Mobile marketing can be a huge source for gaining new customers, but many firms mess it all up.
From spamming to just plain bad advertisements, it’s easy to frustrate consumers when you use the wrong mobile marketing campaign strategies. Instead, consider these few tips for getting the most out of your campaign and remember that a little planning goes a long way.
Planning Your Mobile Marketing Campaign
Before your company can even think about launching a mobile marketing campaign, you first need to take a good long look at your main online site. The reason for this is that you need to make sure that your site is able to handle the influx of mobile traffic that your campaign is going to reel in. You may be toying with the idea of creating a separate mobile site, but it will really work in your best interest to avoid doing so. In fact, Google is pushing website owners to move towards responsive web design instead of separate mobile sites.
One of the main reasons for this is that if customers later visit your site on a non-mobile device, they would want to still “have a feel” for your website. You will throw off their sense of technological balance if it is an entirely different interface. Therefore, creating a responsive web design is your best bet for a more successful mobile marketing campaign. Basically, this means that your site has fluidity in its grid proportions, making it easy for it to adapt to different viewing layouts—including the images contained in your site.
Mobile Marketing and Direct Messaging
Probably the oldest version of mobile marketing campaign strategies is direct messaging. Customers can either sign up for this in person at your store or they can login to a username account that they create within your online site. After that, your company will send them mobile alerts with advertisements for freebies and specials. By allowing customers to sign up themselves for this service, you will avoid the awkward “spam” problem that turns customers off to marketing strategies.
This should always be an opt-in service. Don’t go out and buy a list and start sending messages. Consumers are more sensitive to getting texts on their phones than getting spam in their inbox. If you’re looking for a way to annoy potential customers, go ahead and try to send an unsolicited text and see how it works out for you.
The Use of QR Codes in Your Mobile Marketing Campaign
QR or quick response codes are an ingenious way to engage smart phone users with your company. There are lots of different avenues to go with this type of mobile marketing. It’s a small bar code-like design that has the ability to take users from a physical printed advertisement to your website or other location on the web.
- You can put your QR code on all advertisements. Customers can scan in that code and be taken directly to your website. This way, they don’t have to fumble around trying to look for you.
- QR codes are a quick and easy way to host all kinds of contests and games. Offer special offers to users by scanning in your QR code. Make it a game. People love games. If you can create some type of incentive, you will certainly have more traffic to your site.
- Similarly to the first point, you can use the QR code on specific products to send customers to that particular product’s support/information page on your company website. This will increase your customer service as well.
Maps and Mobile Marketing
While less direct, you should always have your business listed on Google and Bing Maps. When consumers do a quick search for what you have to offer, your name should be on the list. Few methods can be more effective for driving customers to your storefront than simply having your business on maps. Consumers have gotten more and more comfortable with finding something they want and using their phones to find the physical location. Even if you don’t have a physical storefront, it’s worth having your site listed on maps so consumers can find you.
Mobile marketing can be a powerful tool with a high ROI. But it takes careful planning and avoiding spam-like efforts. Therefore, follow some tried and true techniques and your mobile marketing campaign will be that much more likely to succeed.
Hi Tara,
This is a very informative post for me on how to do mobile marketing campaign strategies the correct way. I agree that direct messaging is a really effective strategy even if it is considered to be the oldest one in the mobile marketing campaign strategy. As a customer, I would rather sign myself up if I wanted to receive mobile alerts with ads for discounts or freebies from a company. Although unsolicited text messages or emails sometimes get through to me, I normally just wave it off and not bother opening the email at all. I was not aware that there are many cool advantages to using one’s QR codes and maps when it comes to conducting mobile marketing. Thank you for sharing!
Felicia – I agree too, that from my own customer perspective, I would much rather choose to receive direct mail emails from businesses. Although every once in awhile, I will open an unsolicited one, I normally delete those without every reading it.
Glad you enjoyed the article!
Hey Tara,
Awesome Article. I find that using AppAnnie (what I personally use), AppCod.es and MobileDevHq (although this one really isn’t that great), really help get you the right kind of analytics and keyword information to help with ASO.
Thanks for sharing! I’ve heard of AppAnnie before, but haven’t yet checked it out. I’ll definitely look into it.
Qr codes are great for linking your print media with your online. A lot of companies have abandoned some of the traditional forms of marketing for online primarily because it is harder to track the “conversion funnel.” The QR code can be a great way to drive traffic to your online content and track how your print media is doing.