MOBILE MARKETING

Don’t be an Ostrich

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Future-proof your Business with Mobile marketing

A lot of business owners, especially with a bricks and mortar business like to pretend that the Internet isn’t happening. They think that if they ignore it and put their head in the proverbial sand, that it will go away.

Sorry, but it is time to take their heads out of the sand and face reality. It isn’t going anywhere. The Internet is here to stay. It is like a juggernaut that is thundering along, gaining more and more momentum and your customers are moving with it.

Right now, just having a website is not enough anymore. It is vital that your business has a mobile friendly version.

Your customers are not going to wait until you do have one created. If they can’t see your site properly (if at all) on their smartphones they will spend their money somewhere else…your competition.

This is not scaremongering. The statistics all around are warning us what is happening right now. 51% of the mobile subscribers in the UK own a Smartphone and 49% of the mobile subscribers in the United States. They are eager to use your services. 9 out of 10 mobile searches that they make lead to action, over half leading to purchase.

The numbers are growing. 9 out 10 phones now sold are Smartphone’s. In the first quarter of 2012 alone, almost 145 million smartphones were sold. By the end of 2012, it has been estimated that more smartphones will be sold than PCs, with estimated sales of 657 million smartphones sold to consumers. As an experiment, ask your friends and family what kind of phone they have. If they don’t have a Smartphone at the moment, no doubt they will tell you that they will be getting one soon.

Smartphones are an important part of your customer’s lives. They are addicted to them. They are using them for Twitter posts, updating their Facebook status and for shopping online.

If you provide a product or service that they want, they will expect to be able to see your website on their phone.

If your website content is not easy to read on a mobile phone, you are in trouble because most mobile users will simply leave your site and take their business elsewhere.

So even if you don’t think that you need a mobile version of your website, you will actually be doing your business a lot of harm by ignoring the statistics and your customer’s needs. Every day that you don’t have a mobile web site you will be losing customers – Customers with money to spend looking for your product or services.

Whether you are a dentist, a local retailer, a chiropractor, a florist or a landscape gardener, you can reach all of your clients more effectively and easier by having a mobile web site.

Having a mobile website will future-proof your business by opening the doors to literally hundreds of new and creative ways to drive traffic to your site. For example QR (quick response) codes will allow you to create unlimited marketing campaigns that will drive potential customers to specific mobile friendly landing pages with calls to action that work (see page 9 for more information about QR codes)

Recent figures show that 50% of Smartphone uses have scanned a QR code and 18% of them purchased after a result. That is 18% extra customers that you would not have got without your mobile marketing platform. Can you see the potential for your business?

What some business owners forget is that it is not your customer’s job to remember that you are in business. You need to remind them constantly that you are there.

Using the right tools and resources is vital. We see some businesses owners attempting to draw attention to their business by throwing away good money on large newspaper ads, the Yellow Pages and flyers.

Newspapers and the Yellow pages are a dying business model and in most cases it is a waste of time putting a one-time advertisement in them. Flyers are expensive and have only reach a limited demographic.

Mobile marketing is the most effective way of keeping in contact with your current and potential customers that may have forgotten you or not known that you were there.

We would advise any business considering using mobile marketing to reach potentially millions more customers to talk to an expert on how they can employ traffic generating marketing strategies and turbo-charge their business.

Having a mobile friendly site will not only impress your clients but will set you well apart from your competition who still have their heads in the sand and are refusing to acknowledge that times are moving at such a terrific pace.

You will find our contact details on page 3. Why not take a few minutes to contact us for a no obligation chat and we will gladly advise you on how you can reach even more customers by providing the type of content and user experience that your customers expect using their smartphones.

Give Your Business the Competitive Edge With Mobile Marketing

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According to the owners of Google, mobile marketing is the “fastest growing platform” that they have seen so far.

Mobile marketing definitely puts your local business ahead of your competitors because it gives you the ability to present your existing customers with a totally new experience and it also gives you the opportunity to potentially connect with millions of global users who don’t own or bother to use their desktop computers.

The whole world is there at their fingertips.

Most local businesses have not even grasped the importance of mobile marketing so this gives your business the edge.

