Are you reading this post from a mobile device? I’m certain, considering that 80% of internet users own a smartphone.

Both marketers and consumers begin their web services on mobile. Digital marketers in particular are excited to run mobile campaigns, because they know that mobile users are motivated buyers.

According to Salesforce, “68% of companies have integrated mobile marketing into their overall marketing strategy.”

The earlier you start reaching out to them, and solving their problems, the more results you will get in your business.

It’s no secret that building a successful online business has its challenges. One of such is knowing how to interact with potential customers on different platforms and devices.

Not only will you get the best results out of mobile, but a good understanding of how mobile marketing works will put you in total control of your marketing. 카지노사이트

Let me get you started with a quick definition.

What is Mobile Marketing?
Andreas Kaplan defines mobile marketing as:

“Any marketing activity conducted through a ubiquitous network to which consumers are constantly connected using a personal mobile device.”

Wikipedia defines it as “marketing on or with a mobile device”.

Margaret Rouse defines it as:

“As a promotional activity designed for delivery to cell phones, smartphones, and other handheld devices, usually as a component of a multi-channel campaign.”

I define it as marketing for mobile users.

Mobile phones are changing the way your target audience and customers engage with your brand. People visit your website on their phones, open your emails on smartphones, and buy from your store through their phones.

Putting your business right where your customers are – on the go – is what mobile marketing is all about. Any marketing plan today that ignores mobile marketing is a failed plan.

A Brief History of Mobile Marketing
The history of mobile marketing links back to the time when the first commercial mobile SMS and shortcodes were launched in 2003.

Pontiac and Nike were the first two brands that launched SMS campaigns in 2005. This was the time when both brands realized that mobile marketing is the future because people were crazy about mobile phones.

By 2007, there were 2.4 billion SMS users throughout the globe. Apple launched its first iPhone in the US and QR codes were incorporated into mobile marketing in 2010, which led to the beginning of a new era in marketing.

By 2011, mobile marketing was a $14 billion dollar global industry.

By 2013, Android and iOS had dominated the market and it’s the time when apps were becoming popular and smartphones were replacing traditional mobile phones. 안전한카지노사이트

By 2014, the number of mobile phone users exceeded the number of computer users and people were accessing the internet from their phones.

Today, 89% of mobile time is spent on apps while the remaining 11% is spent on websites. This is the number one reason why 71% marketers say that mobile marketing is core to their business, while 68% brands have integrated mobile marketing into their overall marketing strategy.

Brands that lack a mobile marketing strategy must rethink their marketing strategy, because all such brands are losing customers every second.

Why Mobile Marketing?
Why is mobile marketing so important today? You may not fully be aware, but let’s explore some of the reasons to pay undivided attention to it:

1) Reach: When reach is a concern, there’s nothing easier than a mobile phone to reach your target audience. 79% smartphone users reported that their phone is the first thing they check in the morning, and they keep their phone near them throughout the day.

But that’s not all. An average mobile phone user spends 90 minutes a day on their phone, while the US consumers spend as much as 220 minutes a day on their phones. This average time is increasing every day.

There couldn’t be any other easier way to reach your consumers. You can reach them anywhere, anytime, as long as you have a solid mobile marketing strategy in place.

Mobile marketing reaches where other marketing channels simply don’t. So you can come up with a new app idea.

2) Personal: A mobile phone is a personal device. According to a research study, 91% mobile phone users keep their phone within one arm’s reach throughout the day.

When you connect with your consumers through mobile, your brand is put in the same category as the friends and family of the user.

People connect better with brands that establish a one-on-one connection with them, and there’s nothing better than a mobile phone to build this personal connection.

3) Instant: If you have to send a message instantly to your customers, what medium would you choose?

Research shows that 90% of the text messages are read in less than three minutes, while in another study it was shown that text messages have 98% open rate.

Mobile marketing doesn’t just have tremendous reach but it delivers the message instantly. Unlike email marketing where response rate is just 6%, text messages have an exceptional response rate of 45%.

Text messages are delivered instantly, are read instantly, and produces staggering results for brands.

4) Mobile ecommerce: Consumers prefer buying from their mobile devices. More than 44% of time spent on the internet is on mobile phones. As much as 78% of mobile phone searches resulted in a purchase.

