Mobile has become the leading marketing platform for small businesses and large firms. Consumers these days spend more time staring at their mobile devices than their television screens or desktop monitors.
Mobile delivery of content and ads have become the main focus for tech giants like Facebook and Google. Facebook's Mobile Ads Are Now a $13 Billion Business and companies around the world are working diligently to build-out their mobile infrastructure.
It is very important for today's small business owner to invest some meaningful resources fortifying their digital and non-tech assets for the mobile future. There are many ways the "Little guy" can take advantage of the ongoing mobile revolution.
Efforts to do so can range from little acts like making your company's website or webstore mobile friendly to building a purely mobile experience for your goods and services. Some small operators around the country have created an ecosystem in which they can interact with their prospects and customers in a purely mobile way.
Below are three ways any small business owner can improve their mobile marketing strategy going forward.
1) Be Mobile-friendly
Here is the most basic, but powerful acts you can take to prepare yourself for a killer mobile marketing system. It is important that you make your company's online experience very, very mobile. I guarantee you, if you hopped over to your Google Analytics account right now, you will see that most folks visit your site from a mobile device and that number has been on the right for a while now.
It is important to build a separate,m purely mobile web presence to accommodate the folks who prefer to check you out on the on-the-go. The Wizz kids over at Google have even changed their algorithms to rank mobile-friendly sites better.
2) Go Local Statistics show that most shoppers buy within a 10-mile radius of their homes or workplaces. Guess what? Your customers are closer than you think. You want to invest in a hyperlocalized marketing effort. Facebook has a new program that allows you to create a 100% local marketing campaign for $35 a month. Google Adwords Express offers a similar deal. I have found that local marketing generates more sales or completed transactions that most people think.
3) Discounts and Special offers are your best friends The thing about mobile marketing is that you have a very short window of time to tell your story to your potential customers. It is therefore important that you skip the long stories about your company's values and tall monologues about what inspired you and just get down to what the consumer stands to benefit by checking-out your goods and /or services. I have found that you can do some major damage by offering significant discounts or providing free trials of your products. Free trial offers are the most effective here, even if you have a brick and mortar operation. Gyms and massage houses have been using this tactic for years. "Free" gives you a chance to collect important contact information on your prospects so you can market to them later.
