Mobile marketing might appear very complicated at first. Once you know what you are doing, it can be a very profitable strategy. If you don’t know what you are doing, you can lose a lot of money or lose customers. Fear not, the tips listed below can help you avoid this.
Invest some time and effort into making your mobile marketing technique personal and customizable. If you are creating an application, make it unique and simple to use and consider providing customers with relevant customization options. If you are not creating a full blown application, at least make your mobile communications engaging and enjoyable.
Send offers or communications sparingly as part of your mobile marketing campaign. Customers sign up to receive valuable and relevant information or offers but do not respond well to overwhelming volumes of messages. Many people today are bombarded by e-mails and text messages, so make sure your communications stand out as providing value without being annoying.
Link to specific parts of your website. If you are having a special sale on one part of your site, you should link directly to that site. Mobile sites can sometimes be difficult to navigate, but if you give customers direct access, they are more likely to take the time to look, and possibly buy.
Use mobile marketing as a means of communication not a means for profit. Your business may be very important to you, but you need to remember that customers do not take well to being treated like money bags. Using your mobile campaign to actually talk to them will increase your sales more than promotions.
Make sure your customers know their business is appreciated. Give them special offers, discounts based on hallmark goals or even a simple thank you note. They need to know you value their business or they may take it to someone who will go that extra step.
More and more people are doing the majority of their web browsing directly from their mobile device as opposed to a computer. This is essential to know because if you do not direct advertising efforts toward mobile marketing, then you are completely missing out on a particularly large audience.
Make sure that your company and brand are instantly identifiable from the beginning of a mobile marketing message. If your consumers have to read though the entire text to find out what company it is from, they will be annoyed and possibly see it as a sneaky marketing ploy.
Perhaps mobile users would like to be treated a little better than the average user, and perhaps you could make them feel as if they’re getting a little extra by subscribing to your mobile site or app. You can offer special rewards just for mobile users in order to increase the mobile side of your business.
Listen to your customers in your mobile marketing campaign so that you can always better cater to them. If you assume you know what your customers want, you are going to make a serious you-know-what out of yourself. Instead of assuming, listen to their needs and then work from an informed standpoint.
The ads you run on mobile websites also need to be properly formatted, so this is something you definitely have to look into if you’re planning on running ads at all. Check out services like Apple’s iAd and MobClix to find various ways to run banner ads on mobile websites.
Make it very easy for your customers to unsubscribe from receiving your text messages. Many times having the option to reply with the word ‘stop’ will be the easiest way. This will lower any frustration if a customer no longer wants to receive texts. Remember that just because they don’t want a text does not mean they do not want to be a customer.
Be sure to lay claim to your business in each social network’s location pages. In mobile marketing, it’s all about location, location, location. Smart mobile devices, all have location awareness built into their systems, so users can tell what is around them. Make sure they can find you by claiming your page on sites, like Foursquare, Facebook Places, Gowalla and Google Places.
Having a QR code is an important factor in mobile marketing. QR codes are the new box codes that can be scanned by a mobile device or a smartphone. They are extremely effective in connecting your customers with your brand. Try linking the QR code with some sort of coupon or discount for maximum results.
If you often have great sales or give-aways, consider using SMS to get the word out. Text messages shine in their ability to cut through the clutter of an otherwise busy, application-filled mobile device. The messages usually trigger a pop-up notification on the system, making SMS a terrific choice for getting the word out about a sale that can’t be missed. But be careful to only text message customers who have signed up to receive them, as many people feel SMS mobile marketing is invasive. It could have the opposite effect than your intent.
Do not neglect mobile marketing. The market is growing and changing everyday. You have to find new ways to reach out to your audience. Mobile marketing is not a novelty, it is a necessity, if you want to see your business grow. If you have never done any kind of mobile marketing before, you should start now.
So as you can see, mobile marketing is not as complicated as it may appear. You do need to research the basics, and methodically apply what you learn. With the above tips in mind, you should be smarter and more effective when it comes to creating your mobile marketing plan.