Businesses wanting to keep and expand their customer base (as well as keep pace with or stay ahead of their competition) need to have a mobile presence in today’s technological world. A 2017 Pew Research article stated that 77% of U.S. adults claimed to own a smartphone, with 92% of adults aged 18 to 29 stating they owned a smartphone, and 42% of adults aged 65 and older stating that they own one. Those statistics alone show why it’s important to have mobile marketing as part of your business strategy, but here are a few more reasons why mobile marketing should be a high business priority.
More Time Spent On Mobile Devices
According to a Nielsen Company audience report, in 2016, Americans were on their mobile devices for an average of more than 10 hours per day. eMarketer predicted that even as mobile usage slowed in growth, that almost a third of that time would be spent specifically on smartphones or tablets – time that is spent on mobile devices browsing the Internet, making calls or texting. In other words, it’s time that your business can take advantage of. eMarketer also estimates that by 2019, approximately 72% of marketing dollars will be spent creating apps and ads for mobile platforms. Mobile device usage makes up nearly 70% of the digital media time, even as mobile marketing is still in its development phase.
Mobile Commerce Hasn’t Peaked Yet
In 2016, 67% of online retail time was spent on mobile devices, yet only 20% of the money spent on online retail came from mobile purchases. Still, expectations are that annual mobile commerce sales will hit $333 billion before the end of 2021. The businesses that are aware of this upward trend are already taking advantage of this while more and more companies are beginning to catch up. Social media platforms like Facebook messenger and Pinterest allow users to make direct purchases on their site, while Instagram allows sellers to feature pricing information about pictures items and then link to those items their own sites.
Mobile Commerce and Mobile Marketing Work Together
Shoppers use their mobile phones and other mobile devices to buy products from e-commerce sites like eBay, Amazon, Etsy, Shopify, and more. Businesses of all sizes realize this, and many are creating user-friendly portals and sites to make purchasing from their businesses easier. Companies that cultivate well-coordinated and fused mobile campaigns that lead buyers from the product or service introduction to a completed purchase will see a substantial increase in revenue.
Consumers Use Their Mobile Devices to Purchase in Brick-and-Mortar Stores
Today’s mobile technology allows anyone shopping in-store the ability to also shop and compare at the same time. Businesses with active mobile marketing can use SEO and simple site navigation to give themselves an advantage once the consumer is prepared to purchase. Not only that, but search engines are now changing their algorithms to give higher rankings to sites that are mobile-friendly. This means businesses need to improve their online presence and integrate new types of automated marketing into their business activity.
Mobile Text Messages (SMS) Are Better Than Emails & Have Higher Open Rates
SMS has a 98% open rate (compared to a 20% open rate for emails), and up to 90% of individuals who open a text message read it in three seconds or less. This is much higher than the average open rates for email marketing or other online marketing channels. Constructing your business’ SMS messages so that they’re interesting to potential buyers will entice them to examine your business’ products and/or services further, and those prospects will likely begin researching on the same device they received the message.
8 trillion text messages are sent each year and the figures are even lower for message-sending mobile apps (i.e. WhatsApp, Messenger) that allow marketing messages.
Furthermore, an estimated 74 trillion emails are sent yearly, and nearly half of those emails (49.7%) are immediately marked as spam.
Mobile Marketing Extends to a Wider Audience Range
Consumer demand is growing for smartphones and tablets across all demographics. Phone and tablet manufacturers are responding to that demand by creating mobile devices that are less expensive than current and past devices and operate faster with more power. With more and more people having access to mobile devices, this means that there is even more opportunity for businesses to market their products and services to an increasingly large audience.
User/Consumer-Controlled Mobile Marketing
Users/consumers have the ability to accept, view, reject or block most (if not all) marketing efforts directed at them. This is why businesses should keep in mind that when it comes to mobile marketing, it should operate from the idea that the “consumer is king” because that is the case when it comes to ads and marketing on mobile.
Mobile Marketing & Micro-Moments
Google states that a micro-moment is “an intent-rich moment when a person turns to a device to act on a need -to know, go, do, or buy”. As mobile device usage increases, so will reliance on such micro-moments and profiting from them.
Improved Customer Relationships
Making your business available on mobile platforms (from mobile-friendly sites to mobile apps to text messaging) improves your relationship with your customer and can set you apart (and ahead) of your competition.
This is how businesses can benefit when they integrate mobile marketing campaigns into their everyday business activity. As digital marketing advances, it will be more and more important to use mobile marketing to reach digital consumers.
If your looking for mobile marketing and more digital presence please contact us and we help you grow business locally and digitally.