5 Mobile Marketing Ideas For Your Small Business

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If you put up a blog and stopped there, you might be missing the big picture.

Mobile marketing is a vital part of any online marketing effort, especially considering that 77 percent of the population now owns a smartphone, according to Pew Research Center. Furthermore, about 10 percent of those smartphone users are “smartphone only,” meaning mobile is literally the only way they consume the vast treasure trove that is the Internet.

More Ways to Market to Mobile

Having a website and a blog that’s updated regularly is a great place to start, but that’s only the beginning.

There’s so much more you can do, especially when it comes to mobile marketing. Here are some ideas to get you started:

  • SMS Marketing. You may not be ready to develop an app for your business, but you certainly can invest in relatively inexpensive SMS marketing tools to push messages to your consenting customers.According to Smart Insights, over 90 percent of SMS messages are read within three minutes, making it extremely easy to see what campaigns work and which need to be retooled. Because it’s so easy to track, the ROI on SMS messaging can be impressive.
  • Since smartphones also double as music players and sources of audiobooks, it’s not surprising that so many people are listening to podcasts on them today. If you’re an expert in your field, this is a great way to showcase that. Podcasts can be difficult to get right and time-consuming, but if you keep at it and publicize your podcast far and wide, you’ll earn lots of brand awareness points.
  • Mobile payments and rewards. You’ll need an app for this, but many companies have made a successful run with mobile payments and rewards. CVS Pharmacy, for example, has an app that will allow a user to not only look up pharmacy orders, but also see their rewards earnings, use those earnings and pay for their orders without ever opening a wallet. The convenience is great and customers tell their friends.
  • Mobile support centers. Companies like Salesforce offer modules that allow you to build a massive mobile support center, equipped with both canned answers to common problems and the ability to contact a customer service agent right away.These platforms can be used in conjunction with operators like those at an answering service, or if you’re still very small, simply sent to your private phone for handling.
  • Google Local Business. Local businesses are usually the ones that have the most trouble getting a word in edgewise with all the noise directed at mobile. This is, in part, why Google developed their Local Business program. Using it, a search engine query for something you’re selling could bring up an advertisement that includes your item and store information in one fell swoop.If you’re not ready to pay Google just yet, give its free Local Business listings a try. These tools include a Click to Call feature reserved for smartphones that makes it easier than ever for mobile customers to contact you.

Mobile marketing for small businesses can be difficult water to tread, but by investing in one type of marketing at a time, you can achieve great results. Just remember to test your ad campaigns, no matter if they’re SMS or Google-based, and track important KPIs so you can tell when you’re doing well.

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