Get in early and steal all of the customers that they might have got if only they had been as marketing savvy as you.

We will give you all of the information that you need to make an informed decision about mobile marketing.

QR Codes Are Free Marketing!

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QR code

You may have seen or heard about QR codes, but weren’t sure how they worked, what they were for and how they could benefit your small business. QR codes stand for “Quick Response” codes and are a matrix barcode similar to a barcode that’s on most every retail product these days, but holds much more data and information. Bar codes hold up to 20 digits, but QR codes are 2-D matrices that can hold thousands of letters and numbers of data.

Smart phones – whether iPhone, Android or Google branded devices – read QR codes and use the data to access a mobile website, mobile offer or other digital content. Companies and small businesses are using QR codes to link to sign up pages for mobile text lists, mobile coupon offers and mobile app downloads or contest pages on mobile websites or to send people to their Facebook page or to a mobile app or other download site.

QR codes have been used effectively for over a decade in Japan – their country of origin – by many different types of businesses. QR codes differ from other aspects of mobile marketing because they need to be placed somewhere that they can be easily scanned by mobile devices.

QR codes are perfect marketing tools for small businesses because they are free to create and use. Some of the places that businesses use QR codes are:

  • On marketing materials like flyers and brochures – these can link to a specific page on your mobile website or a specific offerQR code
  • On business cards – on the front if there’s room, if not on the back – and links to a specific offer or opt-in page
  • On sales receipts – offering a discount on the next purchase when customers opt-in to your email text list or other promotion
  • On restaurant menus – particularly take-out menus – that can link to a page where people can order takeout or delivery on the go
  • On vehicles – your company car, personal car, cars of friends and family – that link to your mobile website or a mobile opt-in offer
  • On flyers – posting flyers on phone poles, bulletin boards or car windshields with codes that link to offers
  • On packaging – these can link to information pages about the products or instant coupons to encourage purchase

QR codes are time savers because they allow your customers and potential customers to have instant access to your company’s mobile website, text opt-in page or mobile offers while on the go with a quick snap. Busy people won’t call a number and they may forget your website url, but they appreciate the instant gratification of clicking and getting information and access they want – when they want it and are in the mood to receive your message.

Because they cost virtually nothing to implement, there’s no reason not to try to integrate QR codes into every small business marketing strategy. QR codes are exciting, because there’s really no limit to what you can offer to your customers and potential customers using this low-cost flexible marketing tool.

Consumer Focused Mobile Marketing Drives Profits

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A recently released survey by Web.com on small business mobile usage revealed that 84% of small businesses that use mobile marketing have seen an increase in business. But before you jump blindly into mobile marketing, you need to craft a strategy that will most effectively leverage your resources to increase profits.

To know how to effectively reach your target consumers, you need to understand their wants and needs. If you have regular customers, you can ask them what they would like to see on your mobile website, if they are interested in mobile offers and what they feel your business is lacking in terms of marketing.

Another good way to analyze your mobile marketing needs is to see how browsers of your full website navigate your site. You can use free tools such as Google Analytics to see which links are most often clicked on or try a low cost ($9/month) service such as CrazyEgg.com. CrazyEgg creates a heatmap of your site that will show you what parts of your site people hover on and click on, even if they are not links.

Even if you only sign up for an analytics service for one month, this should give you an idea of what people are looking at on your full site – this should give you some ideas of what to include on your mobile website. If you offer discounts or disclose pricing on your website and see heavy activity there, this can be an indication that mobile coupons and offers would be greeted eagerly.

By looking at what areas of your full site generate the most action, you can refine your mobile marketing strategy to be most efficient. For instance, restaurant websites may see a lot of action on their online menu or delivery/takeout options. Dry cleaners may see more action on their price list areas. Based on the analysis, you can design your mobile website interface to get the consumer quickly to their area of interest.

Equally as important, you can eliminate from your mobile marketing program, the portions of your full website that aren’t seeing any action. This will streamline your marketing approach. As well as considering your standard website browsing activity, think about what people ask when they are in your establishment and what they want to know when they call. Your mobile web presence should be designed to provide all of the information people seek via all of your communication channels. Here’s what you are likely to find:

  • Callers may ask your days/hours of operation
  • Callers may ask about special events
  • Callers may ask about discounts or promotions
  • Callers may ask about your inventory/menu/services
  • Callers may ask for directions or landmarks to find your establishment

Once you’ve accumulated all of the input, you can devise a mobile marketing strategy that will meet all these needs using an easy-to-navigate format that will get them the information they need with the least clicks and least hassle possible.

