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
In a recent study from the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), they looked at the complete marketing budget for four businesses: Coca-Cola, Walmart, MasterCard and AT&T. MMA’s goal was to determine the value of mobile ad spending. After reviewing budgets and campaigns from these four companies they determined that bigger mobile budgets lead to higher advertising ROIs.
Companies are not just shifting their budgets to iPhone application development, Android application development, mobile web sites and mobile advertising because it is trendy, they are making the shift because it works.
A perfect example of this is when Coca-Cola launched its campaign for its Gold Peak Tea, they found that mobile accounted for 6% of the sales despite only requiring 5% of the budget. MMA goes on to show that if Coke had spent 10% of their budget on mobile instead of 5% that they would have seen an extra 4% in sales on this single campaign.
When it comes to Mastercard, MMA states that by allocating just 8% of their budget to mobile, they could reinforce their image as ‘a good card to carry while traveling’ by 7X. When looking at campaigns, Mastercard found mobile marketing produced 2X the results compared to campaign average. “I was surprised at how effective [mobile ads] were in relation to other media,” said Adam Broitman, vice president of global digital marketing for MasterCard.
According to Greg Stuart, CEO, MMA, “With very limited effort, brands can increase the performance of a campaign by 30 percent on average (and potentially much more) by simply reallocating funds.[to mobile]”
A key feature to mobile marketing programs, according to the report, was location targeting. Walmart program utilizing proximity targeting to reach people within range of a store proved 1.5X more effective than simply sending ads to people who had visited the store before.
Additionally, the MMA study also points out that ads that contain audio or video components produce a higher return on investment than standard display ads.