Alright from the title alone, you may say to yourself… “Who cares?” or “I already knew that”, but to the young entrepreneur, the entry-level marketer, or to the person who is launching their own business; this is critical information to know and implement in any industry.
Mobile devices have already incorporated so many features that many individuals use daily. These built-in applications include maps, contacts, calendars, and most recently the wallet. Ever since the introduction of the Blackberry in 2001 or the iPhone in 2007, technology continues to evolve with mobile technology and this evolution will continue as more people rely on their mobile phones for updates, purchasing and more. Every marketing enthusiast needs to realize that mobile is the way to go when attracting any consumer to buy products or offer deals for in-store purchasing. Millennial’s and younger generations do almost all activities from their phone.
In fact, according to the Pew Research Center 58% of adults own smartphones and 42% own tablets. These numbers are expected to increase as smartphones continue to decrease in price. Also, a recent study included that email marketing is still one of the most popular ways to reach a target demographic. If this is in fact true and all individuals are using smartphones, than email messages are being viewed more from mobile devices than desktop PC’s. This is reasoning why it is critical that marketing is mobile friendly and viewable by smartphones. All links should be optimized for mobile devices and this includes ensuring that microsites, webpages, QR codes, and business coupons are mobile friendly.
Most recently mobile marketing has advanced with Passbook and Google Wallet. Many big brands such as Men’s Warehouse, PepBoys, and Unilever are utilizing the mobile wallet into all their integrated marketing efforts. For example, someone can download the Men’s Warehouse application or go to the Men’s Warehouse website on their phone (which is mobile friendly) and click on coupons, which automatically opens up into the phones Passbook or Google Wallet. No more cutting coupons from the weekly paper! Imagine getting a special offer in your email from your mobile device, by simply clicking on one button from your phone the promotion is downloaded to your phone! Mobile is streamlining and organizing the shopping for the consumer.
One of the greatest tools of mobile marketing is the metrics. Marketing assistant will shine because they can download metrics on click-throughs, QR code redemptions, website analytics, email opens, etc. to evaluate if the marketing campaign was successful.
The future of mobile marketing is looking promising. Developers have already looked into reward based mobile advertising where consumers spend enormous amounts of time on applications or browsing specific sites. The more browsing and length on the site the more reward points and incentives the consumer is offered. This is a great way to build brand loyalty! Additional testing is also geo-targeted mobile marketing where an individual will be prompted with a notification that a coupon or offer has been downloaded to their Passbook or Google Wallet because they walked by a specific department store.
References:
http://blog.marketo.com/2015/05/ebook-introduction-to-mobile-marketing-the-past-present-and-future.html
http://www.inc.com/peter-roesler/why-mobile-marketing-is-still-the-next-big-thing.html
http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveolenski/2015/06/08/mobile-in-mind-thoughts-on-the-present-and-future-of-mobile-marketing/