When you meet the needs of potential customers by giving them a positive mobile web experience, you greatly increase the odds of them transacting with you. And if you don’t meet those needs, the results will be less in your favor. If your mobile website doesn’t load correctly or rapidly, 33% of mobile web users will immediately click off of your website and look to your competition and 57% of people will not recommend your business due to an unfavorable web experience.

So by all means, establish a mobile marketing plan for your small business, but be sure to do your pre-work rather than jumping in blindly – remember the customer is what matters!

The Power of Mobile Marketing!

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Think about how many people you see out and about with smart phones in hand – checking emails on the go – texting friends and family – watching videos and surfing the web. It’s a growing trend and businesses who tap into the mobile communication stream are profiting and growing their businesses.

There are many different aspects of mobile marketing –

• Mobile Websites
• Text Marketing
• Mobile Coupons
• Mobile Tagging (QR Codes, etc.)
• Mobile Applications (Apps)

Businesses small and large are implementing mobile marketing strategies to bring in customers, move inventory, increase appointments and increase revenues. No matter what your small business is or does, you can profit using low-cost mobile marketing strategies. Here are some examples of the power of mobile marketing –

• Medical, dental, optometrists and chiropractic practices use mobile marketing to remind patients of appointments, follow up on office visits, provide wellness information and promote new service offerings to encourage ongoing use of the service provider

• Beauty salons, barbershops, health spas, massage therapists and aestheticians use mobile marketing to prevent cancellations by offering pre-appointment reminders, to fill open time slots or increase foot traffic on slow business days

• Retailers, whether clothing stores, accessories shops, bookstores, wine and liquor stores use mobile marketing to move dormant inventory through discounts offerings, promote new products and advertise special sales and in-store events

• Service providers such as auto repair shops, landscapers, housepainters, handymen, HVAC, carpet cleaners and maid services use mobile marketing to promote services and offer discounts to increase their client base

• Restaurants, bars and nightclubs use mobile marketing to fill empty seats on sluggish nights with last-minute coupons and offers to bring in customers and invigorate profits on what would have been dead nights

• Movie theaters, stage theaters, comedy clubs use mobile marketing to offer 2-for-1 deals and last minute specials to fill empty seats that represent lost revenue at every performance

No matter what your small business does or where you are located, mobile marketing can benefit you. Mobile marketing is so successful because it is easy to implement, requires little technical knowledge and is one of the most affordable modes of advertising and promotion.

According to a recent Nielsen report, roughly 50% of all Americans now own a smart phone – that’s a nearly 40% increase from the prior year. Smart phones mean mobile web access – more people now use the mobile web on their smart phones to search for places to shop, dine, party and for service professionals – including home repair, medical, personal services, hair salons and more.

If your small business doesn’t have at least a mobile website, you will be passed over by consumers who shop for businesses on the mobile web. What’s more, people now ignore most promotional emails – they head straight into the spam folder! Direct mail flyers hit the trash can, unread, 84% of the time. Mobile marketing circumvents the normal filters that create barriers between consumer and service provider or retailer.

Mobile marketing can be easy to implement and is one of the lowest cost forms of advertising. Ignoring the mobile marketing trend can be hazardous to your bottom line and the likelihood of your small business either thriving or dwindling.
Ian Carrington, Google’s director of mobile advertising recently said, “Businesses need to get mobile in order to provide a positive user experience for their customers. At the moment, businesses are not keeping up with consumers.”

The Mobile Coupon Boom – Tap In or Tap Out

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In 2010, just 13% of mobile smart phone users were using mobile coupons –totaling around 7.2 million Americans. By 2011, this more than doubled to over 15 million smart phone owners redeeming mobile coupons. Growth projections indicate this number should reach 26 million by the end of 2012 and 34 million by 2013.

