The world of mobile marketing is very vast and exciting. There are so many ways that one can enter and use their knowledge of this field to help better promote their business. It depends completely on the individual. That said, no matter what your marketing skills are, here are some tips to help you along.
Make it easy for your customers to share your mobile marketing message. Options such as discounts based on referrals or suggestions to forward a special offer to a friend can lead to increased word of mouth advertising. Many consumers look to friends and family for recommendations, so making it easy to share your mobile messages can significantly increase your customer base.
Integrate mobile marketing into other types of marketing. Mobile works best when tied together with other things such as print, television, radio, and live performances. Make sure to integrate 2-D bar codes or quick response codes into your print to help drive traffic to your mobile site. You have endless opportunities.
Stay away from flashy design. If you want to add music to your webpage, that is fine, but you should not send messages that have music or flashy images attached to them. People like simple messages, and if yours starts blasting music at them or brightly flashing, they will immediately hit delete and ignore you.
Don’t send random messages to your customers. Ensure that your message is relevant each time you actually do message them. A mobile marketing campaign can fail if you waste your customer’s time by texting them random, useless information. Customers like relevance, not jokes or other nonsense.
Hire a consultant. Not everyone is technologically savvy, so if you are not so inclined, it may be best for you to hire someone to do your dirty work for you. You should look heavily into this person’s background to make sure they are respectful and professional, especially if they will be a permanent member of your team.
Develop an app. Apps are programs for mobile devices that interact with customers in many different ways. They provide easy access to your business through the program the customer installs on their phone. Make your app useful and appropriate to attract the most attention and downloads from your current and potential customers.
Target your message to the people you are sending it too. If you send your customers too many messages that do not apply to them, they are very likely to cancel any text message or e-mail subscriptions. Do not send your customer “junk” mail through their cell phones if you want to keep them interested.
The ads you run on mobile websites also need to be properly formatted, so this is something you definitely have to look into if you’re planning on running ads at all. Check out services like Apple’s iAd and MobClix to find various ways to run banner ads on mobile websites.
Sometimes you have to ride out a storm with your marketing campaign, so remember to sit tight and not to do anything drastic. There will be times when a product takes a dive in popularity or when your customers are too cash-strapped to purchase. Just sit tight and keep doing what you do.
What you are saying in your messages is extremely important. When sending out emails to customers, you want to be able to tap into that individuals needs as well as their buying habits. The more detailed you can get; the more that person will be intrigued. Just make sure to keep everything right to the point.
To encourage more people to sign up for something you’re offering, give away something free. For example, if you’re trying to get people to sign up for a ringtone service, offer them one ringtone at no charge if they text RINGTONE to your number. People love getting something for free, and having them text to get it makes it feel less like a transaction.
Use a platform that allows you to personalize your messages by way of tokens. Personalizing something is always a great touch. You can put your recipient’s name in every message making it a little more likely they will want to read it. Just keep in mind the 160 character limit when doing using tokens with email formatting.
Do not use abbreviations for text or use all capital letters to emphasize anything except for the call to action. Customers will not always know what abbreviations stand for, and using all caps to convey a message makes it difficult to read. It is also considered shouting in some cyber-circles.
Check out the competition. Find out what mobile messaging is like from their perspective. Compare the quality of your messages to theirs and find out if you need to make changes in your strategy. Chances are, they are probably watching what you are doing with your marketing efforts as well.
Learn to think like your audience does, and make your mobile marketing campaign all about them. You may only have a second or two to capture their attention, and you need to convince them quickly that you have something that they want. Use social media to find out what they are talking about, and then try and fulfill their needs.
Focus on using mobile marketing especially for customer retention. If people have already purchased from you, they are more likely to welcome mobile communication from you if they are pleased with your product. Try to reach new prospects, but never lose sight of the opportunity you have with people who are your customers already.
Mobile marketing is a fascinating and exciting world that is only limited by the extent of a person’s skills. There are endless possibilities, products, combinations, and techniques. Start experimenting to find something new for your business or to learn something new that you can improve for your business. Become inspired by these tips!
