Mobile marketing

Mobile marketing is a practice that allows your business to engage with your customers or target audience using a mobile device or network. Often mobile marketing refers simply to marketing on or with a mobile device such as smartphone or tablet. 

Types of mobile marketing

The four main mobile marketing tools used are:

• mobile-friendly web sites
• mobile advertising
• SMS or MMS messages
• mobile applications or 'apps', included instant messaging platforms 

With mobile friendly marketing, you can use many of the features of standard internet marketing to connect with potential customers such as: 

• text
• images
• audio
• recorded video
• streaming video

You can also use Bluetooth - wireless technology with a short range - to communicate with potential customers as they pass billboards or kiosks. Bluetooth is free to use as there is no airtime charge. However, it must be used correctly; otherwise, it can be considered spam, which is illegal. Using Bluetooth for marketing is also known as beacon or proximity marketing. WiFi can also be used for proximity marketing in a similar way.

The use of mobile devices like smartphones has led to an increase in mobile marketing and m-commerce. It allows people to browse the internet and shop while on the go.

There are many benefits to marketing and selling on the mobile web, including:  

• reach a larger audience as more people use mobile devices to access digital content
• send single or bulk messages anytime, anywhere, with immediate tracking and record results
• target specific demographics such as age, location, and gender for better consumer engagement
• low production and distribution costs, and generate additional revenue from replies to promotions and competitions
• provide 24-hour billing, sales, service, and assistance to link your business directly with customers.
• messages can easily be forwarded, creating viral marketing potential for your business
• easily tied into other advertising media such as TV or radio

SMS marketing, or text message marketing, is a direct marketing method and a type of mobile advertising.   

It requires sending promotional messages to potential or previous customers via text. It is a form of opt-in marketing that requires contacts to give their consent.

Advantages of SMS marketing

• Most people take their mobile phones everywhere - meaning they can be effective for time sensitive messages.
• People tend to read virtually every text they get - unlike junk mail, spam or adverts which can be ignored.
• Can be used with information from your customer relationship management system to target customers past on their past purchase behaviour.
• A potential higher open rate than other direct marketing methods.
• It is suitable for time sensitive promotions since people read text messages instantly.
• SMS marketing is a relatively cheap option for small enterprises and start-ups.  
• Businesses can send personalised messages to specific customer groups using collected data.
• It can be used with information from your customer relationship management system to target customers on their past purchase behaviour.

Potential disadvantages of SMS marketing

• Your message has to be short - you only have a little space to get your message across. 
• People respond negatively to unwanted texts. Make sure you have their permission to send them texts and that your SMS marketing complies with privacy and data protection rules. See privacy and data protection in direct marketing.
• People are wary of responding to SMS messages due to  increased fraudulent messages. Under the E-commerce Regulations, you are required to make it clear who the message is from and commercial communications must be clearly recognisable as such. For more information, see selling online and the law.

Costs

You will need to employ a mobile phone agency to send out the texts for you. Companies tend to price their services by packages - so check their delivery rates and make sure the support services are satisfactory. You can also brand your messages so you send messages from your company name, not just your number.

When deciding on whether to use mobile marketing or m-commerce solutions in your business, you should consider the following points:

• How mobile marketing fits into your marketing plan. Will you use it to market your product or service, acquire or retain customers, or solely as a sales tool?
• Your target audience and how they use mobile devices. Consider whether a mobile application is necessary for them.
• Whether a mobile application or service would improve your current product or service. For example, you could switch from paper discount vouchers to SMS-based vouchers.
• If your competitors use mobile devices or applications, how do they use them? Are they successful, and how could you improve your own strategy? 

You also need to consider the most effective mix of mobile content that will benefit your business.  

There are several options for developing content for m-commerce and mobile marketing. Some of the options you could consider are: 

• mobile applications - this includes social networking apps, rich media content, instant messaging platforms, games or viral content
• mobile websites - websites that are designed for ease of use on a mobile device
• location-based services - eg mobile services that use the users' location to personalise the content that is served

Integrating mobile marketing in your digital strategy

Mobile marketing should complement your wider digital marketing efforts. Consider:

• using consistent messaging across channels like social media, email, and your website
• employing omnichannel approaches that allow customers to interact seamlessly across devices
• aligning mobile advertising with campaigns in other media for maximum impact

See more about develop a digital marketing plan.

Using Artificial Intelligence and location data in mobile marketing

Integrating new technologies can boost user engagement but should align with business goals and customer preferences:

• chatbots and Artificial Intelligent (AI) assistants on mobile apps can provide instant customer service and personalised recommendations
• augmented reality experiences allow customers to visualise products in their environment via mobile devices
• location-based marketing uses GPS to send targeted offers when customers are near a store or event
• push notifications through apps enable timely re-engagement

Generating revenue

There are a number of ways you can make money through m-commerce and mobile marketing.

One simple way is to allow your product or service to be purchased through a mobile-friendly website. Often a responsive website template is used to change the look and feel of your website, to make it more accessible to mobile users. See mobile web design best practice.

