Mobile Marketing - An Option for New Businesses

 For those that have tried their hand at starting a new business, the concept of gaining new customers for your product or service can be a daunting task for most. With the rise of technology, the ability to contact prospective customers where they are is available through the medium of mobile technology. Mobile marketing can be a useful tool for the promotion of a product or service. 



Entrepreneurs and other owners of businesses are constantly on the look out for cost effective ways to gain customers and increase their profits.  Thanks to the new marketing medium using mobile technology cost effective customer acquisition methods are now available. Comparing mobile marketing to traditional marketing methods such as television, radio, or newspaper advertising, mobile marketing stands head and shoulders above the rest when it comes to gaining new customers at the lowest cost. 



The question that comes to mind is why has mobile marketing's popularity grown so popular in the past few years.  The answer is simple.  Studies have shown that about 70% of the US population uses cell phones for their day to day activities. Even more astounding is the fact that over 90% of these cell phone users have been noted to use text/SMS technology. Sending an instant message is less intrusive and more easily acceptable to the user than a letter or email. People like getting and reading text messages.  This means that if your business sent text messages which detail new promotions or other benefits to the customer, those text messages have a higher probability of actually being read than an email.  The ability to introduce your product directly to your market can increase customer awareness about your brand as well as add profits to your bottom line.



The barrier of entry for most new business when it comes to mobile marketing is how to get started. Most small business owners mistakenly think that they need to be a computer programmer in order to fully harness the use of this new form of communication.  However, mobile marketing has now become more user friendly than ever. There are numerous books, articles, and online courses that can take a person with no technical background to being able to create a mobile SMS list in no time at all. These educational tools are very affordable and extremely effective when it comes to being an out of the box marketing solution.



Coming up with a viable marketing strategy for your business is not by any means easy. But, with some dedication of your time, you can explore and utilize the mobile marketing medium to give you great results for your business. The fact that people keep their cell phones on them at all times gives the business owner the ability to reach out to your customers without breaking the bank in advertising and marketing fees. 



Once a new business understands how to harness the power of technology when it comes to mobile marketing, reaching new customers can not only be easy but fun as well.

Mobile Content Marketing Facts That Make a Difference

 There are mobile content marketing facts that make a difference in your network marketing strategies. Many businesses simply do not take advantage of mobile marketing as a way to increase their profits through effective promotions. However, mobile content marketing is becoming the new wave of advertising, and connecting to a loyal fan base, and potential customers.



There are numerous facts concerning mobile marketing that every business needs to understand. First, within the next four years, there will be more customers that have access using their mobile devices that can quickly connect to the Internet, then over their PCs.



Studies already indicate that individuals spend a significant amount of more time connected to mobile applications (over 95 minutes each day) when compared to the time spent on their desktop, or on the mobile web.



In addition to that, nearly half of all business to customer marketers use mobile content as a marketing strategy. This fact alone should indicate that other businesses need to get involved, and find the benefits of mobile marketing.



Nearly 1/3 of all business-to-business marketers use high quality mobile content as an effective marketing tactic tool. Out of that, 26% use mobile applications for promotions.



In the last two years, the tactics used by business-to-business marketers has increased significantly from 15%, up to 33%. In addition, 30% of the managers of marketing strategies believe that branded mobile applications are offering a significant important channel as an effective tool for engaging with consumers.



Nearly 8 in 10 adults in the United States own a cell phone, of which more than half of those mobile subscribers use a smart phone. Only one quarter of all Americans that are now using their mobile devices can gain access over the Internet.



When surveyed, three quarters of all users that have a smart phone said they would choose to use a connection to the mobile web rather than shopping using a mobile application. Nearly 6 in 10 of all online global consumers are now watching video movies and video television shows on their mobile device, at least one time every month.



Well over one quarter of all online global customers say that their time on their phones is dominated by social networking sites and games. In addition, three quarters of those that have a smart phone said that they would be willing to wait only five seconds and no longer for a webpage to fully load before leaving and going to a different site.



Nearly 3 out of four individuals that use a smart phone in the United States typically use their device to gain access online when they are traveling. Out of that, 65% of all users that have a smart phone in the United States use their communication device to search online, when shopping in a physical brick-and-mortar store.