Mobile commerce is rapidly growing and is expected to dominate ecommerce in the future. Mobile commerce attributes 34% of global ecommerce in 2016, and it’s expected to grow 31% by 2017.

There is no excuse for businesses to still ignore mobile marketing. Or what do you think?

5) Cost-effective: Mobile marketing is extremely cost-effective as compared to other marketing techniques.

For instance, running an ad on TV is way expensive than running a SMS campaign or creating a mobile optimized website. So you’ll make more money in the long run.

6) Customer engagement: Your customers will trust you better if they have a good experience with your brand on their mobile phones. Research shows that 61% of people develop a nice opinion of brands when they do not face any issue visiting the website from their mobile phones.

While 30% of customers will leave your website if it isn’t optimized for mobile. 카지노사이트 추천

Mobile optimized website and better mobile marketing strategy will not just increase sales, but you will have a pool of happy satisfied customers who will stick to your brand for years to come.

How Mobile Marketing Works
Mobile marketing works similar to other types of marketing. There’s only one difference – your customers use their mobile to find and reach your business.

In a nutshell, you target, connect, and communicate with them through their mobile devices.

Right now, Smartphones, Tablets, and Games Console are the emerging devices that people use to connect to the internet. In fact, 80% of internet users use smartphones.

Your customers are already on mobile, therefore you need to be there. If you aren’t putting your brand in front of them through their mobile phones, your competitors will (most of them will be doing it as you read this).

So let’s briefly look at how mobile marketing works:

i). Develop a mobile marketing strategy. (discussed below)

ii). Choose a relevant mobile marketing type based on your objectives and business strategy (discussed below)

iii). Track, analyze, and tweak to the strategy to make it better.

How to Develop A Mobile Marketing Strategy
Mobile marketing includes a whole set of activities that are linked to the business strategy and overall marketing strategy. Mobile marketing doesn’t work the same all the time for all the businesses. It varies – it varies a lot.

Here are the steps that brands must stick to in order to make mobile marketing effective:

Define objectives for mobile marketing
Define mobile target audience and market
Go mobile
Integrate
1) Define objectives for mobile marketing
It begins with a goal, an objective. You can’t go far without it.

Do you want to capture leads from mobile audience? Do you want to run a mobile ad campaign? Do you plan to send coupons to your target audience via text to increase sales in certain geographical locations?

Keep your goals realistic yet challenging.

The campaign by Unilever Hindustan for Kan Khajura Tesan is really an interesting mobile case study. The objective was damn clear and simple:

“With consumers in key regions of rural India lacking access to television and uninterrupted electricity, Hindustan Unilever needed to get creative to earn more share of voice.”

Unilever launched its own mobile entertainment channel which was accessible through a toll-free number.

As a result, the advertisement for three Unilever brands was heard more than 20 million times, and within just six months, Unilever gained 8 million new subscribers with its channel having more than 12 million subscribers.

As long as you have a clear objective, you can get it done with mobile marketing.

2) Define mobile target audience and market
The target market and target audience for your mobile marketing campaign can be same or totally different from your business’s target audience.

3) Go mobile
Make your website mobile responsive – if it isn’t already.

Why?

Because when you reach out to your target audience via mobile, they are most likely to visit your website before taking any action.

Not having a website optimized for mobile means you are wasting your money and losing customers. You may even annoy your audience.

More than 57% of customers will not recommend a website to others if they had a bad mobile experience with it. Do you want to irritate your potential buyers or you intend to serve them?

A mobile responsive website isn’t necessary for your mobile strategy, but it has several benefits such as improvement in organic search rankings, reduction in load time, better user engagement, etc.

Irrespective of whether you’re going wild with SMS marketing, app marketing strategies, or mobile ads, your website must be optimized for mobile and must display perfectly on all devices.

4) Integrate
Finally, integrate your business activities with the mobile strategy so your customers get what they expect.

Some 44% of millennials want their favorite brands to maintain a human interaction with them on mobile while another 39% want their brands to have an active social media presence.

Mobile phones are primarily used for socializing. Integrate your social networks, customer support, digital content marketing, and other business activities. Your customers are eager to relate with you via mobile.