Mobile Marketing - What Your Business Needs to Know

Creating an effective mobile marketing campaign is a great way to boost your sales. Be sure to first go over the tips presented in this article and then put together a detailed plan for your campaign.

You need to know you have options when it comes to mobile marketing. Some business owners simply use text or SMS alerts to keep in touch with their customers while others will develop mobile optimized websites and mobile apps. The techniques you use for your business will depend on your customer base. First you should do some research and find out how your customers use their phones and what kind of devices and plans they have.

For example there is no point in developing a custom mobile app for your business if the majority of your customers do not own Smartphones. A great idea is to have your customers complete a survey about their mobile phones before you spend the time and effort to launch your campaign. But keep in mind the use of Smartphones is growing rapidly so while your customers may not have one today it won’t be long before they do.

If you decide to send out text alerts, which you should, place a subscription form for these alerts on your website or blog. Encourage people to sign up for your text alerts as a way to receive future deals and discounts and other events you put on. You might even add an incentive to get them to join immediately and receive an instant coupon or discount that they can use right away. Then send out a text alert once or twice a week to share a coupon code, information about an upcoming sale or exclusive content. You could also share a link to your mobile website if you need to draw more traffic to it. Just be careful not to overdo it and send out too many text alerts, as it could cause them to unsubscribe. And always be sure to send a link or a stop code telling them how to unsubscribe from these alerts. Just as you don't like getting blasted with too many ads, your customers can quickly lose interest in your text alerts if you send them too frequently or if the information you share is not worthy of a text alert.

Of course if you want to take full advantage of the benefits of mobile marketing your business must have a mobile optimized website. A mobile website is simply a lighter version of your regular website - it should load quickly and be easy to read and navigate on a small screen. Keep the design simple and do not make the mistake of putting too much information on your site. A true mobile site is not supposed to be a mini version of your full desktop website. Limit your site to what is essential for your particular business. And then encourage people to subscribe to one of your marketing campaigns or to visit your regular website to get more information. And always be sure to test your mobile site with different mobile devices to make sure it displays properly and is easy to navigate.

Finally, if you want to take your businesses mobile marketing to the next level you should consider creating a mobile app for your brand. Offer your app as a free download on your mobile site or allow only your best customers to download it if you choose. Be original and create an app that is not only useful but fun for your customers. You have several options. You could create a game, an interactive catalog of your products, an instructional app or anything else you think your customers will be interested in. Your goal is to create an app that your customers will enjoy and use often. You could even start off with a basic app to see how it is accepted and used by your customers. And if it's a success, think about creating and offering a more advanced app to your customers.

You should now have a better idea of what it takes to integrate mobile marketing into your business. And especially the great benefits it offers you as a way to stay in touch with your current customers and a way to add new ones. You may want to take some time to do more research on the topic and find out what your competitors are doing with mobile marketing before you get started.