Mobile marketing (a beginner's guide)

When you run a small business, you have to use the most effective channels to market your company. Since you need to make the most of your marketing budget, you can’t risk spending it on a channel that doesn’t deliver results. Instead, it’s important to choose a method that lets you connect with customers at the right place and time.

Mobile marketing can get your brand in front of customers, no matter your industry. This strategy focuses on mobile devices, which virtually your entire customer base uses. According to the Pew Research Center, 96% of Americans own cell phones, and at least 92% of Americans under 50 years old have smartphones. With the right mobile marketing tactics, you could reach a huge percentage of your potential and current customers.

But if you’ve never used mobile marketing before, you be wondering how this channel can work for your small business — especially if you have a limited budget. If you run a lean startup, you might also want to know how your team can add this new channel to their workflow without overwhelming their busy schedules.

Going mobile can boost your business, whether you launch campaigns in-house or outsource your efforts to knowledgeable freelancers.

By the end of this guide, you'll have a full understanding of what mobile marketing is, and how it actually works. But that's not all. We'll also walk you through the key steps for creating a viable mobile marketing strategy.

Ready? Let's go

Mobile marketing

1. What is mobile marketing?

Mobile marketing is a digital marketing strategy that focuses on reaching audiences through tablets, smartphones, laptops, and other handheld computing devices via mobile native advertising, text messaging (SMS), location-based marketing, social media, mobile apps, and websites.

Marketing via mobile devices has a unique advantage in that it allows you to tailor messaging to consumers in a personalized way that is sensitive to time and location. For example, if a customer of a particular company happens to be in the general vicinity of their store, the company can send them a push notification offering a discount that expires on the same day. This will prompt the customer to come in and shop at an opportune time.

Mobile marketing is becoming increasingly important for companies to stay competitive. The number of global mobile internet users surpassed desktop users back around 2014, and mobile use has continued to grow with the advancement of device features and high-speed internet. Today, more than half of all web traffic comes from mobile devices, and 79% of consumers have their phones on them all but two hours of the day. 

Mobile marketing provides powerful and creative ways for companies to reach the large percentage of people who are using mobile devices today. As a result, you can help keep consumers engaged and stay top of mind while driving additional revenue and loyalty.

2. How does mobile marketing work?

Mobile marketing helps brands reach the growing number of people spending time on mobile by embracing a multi-channel marketing approach.

To do so you first need a mobile-optimized website to fully function and adapt to any mobile device and browser, and then you need to implement a set of complementary mobile marketing strategies to help you maximize customer retention and conversion, such as the ones below:

• Video marketing: Nearly 48% of the consumers want videos when searching for a product they are interested in, therefore integrating videos in your mobile social media campaigns can be an extremely good idea to encourage customer engagement.

• Social media: Knowing that over 3.7 billion people use social media worldwide, it definitely makes sense to consider social media as one of your main mobile marketing strategies. Facebook ads, promoted Tweets, Linkedin or Instagram ads the opportunities are endless to reach your target customers on their favorite social channel. 

• Mobile pay: 40% of smartphone users used proximity-based mobile payments in 2020, and that figure is expected to increase to 50% by 2025. You can help better serve your audience that prefers mobile pay by including it as a payment option. 

• In-app marketing: Mobile users spend the majority of their screen time on apps. Being so, your business can create a mobile app to engage your audience in new ways, learn more about them, drive revenue, and build loyalty. Common ways to do this include creating a rewards program within the app, enabling shopping online in-app, and creating relevant experiences that engage consumers. For example, if you sell paint, you could create a feature so customers can try out different colors of paint on a wall in their house using augmented reality. 

• SMS marketing: Text messaging provides you with a direct one-on-one line of communication with customers without as much competition as the email inbox. You can use SMS (short message service) and MMS (multimedia message service) to stay in touch with your customer base. However, you will need to gain written consent first. Once you have the green light, you can use text to notify customers of time-sensitive promotions, the latest news, and more. 

