What is Mobile Marketing?

With people spending more time on their smartphones than ever before, mobile marketing has been the latest buzzword in marketing, but more often than not the question “what is mobile marketing?” doesn’t get answered.  Mobile marketing is marketing that is done through channels on mobile devices. Mobile Marketing is a subset of digital marketing, but it is not just one channel. When most people think of mobile marketing they think having a mobile friendly website, or a native mobile app is enough. While that is a good start, mobile marketing is much more than just those two channels. Some of the features of mobile marketing include near field communication (NFC), Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), SMS, augmented reality, wearables, emails, voice, and QR codes. So, when you are thinking about how to do mobile marketing, consider implementing some of these other mobile channels rather than solely fixating on your website.

Objectives of Mobile Marketing

The goals of mobile marketing are similar to any marketing goals are to engage with customers in a way that provides them with an easy-to-use, frictionless experience. To do this, you should think about how to create a mobile marketing strategy and a mobile experience that your customers will look forward to using because it is so simple. Some examples could be incorporating NFC into a product to give your customer a one of a kind, personalized experience. Another option is using SMS as a part of your mobile marketing campaign, and sending short messages out to customers that have opted-in to the messages. Both of these campaign ideas fall into the role of mobile advertising, AKA advertising to consumers on their devices. The importance of mobile advertising is that consumers are on their smartphones so often, so they are very likely to see your mobile ad. Plus, if the mobile experience is easy to use, there is no harm to them in exploring your website and what you have to offer. However, if you want your mobile marketing efforts to be successful, you must remember your mobile marketing etiquette. This means that you need to give your consumers a mobile ad that isn’t painful to read, isn’t hard to get to, and is designed with the user experience in mind.

Lumavate helps to promote mobile marketing strategies, specifically the use of Progressive Web Apps (PWAs). PWAs are apps hosted via the web, but look and function like native mobile apps. They are a mobile marketing technology that allows companies to give users a better user experience because PWAs don’t have to be downloaded through the app store, which believe it or not saves a lot of time, and they run faster because service workers are constantly working behind the scenes to cache data. This also means they can run offline and in low services areas. Lumavate’s PWA platform is also very user friendly, and makes it easy for any marketer to build a PWA, even if they have no coding experience.

Benefits of Mobile Marketing

The use of mobile has skyrocketed over the last few years. More people are relying on their mobile devices (smartphones, tablets etc.) to shop and get information. Therefore, one of the main benefits of mobile marketing is that you can reach larger audiences faster, and typically get better results. For example, SMS campaigns have an open rate of 98 percent, and 90 percent of those messages are read within three seconds. Also, since people bring their phones with them wherever they go, more people are using it to check their emails. In fact, 49 percent of revenue that comes from email marketing campaigns are opened on mobile phones. So clearly the speed and reach is one of the many benefits of mobile marketing in 2022.

When assessing mobile advertising advantages and disadvantages, there are far more advantages to adopting a mobile marketing strategy. The only disadvantage of advertising on mobile is you will need to spend time and resources to build out a new marketing strategy. While this might seem like a big task, this is only a small disadvantage of mobile marketing. In the long run, implementing mobile marketing will pay off because you can increase your reach, and create a new way that consumers can discover your business. Some people also bring up potential disadvantages of mobile marketing on youngsters because it increases their time spent on mobile. However, mobile marketing doesn’t mean individuals need to be spending more time on mobile devices, it just means when they do choose to use their mobile devices your brand will be able to reach them.

Types of Mobile Marketing

As mentioned earlier, mobile marketing is not just one channel. There are many different types of mobile marketing. Mobile marketing can be thought of as a subset of digital marketing, and the digital and mobile marketing meaning and types can be broken down into different categories. There is mobile marketing focused around phone marketing efforts including emails and SMS campaigns. Email campaigns include newsletters that brands send out which  include information about special promotions, new products, or sales. SMS campaigns are also a popular form of mobile marketing. These are text messages that brands send to consumers who opt-in to the campaign and you can send them quick updates about the brand, promotions, and anything else the consumer should be aware of. SMS has had many updates over the years, and there are now options for MMS (multimedia messaging services) and RCS (rich communication services) which allow for improved functionality, like photos, videos and give, in the message. It is key to include links to either a website or PWA in these email and SMS messages.

