Marketing is an integral part of the success of any business both offline and online. If we talk about this digital world, then businesses focus more on online marketing when compared to offline strategies. The reason for this is its effectiveness and the incredible results it offers.
Now, we will just modify the first line we said to ‘digital marketing has become a vital part of all business to get success.’ This doesn’t mean that offline marketing is not important or it does not deliver results. It is just that the businesses focus more on getting attention digitally, but they do practice offline advertisements as well because it is necessary too.
When our focus is on the digital platform, it is important for us to know what kind of devices are being used by people to access websites the most. And with that, no one is unaware of the popularity of smartphones and tablets. Many researches conducted across the globe have proved that a large percentage of people prefer their mobile devices & tablets to search for anything they want on the internet. While on the other hand, a lower percentage of people make use of laptops and personal computers.
The preference of mobile phones for the use of the internet has risen due to the ease of use anywhere anytime. The only few things that are required are network connectivity and internet pack which almost every smartphone user has. Thus, while ensuring a strong digital presence of your business, it is important to put extra effort into mobile marketing.
What is mobile marketing?
We must say that the maximum number of internet users have a smartphone and they prefer using it instead of personal computers due to the convenience it offers. In the simplest terms, mobile marketing can be defined as the process of promoting a business online where every technique & strategy is optimized for mobile & tablet users.
We must say that smartphone is not a need or status symbol anymore, it has become a necessity especially for internet users. This necessity has made mobile marketing a must for every business to get attention and improve reputation. It won’t be wrong to say that just like marketing is incomplete without focusing on digital platform similarly, digital marketing is incomplete without focusing on the mobile platform.
It’s been only around a decade in which smartphones have evolved and they are still in the process of becoming smarter. In the coming years, we will see a huge rise in the use of smartphones for internet access. The numbers might get doubled to what we have now and with that, the importance of mobile marketing will also increase.
How to create mobile marketing strategy
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Page optimization
The first and foremost thing that we think is necessary for mobile marketing is web page optimization or we must say website optimization. To start mobile marketing, it is very important to optimize your site for mobile & tablet platforms. It doesn’t matter how good your offer is for the audience, if they find it difficult to open your website on mobile, they will leave and move to another site without wasting any time.
For example, if you show your ad on mobile it is likely that the user will click on the ad there only and doing so will take him/her to your website. Thus, if your site is not mobile-ready then it will create a bad impression of your business and some might consider that ad a fake one.
Not having a mobile-optimized landing page or website will also kill the chances of being referenced to others by users, as when they had a bad experience why should they refer you to others.
Hence, before doing anything for mobile marketing, your priority should be website optimization because without that nothing for you will work.
A mobile-friendly website will load quickly, fit all the content on the mobile screen in an organized manner, and ensure no errors.
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Identify goals
Having goals is always important to be on the right track and move on the right track. Without goals, there is no focus on what you are doing and without focus, you can never succeed. Thus, while strategizing mobile marketing tactics, ask yourself what you want to achieve through mobile marketing? What is your purpose to be on the mobile platform? And how it will affect your business?
These are several questions and answer to them will help you define the goals. You must know what you are doing on the mobile platform, whether it is for capturing leads, generate web traffic, or increase sales. Goals could be different but having them is the only way to succeed.
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Define and Know your target market
Once you know where you want to go, the next best thing you can do is decide the path on which you should travel. Here, in the case of mobile marketing, your path to the goal will be your target market or target audience.
It’s now time to define your target market along with its behavior. Showing everything to everyone will not only waste your money & resources but will also waste your time. So, it is better to decide the right audience for your mobile marketing campaign and analyze their habit of using the mobile phone.
It will be better for you to create a detailed profile of your target audience including the time they spend using the internet on mobile, their search intent, the behavior of where they end up while trying to make any purchase through mobile, and much more.
This might require some effort and time, but considering this will be of great help and will deliver excellent results. It could be done by using web tools and conducting a survey of the target audience.
Once you get to know the behavior of your target audience, it will become easy for you to play your cards at the right time and in the right place.
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Implementation and integration
The next thing that you are required to do is implement all your plans to see how they work. Along with implementation, do integrate your business activities along with social media networks and other marketing strategies with mobile marketing.