• Location-based marketing: Also known as geotargeting or geolocation marketing, the idea is to use the GPS function of a smartphone to show specific promotions based on a user's location. According to Martechseries 83% of marketers surveyed have experienced a higher response rate and customer engagement in their mobile marketing and ad campaigns thanks to location-based marketing. 

3. Mobile vs. digital marketing

How does mobile marketing differ from digital marketing? Digital marketing encompasses all marketing techniques that reach audiences through digital channels. For example, pay-per-click advertising, search engine optimization, content creation, websites, social media, email, and data analytics fall under the digital marketing umbrella. 

Mobile marketing is a type of digital marketing that focuses on reaching audiences through only mobile devices like tablets and smartphones. So mobile marketing is considered digital marketing but not all digital marketing is mobile marketing. That being said, mobile marketing has continued to grow, becoming the largest component of digital marketing. 

You will find that mobile marketing uses many digital marketing strategies, but all are tailored to the mobile user. For example, websites are designed to be responsive for mobile users and easy to use from a small screen while they are on the go. Further, mobile marketing often takes advantage of the location services on a phone to send users relevantly, time-sensitive marketing messages. 

In most cases, a combination of mobile marketing and various other digital marketing techniques work together to reach a wider customer base, keep them engaged, and stay competitive in the marketplace. 

4. Advantages and disadvantages of mobile marketing

The advantages

1. Designed for high-intent customers. Mobile users differ from desktop users in a major way. When using mobile devices, users are more likely to perform high-intent searches. In contrast to low-intent searches that focus on introductory research, high-intent searches reflect that users are approaching the point of purchase. That means your mobile marketing efforts can reach customers when they’re getting serious about buying, which can increase your ROI.

2. Drives high engagement rates. If you’ve already tried other digital marketing channels, then you might have been discouraged by the comparatively low engagement rates. For example, the average engagement rate for a Facebook post is just 3.22%, while the average open rate for email marketing is between 15% and 25%. In contrast, engagement rates for mobile marketing campaigns can be as high as 98%. As long as you provide value, you can expect high engagement rates with mobile marketing.

3. Generates instant results. If you thought customers responded quickly to your other digital marketing efforts, be prepared for your mobile marketing campaigns to generate even faster results. Since mobile smartphones and tablets are designed for portability, users tend to have these devices with them at all times — and check them over 100 times a day on average. That means when you launch mobile campaigns, you can expect customers to respond instantly.

4. Welcomes fine-tuned targeting. Most digital marketing channels have extensive targeting options, ranging from customer demographics to interests to behaviors. However, only mobile marketing takes full advantage of location targeting. With this targeting option, you can connect with customers based on their precise locations so you can send them highly relevant messages at opportune times.

5. Offers highly personal messaging. While the whole family might share the TV or desktop computer, most mobile devices have individual owners. That means every time you launch a mobile campaign, you can make a personal connection with the owner. Because you know exactly who you’re targeting, you can send more relevant messages and cultivate customer loyalty more effectively.

6. Allows customers to share. No matter what platforms you use for your mobile marketing campaigns, customers can share them with friends and family. From social media posts and emails to text messages and webpages, customers can use their mobile devices to forward to other potentially interested prospects. Due to the sharable nature of mobile campaigns, you can extend their reach without doing additional work.

7. Enhances SEO efforts. When you adopt a mobile marketing strategy, your website is likely to be an integral part of any campaign. You’ll need to make your website as mobile-friendly as possible to enhance your overall search engine optimization (SEO) efforts and improving your company’s visibility. Due to Google's mobile-first indexing approach, the search engine prioritizes the mobile version of your site when ranking it on mobile or desktop search engine results pages (SERPs).

8. Integrates with other marketing ideas. As you brainstorm your first mobile marketing campaign, think about how it could complement your other efforts. Planning a big email marketing push next quarter? Think about how targeted SMS messages could bring extra attention to your campaign and convert more customers or drive more sales.

