Think about how many people you see out and about with smart phones in hand – checking emails on the go – texting friends and the web. It’s a growing trend and businesses who tap into the mobile communication stream are profiting and growing their businesses.
Businesses small and large are implementing mobile marketing strategies to bring in customers, move inventory, increase appointments and increase revenues. No matter what your small business is or does, you can profit using low-cost mobile marketing strategies.
Some Examples
- Medical practices use mobile marketing to remind patients of appointments, follow ups information and new service offerings.
- Beauty services can offer preappointment reminders fill open time slots or increase foot traffic on slow days.
- Retailers and service providers can offer discounts, promote new products and advertise special sales & in-store events
- Restaurants, bars and nightclubs can fill sluggish nights using lastminute coupons and offers to bring in customers and invigorate profits.
- Theaters can offer 2-for-1 deals and last minute specials to fill empty seats that represent lost revenue at every performance No matter what your small business does or where you are located, mobile marketing can benefit you.
Mobile marketing is so successful because it’s easy to implement, requires little technical knowledge and is one of the most affordable modes of advertising and promotion.
The All-in-One Device is Already in your Hands
Roughly 50% of Americans Own a Smartphone
Smart phones mean mobile web access – more people now use the mobile web on their smart phones to search for places to shop, dine, party and for service professionals – including home repair, medical, personal services, hair salons and more.
If your small business doesn’t have at least a mobile website, you will be passed over by consumers who shop for businesses on the mobile web. What’s more, people now ignore most promotional emails – they head straight into the spam folder! Direct mail flyers hit the trash can most of the time. Mobile marketing circumvents the normal filters that create barriers between consumer and service provider or retailer.
Mobile marketing can be easy to implement and is one of the lowest cost forms of advertising. Ignoring the mobile marketing trend can be bad to your bottom line and the likelihood of your small business to thrive.
Ian Carrington, Google’s director of mobile advertising recently said, “Businesses need to get mobile in order to provide a positive user experience for their customers. At the moment, businesses are not keeping up with consumers.”
Hard Facts About Mobile Marketing for Small Business
If you’re still not sure that mobile marketing is right for your small business, take a look at these results from several recent studies on small business mobile marketing to see why if you don’t already have a mobile marketing strategy in play, you’re significantly behind the times. Consider these findings and comments from top marketing surveys and sources.
- Out of 700,000 small-medium sized business websites 60% do not have even the basic information consumers using mobile web devices need to find their business.
- Over 93% of small-medium sized business websites do not properly render (appear) on mobile devices – including iPhones, Android phones or tablets.
- Of the small businesses surveyed that implemented mobile marketing, 84% reported an increase due to the initiative.
- 64% of small businesses plan on increasing their mobile marketing budget – this means your competition may be more effectively using mobile marketing than you are.
- While 60% of small businesses report they have a standard website, only 26% of these offer a mobile-friendly version and only 14% had a free-standing mobile website.
- Only 39% of small businesses have a mobile search strategy focused on getting them easily found on the mobile web.
David Brown, CEO of one of the firms that accumulated this data, Web.com, recently said:
“With more and more consumers specifically searching for local businesses on their mobile devices, it is imperative that small businesses invest in a mobile presence.”
He added, “Having a mobile presence can be a huge competitive advantage for small businesses trying to attract local customers by instantly introducing a potential customer to their business’ products and services in a mobileenhanced way.”
Some Statistics
- 34% of small businesses engage in mobile marketing to gain competitive advantage.
- Only 1/3 of them plan to devote the same amount of funds and effort to it – the rest plan an increase. None plan to cut their programs.
- If it takes more than 2 seconds for your site to load, you’ll lose 40% of mobile users.
- 79% consumers say a bad mobile web experience will keep them away from your site in the future.
- Half of mobile web users have encountered sites that froze, crashed or returned an error on their mobile devices.
- 23% of consumers say they are less likely to transact business with a company that gave them a bad mobile web experience.
These study results should convince you that if you don’t already have a mobile web presence and mobile marketing strategy, you urgently need one. For many consumers, your mobile web presence is the basis of their perception about your company.
If you don’t have a mobile web presence, it tells customers you don’t care about their preferences. In contrast, a small business with a mobile web presence that engages the customer and enhances their experience will encourage both new and repeat business.