Integration is vital to show the connection of all the activities that you do on a digital platform and this will help your business appear as a genuine one. If users don’t find any connection, there will be confusion in their minds and that could hurt your sales and web traffic badly.
So, integration holds the key to show how wide your reach or presence is and also to what you can offer your audience and customers.
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Some extras you should consider
There are also some small yet highly important factors that require special attention and ignoring those could be harmful.
Make sure whatever you post is mobile-friendly and if it is not, consider it before showing it to your target audience. Having a mobile-friendly website never means that anything you post will automatically be optimized, rather you need to do make some efforts.
If you are connecting yourself with the audience through emails, make sure that they open quickly once clicked by the user and must contain clear call-to-action. If there is any button in the email that you wish the user must click, ensure that it is big enough to be clicked easily in a single attempt.
Your mobile marketing strategy must have the simplest of ways for the users to connect you through their smartphones. This means, that if they have any query, they should be able to raise it simply via their phones. This is very vital when it comes to build the trust of your clients and ensure a long-term relationship.
Mobile marketing is the best marketing strategy especially for businesses that want to target millennials. Smartphones have become a vital organ of millennials and it won’t be wrong to say that surfing over mobile phones is a part of their daily routine. This makes it important to identify the channels through which you can reach them on their mobiles. Here are the ways by which you can effectively reach your target audience.
Types of mobile marketing
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SMS
Sending a text message is the traditional yet highly effective way of reaching out to your target audience on their mobile. Though we cannot consider it as an online way of promoting your business yet you can include the link of your web page in text message clicking on which will take the user directly to your mobile-friendly website.
Through SMS, you can also target your existing customers by sending them special codes by which they can avail the benefit. This is a good strategy for strengthening the relationship with your new customers and show how valuable they are for you.
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Target specific platforms or devices
Another way to show your presence in mobile devices of the target audience is with the help of Google Adword. It lets you show your advertisements on specific mobile devices and platforms. With deep research and relevant knowledge about Google Adword, you can target only specific customers through their mobile devices.
This will narrow down your target audience to some important ones and will help in improving the conversion rate of your CPC campaign.
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Launch an App
What could be better than getting a little space in the mobile phones of your target audience? Yes, we are talking about having a dedicated mobile application for your business. Most of the time smartphone users spend is by looking into different applications be it social media apps or mobile games.
Thus, launching an application of your business will be a good idea to get the attention of people especially while they are doing one of their most lovable things i.e. using the smartphone. Through the app, it will become easier for you to understand the interest and behavior of your target audience and you can also send notifications about new product launches, sales & discounts, and exclusive offers.
Though launching an application might cost you a bit yet it could a highly effective strategy for your overall mobile marketing campaign.
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Advertising your app
Launching an application will not solely mean that people will download it on the go. It is also necessary to promote your application through different campaigns run by Google for mobile applications. Only when people will see your application in the Play Store, they will be able to download it. Thus, it is important to take some measures to rank your app high to get more visibility.
Find out and select appropriate mobile app campaigns run by Google for the promotion of your app on both Play Store and search engine.
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Social media advertisement
Social media applications are those on which people love to spend most of their free time. Thus, creating and posting mobile-friendly advertisements on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn will ensure your strong presence and it will be a good way to interact with the audience through their mobile phones.
Using these platforms will also make it easy for your brand to get high attention and the exposure it deserves. Plus, the chances of being clicked will also rise along with better ROI.
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Ads between mobile games
While playing online games on your smartphone, you might have seen different advertisements showing up in between. This is what you can also do as one of the mobile marketing practices. Create an interactive, engaging, and interesting ad that tempt people to click and run them in between mobile games.
This might also give you great exposure especially when you are targeting millennials. The reason for this is that a large percentage of people love to spend their free time playing mobile games along with using social media. Several mobile games are so popular among kids as well as young ones that they somehow find out time for playing them from their busy schedule and this increases the chances of your ad being noticed.
Thus, a pro tip is to use games that under trend for running your ad to reap great benefits.
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Location-based advertisement
For getting the attention of local customers through mobile marketing, targeting through location-based promotions is the best idea. Investing in campaigns that can recognize the geographical location of the audience and accordingly send notifications on their mobile will be worthy to get the success you want.