The disadvantages

1. Inconsistencies among devices. If you’ve ever upgraded to a new phone or transitioned from an Android to an Apple, you may have noticed major differences. Not only do various devices use distinct operating systems and have access to different apps, but they also come with a wide range of screen sizes. When you plan a mobile marketing campaign, you might assume that you have to develop creative assets for every possible device. Although you’re right to take devices and operating systems into account, it’s easier than you might think to create a comprehensive plan. Review your data to find out which devices your customers use. Then optimize your campaigns for the biggest user groups, such as Apple or Android users.

2. Extensive platform options. With mobile marketing, the options seem endless, which can be overwhelming for some small business owners. It’s easy to feel pressure to develop a mobile app, launch a texting campaign, and try out mobile advertising all at once. While you can certainly incorporate as many platforms as you want into your mobile campaigns, you don’t have to feel compelled to do it all. Instead, consider starting with one or two platforms and measuring your results before taking your efforts further. Plan to begin with the platform where you have the highest number of users. For example, if most of your customers have already opted into your text messages, SMS messages could be a smart starting point.

3. Invasive tracking. To get the most out of your mobile marketing efforts, you’ll need your customers’ permission to access private information like location data. Although some users may agree readily, others may hesitate to allow such invasive tracking. If a large percentage opt-out, then you may not get the results you wanted from your mobile campaigns. Even if you have limited customer data or permissions, you can still benefit from mobile marketing. Start where you can and strive to build trust. Then you can ask for more permissions and launch more targeted campaigns further down the road.

4. Privacy concerns. Like any type of digital marketing, mobile marketing has its fair share of potential privacy issues. But just like other digital channels, mobile marketing has protocols for managing customer privacy and data security. Before you begin connecting with customers on their mobile devices, make sure you have all the permissions necessary to do so. For example, customers have to opt in to receive SMS messages or emails from your company. As long as you’re transparent with your actions, your customers can feel confident about trusting your company.

5. Examples of mobile marketing

Starbucks

Starbucks launched a mobile app in 2011 that allowed customers to sign up, join its rewards program, load money into the app, and order coffee ahead of time (to skip the line). While a huge convenience, especially during morning rush hour, some customers didn't want to join the program or load money into the app. In 2018, Starbucks made it possible for all customers to order and pay through the app as a guest, removing the need to preload money. This helped to increase adoption by reducing purchase cycle friction. In 2020, Starbucks reported that almost a quarter of its sales were placed from a mobile phone. 

UNIQLO

UNIQLO is a Japanese retailer that launched a marketing campaign called "Check-in Chance" to promote its annual sale. The idea behind the campaign was to use Facebook check-ins via mobile to drive people to UNIQLO's stores. So when a person checked into one of UNIQLO's 859 stores in Japan, it was visible to all as a form of entertainment. Check-ins also spread via Facebook and users who checked in could win a coupon to use in the store during the sale. The results? Over 200,000 people checked in over six days, the company page got 10,000 likes, and sales hit over 22 billion JPY over three days.

6. Creating a mobile marketing strategy

Developing a viable mobile marketing strategy is more straightforward than you might think, especially if you’ve already managed digital campaigns for your company. Follow the steps below to shape a mobile marketing strategy for your small business.

Step 1. Define your mobile buyer personas. Before you jump right into choosing platforms and creating content, it’s important to do some research. Start by creating a buyer persona, or a profile of your ideal mobile customers. Collect demographic, behavioral, and location data to create a complete picture of your audience.

If you don’t already have market research handy, use resources like Google Analytics, social media analytics, and email service provider (ESP) data. Filter out the desktop users so you can focus on understanding your mobile customers better. You can also hire a freelance marketer to help with this research phase.

Step 2. Define your goals. Next, think about the goals you want to accomplish with your mobile marketing efforts. Ask your team questions like:

• What do you want to achieve that you can’t do or haven’t done with other channels?