Mobile web analysts anticipate that over the next four years, annual mobile coupon redemption will top $43 billion in the US alone. Nearly 70% of smart phone users say that mobile coupons are useful and nearly one-third of Americans will search for mobile coupons using their smart phone or other mobile device. Over 25% of smart phone users indicate interest in proximity based marketing, saying they would like to get mobile coupon offers when they are physically in or near a business.

Booze Allan Hamilton, an international marketing firm, has this to say about mobile marketing, “As smartphones change shopping, merchants face a stark choice: Fall in behind their newly enabled consumers or fall behind altogether.”

Even if your target customer is an older adult, don’t assume they don’t own and actively use all the features of a smart phone. In fact, 83% of smart phone users are age 25 and older. Statistics also reveal that smart phone users are in higher income brackets – meaning they may have more disposable income – making them a desirable customer.

Among adults earning more than $75,000, 60% have a smart phone and in the $50,000-$75,000 bracket, nearly 40% own a smart-phone. Yet even high earners love to get discounts and mobile coupons and they have the money to redeem them and then, based on a positive experience, come back to your establishment and pay full prices.

When it comes to finding mobile coupons, smart phone users have very specific preferences. A recent study by Microsoft showed how consumers like to receive mobile coupon offers. The results are:

  • Most prefer to receive them via text message
  • The second most popular option is via email checked on the mobile device
  • The third option is to be texted an offer while they’re in an establishment
  • The fourth most popular is to find mobile coupons using an app
  • The fifth most popular option for getting a mobile coupon is scanning a QR code
  • The least popular option for getting a mobile coupon is in exchange for a social media check-in

However, what may not be evident from these results is that while QR codes and social media check-ins are the least popular methods in the survey, they are on the rise. Many survey participants may have rated these lowest simply because they are inexperienced with using QR codes and location-based aspects of social media.

Microsoft research indicates that mobile coupon use will have doubled between 2011 and 2013. Their recent study shows that 10% of all cell phone users redeem mobile coupons but the rate is 20% among smart phone users. They project these numbers to be 16.5% and 30% respectively by 2013.

Nancy Cook, Vice President at Valpak – one of the top firms in couponing, both mobile and paper – said recently, “A strong offer will work in any space and mobile even more so, because it can be relevant when a consumer may actually be ready to make a purchase.”

The numbers don’t lie – mobile coupons are a powerful and growing segment of mobile marketing and marketing in general. Tap in to this growing trend or look to find your customers tapping out on you.

Hard Facts about Mobile Marketing for Small Business

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If you’re still not sure that mobile marketing is right for your small business, take a look at these results from several recent studies on small business mobile marketing to see why if you don’t already have a mobile marketing strategy in play, you’re significantly behind the times. Consider these findings and comments from top marketing surveys and sources:

• Out of 700,000 small-medium sized business websites 60% do not have even the basic information consumers using mobile web devices need to find their business.

• Over 93% of small-medium sized business websites do not properly render (appear) on mobile devices – including iPhones, Android phones or tablets.

• Of the small businesses surveyed that implemented mobile marketing, 84% reported an increase due to the initiative.

• 64% of small businesses plan on increasing their mobile marketing budget – this means your competition may be more effectively using mobile marketing than you are.

• While 60% of small businesses report they have a standard website, only 26% of these offer a mobile-friendly version and only 14% had a free-standing mobile website.

• Only 39% of small businesses have a mobile search strategy focused on getting them easily found on the mobile web.

David Brown, CEO of one of the firms that accumulated this data, Web.com, recently said, “With more and more consumers specifically searching for local businesses on their mobile devices, it is imperative that small businesses invest in a mobile presence.” He added, “Having a mobile presence can be a huge competitive advantage for small businesses trying to attract local customers by instantly introducing a potential customer to their business’ products and services in a mobile-enhanced way.”

Here are some more statistics showing why now, more than ever, your small business needs a mobile web presence and strategy:

• For small businesses who engage or plan to engage in mobile marketing, 34% say they do it to gain competitive advantage.

• For those small businesses already engaged in mobile marketing, only 1/3 of them plan to devote the same amount of funds and effort to it – the rest plan an increase. None plan to cut their programs.

