Tag: mobile marketing

How brands can leverage the mobile shift

How brands can leverage the mobile shift by .  Available from <http://www.marketingtechnews.net/news/2016/nov/15/how-brands-can-leverage-mobile-shift/> [15 November 2016, 10:10 a.m.]

Today, smartphones are more like an extra limb than a device for most people. Consumers take their phones with them everywhere they go, and each time they unlock their home screens is a chance for brands to become a part of their digital lives.

With 85.7% of smartphone internet time spent in apps versus mobile web, more consumers are opting for the seamless experiences that apps offer.

By keeping a few key tips in mind, brands can make the most of this mobile shift, using apps to drive awareness, engagement and conversions—both online and off—and give consumers the optimised, personalised and engaging experience that they have come to expect in the digital world.

Set goals

It’s a mistake to launch an application for the sake of having one. A successful app begins with planning and setting goals.

These goals will help to target the right audience, measure success and, if needed, adjust strategies. Goals should also be specific. Are you looking to drive more traffic? Increase conversions? Raise awareness?

Clear and defined goals will help deliver an experience that will benefit both brands and consumers.

Offer value

Providing consumers with a 1:1 branded application experience starts with understanding why your application deserves to be included on users’ valuable home screen.

Mobile real estate is a hot commodity, and when consumers run out of mobile storage space, what’s going to compel them to keep your app?

Offering users value, whether it’s through promotions, immersive entertainment or exclusive content, will drive consumers to use your app and engage actively with your brand.

Mobile functionality can also turn a standard branded opportunity to a one-of-a-kind, engaging experience

For example, Phunware teamed up with international media agency MEC and Paramount Pictures International to promote last year’s summer blockbuster, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.

The campaign used branded content within two popular mobile games, creating custom levels that let users experience the thrilling life of an Impossible Missions Force agent.

By offering players unique content not available elsewhere, we were able to drive results, including 13 million overall gameplays, an 87% video ad completion rate and a 6.65% click-through rate.

Understand your audience

As consumers spend more time in apps, brands gain access to an unprecedented amount of user data.

With each interaction, consumers leave behind a digital data trail, giving brands valuable insight into who their users are, when and where to engage and how to hold their attention.

From time spent in app to content and ad engagement to mobile purchasing behavior, mobile app data enables more comprehensive customer profiling and the ability to better segment and target customers.

Consumers also have a lot to gain from the data they leave behind.

The more a brand knows about them, the more personal and relevant content can be. For example, by paying attention to the playlists most frequently used—like Running or Dance—brands like Pandora can learn a lot about who their users are and deliver relevant ads for a more personalsed, less disruptive listening experience.

For retailers, frequent shoppers may receive special offers or rewards upon entering a store, generating quick sales and ultimately, happy shoppers. What’s more, with a deeper understanding of the traits of power users, brands can more easily find lookalike targets to grow their audience even more.

Leverage mobile functionality

Coupled with the first-party data brands get from their own applications, mobile allows for unique experiences users can’t get from a laptop. Bluetooth, GPS and Wi-Fi technology give brands valuable information about users based on where they engage the most.

For instance, those who engage most in airports or hotels during the week are likely to be business travelers. But these functions also enable more ways to reach on-the-go users, including the ability to send contextually-triggered messages and promotions.

Mobile functionality can also turn a standard branded opportunity to a one-of-a-kind, engaging experience.

For example, game immersion experiences that turn a smartphone into a wand or a steering wheel yield a level of consumer engagement that can’t be replicated through traditional channels like websites and subscription-based newsletters, and help garner brand loyalty and customer satisfaction.

One-to-one indoor and outdoor contextual targeting will be critical for brands as consumers continue to spend their time in-app.

According to comScore, with mobile now representing more than 65% of digital media time, mobile applications are a must for brands that haven’t incorporated them yet, and optimisation should be the next step for those that have.

With clear goals in mind, brands that offer valuable content and engaging experiences and utilise the wealth of available mobile data will be on their way to mobile success.

How brands can leverage the mobile shift by .  Available from <http://www.marketingtechnews.net/news/2016/nov/15/how-brands-can-leverage-mobile-shift/> [15 November 2016, 10:10 a.m.]

The Ingredients Of A Successful Mobile App

The Ingredients Of A Successful Mobile App.  Available from <https://techfeatured.com/1766/the-ingredients-of-a-successful-mobile-app> [November 06, 2016; 17:36]

Gone are the days where people used to read and write. The smart phones dominate the life of every other person around the world. These smart phones are powerful in countless ways. Let’s begin by taking a look at all those mobile apps resting in your phone. From cooking to staying healthy, there’s so much you can do through them. Mobile apps have a strong influence in times like these. No, it just doesn’t stop to Candy Crush and Pokemon Go. The mobile apps built in this century are sophisticated and functional like never before. It is tough to stay put with this competition.

