Is your business ready for mobile marketing?

Mobile marketing is a multi-channel digital marketing strategy aimed at reaching a target audience on their smartphones, tablets, and/or other mobile devices, through websites, email, SMS, social media, and apps.

In 2016, the inevitable happened, and mobile devices overtook desktop computers as the primary device used to access websites. This was not a huge surprise because, as far back as 2015, Google reported that more searches were performed on mobile devices than any other category of device.

Mobile devices are revolutionizing the way people interact with brands. Everything that can be done on a desktop is now available on a mobile device. From opening an email to visiting your website and reading your content, everything is accessible through a small mobile screen.

Consider these statistics:

– Mobile now accounts for nearly 70% of digital media time [Source: comScore]
– Up to 60% of searches come from mobile devices (Source: Hitwise)
– US consumers spend 87 hours a month browsing on their smartphones (Source: Smart Insights)
– 53% of US consumers use their smartphones to access search engines at least once a day (Source: Google and Mobile Marketing Association Survey)

What do top marketers think about mobile? Salesforce, V12data and Adestra surveys:

– 68% of companies have integrated mobile marketing into their overall strategy
– 79% of marketers believe that mobile devices are essential to their business.
– 77% of marketers say mobile generates ROI
– 71% of marketers believe mobile marketing is critical to their business.
– The two most popular ways businesses optimize for mobile are (1) using a simple template that works for all devices (52%) and (2) creating a mobile-responsive email template (39%) .

I think we should pay attention!

… What if we don’t optimize for mobile?

– Google says 61% of users are unlikely to return to a mobile site they had trouble accessing, and 40% instead visit a competitor’s site. (MicKinsey and company)
– 57% of consumers say they won’t recommend companies with poor mobile site design. (Source: socPub)

Here’s what to keep in mind to optimize for mobile:

Your business website or blog MUST BE “RESPONSIVE” – If you use WordPress, WIx, SquareSpace, Weebly or Shopify, make sure the template or theme “responsive” to the screen size of the device – desktop, tablet or mobile.

However, even though responsive design has been around for a while and is pretty well established, most sites tend to fall short on usability. Meaning, most sites are still built for desktop and then re-branded for mobile. That form filler that was mildly annoying on desktop is an absolute hog on mobile. Even if he is receptive.

TIP: BUILD YOUR PAGES WITH MOBILE IN MIND FIRST. TEST ON MOBILE. THEN DESKTOP

Avoid Flash or Java: Apple products do not support Flash and have stated that they have no intention of doing so in the future.

Optimize your images for mobile: Don’t use HUGE file size images that will cause your page to load slower or drive visitors to another site! You can use WP Smush to detect and compress large image files on your site.

Google Analytics – Make sure the Google Analytics code is installed on your website so you can see mobile activity. You will be surprised.

Writing for mobile devices:

Website

– Phone screens are small. Write in a way that is easily readable
– Use bullets
– Write short and strong titles
– Keep paragraphs short
– Use a text size that is legible

Email

– Short email subject line
– Use a mobile responsive email design template
– Headline Analyzer is a great tool to preview subject lines

Test your mobile site with Google

If your pages are not optimized for smartphones, they will not rank at all in mobile search. With more than half of Google’s queries coming from mobile, that’s not something you can tolerate in 2017. The focus on mobile is likely to continue Google’s commitment to shift to mobile-first indexing.

There are three great tools that Google offers to test your website:
– Test your mobile speed: Most sites lose half of their visitors if the load is slow.
– Analyze your website’s performance with PageSpeed ​​​​​​Insights so you can identify ways to make your site faster and more mobile-friendly.
– Is your website mobile friendly? Test how easily a visitor can use your page on a mobile device.

Mobile Marketing with SMS (Short Message Service)

The short message service or SMS is undoubtedly an excellent strategy for companies that want to connect with more customers.

If increasing sales and improving customer communication is on your list this year, but you don’t have a hefty budget and hours of spare time; SMS is a small but powerful marketing tool that should not be overlooked:

90% of SMS messages are opened in 3 minutes (compared to 90 minutes for email)
The open rate for SMS is 98% compared to 22% for emails.
Text messages are 8 times more effective at attracting customers
Nearly 50% of US consumers make direct purchases after receiving a branded SMS text message

REMEMBER:

Direct marketing to mobile devices is more personal than targeting an audience through other channels.
When you communicate with someone on a mobile device via SMS, you are communicating with that person in your pocket or bag
Be personal, respectful and clear.
Keep text under 160 characters
Do not use jargon or abbreviations.
Offer the recipient something of value
Make it clear who is sending the message.
Create a clear call to action

Start collecting mobile phone numbers from your customers to build your SMS list!

You can check out this full list of third-party vendors to work with; these are the main ones:

TRUMPIA
TEXT
EZTEXTS

Is your business ready for mobile devices? If you’re not there, you’re nowhere!

Dont wait. Go mobile today!