According to Statista, there will be an estimated 3.5 billion smartphones in 2020. Mobile phones are becoming more important, whether to call, search the Internet, or sell a product. Of those billions of phones, Iacquire found that 70% of mobile searches lead to action on a website within one hour. Since the possibility of actions is high within hours, mobile marketing is becoming more essential for everyone – including the buyer and the seller.
What is Mobile Marketing?
Mobile marketing is a marketing strategy aimed at reaching customers or potential customers on mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, through social media, emails, websites, SMS, and other forms of communication.
Why Mobile Marketing
The importance of mobile marketing is critical nowadays for businesses to reach their customers and potential customers. But since everyone’s engaged on their phone, marketing strategies need to find a way to reach them there.
Still on the fence about it? here are the:
Top 14 Benefits of Mobile Marketing
1. Mobile Marketing Reaches A Broader Market
With billions of phones out there now, more people – that were previously not able to – can connect with the world more through the Internet. That means that there are millions, if not billions, of more people out there to market your product to.
2. Instant Results
Since phones are so mobile, tons of people have a phone on or right beside them at all times. Sometimes, we can’t leave the house without them. That means our phones can ding to give us results the second it happens. You can watch and stay updated on everything about your business right from your fingertips.
3. Easy to Work With
Millions of people know how to use a phone enough to place an ad or just to catch someone’s attention. Even keeping the ad basic and simple can help it convert across various mobile platforms, including tablets and laptops. Most ads can be made by a few clicks of a button to reach thousands of customers.
4. Convenient to Use
Phones have become one of the most convenient tools in modern-day shopping. Everything can go on it now from the credit cards you forgot in the car to the coupons left on the counter. Forgot where a product was sold at? The Internet on your phone can let you know. With so much information on it, it’s becoming more convenient for a potential customer to find and buy your product there.
5. Direct Marketing
Mobile marketing is direct marketing since a phone is usually always near someone at all times. Plus, with social media, marketers can have direct conversations with costumers to get immediate feedback.
6. Tracking User Response
Mobile marketing can also track user responses easily. You can instantly look up product reviews or see how many people have seen your new ad to debate whether it was effective or not. You can even track how many people went to a certain website page and how long they stayed on that page.
7. Huge Viral Potential
When a post goes viral, it’s like a chain reaction. If a person shares the post with even just ten people, those ten people may also share it with another ten people until thousands know about it. With mobile marketing, it’s easy to share content that has the potential to go viral.
8. Mass Communication Made Easy
Since so many people use phones, mobile marketing benefits the seller, reach a wider audience through social media, texting, notifications, and more. This lets a more diverse audience know about the product you’re selling or advertising.
9. Niche Not Highly Concentrated
Mobile marketing is still a bit new, meaning that the niche of mobile marketing has not fully been explored in all fields. This could be comforting to newer marketers since they have a higher chance of standing out by creating their own niche.
10. Microblogging Benefits
Even small microblogs, such as Instagram and Twitter, can have large effects. Twitter itself has over 145 million users that log onto it daily, which is a high amount of people to advertise to. Even if one person just retweets your ad, hundreds of more people have the opportunity to see it.
11. Mobile Payment
Since people can buy products on their phones, it’s easier to get a customer to buy the product right then and there. The customer doesn’t need to bookmark it and hopefully remember to buy it at the store or at home. Instead, the customer can buy your product from anywhere.
12. Mobile Marketing Boosts Search Engine Rankings
Some of the top search engines on the Internet – including Google, Bing, and Yahoo – can boost search rankings for websites if it is mentioned on other social media like Twitter or Facebook. Having your website attached to your Twitter means that both your Twitter and your website pop up when it is searched for. That lets your business get noticed more when you are mentioned through mobile marketing.
13. Puts Your Ahead of Your Competition
Even though you may think that many companies are online, many businesses have still not adjusted to mobile marketing yet. So, if your business reaches out with all these benefits of mobile marketing first, your business will be at an advantage.
14. Mobile Advertising Is Portable
Mobile phones have been said to be quite addicting. Since it is so convenient and easy to use, not many people dare to leave their homes without it. This means that you, from anywhere, can portably send out an ad to anyone in the world. You don’t have to dedicate time to the office – or even have an office – to send out an ad. You could do it when your mind thinks about it at home on the couch.
Disadvantages of Mobile Marketing
1. Platforms Too Diverse
Since there are so many kinds of phones out there, there is also a lot of different ways to the mobile market. Some people may use Chrome while others use Twitter. However, how you market on Chrome might not be ideal for marketing on a more personal form of communication like Twitter. An ad or campaign might need to change per platform to get the best results.
2. Privacy Issues
Privacy issues are one of the biggest concerns around customers. They don’t want to give themselves away or up to anything that may seem shady or if they’re unsure about it. Instead, offer clear instructions about how they can opt-out of marketing communications if the customer desires. Having that choice makes the customers feel safer even though it is a number against you if they do not sign up.
3. Navigation on A Mobile Phone
Sometimes, navigation can be hard on a mobile phone. Instead of a large screen and a mouse to use, mobile users are left with only a small screen. This is a con for mobile marketing because the ad may go untouched since if the website or social media page was difficult to navigate.
Conclusion
Despite the cons of mobile marketing, there are many benefits of mobile marketing as well. It is the type of marketing that is putting more and more companies on the map in a much easier and convenient way. It could be the one key factor that puts your business over the edge.