If you wish to build an app that runs well in the market, here are some helpful tips for you.

1. Do People Need it?

When you build a mobile app that is the first thing you need to ask yourself. Why is it going to be there in the market in the first place? This will ultimately help you to set your goals right and drive you into the right direction. Is there a void in the market that you intend to fill? It shouldn’t be like any other app in the market. People don’t want to flood their smart phones any longer. When you build an app, it should have a grander purpose and deliver what is not there already.

2. Cross-Platform App

Any mobile application is only beautiful to the users if it appears the same way throughout all the platforms. You know the misery of visiting some websites that completely change its shape on the mobile phone? No one wants to have more of those. You must develop a mobile applications that is functional throughout all the platforms. Haven’t we already seen how terrible the Android users felt because Prisma launched later on Android?

3. It Should be Super Fast

We certainly aren’t patient beings. Let’s not blame us for that. The never ending traffic tests enough of our patience. When it comes to mobile apps, people prefer the ones that are fast and load quickly. No one wishes to wait for it to load and reveal what it has. Most of the times, people wouldn’t wait beyond five seconds for an application to load its pages. Everyone has high expectations when they download an app. Your mobile app should be tested against this and you must ensure it runs fast to survive the competition.

4. Have an Online Presence

Before your mobile applications gets launched in the market, you must have a stronger online presence beforehand. For this reason, a functional and great looking website must be launched before you launch the app in the market. This would help you to promote the application on your own platform and help people to create a stronger brand identity. A major concern of a lot of users is fakeness of mobile apps. Your website will eliminate those fears completely.

The Ingredients Of A Successful Mobile App.  Available from <https://techfeatured.com/1766/the-ingredients-of-a-successful-mobile-app> [November 06, 2016; 17:36]

Why mobile marketing is harder than ever — and what you can do about it

Why mobile marketing is harder than ever — and what you can do about it by Chantal Tode.  Available from <http://www.retaildive.com/news/why-mobile-marketing-is-harder-than-ever-and-what-you-can-do-about-it/429592/> [November 02, 2016]

rom slowing sales and exploding phones to the rapid advances of chatbots, digital assistants and virtual reality, it has been a tumultuous year for mobile. For marketers, the upshot is that reaching smartphone users has never been more complex.

With mobile’s unique and personal use case as well as a fragmented landscape, connecting with users has always been a challenge. Early on, the consensus was that — beyond ads — an iPhone app was the best jumping off point for building relationships on mobile.

But this thinking is changing as apps prove beneficial for only some brands. More importantly, a new integrated vision of the computing experience is emerging that seeks to connect users to relevant online information more seamlessly than opening and close multiple apps.

It all sounds pretty cool, but marketers still have practical concerns: Should they be thinking about developing apps? Or chatbots? Or is it better to take a wait-and-see approach?

“Apps are still the gold standard and most easily understood by users,” Tobias Dengel, CEO of mobile app developer WillowTree, told Marketing Dive. “However, we see a distributed universe emerging where users expect to engage with their chosen brands and services via apps, but also chatbots, digital assistants and integrations into other apps.”

The app conundrum

The need to reach mobile users is more important than ever. Mobile commerce is expected to account for 32 % of online sales this year, up from 26% last year, according to eMarketer. And more than half of consumers’ time spent online is now coming from mobile apps, per a recent report form comScore.

Despite these figures, many marketers are still trying to figure out a mobile strategy.

While apps are popular, Forrester’s research revealed that a significant majority of time is spent with just five apps — typically, popular social media and messaging apps. That means that brands can invest millions of dollars and create a fantastic app but still may have a hard time breaking through and getting used.

“Already today not all brands need an app — not all have the loyalty and offer the utility to justify the investment when consumers won’t download it, or will and then not come back,” Jenny Wise, a senior analyst at Forrester Research, told Marketing Dive.

There are exceptions, of course: The Nike+ app is successful, for example, and apps are a must-have for airlines and banks. Apps can also work well for brands around big events like the Olympics, ski season or home buying.

But mobile is not all about apps anymore.

The chatbot opportunity

The inherent challenges with apps are the reason why a number of brands have jumped on the opportunity to build chatbots on Facebook Messenger and other messaging apps. The thinking is that with a much smaller investment, marketers can engage users where they are spending much of their time.

So far, chatbots appear to work best for quick interactions where opening an app to execute a task would introduce too much friction. But it is still early days for these experiences and they may not be a good fit for everyone.

