Since the shift from PCs to smart phones and now wearable devices, marketing and advertising has been turned on its head.
Consumers are now in the drivers seat and can determine when and where they want to hear from brands. Consumers have come to expect things to happen right now in a personalized fashion.
And as a result, companies must learn how to create multi-channel customer communications that address these changes. While this potentially creates creative challenges for businesses it also creates the opportunity to connect with consumers on a whole new level.
Consumer’s mobile behavior is also pushing businesses and mobile application developers to be increasingly more innovative to improve user experiences.
Beyond what your customer’s experience, they are creating an unprecedented amount of data. This data is available to be collected and analyzed if your business chooses to do so. The opportunity exists to even do so in real time, giving your marketing team the option to deliver the right message to the right person on the right device at precisely the right time.
In the past business wasn’t able to turn on a dime when it came to marketing and advertising but in today’s world real-time content creation and publishing are the norm. Modern interfaces allow business users intuitive tools to publish content from multiple internal sources across a variety channels.
With the additional requirements of developing messaging for multiple channels, many businesses have found relief by being able to outsource whenever possible. In the modern economic paradigm, tasks that can be outsourced, must be. Often as content is being carefully targeted it is harder to produce externally, which leaves creation of tech and the systems as perfect opportunities for outsourcing to iPhone application developers and Android application developers. This frees your internal resources to have laser like focus on the items that require the deep levels of customer understanding, while you can outsource items that require technical mastery to companies that have the resources to complete the tasks.
This helps your marketing staff remain free from being distracted by technical issues. Marketers thrive in this environment free of unnecessary tasks, where they are able to leverage technology.
Photo: Luke Ma (Flikr) http://bit.ly/1CFd1P1
Mobile has revolutionized not only the way we interact and communicate but how we do business and as such, mobile has become a vital aspect of “how we do business” to businesses of all sizes around the globe.
Whether you are just looking to dip your toes in or to have a responsive web site built or to contact an iPhone application developer or Android application developer, it is important that your business understands the importance of mobile and the implications of it when it comes to doing business in the future.
First of all, consider that mobile is a lively, active medium that is regularly on your customers minds. According to Mobile Marketing Watch, 46% of smartphone users say they utilize their mobile devices as their primary search tool. Their research went on to reinforce the importance of smart phones showing that 91% of smart phone users check their email at least once per day from their phones. Additionally, 76% use their smart phone for social media at least once a day. Beyond that mobile devices are shown to be critical to retails as 35 % of in-store shoppers actively comparison check prices on their smart phones while shopping and 31% look up product information while shopping.
But beyond that, mobile marketing is a highly effective advertising medium. According to a recent Smart Mobile Cross Marketing Effectiveness study, “mobile is a strong driver of campaign performance across the entire purchase funnel. From upper funnel metrics like awareness and image, to purchase intent and actual behavior (foot traffic or sales), the empirical evidence proves that mobile has a fervent contribution to campaign results, justifying a double-digit allocation of the entire media budget (not just digital) to mobile.”
Mobile allows you to engage directly with customers in ways business never could before. From giving exclusive offers to your mobile app users when they are in a location to take advantage of the offer to building in functionality to allowing your customers to customize their shopping experience, mobile takes engagement to a whole new level. If you make the experience personal your users, they will be more engaged and more likely to return.
Beyond the now, forward thinking businesses are looking at The Internet of Things and the opportunities that it offers to businesses. The Internet of Things is growing exponentially and creates incredible opportunities for businesses to serve customers with new levels of service and convenience that they never imagined before.
Image: Kent Chen (Flickr) http://bit.ly/1N5f2PY
At the recent Mobile Marketing Association Forum it was disclosed that an impressive 68% of mobile marketers are utilizing location based targeting. They further laid out predictions for more brands to utilize location as a key data source to help them market in the future. And its no surprise since location based mobile marketing is all about delivering the right message to the right person at the right place and time.
Mobile based programs featuring location based targeting can propel sales through messaging and spark impulse purchases. Location allows businesses to provide contextually relevant content to consumers. Savvy brands will leverage a consumer’s location with demographic information and predictive behavioral targeting to improve the effectiveness of their marketing efforts. iPhone Application developers and Android application developers can help you integrate these features into your mobile application development program.
Beacons will soon be invaluable tools for marketers to interact with consumers, as well as for collecting data about user’s preferences and building profiles that can be used to improve customer experiences by delivering messaging that is personalized to the consumer’s preferences and buying habits.
Geo-Fencing is a common tool as it allows retailers or other businesses to automatically alert customers to deals, discounts and more when they are near their location. These are sent to consumers via push notifications that are shown to currently have a very impressive 40% click through rate on average [Andrew Chen].
But don’t forget to personalize the content as people do not engage if content is not relevant. In a recent survey by Cisco, a full 46% of those surveyed said they would like personalized promotions delivered to their smartphone. The better you can engage people on their terms, the happier they will be.
Location based mobile advertising gives you a method of engagement with you customer base that is more targeted, more impactful and more actionable than other forms of advertising.
Image: Kārlis Dambrāns (Flickr) http://bit.ly/1HCzhO8