This strategy could be the best for businesses that rely on local customers for most of their revenue generation. Sending push notifications directly on the mobile of people especially when they are near you is a good idea.
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Emails
Emails are always there for you whether you want to run a digital marketing campaign or mobile marketing campaign. Creating mobile-friendly emails with special mobile coupons and sending them to your target audience is also a good idea to grab attention while running a mobile marketing campaign. Doing this will be highly effective for the entire process of your mobile marketing.
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Augmented reality
Technology is ever-changing and if you are updated about the latest technological trends, believe us, it will become difficult for your competitors to beat you. If we take this point in context with mobile marketing then augmented reality is something you should consider.
This technology of augmented reality is relatively new and it is still in its infancy. Despite this fact, it is being effectively used in many sectors along with marketing. So, find out how this technology could be helpful to you and implement it accordingly to reap benefits. If you are able to do so, it’ll be a huge advantage for your business.
These are the ways by which you can strengthen your digital presence by making your mobile presence strong. It is not only a requirement rather it is a necessity as without having a mobile presence you cannot attain the success you want. Thus, your intense focus is required to get what you need.
Best practices of mobile marketing
Planning your mobile marketing campaign strategically will take you to the path of success without many hassles. Here are some of the best practices that you should consider while strengthening your digital presence on mobile platforms
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Precision is always best
When ompared to laptops or desktops, smartphones or even tablets are significantly smaller and it is likely that smaller screens will show less content at once. So, considering this scenario, you need to convey the message in as few words as possible. Being short and precise with clear intent is always a good idea while focusing on mobile marketing.
Your goal should be to convey the message to the user without much scrolling on his/her mobile phone.
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Local optimization
Local customers provide most of the business thus, it becomes necessary for you to optimize your mobile-friendly content according to local search. Doing this will drive local customers who prefer using mobile phones for surfing the internet to look for the required products or services.
This could be a defining strategy for your mobile marketing campaign.
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Study the audience
This is not only one of the strategies for running a mobile marketing campaign but it is also one of the best practices. Studying your target audience is highly important to pick all your cards right and show them at the right time.
You need to identify the behavior of your audience on their mobile and accordingly place the ad. If your target audience spends much time while playing games then in-game ads will be best for you while if they love to stay on social media, then placing your ad on platforms like Facebook or Instagram will do the job best for you.
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Simplicity will win
It doesn’t matter whether it is your mobile-optimized website or the content you have posted, if it is anyhow complicated, people will find it difficult to navigate and understand. Thus, you must keep everything simple so that your target audience can understand the message you want to deliver.
One plus point with the simple website is that it will load faster and this will give you an added advantage to outrank competitors.
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Try out different strategies
Not many can hit the success button in a single attempt, it takes trying out different combinations, strategies, and methodologies to find out the best ones. So, if you stay a step back to try out different strategies in the fear of failure, you will never succeed.
It is advised to try out different mobile marketing strategies like Google Ad extensions and see their progress for you. Only experimenting will deliver the best for you.
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Get a report card
For every digital marketing technique including mobile marketing, measuring progress is very important. If you are not doing it then you won’t be able to know how your efforts are paying off and what is going wrong for you.
So, do track results of whatever you try to pick the best one for you and implement that to a really good effect.
The Bottom Line
You might have heard this line once in your life that “the world is a smaller place”, we have heard it several times. But things are different for us as “the technology is becoming smaller.” No, we never mean it the other way around, we mean it in a positive sense. Why we said that is because with the advancement in technology many things have experienced a reduction in their size, for example, computers, television, mobile phones, industrial machines, and many other gadgets.
Similarly, the digital marketing world is also taking a different turn and that is from desktops or laptops to palmtops. Yes, businesses have started to focus more on optimizing their strategies for mobile phones & tablets and this has become a key part of their marketing strategy.
Due to the smartness and ease of mobile phones, people have started to prefer them for most of their work over the internet, be it personal or professional. This intent of people is the prime reason for businesses to think differently for the mobile platform. And rightly so, this platform will help generate a significant part of the revenue to the businesses. Thus, there is no harm in utilizing your resources for mobile marketing.
We hope that reading this blog would have given you an idea of what mobile marketing is and what efforts you can make to successfully implement it for your business.