When you plan to create a mobile marketing or m-commerce project, it's important to think about your target audience first.

Understand mobile customers' needs

There are a number of different types of mobile device that people use, and these may vary depending on your customers. Typical mobiles devices used are:

• basic mobile phones 
• smartphones  
• netbooks and laptops  
• tablet computers 

The mobile version of your site should be well designed, and the code clean and compliant with World Wide Web Consortium standards. This will ensure cross-browser compatibility, meaning that it can be easily accessed on all popular browsers, mobile devices, and other web-browsing devices. 

You also need to think about how your customers connect to the mobile internet. Due to the vastly differing speeds of internet connections, you may, for example, have to simplify your mobile product to ensure that the loading times do not put customers off. Common mobile technology connections currently used include: 

• 5G and 4G, which allows videos, location-based services, downloads and improved internet use 
• WiFi, which allows internet usage up to home network speeds - however, there must be a WiFi spot within a certain distance to gain access. You should be aware that there are potential security issues with using unencrypted public hotspots.

You should conduct sufficient customer research before beginning to develop your mobile product. Read more about user-centred design and how to understand your customers' needs.

Considerations when creating mobile content

The basic considerations when creating any type of mobile content are that:

• content should be easy to read and digest on mobile devices - read more about optimising content for mobile devices
• customers and end users must always be considered - consider user-centred design
• whether you should develop in-house or externally 

Mobile app versus mobile website

Depending on the type of mobile marketing or m-commerce service you intend to develop, you may need to choose between a mobile app or a mobile website. Both systems have pros and cons which you should be aware of. 

You should only consider developing an app if there is something specific that you need a customer to do that cannot be easily done through a normal mobile friendly website. Apps can be costly to develop, and potential customers often do not want to download an app to make a simple product purchase.

If you opt for a mobile app, you should consider:

• cost of developing an app vs developing a mobile friendly website
• how to bring your app to market - eg through Apple's App Store, via Google Play or via another source
• how to upgrade or maintain your app once created
• whether to charge for the app or make it free
• what type of app is best for your campaign - eg game, social networking app, e-commerce app, etc
• how to promote your app

Read more about optimising content for mobile devices.

Many business' websites that can be accessed on a computer will be inefficient on a mobile device, either due to the smaller screen size or its appearance. If you decide to create a mobile site, you need to ensure that your content is optimised for mobile browsers.

One possible way to do this is to develop a responsive website template. This will take the original content of your site, and serve it to the mobile user in an easy to read and navigate format. You can also give the user the option of switching to the original version of the website, with may have more features, but will require more 'pinching and zooming' of content.

How to optimise content for mobile devices

As many customers using mobile browsing services will be 'on the move', it needs to be as easy to use as possible. You should consider the following factors when optimising your content:

• offer appropriate information first, then further reading
• use concise and direct language
• front load content, ie place distinctive information at the beginning of each section
• get users' consent before initiating downloads of content

Read more about mobile web design best practice.

As mobile devices have a different screen layout and operating speeds to standard desktop computers, you should:

• design responsive pages
• simplify the design of the site to take screen sizes into account
• add alt-tags for pictures - users regularly block downloading images to reduce bandwidth consumption
• avoid scripting languages, Flash or other complex objects that mobile devices may struggle to operate correctly
• avoid fixed sized items - eg tables - as they may not fit certain mobile devices

You must also design your site with search engine optimisation (SEO) in mind. SEO strategies must be put in place including link building, keyword research and optimised webpages and sitemaps.

Mobile advertising is becoming increasingly popular among businesses as it can reach a large audience in an efficient, economic format and achieve a higher conversion rate than display advertising. Read more about m-commerce and mobile marketing benefits.

Mobile advertising formats

There are a number of different ways you can advertise on mobile devices, including:

• search engine pay-per-click ads  have mobile friendly features such as  'click to call' a telephone number in the ad
• on mobile friendly video websites such as YouTube
• on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter
• in-app advertising

• SMS and MMS

Some online advertising platforms allow you to specifically target mobile users. 

Using mobile advertising

Before starting any advertising campaign, you need to consider:

• your target audience
• what you want to achieve from the campaign
• how it sits within your overall marketing mix

You also need to create a brief for your advertising campaign, and consider the following points:

• what you are trying to communicate
• your time and budget restraints
• whether you will create and manage the campaign in-house or outsource
• whether your advert is to be a one-off or a series
• what you will be measuring, eg key performance indicators

Measuring mobile advertising success

You can only measure your advertising success and learn lessons for future campaigns if you set clear, quantifiable objectives at the start of your campaign. Many good web statistics packages allow you to segment and analyse mobile content.

Measures of a successful campaign include:

• click through rates - the percentage of users who click on an advert to go to the advertiser's site
• pages visited and dwell time - the pages in your site visitors look at and how long they spent on each page
• whether anything was purchased or ordered after visiting the site through an advert
• how many times your app has been downloaded - if using a mobile app

Read more about measuring your online marketing.