App Based Marketing

One of the other types of mobile advertising is app based marketing is also another option when pursuing a mobile marketing strategy. Application marketing can be in the form of a native mobile app or a PWA. If you choose to use a PWA some of the benefits include the app will be searchable, since it is hosted on the web, in which case you can take advantage of SEO to make your app more discoverable. A PWA also does not require a download, works faster, and takes less time and money to build. Lumavate offers a low code platform for marketers to easily build their own PWA with no coding experience required.

Social Media and Mobile Marketing

Social media can also be implemented into mobile marketing. While social media is often thought of as digital marketing, you can adjust your social media strategy to fit mobile in many different ways. For example, when you post on social media, make sure the post will look and function well on mobile. This means ensure the picture is a good size, the post isn’t too long that the words get cut off on a smaller screen, and if there are any links, it is easy for the user to click them. While these things seem like common sense, they are often overlooked. You can also incorporate some mobile marketing tech in your social media accounts like including a QR code that will bring you to a mobile ad or mobile website. Or you can include video or virtual reality into a post. There are many different features of mobile advertising so the possibilities are endless.

Mobile Marketing Examples and Resources

If you are new to mobile marketing, that is okay! There are many resources out there that provide mobile marketing examples and mobile advertising examples. These resources will help you understand why mobile marketing is increasing in importance, share best practices, discuss different mobile marketing channels, and share mobile marketing ideas. Some of these resources include mobile marketing articles and mobile marketing blogs. Lumavate’s blog looks at all things mobile. From QR codes to NFC to PWAs, it highlights the top mobile marketing trends every year. You can find mobile marketing examples 2021 and mobile marketing examples 2022. In addition, Lumavate has a podcast, Mobile Matters, where mobile thought leaders talk about their favorite mobile strategies, how they implement them, and advice with how to engage your customers through mobile. There are many thought leaders on this show, including Chad White from Oracle. Chad gives talks about the power of email marketing. Email marketing is best defined as a way of reaching your target customers through sending and creative messages through email highlighting a promotion, new product or sale with a clear call to action for customers to visit your website. The Mobile Matters episode on email marketing talks about best practices for email, and explains why email marketing is not dead.

Mobile Marketing Strategies

If you are getting ready to implement mobile marketing into your business, it is important to think through your mobile marketing strategy. There is no right or wrong when it comes to mobile marketing strategies, it just depends on what will be best for your business. So when thinking about how to create a mobile marketing strategy, you want to think about it in the same way you would for creating a traditional marketing strategy. Consider what channels work the best for you, what channels are your customers using, and what channels is your team passionate about. For example, if you customers love using apps it would make sense to incorporate PWAs into your mobile marketing strategy. Or if they respond well when you send them messages with updates, you might consider implementing an SMS campaign. Before you fully implement your mobile marketing strategy, it is beneficial to look at an example of a mobile marketing strategy from 2021 or a mobile marketing strategy from 2022. Looking at these examples will help give you a better understanding of what strategies work well, and the best way to use mobile marketing technology.

Another solution for devising your mobile marketing strategy is to look at a mobile marketing strategy pdf. Lumavate has a lot of downloadable infographics, ebooks, and case studies, all of which have valuable information about different mobile marketing techniques. One particular case study highlights Warren Rupp and how a PWA was the perfect mobile marketing solution for them and their customers. Reading case studies and ebooks similar to this are a great way to learn about what mobile solutions have worked for other companies, and think about how the same mobile solutions could work for your company.