Sep

Where are you with mobile marketing?

All signs point to m-commerce.

It’s always fascinating to see the next big thing blossom and keep abreast of the buzz. Of course, you can’t do such a thing if you don’t know what “that thing” is. In marketing, it’s mobile marketing.

I subscribe to a ton of news feeds. Sure, the secrets of social media are omnipresent. However, from where I sit, it’s undeniable: mobile marketing looms even larger than social media. The experts say it’s bound to dwarf it.

In an attempt to keep pace with the mobile mavens, I’ve been subscribing to blogs, attending webinars, and clicking around the web whenever my time allows. I’ll share with you some of the biggest bullets.

• Two-thirds of us Earthlings own a mobile phone. (Is that incredible?) A slightly smaller percentage own toothbrushes. Seriously. Jamie Turner of 60 Second Marketer said so in a HubSpot webinar.
• Gartner claims within 15 months the number one way people will access the Internet will be via mobile devices. (Jamie said that too.)
• Mobile coupons generate 10X the redemption rate of traditional coupons. 70% of all mobile searches are acted upon within an hour.

Now, consider these ideas:

• Text is the most popular form of communication today.
• Nearly every text message sent gets read.
• Generally, mobile phone users keep their phones with them at all times.
• Apple and Google consider themselves “mobile first” companies.

So what’s coming to your handheld device?

• More geographically targeted messages.
• More demographically targeted messages.
• More time-of-day-based messages.

What’s a marketer to do?

• Make a mobile version of your website—now!
• Keep a close eye on how your market is going mobile.
• Read about mobile marketing everywhere you can starting with www.mobilecommercedaily.com
• Claim your business on location-based applications and services.
• Conduct mobile ad campaigns.
• Join the QR craze (QRaze, if you will).
• Make mobile-only offers to your customers.
• Create an app.

I have a point. Whichever direction you turn, you’ll be going down the mobile marketing road—or going away.

Filed under: Marketing communications pointers, Mobile marketing by Barry Feldman
No Comments »