With smartphones gaining an ever-stronger presence in the marketplace, it’s vital to understand the incredible benefits that mobile marketing provides. By engaging in mobile marketing, your business will have increased its platform to the 129 million Americans who now use smartphones on a daily basis. However, a few mistakes could undermine one of the most powerful tools you have in digital marketing. Be sure to avoid the following mobile marketing mistakes so you don’t inadvertently alienate potential customers.
- Failing to invest in mobile marketing at all. From responsive web design to a custom mobile site, there’s no excuse for your business’s website to not naturally adapt to a mobile device. As smartphones and tablets continue dominating the market, it’s not enough to simply expect the desktop version of your site to do the heavy lifting. In fact, if mobile users visit your site and it doesn’t automatically adapt to the device on which they’re browsing, they’re more likely to leave your site and go elsewhere. With more than 129 million Americans browsing on mobile, you can’t afford to ignore a custom solution.
- Text spamming. While customers love coupons, businesses that consistently text out deals are more likely to lose mobile subscribers. Remember, you want to be helpful for your customers, but you don’t want to spam them either. It’s an incredibly fine line to walk. While 55 percent of consumers say that they’re completely fine with receiving mobile coupons, the tolerance for text spamming is extremely low.
- Take advantage of GPS. When people are searching for something on their phones, they’re typically searching for something local. By focusing your mobile marketing on both a local and national level, you’ll be able to help those customers looking for your services in town. This is vitally important if you’re a small business looking to serve the surrounding community. Local mobile marketing that takes advantage of the GPS capability is an incredibly powerful marketing strategy.
- Failing to utilize coupons and check-ins. Whether it’s Foursquare, a custom app or any other check-in service, be sure to reward customers every time they visit your store or make a purchase via their smart phones. Rewards via mobile marketing are similar to the punch cards that create a loyal customer base.
- Assuming that mobile marketing is just a fad. There are a large number of small business owners that believe that mobile marketing is temporary. While no one can accurately predict the future, the overwhelming consensus among expert marketers is that mobile marketing is here to stay and could even overtake traditional desktop marketing in the near future. Realizing the importance of mobile marketing now will keep you one step ahead of your competitors.
- Glossing over the details. Just because your mobile site is on a smaller screen, it doesn’t mean that you should spend less time perfecting it than you do your desktop site and social media presence. Treat your mobile marketing as an equal part of your greater marketing strategy.
- Failing to interact. One of the key elements of mobile marketing is that it’s extremely similar to social media marketing. In other words, interact as much as possible with consumers via the mobile platform. The more you engage, the greater the results will be.
