Mobile Marketing - Are You Ready?

What comes to mind when you hear the term mobile marketing? Some may immediately think that this is about SMS marketing or that you need to have your own app. Not so. Mobile marketing is marketing on or with a mobile device such as a cell phone or defined as 'the use of the mobile medium as a means of marketing communication.'

According to KPCB Internet Trends 2013, 15% of internet traffic comes from mobile devices. There is no doubt that this number will continue to grow with more consumers coming to your website from a mobile phone. As a business, are you ready?

Mobile phone marketing allows you to significantly increase your customer base by tapping into their small, smart, hand held devices... literally at a swipe of the screen. If you're feeling a bit overwhelmed by the thought of mobile marketing or wondering if mobile marketing will actually help your business, here is something for you to think about.

Consumers are using mobile devices in vast increasing numbers in Asia. Check out these relevant facts:

 May 2013 - 32% of Japanese and 40% of Koreans own smart phones

 Chinese smartphone uses, at 240 million, outstrip USA users as 120 million

 Japan smartphone uses spend about $11.21 USD monthly to purchase via their phones

 In the last 3 years, mobile video traffic has increased 5,000% in the USA and a similar trend is reflected in Asia as well.

So what does mobile phone market growth mean to your business? It means new opportunities to reach out, promote or advertise to existing and potential customers, such as discount coupons & promotional offers on goods and services. It is a convenient way for you to keep in touch with busy consumers at any time of day. This is also a great method of getting data to customers quickly in a non-intrusive way.

Bottom-line. Mobile phone usage will in no way decrease - its growth curve is on a one way trajectory. Up! It's time for you to get your business ready for this incoming wave of traffic to your website.

Start by making your website responsive. Utilitizing a responsive web design approach provides an optimal viewing experience from mobile phones, to tablets to desktop computers monitors. In other words, when a user switches from their laptop to iPad or mobile phone, the website should automatically switch to accommodated for resolution, image size and scripting abilities. In a nutshell, the website should have the technology to automatically respond to the user's preference. Simply put, a responsive design takes a website and automatically repackages content to fit the device viewing it.

Still not quite convinced that this is a wave you want to ride? If it meant having higher product sales conversions, would that convince you? According to a Google report shared by Hubspot, 67% of users are more like to purchase a product or service from a mobile-friendly site. This means that if your site is not optimized, you run the risk of losing a large percentage of people who leave because it is not optimized for their consumption experience. Google has also said that it will rank sites optimized for mobile higher in mobile searches.

Here's the last bit of good news for you. If you're a small business that might be using a Word Press or Joomla website, you don't need to redo your entire website to be responsive. Ask your webmaster about finding a suitable plug-in for Word Press or component for Joomla. There are a few free options available to you. It's just a matter of doing your research to find what works best for you.

Now that should give you several great reasons to catch the next wave. What are you waiting for? Get ahead of the competition and convert those consumers who are already surfing their way to your business.