Seven out of 10 individuals that search using their mobile phone lead to some type of action that is taken within the first hour. Oddly enough, it takes over one month to gain the same percentage of users on desktops to catch up.



These mobile marketing percentages are indicating that the wave of marketing on mobile devices is moving fast.

Make Mobile Marketing Work For Your Business

 With millions of people owning mobile devices, online marketers are discovering that they have to adapt to mobile marketing. People are using their mobile devices to do their daily tasks that they normally would do on their full-size computers. If your business has a web presence, you should learn how to harness the power of mobile marketing to boost the profitability of your business.



First, you have to make sure that your website displays properly on hand-held devices. Ideally, your full-size website should be scalable to accommodate different screen widths. People can be surfing using their phones, readers, and iPads which all have different widths. If your website is scalable, or responsive, you would not have to design a different landing page for every width.



You can code your website in a way that if it the width is under a certain size, then images would not display. An image that is sized for the full-size website can take up the whole screen on the mobile device. That would not look very attractive. In addition, images tend to load slowly on hand-helds. If your mobile device tries to load them all, your user would have to wait a long time. He may get discouraged and leave your site altogether. Therefore, keep your file sizes down for the best loading times.



Try to test your website on as many devices and browsers as you have access to. One way to do this is by installing device emulators on your computer. Each brand has its own emulator which you can download from the manufacturer's website. You may be able to find under "Tools for Development" or some similar heading. 



The phone number to your contact information should be coded in such away that if the user clicks on it, it would automatically dial your phone number. That is one of the beauties of mobile devices. Contacting your business becomes very easy.



You should send out special promotions just to your mobile users. A good way to do that is by provide a code to which your customers can text to to get an incentive. Your incentive can be a coupon code or a special discount. You should also consider including a quick response code, or a QR code, in your print ads so people can be directed to your website instantly just by scanning the code. The easier you make it for customers to get to your information, the better it is for your business.



You should think of ways to combine various online marketing strategies to work together. For example, if your business has a social media account, you can announce a special and include a code to which they can text to get a benefit. People like to access their social media accounts via their hand-held devices, so make posts that are relevant to mobile users as well as your regular users.



Mobile marketing can be a powerful way to market to consumers on the move. Learn more about it, and see your business improve.

Locating a Sponsor for Your Mobile Marketing Strategy

 Many businesses understand that mobile marketing is the wave of the advertising future. They see the advantages of being able to make a direct connection with their existing and potential customers, unlike any other opportunity. However, finding a sponsor to support your mobile marketing campaign will require a fair amount of planning.



While it might be thought that the most effective way to obtain a sponsor is to simply call everyone in the phone book, there is an easier solution. You can easily locate companies within your community or online, that have the identical target market as your mobile marketing campaign. You can offer to advertise their business to your targeted audience in exchange for their sponsorship.



The first step in achieving that goal is to outline a detailed plan of exactly how your mobile marketing strategy works. Be sure to include exactly who you’re intended targeted audience is, the size of the target audience, and all of the tools and methods that will be used to reach them. As an example, detail if you will be using text messaging, effective QR codes, or other techniques in your mobile marketing promotions.



Once the plans have been finalized, assemble a long list of any potential local or online sponsors. The detailed list needs to include only those businesses that will have a target audience that is much similar to yours. These businesses will be utilizing the effective sponsorship as a proven method for advertising to all of the available potential customers.



Determine exactly the appropriate method for making contact for each business you have on your sponsorship list. Many organizations will have a specific sponsorship department. Others often require the need to go through their advertising or marketing promotion department. There you can share your detailed outline with the contact individual. This is where you can indicate any other sponsors that you have already been able to sign up.



One of the key components to obtaining a quality sponsorship for your mobile marketing strategy is to create an effective presentation. The detailed visual presentation will show every available benefit the company will have by sponsoring your mobile marketing strategy campaign.



The benefits to the company in offering a sponsorship might be the availability of showing the business logo on your site, or the mention of the business as a company that is a sponsor, positioned in a prominent location in your newsletter.



Once all the details have been finalized, you can quickly sign the contract with the company that will be offering their sponsorship. The contract will state exactly what the business will be providing you in exchange for the promotion. The contract will also need to formally state exactly all of the things that you will be providing further sponsorship.



