowds of people visiting their site from via mobile.

However, businesses have a limited amount of time to capture the attention of these mobile visitors. Recent studies show that 29 percent of visitors immediately switch to another site if they don’t get what they need. Every second counts when marketing on mobile, especially with tech-savvy generations who are quick to lose interest.

One way to make the most of this small window of time is to prioritize sales and promotions as the first thing consumers see when using their mobile devices. By marketing special offers quickly, the chances of enticing these consumers to purchase increases.

Oftentimes, when a consumer is turning to their mobile device they are in a micro-moment, meaning they want the answer to their question quickly. Capturing a user in this moment, and offering them a promotion, will help convert the user.

3. Take advantage of push notifications

Push notifications are crucial to any mobile marketing strategy. According to Localytics, push notifications boost app usage by 88 percent, and 50 percent of users opt into push notifications—and find them useful.

Not only will push notifications increase mobile traffic for your business, but it is one of the most useful ways to capture the short attention spans of today’s consumers. The key to effective notifications is using them in a creative way that encourages engagement, yet doesn’t annoy the consumer.

Brands and businesses are increasingly moving toward gaining a social relationship with the customer through the use of mobile interaction. This means that it is OK, in the right kind of setting, for businesses to be casual or humorous in order to show the consumer that the business is interested in building a relationship.

Push notifications are a great medium for participating in this growing marketing trend where companies convey a more light and humorous tone with their consumers. When push notifications are creative, funny, or interesting, businesses build this relationship and are much more likely to experience success from their efforts.

4. Look into geofencing

Geofencing is a location-based mobile strategy that allows businesses to send notifications to smartphone users within a specified geographical area. By utilizing this strategy, businesses can directly engage with consumers who are near their brick-and-mortar store, or in an area related to their field of business. For example, a small wedding planning business could implement geofencing near popular wedding venues.

This strategy is particularly useful when implemented alongside promotional push notifications, because consumers who are near your store will receive a special deal straight to their phone, typically enticing them enough to visit the nearby store and make a purchase.

There are other advantages to geofencing as well. The available data produced by tracking geofencing can deliver important analytical insights to the business that can help with future marketing efforts.

Geofencing is also a cost-efficient mobile marketing technique because businesses can create their own marketing channel straight to the consumer instead of paying a premium for marketing channels through ad agencies. Lastly, users are actually interested in location-based notifications with a recent study finding 70 percent of consumers think geofencing notifications are valuable.

5. Know your consumer

Optimizing your mobile marketing strategy requires knowledge of consumer behavior on mobile devices and how to use that behavior to your advantage.

According to eMarketer, smartphones drive nearly 30 percent of traffic, yet only account for 11 percent of revenue. This type of data shows that consumers usually use their mobile devices to search and gain knowledge, yet usually make the majority of their purchases from a desktop or tablet.

Knowing how customers operate on various platforms allows businesses to customize experiences for users. For instance, knowing most consumers use their mobile devices for information rather than purchases can drive a mobile interface design that heavily supports easy access to information with less of a focus on purchase options.

Embrace the power of mobile

An effective mobile marketing strategy is essential for a successful business in today’s online world.

Mobile usage is nearing the tipping point of exceeding the usage of all other devices combined; Global Web Index predicts this will happen in 2018. Google data shows that the average individual spends 177 minutes per day on their mobile device and Forrester claims people pick up their mobile devices 150 to 200 times a day.

Mobile is a powerful medium for businesses to take advantage of, especially when it comes to marketing. No matter the size or age of your business, every company should be constantly improving their mobile marketing strategy to capitalize on these consumer mobile usage trends.