18 Feb

Posted at 17:05h in Mobile Marketing

Best Practices for Mobile Marketers in 2015 and Beyond

Many people incorrectly assume that just by virtue of having a mobile marketing campaign, they’re already doing everything that they need to succeed in a digital environment. This may have been accurate five years ago, but in 2015 and beyond it couldn’t be farther from the truth. If you want to achieve the highest level of success on the Internet, you’ll need to make sure that you’re always keeping a few key things in mind.

E-mail Formatting

This is called responsive design and refers to the idea that you need to make your emails responsive to the device that they’re being read on, similar to the steps that you would take with your website. This makes sure that they’re always capable of being read properly on a mobile device, regardless of what device that actually is. As a result, you

need to make sure you’re following certain formatting rules like the use of short headers, large text, larger buttons and a single column layout. Short headers will help make sure that ideas really stand out on a mobile device. Large text is easily read on a device with a small screen size, while large buttons are significantly easier to tap with your finger. A single column layout will help make sure that no formatting is lost due to mobile e-mail applications.

List Your Business in the Right Places

Another way to achieve success in mobile marketing has to do not just with listing your business online, but listing it in the right places. Search engines like Google and Bing  naturally give precedent to their own services. A business listed on Google Places will always return higher in the search results than a business with just a mobile landing page, even if that landing page is literally the best that’s ever been designed. This is just the way the world works in 2015.

As a result, you need to list your business with certain mobile-friendly sites and services to help make sure you’re seeing the penetration levels you’re after. Don’t neglect sites like Google Places, Bing Places, Yelp, Yahoo! Local and more for the best possible results.

Utilize All Available Communication Channels

One of the great things about mobile devices is that they have a large number of different communications channels built right in. This allows users to receive messages directly from your business on their own terms. The thing that you need to keep in mind, however, is that you should utilizing all of these channels equally – don’t neglect one in favor of another or you risk alienating a huge portion of your audience that may prefer that method.

Don’t just utilize e-mail marketing, for example. Also focus on social networking, SMS text messaging and even “Push” notifications to help connect with your target audience in the most organic way possible.

12 Feb

Posted at 13:27h in Mobile Marketing

Since the release of Apple’s iPhone and the ensuing explosion in popularity that the smartphone has gone through in the last five years, the world of digital marketing has essentially been re-built from the ground up. The Web in general is becoming much more of an intimate experience, thanks largely to the fact that users are connected at all times on devices that they can carry with them wherever they go. Marketing has had to become much more intimate as a result, which is where the idea of mobile marketing enters into the lexicon for all time.

What is Mobile Marketing?

Simply put, mobile marketing is a type of digital marketing that is targeted directly at smartphones, tablets and other types of mobile devices. Thanks to the GPS hardware that is normally installed in these types of devices, along with the huge amounts of information that users are storing on them at the same time, mobile marketing can provide customers with location-based and other personalized information at a moments’ notice.

Types of Mobile Marketing

Mobile marketing can take a few different shapes depending entirely on the type of audience that a business is trying to reach. SMS marketing takes the form of traditional text messages, similar to the type that you probably receive from friends and family members on a daily basis.

“Push” notifications are essentially the smartphone’s version of a pop-up advertisement. These can be triggered based on a series of pre-determined events (like the launch of a new product) or even via location. A user can automatically receive a “Push” notification on their iPhone when they’re physically close to the store in question, for example.

One of the most popular types of mobile marketing, however, is mobile Web marketing. This is a form of advertising that features ads and other types of marketing-related messages that are specifically designed to be viewed on a smartphone or tablet. Mobile Web marketing is governed by a set of guidelines and standards that were created by the Mobile Marketing Association. These include recommendations regarding the size of certain ads, where they should be placed inn relation to content and more.

Responsive Design

One of the most important factors to keep in mind regarding mobile marketing is the idea of responsive design. Not all smartphones are created equally. They can vary wildly in characteristics like screen size, resolution and included hardware based not only on the original manufacturer but also regarding which specific model in a product line that you’re talking about. Responsive design practices will take a piece of content formatted for the mobile landscape and make sure that it can be properly viewed on every type of device that a user may own.

If you only formatted your mobile advertising for the Apple iPhone, for example, you run the risk of creating content that will display improperly on devices with wildly different technical specifications like the Samsung Galaxy (and will thus alienate those users as a result). Responsive design practices not only help make sure that all members of your target audience are accounted for, but they also help save time and money because businesses no longer have to design multiple versions of the same piece of content to account for changes in devices on a regular basis.

Our company, Webociti, specializes in providing solutions for your Internet marketing challenges. Call us for a free marketing consultation at 678-892-7157.