Obtaining a sponsorship for mobile marketing strategies is an effective way to generate income for your business. Take full advantage of your targeted audience, and make the most of it financially, by finding quality sponsorships today.

Important Things To Implement A Good Mobile Marketing Strategy

 If you aren't using mobile marketing in your business then what are you waiting for? Mobile phones are being used more than desktop computers to surf the web and that number is continuously growing so waiting to see your competitors to take full advantage before you decide it's worth your time is not a good idea. In the following article, you will read important things you should know to implement a good mobile marketing strategy.



Know Your Customers



Even though mobile marketing is a growing trend and one eventually every business should be using, it is important to understand if it's actually appropriate for your customer base today. There is no use pushing your QR (Quick Response) campaign if no one even understands what that is. What is the average age of your clientele? This combined with doing a quick survey will determine if this is right for your business.



Having A Mobile Version Of Your Website



We will assume as a business owner that you've invested in a website that attracts your customers and gets compliments as well. One thing you should know though is that not all websites are optimized to be viewed properly on a mobile device so making sure you have a mobile ready version set up prior to starting a mobile campaign will increase your chances of successful campaigns.



Email Formatted Properly



Another assumption we will make is you have built up an email list of your customers. This ensures that you can keep in touch with them and provide relevant and up to date news on your business. While emailing them, one should make sure the email is formatted best for readability on mobile phones. Always include a text version of your email if you normally use HTML templates. A maximum width of 640 pixels should be used in an HTML email, with a minimum consideration of 10px padding. What this means is you're making sure that bigger and possibly clumsy fingers won't click on something by accident. 



Use A Texting Service



Although browsing the internet through the phone is growing in popularity, texting is still the king as far as messages are concerned. One doesn't need to have a smart phone to implement a good texting strategy so using a broadcast texting service is a must for any good mobile marketing strategy. The investment is quite minimal due to improving and competing technologies and growing a text based list is quite simple to implement.



Mobile Apps



As mentioned, the use of smart phones is growing at an ever increasing pace so creating your own mobile application can be a good investment. This operates the same way as texting but one can push unlimited messages through the application and only worry about hosting fees which is very competitive. The overall experience is much more gratifying for many due to the rich features one can include on an app.



As one can see, we've only scratched the surface on what is possible through mobile marketing. Make sure to consider these above mentioned tips to get the best results.

I’m Getting Into Mobile Marketing

 I am getting into mobile marketing. I see so much promise in this area. I read in an article that almost everyone on earth has a cellphone that is if you just count the number of people on earth and the amount of phones that are made. Also, with these smart phones, people are basically carrying a personal computer in their pocket that they keep on them 24/7. As a marketer this makes me smile because I immediately think that I can contact them whenever I want. It also means that they are probably on the internet for most of the day





Smart phones have made it so that mobile marketing will be a game changer. There will be more people on the net at all times of day, these people will be performing searches and looking for products. They are creating their own market and it is our job to come in and market products and services to them. Even brick and mortar companies should be able to see the profit in having the internet strapped to people all day. I am going to be doing all day marketing trying to reach these people.





I think that service based businesses should really jump at this. Plumbers, roofers, painter, HVAC guys--- Anyone who people call when they have a problem. I see the scenario where someone jumps on their smart phone when a tree falls on their house, when a pipe bursts or when their AC/Heat goes out at the most stressful time. All the people with these problems are going to jump on their smart phone and look for service based businesses to help them in their time of need. They aren't going to check the phone book or the paper for these businesses, they will check the internet.



But will they find you when they need you? That is the question that businesses have to answer. If you can't find your company when doing an industry Google search then no, they will not find you. The people that they do find will get their money and business. You need and SEO website and you need a website set up for mobile customers. These two things will allow you to compete in this market and if you do it right, it will help you dominate your competition. You just need the right team to build these web assets.





As you can see, mobile marketing is the future. Smart phones running on high speed networks allow consumers to stay on the internet 24/7. These people will be looking for companies to help them and they will be looking for consumer goods. It is our job to give them what they need. We have to invest in web assets that will allow them to find us when they need us 24/7 and this takes a bit of SEO, SEM and mobile marketing know how. Companies who invest in this strategy will see increased profits and revenue each year.