The number of users consuming content through mobile devices is increasing faster.
However, this reality has not yet motivated all companies and online business to make substantial changes in their strategies to get the most out of mobile marketing.
And, indeed, email marketing is a technique that, while it has been used in strategies to attract and generate engagement with subscribers for many years, there are many unsuccessful debates about its effectiveness.
Of course, you have also asked questions like;
Does Email Marketing Really Work? The email would not be an outdated form of communication?
In many of my articles, I talked about all the negative myths that which have been widely disseminated in the past about email marketing.
The fact is that we need to think about all the techniques that are directly related to trends in users’ consumption habits, such as mobile marketing.
If you have an internet presence and want to develop a business with long-term sustainability, you don’t just have to have a Ccorporat domain. You will have to put your prejudices aside and begin From now on, to plan all the marketing actions that can help you to advertise your products to your potential customers, wherever they are.
So in my new collaborative article with Mailrelay, I want to talk about:
- The concept of mobile marketing and its advantages for companies.
- A comparison between mobile marketing and email marketing.
- The most effective techniques and formats for using mobile marketing.
Having said all that, let’s start at the beginning, what do you think?
What is Mobile Marketing and why is it important for businesses?
The market share for users via smartphone is growing faster and faster; Just take a look at many of the studies published about it, as the one published by IABspain.
Reviewing these results, it is clear that any brand that is not changing its strategy for the mobile revolution is a brand that is not thinking about its users and therefore is losing a lot of credibility.
The good thing about all this is that it’s never too late to upgrade and evolve in the right direction.
If after reading these lines you think you might not have all things the right way, I invite you to keep reading, if you want to continue learning about what is mobile marketing and how to use this strategy in your business.
Definition of Mobile Marketing
As explained in the introduction, mobile marketing is another of those techniques that can generate some controversy between companies and professionals.
That is because they want to get more customers, but they end up forgetting mobile users, thinking that if the users really want the product, they will use a desktop to buy it.
The complexity of the task is that it is not just another strategy, but a set of practices that can be accomplished through different media, channels and/or formats.
For example, a company may be working on implementing a strategy for capturing email leads, thinking about desktop users and mobile devices (smartphone or tablet) and another can be creating a campaign focused only on mobile users via SMS. In both cases, we are talking about mobile marketing.
In short, we could describe its concept as:
It is a set of techniques and marketing activities created for meeting the browsing needs of mobile users. To do this, different formats and communication channels can be used, such as email or SMS (among many others).
Benefits of Mobile Marketing
The main benefit for your company or brand is the fact that you will get more customers (as these users are spending more and more hours browsing the internet through their mobile devices). But this is a goal which has more to do with the long-term survival of your business on the internet.
So that you can understand what I want to explain with this reflection, I will give you a real example:
“If you plan to lose weight, you will certainly have a long term goal (you will not get this in 2 days or 2 weeks), but to motivate you to achieve it, you need to think of small steps, conquering your short-term goals with challenges and rewards (You will reduce your weight gradually and will start wearing smaller clothes, as the old t-shirts are no longer useful, you would need to acquire new ones, beyond the psychological challenges)”
The lack of determination and identification of these small benefits, which can be obtained by investing in mobile marketing actions, is one of the factors that drives many companies to abandon the idea (Before even understanding the losses in doing so.)
So that you will not think that I didn’t warn you, because I believe you should not miss the opportunity to work with mobile marketing, due to lack of motivation, I will leave a short list of some of the most important benefits of mobile marketing:
- ► Communication much more transparent and simple.
- ► Personalized delivery of promotions according to geographic location of subscribers.
- ► Immediate resolution of possible problems and contingencies.
- ► Access to new business opportunities.
- ► Development of brand awareness.
- ► Possibilities for improvement through more reliable feedback.
Email Marketing VS Mobile Marketing
Now that I have explained the reasons that I consider important for you to implement mobile marketing in your digital strategy, because as those who have read many of my articles know, I am an advocate of email marketing, I want to talk about the two concepts together.
Did you know that, in fact, mobile marketing and email marketing are not xclusive techniques? On the contrary, mobile marketing is a broad concept encompassing both email and other digital communication channels (provided that it is directed for mobile device users.)
But on the techniques and formats, we will talk in the next point. Now, I want to take a short break to reflect on both concepts. To do this, let’s talk about three points:
- ►With the spread of mobile devices with Internet access, users typically receive and send many more emails than SMS. Text messages have become virtually obsolete, but this also can help conversion rates to be much higher (if users receive less SMS, they are more likely to pay attention and click on the links.)