• Why do you think mobile is the right platform for your efforts?

• Which devices or platforms should you focus on, based on your existing customer data or current trends?

• How can you integrate mobile marketing with your other digital marketing or advertising initiatives to improve your ROI?

Step 3. Set KPIs. After hashing out some mobile marketing goals, start crunching numbers. Decide on the key performance indicators (KPIs) that you want to reach every month or quarter. Common KPIs for mobile marketing include:

• Engagement: These KPIs include open rates, click-through rates (CTRs), and other customer interactions.

• Conversions: Conversion KPIs include everything from new subscriptions to sales and other customer acquisitions.

• Customer Retention: These KPIs focus on encouraging customers to make multiple purchases or return to your mobile app after installation.

Step 4. Monitor your results. As your campaign runs, track the results carefully and monitor impressions, engagement, conversions, and other important metrics.

Check performance throughout each campaign to keep your results on track, and review them again afterward. Confirm whether the campaign reached the KPIs you established, and use the results to make smarter decisions. If the campaign exceeded your goals, you may want to invest in a larger campaign next time. If it fell short of your goals, consider how you can make adjustments for better results next time.

7. Mobile marketing trends to watch out for

Like many digital marketing channels, mobile marketing is evolving quickly. Stay ahead of the curve by planning for some of the biggest mobile marketing trends for 2020 and beyond.

1. Elevated mobile commerce growth. Although e-commerce has grown substantially over the past decade, mobile commerce, or m-commerce, has been slower to take hold. Historically, mobile users have found mobile payment systems inconvenient to use and mobile sites and apps challenging to trust. However, 2020 appears to be the turning point for mobile commerce. This year, mobile sales are projected to total $284 billion, which equals almost 50% of the e-commerce market in the United States.

2. Rethinking mobile-optimized websites. For many small businesses, it’s easy to create a website that works well enough on mobile. Yet mobile-optimized websites need much more than just responsive design. In 2020 and beyond, small businesses must take mobile optimization more seriously so they can convert customers and cultivate loyalty. Rather than launching a website that meets the minimum requirements for mobile-friendliness, think about how you can put mobile customers first and create an experience that leaves them eager to return for more.

3. Demand for shareworthy content. As marketers learn more about users’ behaviors and preferences, it’s clear that mobile marketing content has to be shareworthy. Mobile content that sparks joy, inspiration, a sense of camaraderie, and other positive reactions is likely to be shared, which can expand the reach of a campaign. To get greater returns from campaigns, marketers should aim to develop mobile-optimized content that customers can’t resist sharing with friends and family.

4. Emphasis on location-targeted mobile Ads. Smart marketers have already begun to experiment with location-based targeting. After all, mobile users offer incredible opportunities for location targeting and hyper-relevant ads. In 2020 and beyond, this trend is projected to continue its already impressive growth pattern. This year, spending on location-targeted mobile ads is expected to top $31 million, while these ad budgets are projected to top nearly $40 billion by 2022.

5. Enhanced focus on shoppable Ads for mobile users. Mobile marketers are already accustomed to standard advertising strategies like PPC and SEM. Yet savvy marketers know that search and display ads aren’t the only options for targeting mobile customers. To capture a larger slice of the mobile market and improve ROI, advertisers must begin using Google Shopping Ads and other platforms that capitalize on mobile-friendly browsing and shopping.

Conclusion

As an increasing share of your customer base adopts smartphones and tablets, it’s more important than ever before to embrace mobile marketing. With this channel, you can reach customers on devices and platforms they already use and take advantage of specialized technology like location services and text messages.

Even if you aren’t in the market to hire a full-time employee, you can make this channel work for your business. From creating social media and email marketing campaigns to developing a mobile-optimized website or sending SMS and MMS messages, experienced freelancers can help you do mobile marketing right the first time.