Mobile marketing is currently the hottest tool for marketers as more and more people, or potential buyers, now own a cell phone. As this type of marketing is relatively new, there is not much advice around. This article contains a few tips and ideas to help you to get started with mobile marketing.
Make it easy for a customer to opt out of your messages. If a customer does not want to receive mobile messages from your business any longer, you should have a simple code they can text to you to remove themselves. Having a process that is too complicated can make people remove your business from their life all together.
Understand the regulations for mobile marketing. Mobile marketing campaigns are heavily regulated, just like anything that has to do with mobile phones. Look up your local and federal guidelines, and make sure you stay well within them. If you do not, you can face penalties that range anywhere from fines to jail time.
Know exactly what you want to offer your customers before you start out. Mobile marketing encompasses everything from simple text messaging to instant mobile coupons. Planning ahead on what you are going to offer them can make the actual implementation much easier than if you were indecisive in the long run.
Perhaps mobile users would like to be treated a little better than the average user, and perhaps you could make them feel as if they’re getting a little extra by subscribing to your mobile site or app. You can offer special rewards just for mobile users in order to increase the mobile side of your business.
By closely monitoring your competitors, you can become more informed about the business environment. Find a way to differentiate yourself from you competitors.
Many cell phone users have texting capabilities, but not everyone knows what the common texting abbreviations stand for. When your advertisement is incoherent to a member of your target market, then this is a possible customer for whom you have lost.
Be sure to send text messages. People usually have a ringer that will go off whenever they receive a text. They also tend to check it right away. Just make sure to send small files such as photos of a new product that you have available, thus allowing the customer the option of receiving texts or not.
When creating Quick Response codes (or QR codes), try using a URL shortening service first. By using the URL shortening service, you can create a simpler QR code, as QR code complexity is determined by the number of characters in any block of text that you use. A block of text with less characters creates a simpler QR code that is easier to scan.
Take advantage of everything a mobile device has to offer. Innovation is happening very quickly in the mobile marketing arena, and much of it is driven by the quick innovation occurring in mobile hardware. Look at what the new devices have to offer and add their new abilities into your mobile marketing tactics. Just in the last two years, new hardware innovations that have affected mobile marketing have included front-facing cameras, location awareness and high definition video recording.
Use proper grammar and spelling when working with mobile marketing. It is ok for a 13 year old to use abbreviations in her texts with her friends; it is not ok for a professional business to use expressions like OMG or L8ER. Also try to limit the use of caps unless it is really called for as in a call to action for immediate response.
When using mobile marketing, try to use text as much as possible and avoid using large files such as pictures. You might have the best mobile device with super screaming fast 4G download speeds where you can access the net from anywhere, but your customer likely does not. So design your mobile marketing in ways the work for everyone.
Take advantage of mobile applications that many mobile consumers already use and are very popular, like Google Maps. Google has a Local Business Center that will list your your business on their Google Maps for that region. This way, your business will be targeted to the audience local to your area.
Be sure to alert your subscribers of any fees, even those that you aren’t charging. If there are standard rates applied to their cell phone bill from the provider because of your messages or even if you are charging a small fee for the service you are providing, you should give that information to your subscribers immediately to ensure there are no legal situations later.
If you have a product to sell, and you are considering mobile commerce, think carefully. Mobile commerce requires a level of security and credit card processing feature to be in place. Implementing this can be costly to your business. Quite often, it might be easier for the customer to call you on their mobile phone to purchase, instead of clicking on a link to purchase.
The customers who are receiving your mobile marketing do not want to have flashy or unclear messages. They want you to get to the point and let them know why you are messaging them. Do not make them click an image to see the message, get to the point and tell them what the benefits of your message are immediately.
The tips above should have given you some ideas which will help you to create an effective mobile marketing ad campaign for your business. You should also continue to keep up to date with the latest developments in the mobile marketing industry so that you can stay ahead of your competitors.