• The longer your website takes to load, the more people you lose. If it takes more than 2 seconds for your site to load, you’ll lose 40% of mobile users.

• Almost 50% of consumers expect mobile websites to load within 2 seconds and 79% say a bad mobile web experience will keep them away from your site in the future.

• Over half of mobile web users have encountered sites that froze, crashed or returned an error on their mobile device.

• Nearly 75% of mobile web users have tried websites that were too slow to load on their mobile web devices.

• 23% of consumers say they are less likely to transact business with a company that gave them a bad mobile web experience.

• Another 40% of consumers say that a bad mobile web experience would send them to a competitor who offered the same or similar products or services.

These study results should convince you that if you don’t already have a mobile web presence and mobile marketing strategy, you urgently need one. For many consumers, your mobile web presence is the basis of their perception about your company. If you don’t have a mobile web presence, it tells customers you don’t care about their preferences. In contrast, a small business with a mobile web presence that engages the customer and enhances their experience will encourage both new and repeat business.

Effective Mobile Coupons – Cashing in on Mobile Marketing!

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If you’re a texter, you know that sometimes 160 characters are just not enough to communicate what you want to say. Spilling over into a second text is no big deal when you are texting with friends and family, but when you are texting a mobile offer to a customer, this is a big no-no! A single text – 160 characters (including spaces) – is what you have to learn to work within to craft effective text offers that consumers will rush to redeem.

When you hear “mobile coupon,” do you picture a paper coupon with dotted lines around the edges, ready to be cut out? Most mobile coupons – in reality – are simply texts from businesses with a code to provide at check-out or when ordering food, a product or services that generate the discount promised.

When you write a mobile offer to send out over text, you are sending a mobile coupon. Within the 160 character limit, you have to convey who the message is coming from, what you are offering, the time limit for the offer and the offer code.

For instance, if you manage a pizza parlor, a text offer might go something like this:

Gianni’s Pizza is having a Monday Madness pie sale – $5 for a large 2-topping pizza – good today only 2 pm-10 pm – carryout only – discount code MONDAY5!

That’s 153 characters and it’s pretty good – it covers all the elements, but it can be improved – consider this instead:

Gianni’s Pizza’s Monday Madness pie sale is on. $5 for a large 2-topping pizza. Today from 2-10 pm. Carryout only. Use code MONDAY5 when ordering. 555-555-5555

This refined message is at 159 characters. By stripping out a few words and some punctuation, the text is more targeted and now includes the phone number which would be click-to-call to encourage on-the-spot ordering to take advantage of the time-sensitive offer.

By having the business name up front, you let them know who’s communicating with them – this is appreciated and will encourage them to read on and making the offer immediately lets them evaluate whether the offer is relevant for them. Next, giving the terms and limitations encourages them to act immediately if they are interested in the offer. Finally, providing a click-to-call number makes it very tempting for them to click to access the deal straight away. If they close the offer to look for your number, you’ll lose people who would otherwise have redeemed the offer.

This model is valid for any small business, whether you own a dry-cleaner, hair salon, yogurt shop or landscaping service. The components of an effective text message are the same, only the content relevant to your business will vary.

Once you start sending out mobile offers, you’ll learn which offers generate the highest redemption rates. If you approach your texting strategy like a science experiment, you’ll be able to most effectively hone your text writing skills. This means changing only one aspect at a time. For instance, if you send out a mobile coupon, be sure to keep the text to improve upon it.

Even if you get a good redemption rate, you can always tweak for better results. If your offer was a dollars-off coupon, consider trying a percent-off next time or a buy one-get one type of offer to see which type of discount engenders the best response from your customers. Then, you may want to tweak the time period your offer is valid for – same day offers may elicit a better response than a three day window – depending on your business – but you’ll never know unless you tweak.

When crafting your text message, brevity is key, but don’t use abbreviated lingo unless you have to – for instance “Call to order” is preferable to “Call 2 order.” When people scan texts, this can look like a typo or a spam message that can cause them to delete your message.

Mobile coupons are being redeemed at a rate 10 times higher than paper coupons and cost 1/50th the price of paper coupons. If you’re not using mobile coupons to increase revenues and profits, you’re leaving money on the table every day.