A Quick Guide to Understanding Mobile Marketing and Strategy

Mobile devices play a key role in consumers’ buying decisions, such as checking prices, availability, stores, and reviews. This is why over 70% of businesses consider using mobile marketing as an element in their channel mix because it’s a great platform to reach a global audience. To benefit from mobile marketing, companies need the right mobile marketing strategy.

What Is Mobile Marketing?

In general, mobile marketing is a form of digital marketing focused on reaching a target audience through their mobile devices for product or service promotion. Marketers can deliver their content to consumer devices through chat boxes, email, text messaging, rich communication services, or mobile apps. Mobile devices also allow markets to access essential consumer data such as demographics and location. This helps them customize, personalize, and target marketing campaigns to consumer locations, behaviors, and preferences.

While traditional marketing grouped audiences by demographics, mobile marketing targets audiences’ location and behaviors, because of its effectiveness in outreach. U.S. marketers spent around $120 billion only on mobile marketing in 2020.

Why Mobile Marketing Is Important Today

Three key things make mobile marketing a great addition to any marketing Channel Mix:

• Mobile penetration has increased across the world to 3.5 billion global users. The U.S. has over 450 million active wireless mobile subscribers.
• Mobile marketing allows businesses to reach a broader audience. 77.5% of global mobile devices are smartphones.
• 70% of people check their smartphones within five minutes of receiving a notification.

To add to these benefits, mobile devices have become great tools for shopping. Today, around 73% of digital purchases are done on mobile devices. Before shopping or when shopping in-store,  consumers use their mobile phones to find locations, compare prices, or read product or store reviews.

Types of Mobile Marketing Strategies or Channel

A good mobile marketing strategy should involve a multichannel approach with various mobile marketing components. The channel mix should include:

Text Messages (SMS)

Companies use  mobile messaging to send customers particular content, such as order status, promotions, offers, sales, or delivery status. SMS has a 99% open rate, meaning nearly every text is read, often within three minutes of delivery. SMS is useful when you have access to an extensive database of consumers and potential consumers. However, companies need to obtain consent before engaging customers via text messages, be consistent but not a bother, and text-only during business hours to avoid irritating customers.

Push Notifications

These are clickable ads or notifications that appear on a customer’s browser to inform or remind them of something. These notifications pop up on the user’s device or browser as long as they’re online. Examples of notifications that can be pushed are abandoned carts, shopping reminders, and proximity-based stores. Today, the average mobile phone consumer receives around 46 notifications per day.

In-App Messaging (in-game mobile marketing)

These messages appear while a consumer is using an app to increase engagement with customers using the app. In-app messaging also helps retain users by giving updates on new features, app updates, offers, or new products or services.

In-App Chat Boxes (inbox)

Most mobile notifications or messages disappear after viewing except for in-app inbox (chatbox) messages that remain in an inbox in the app — in app marketing. These chat boxes are similar to email inboxes but are within an app. This allows enhanced user experience, personalization of news, easy referencing, and display of long-term offers. Consumers will read the messages anytime like they read emails or direct SMS.

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing can enable businesses to connect and engage with their audience, drive website traffic, build their brand, and increase sales. It involves posting engaging content on different social media platforms, engaging and interacting with followers in replies and direct messages, and running ad campaigns. It also involves responding to customer requests and reviews. With social media, brands can reach over 4.26 billion people using various social media platforms worldwide. These people spend at least three hours per day on their phones.

Location-Based Marketing

This involves the use of GPRS to get your potential customers’  location. While in the customers’ area, you can tell them about your products. Sometimes location-based marketing can be targeted through social media ads and campaigns to appear on the customer’s location like Netflix targets different titles to different regions.

QR Codes

These are quick-response (QR) codes that can be scanned using a mobile phone camera. They can be on goods or ad campaigns and contain links to a company’s app or websites where customers can learn more about a brand or product information. You can use QR codes in mobile marketing in several ways:

• Download an app
• Send a message
• Direct customers to your website landing page
• Dial business number
• Show business location
• Direct customers to social media pages

Mobile Marketing Best Practices

1.   Know Your Audience

In addition to demographics, it’s important to understand your mobile audience’s psychographics to create an accurate buyer persona. You need to understand the customer’s background in terms of their:

• Age group
• Gender
• Occupation
• Spending power
• Marital status
• Income bracket
• Location
• Pain points

2.   Select the Right Channel

Once you learn the customer’s background, know their mobile habits, and their preferred messaging approach. Knowing the right channel to reach the target audience is the first win towards securing a message open and an effective campaign.

3.   Create Customized Content

Before reaching out to your target audience, you need to create and review the content you want to share. It should be attention-grabbing, insightful, and captive while being a user-friendly message. This will help you acquire an immediate connection with the audience.

Endnote

Mobile marketing presents a unique opportunity for businesses to follow customers wherever they are, including in social spaces. Consumers spend most of their time with their mobile devices, which presents a chance for engagement with companies that reach out to them. However, reaching out to consumers on their mobile devices requires effective research, planning, and meticulous execution. You shouldn’t appear like your company is invading the privacy or peace of a customer but offering a solution.