Mobile marketing might appear very complicated at first. Once you know what you are doing, it can be a very profitable strategy. If you don’t know what you are doing, you can lose a lot of money or lose customers. Fear not, the tips listed below can help you avoid this.
Try using QR codes in your mobile marketing. QR stands for ‘quick response’, and the codes themselves are akin to bar codes. They can be scanned by most mobile devices on the market to reveal a message. QR codes are an excellent way to build interactive and engaging mobile campaigns with your target audience. Link the code to a special offer, discount or giveaway message to create real buzz for your brand!
Always supply a call to action. Your customers need to know what they should be doing to purchase from you, and if you do not give them the answer, they will not be purchasing from you any time soon. Tell them you have what they need, and tell them how to get it.
Never hide who you are. Tell your customer up front what your business is and who you are. You should never send veiled or confusing messages to your customers. People begin to feel threatened when they do not understand what is going on, so if you forget to do this, you may alienate some of them.
Get training. Many vendors actually offer training programs on how to safely and properly run a mobile marketing campaign. These people will educate you on everything from how often to send out deals and messages, to the regulations you will need to follow while your program is ongoing. Take advantage of this.
When sending out a reminder message in mobile marketing, you should always wait around two or three hours before the event of which you’re reminding people. Sending out those reminders day in advance instead is simply going to cause people to forget about them. Your efforts will be wasted here.
Your mobile marketing campaign should never replace an existing campaign; it should simply complement it. You should be using mobile marketing in order to keep your current customers and/or to cater to mobile users within your market niche. Just make sure to keep your other campaigns running.
All mobile marketers would do well to remember that mobile marketing is not a typical marketing strategy. In fact, it isn’t really a strategy at all. It’s simply a means of communication. Trying to approach mobile marketing like basic internet marketing just will not work out well for you in the end.
Be sure that you modify your blog so that it looks great on any type of mobile device. This is imperative if you’re using a blog to communicate with people. Your blog might look okay from the Android, but iPhone might slaughter it. You will need to get to work modifying it before other people are scared away.
Develop a presence on Foursquare and Google Places as a mobile marketer. These location-based pages are absolutely huge and can really help you to increase your overall web presence. Never neglect to use location-based networks. Just because the web is global doesn’t mean you shouldn’t also focus your efforts locally.
Make sure to conduct a usability test before rolling out your mobile marketing campaign to your consumers. Ask friends, family, employees or all of the above to receive your messages, respond and ask for their honest opinion of the experience. This way you will make sure everything works to provide the best experience for your customers.
Getting a webcam and setting up a Skype account to have a face-to-face with your customers is a great way to handle mobile marketing if this fits your business. Not every person out there wants to be that personable in business, but if you have affiliates working for you or some seriously loyal customers, this is a good move to stay in contact with them, in a personal way.
Do not assume that everyone will understand what abbreviations mean. If your customers are unable to make sense of your promotional text message, they will simply disregard it, which equates to lost sales opportunities.
Use search engine optimization for your mobile website to get higher visibility and increase interest in your mobile marketing. Start your SEO process with Google, as it is one of the largest search engines in the world.
Make sure your mobile marketing has a clear path to unsubscribing. There are legal ramifications to not having an apparent opt-out on every single piece of mobile and digital marketing, so develop your opt-out system at the same time that you are developing your subscription system. Each system handles this differently, but opt-outs can be done by clicking a hyperlink or by texting a word like ‘unsubscribe’ to a mobile short code.
Perform usability testing for your campaign. Enlist your friends, family and co-workers to help you by receiving messages and responding to them. Ask for feedback on ease of use and enjoyment. They should like what they see on the display and report that it was clear and easy to follow.
Don’t forget to add tracking capabilities into your mobile marketing! Just because the screen is smaller, doesn’t mean it is less important. Add tracking extensions to the hyperlinks you are using in mobile marketing campaigns and look into various mobile services that offer robust tracking capabilities for a plethora of mobile tactics.
The following tip is one of the most important tips for successful mobile marketing. Always use your messages to target the buying habits and needs of the recipients. When your recipients see the messages that are focused on their needs and habits, they will be more inclined to pay attention to and remember the messages when shopping.
So as you can see, mobile marketing is not as complicated as it may appear. You do need to research the basics, and methodically apply what you learn. With the above tips in mind, you should be smarter and more effective when it comes to creating your mobile marketing plan.
