Why all business should embrace mobile marketing

Mobile Marketing: A brief on why mobile marketing is king in 2014

Mobile marketing has been highlighted as one of 2014s most important digital marketings trends, along with customer experience and content, according to Adobes recent report. And much of the efforts will be based on B2C mobile improvements as (31% of managers say) over B2B (17%).

According to comScore (2013) 4/5 of customers use smartphones to shop, the mobile app industry is set to hit $25b. And with smartphone usage on the up with customers having mobile contracts with more data allowances than ever, the trends are set to continue. 

Customers use mobile sites and apps for many services and products, 'click-to-call' measurements were taken and the results showed that restaurants, taxis, car repairs and home repairs were at the top of the list. But many other industries were close behind.

Mobile marketing can provide customers with time and location sensitive, personalized information that promotes goods, services and ideas. (Leppaniemi, 2008)

Mobile marketing complies many functions;

• Applications or Apps
• Web pages specifically made for Android or iOS
• SMS/MMS marketing
• Push notifications/Alerts
• Games
• QR codes

Mobile applications benefit the customer in many ways;

• Making web browsing faster
• Geo-targeting/Location based
• Extra features such as IM
• Higher usability over websites

It is almost expected for large businesses to have an app for their customers, or at least a mobile optimised website. But what about SMB's? 

Statistics from 2013 show SMBs are not up-to-date with mobile tech, with under 10% being mobile-optimised.                                                           

Without a mobile-optimised site the business will be loosing out, customers are 67% more likely to stay on the page on their smartphone if its mobile optimised.

The apps are not just for customers, employees can use apps for business to optimise performance, efficiency and ease of use.

As shown below, for the automotive industry, manufacturers and dealers use mobile apps to help customers assess the status of the vehicle, adjust settings and as a reference for services.

Inchcape, an automotive franchise released their own mobile app, which allows customer to connect with the dealership via the program. This allowed customers to book test drives, view cars for sale, contact staff and much more.

Overall, in 2014 business (Especially SMB's) need to embrace mobile marketing more than previously. Customers expect business to have a mobile-optimised site, and if they don't the customer is likely to leave the page and look for elsewhere. Mobile-optimisation benefits the company by adding features for the customer to use and this will increase usability, engagement and sales.