As audiences move off computers onto the mobile web, mobile marketing is becoming difference maker for companies of all sizes. According to research from the end of last year, Target discovered that 60% of its traffic from November through to December came directly from mobile.
The tipping point has already been reached and mobile traffic now outweighs desktop traffic. If you are concerned about your mobile strategy, or you simply want to improve, follow these tips to get more effective with mobile marketing.
Use the Right Keywords
Talk about keywords and most people will assume that you are talking about content marketing. With mobile marketing you need to be just as concerned with keyword strategy and usage. Since most mobile searches are from local people, you need to alter your keywords to make them more local, and appropriate to mobile searchers.
Take a look at your current keywords and simply add a geographical location to them. Long-tail keywords tend to be more accurate than short-tail keywords.
This may well reduce your total traffic levels in the long-term, but that’s because you are not looking to bring in anyone irrelevant. Your web platform will be laser targeted to only those with a genuine interest are going to get in.
Place Emphasis on Sales and Special Offers
The main nuance of mobile marketing is the short time window you have to make an impression. If you don’t make an impression within seconds, someone else will and the opportunity will vanish. The best way to catch people’s attention on the smaller screen of a smartphone is to market a sale or some sort of special offer.
Users should be able to opt-in and receive an alert whenever there’s a new offer on show. This can boost your response rates and get people more engaged.
Always Include Your Contact Information
If you have a brick & mortar store, always include your contact information. Don’t just provide an address: go one step further and provide a map to help customers find you. Studies show that the majority of people searching for a local store will actually visit within a day or so.
When people can’t find you, they will quickly give up and look elsewhere.
Be Device Compatible
Compatibility is a big issue in mobile marketing for two reasons. The first reason is that if you are not adapting to different devices Google will punish you. Mobilegeddon is still in force and sites that haven’t catered to mobile users are falling down the search rankings at an alarming rate.
From a user experience point of view, though, you need to be compatible because you never know how someone is accessing your website. You have to make sure that anything available on mobile will adapt to a chosen device.
But you probably already know that. What many companies don’t do is update their materials whenever a major device is released. You don’t have to do this with everything on the market, but if Samsung or Apple release a new smartphone you have to adapt to that new device ASAP.
It’s Time for Hyperlocalized Marketing
Whenever someone decides to shop in person, they are generally not going to go very far. Most experts estimate that the majority shop within ten miles of their home. Until recently, it was impossible to market to such a tiny niche audience. But Google has changed things and new technology enables you to market your product to your audience within ten miles of home.
Hyperlocalized marketing was born out of big data tools and IP geolocation technology. What this has resulted in is companies being able to provide tailored information to customers in an extremely small niche.
One incredible feature is that you can use hyperlocalized marketing to offer discount coupons to customers on real-time based on their exact locations. This is a relatively new type of mobile marketing, and it will get even better over time, but if you start to utilize it now you’re going to have a big advantage over your competitors.
Testing is the Key to Everything
These tips are sure to make your mobile marketing strategy that much more effective. There are no magic bullets, though. You have to test, test, and test again. Monitor your performance and see what works and what doesn’t.
Over time, you will start to see what works for your niche and your customers. Try out new things and keep abreast of the changes to mobile marketing.
With all this in mind, how are you going to make mobile marketing work for you today?