- ►Currently, there are a large number of active email accounts, but the number of active mobile phones is even larger, which opens the range of possibilities, regarding marketing actions (especially for those companies that can invest in the development of mobile applications for their own brand).
- ►The millennials generation is increasingly connected, using their mobile devices for almost everything they do online. If you create marketing strategies for this public, you have many options to apply both email marketing techniques, as well as mobile marketing strategies.
Mobile Marketing Formats and Techniques
After this brief reflection, and having concluded that the application of mobile marketing techniques in your business can be really interesting, we will see up to 10 campaign formats that you can create, targeting mobile users.
Some of these techniques are done through means better known as Phone calls or SMS, but also through other less traditional means that you may not have considered until now.
Would you like to see these techniques?
1) Phone calls
Although it is a traditional method, currently used in outbound marketing strategies, or “cold marketing” we could include this option within the list of mobile marketing strategies.
At this point, it is important to make it clear that while automation is critical to large-scale strategies, in some cases it is necessary to maintain direct contact with users.
2) SMS
Surely you already know that this is the acronym for short message service and maybe you can think that using SMS as a mobile marketing technique is very archaic.
These campaigns were already sent before the first Smartphone was created. Specifically, it was the first form of mobile marketing, around the year 2000, when companies began collecting the telephone numbers of their customers to then send them information about their products and services, as well as promotional campaigns.
However, you would be surprised at the high open rates. It is a way that, even today, has a great impact given its immediacy and accessibility (no internet connection required).
3) MMS
This other option was implemented in mobile marketing with the evolution of mobile phones in a second generation (with color display) capable of sending messages with multimedia content (MMS).
This service gives you the possibility to include, besides text, images, audio and video. However, sending this type of message meant more cost, which made it fall into disuse with the advent of the connection with the Internet using mobile devices.
4) Bluetooth
Who has never used a smartphone to download photos and documents via Bluetooth? This option, also offers advantages in marketing strategies because, for example, it doesn’t require an Internet connection.
In addition, using Bluetooth in mobile marketing is a technique which is not invasive and offers a very fast transmission speed. Remember that to send any information to your customers or users you will need to get their permission (also known as a Permission-based strategy).
5) Emails
So far, we have seen more traditional formats to launch mobile marketing campaigns. That is, all those that don’t require an Internet connection.
With the advent of the Smartphone and the widespread use of 3G connections, the email marketing has gained even more importance; Most users have at least one active email account, which can be accessed directly through a mobile device.
And who doesn’t have an email account that is used regularly? Here, truly the effectiveness of your campaigns and the open rates of your emails, will depend on the tool that you use to send your newsletter.
Do you need an email marketing platform? I would certainly recommend Mailrelay.
6) Apps
If we focus on new alternatives for creating mobile marketing campaigns, we can start talking about mobile apps, as it is one of the most innovative options, because it not only improves the user experience, but also greatly enhances the brand image for any business.
A company that has its own application, is a company committed with innovation and interested in offering added value to its users. Not all companies can have an App, so today it is a very differential feature.
7) Advergame
Maybe you didn’t recognize this term, but surely you already downloaded a free game on your mobile device and for that, you had to give your permission to receive publicity sent by the sponsors of the game.
This is what is known as “Advergaming” or “InGame”. Generally, you will find different brand intertainment campaigns in these games, which users can download for free.
8) Passbook
Do you know this new Apple application? If you have an iPhone, surely you have already used this application. On Android, you can also find similar services such as Pass2U or Passwallet.
Its functionality is very practical, as you can always have at hand Your coupons and tickets thanks to geolocation (when you enter an establishment, you are notified when you have a coupon to get a discount).
A very powerful form of mobile marketing to promote your sales, don’t you agree?
9) CQR Code
For some reason, the use of these codes is not a very widespread practice (according to some research done on this).
In any case, it is often used as a complementary method to other mobile marketing techniques.
10) Geolocation
We have already talked about geolocation as another great advantage of mobile marketing, and I’m sure you’ve heard about this as it is very important not just for mobile marketing but for all marketing strategies in general.
For example, social networks already allow you to view the location of users. This is a great source of information for marketers, who can adjust their products or services according to the needs of their customers.
And with this we finish this article, but first, I would like to ask: What other mobile marketing techniques do you know?