6 Mobile Marketing Tips for Beginners

By Sean Casto

The ability to connect with customers and prospects through their personal devices should be a key marketing strategy for every small business. Here, are a few pointers to help you improve your mobile marketing.

1. Focus on mobile optimization

If you have yet to optimize your business's website for viewing on mobile devices, get down to it right now! It is crucial that your website's landing page, content, and ads be customized in design for flawless viewing on smartphones.

Such a design will automatically adjust the layout and content on the webpage to fit the screen of the device it is being viewed on. This will spare you the trouble of developing a separate new website or app to reach your mobile audience.

Two additional considerations for your mobile site: it should be easy for mobile users to find the information they are looking for, and your site should be quick to load, even on slow Internet connections.

2. Pass on only what is relevant

Nobody likes to be bothered by spam and irrelevant messages, and bombarding customers with messages that are useless to them is obviously not the way to go. Impertinent messages will only be deleted and customers will probably end up blocking you sooner or later. It, therefore, makes sense to ask customers about the kind of information and offers they would prefer to receive on their mobile devices, and respond accordingly.

Remember, when you send out text messages to your customers, you are essentially interrupting them in their tasks. Hence, it is crucial that you make the interruption worth their while by sending messages that fill a need or create an urgency to buy your product (e.g., limited quantity or limited time offers).

Exercise caution with the frequency of your messages. We suggest that you start by sending them twice a month. Track the click-through and unsubscribe rates and decide if you should increase or decrease the regularity.

3. Keep it simple and straightforward

Most mobile users use their devices when they're on the move. Smart mobile marketers understand the importance of brevity, ease-of-use, and convenience.

Mobile users are more inclined to use apps that are straightforward and easy to navigate. Such apps are quick and easy to build, plus they also load faster. If your content takes more than a couple of seconds to load, it's likely that your potential customers will lose interest (and patience) and move on to your competition. Mobile marketers, therefore, need to ensure that creative assets are mobile-friendly.

Users can be engaged with the help of a few simple additions. Include mobile-friendly calls to action, such as "Click to Explore" and "Download." If the call to action is "Click to Download," do include the Apple Store icon or Google Play icon in the mobile ad.

4. Encourage check-ins

Word of mouth is the original, and most powerful type of marketing; check-ins are just the modern digital version of the word of mouth marketing.

Check-ins can drastically increase your company's presence on social media and can be particularly effective if customers write something nice on Yelp or post a pleasing photo on Facebook or Instagram. Encourage people to check in from your location so that their friends and followers can see your business--a nice comment or a picture could go a long way to help advertise your business, especially on your social media page(s).

Also remember, location centric content often delivers the greatest ROI.

5. Don't go overboard

You want to project yourself as valuable--not desperate--to your customers. It is vital, therefore, that you know where to draw the line and to not go overboard with your campaigns. Limit the number of messages you send to your customers, and be tactful in giving out discounts or deals, otherwise, customers may delete you, unsubscribe from you, or may just not read your messages.

Quality over quantity is the way to go; customers prefer relevant high-quality messages that can serve their needs. You need to show your customers that you respect their time and not to overdo it with constant messages.

6. Make referrals easy

A good product/service always gets referrals, and this applies to your mobile marketing campaigns as well. If your visitors find your content to be valuable, they're likely to recommend it to others.

Make referring convenient for customers. A simple banner ad or an email link that works with a quick click can increase the chances of having your message sent to others, thereby increasing your subscriber list without any additional effort on your part.

Conclusion

All in all, mobile marketing is an effective, practical, yet an affordable tool which is available to almost every business. Only by optimizing and polishing your mobile marketing campaign can you hope to connect with your audience effectively.