“Many of these are still evolving and don’t offer the best user experiences,” Forrester’s Wise said. “For example, ordering flowers through 1-800-Flowers on Facebook Messenger can only be done in a linear fashion — the consumer can’t go back and change the date once they are on the next step. That’s not a great experience. So right now, these are tactics available to early adopters who have a test-and-learn objective.”

Will digital assistants dominate?

Digital assistants have also caught the attention of marketers, with many building skills — mini apps that execute tasks — for the Amazon Echo while others are looking forward to the opportunity to build similar interfaces for Google’s new Home hub, powered by its digital assistant.

Opportunities on digital assistants could be more significant than chatbots and may replace the need for an app for some marketers because adoption levels are expected to be strong, with consumers leveraging these interfaces throughout the day for numerous activities.

As consumers spend more time with voice-controlled digital assistants, they are likely to begin to expect these kinds of interactions from brands, particularly if these platforms are able to build a one-stop shop that keeps consumers engaged.

“Digital assistants won’t replace apps for all brands — namely, those that have the brand loyalty that drives app users in the first place — and the digital commitment and data maturity to offer high-quality experiences that can compete with this digital assistants,” Forrester’s Wise said. “But for those brands who don’t have a captive audience or deliver high-value experiences, digital assistants will offer stiff competition for consumers’ attention in mobile moments.”

For brands interested in taking advantage of chatbots and digital assistants, Wise recommends trying to deliver shortcuts for consumers to relevant information, thinking in terms of conversational interfaces and leveraging artificial intelligence to increase consumer insights and build better, more proactive experiences.

Hybrid solutions

Chatbots and digital assistants may also exist in tandem with apps for some marketers. But no matter which combination of chatbots, digital assistants and apps marketers choose to leverage, one important difference in how they develop mobile engagements going forward will be the need to focus on voice-driven experiences.

“We see more of a hybrid solution where the user moves between voice and visual communications,” WillowTree’s Dengel said. “The fastest way to send information is through voice, but the fastest way to receive info is visual.

“Speak your request and then see the answer in the app — and your starting point for speaking could be anywhere — within an app, or within the Messenger app or Siri, or within a 3rd party app,” he said.

It will also be important for marketers to have strong mobile Web content as mobile’s next generation evolves. Already, more searches are completed on mobile than desktop and the shift will only continue as digital assistants gain steam. This is one reason Google is developing a mobile-first strategy for its search index.

“Before apps or chatbots, job one should be ensuring they have a mobile-optimized — or in Google’s terminology, a ‘mobile friendly’ — site,” said Gartner‘s Michael McGuire.

The options don’t stop there for compelling ways in which to engage mobile users. Savvy marketers are also exploring virtual reality as a way to immerse mobile users in engaging content while resourceful brands such as Taco Bell and Hershey’s are teaming up with popular apps like Airbnb and Uber, respectively, for promotions to engage their users.

The good news is that investing a couple of million dollars in a quality app is no longer a necessity. The bad news is that with so many different ways to build relationships on mobile, marketers have their work cut out for them when it comes to picking the one tactic — or a combination of them — that fits best for their brand and goals.

“There is no one silver bullet,” said Julie Ask, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester. “Marketers need a portfolio of experiences on mobile.”

Why mobile marketing is harder than ever — and what you can do about it by Chantal Tode.  Available from <http://www.retaildive.com/news/why-mobile-marketing-is-harder-than-ever-and-what-you-can-do-about-it/429592/> [November 02, 2016]

8 Mobile Marketing Tips for Small Business

8 Mobile Marketing Tips for Small Business by Megan Totka.  Available from <http://www.business.com/marketing/megan-totka-mobile-marketing/>. [October 26, 2016]

Mobile marketing is constantly moving forward and evolving, stay on top of the trends

Mobile marketing is different than other methods of marketing because it lets businesses get directly in front of customers on devices they use all the time – tablets and smartphones. From mobile check-ins to text messages, to emails and social media, mobile marketing may help small businesses boost sales when they send coupons or offer discounts, sales, or promotions to customers.  It’s smart to reach out to customers on the devices they constantly have in their hand – this is why mobile marketing can impact both online shoppers and walk-in customers, too.

Luckily, more and more companies and individuals realize the benefits of mobile and want to lead the way into the mobile future – and the first stop is adopting mobile marketing solutions for your small business. Take a look at these 8 mobile marketing tips that can help your small business.

Text marketing

The professional side of texting is something to embrace. SMS is for more than casual conversation – even financial institutions now send sensitive data via SMS and it’s pretty powerful. Now that more than three-quarters of the world’s smartphones are SMS-enabled, it’s time to make sure your small business is, too.

Create opt-in campaigns that allow customers to sign up and receive alerts and rewards for joining the campaign. The platform is a great way to encourage customers to take specific action in exchange for a reward, such as a discount on a purchase. There is a greater chance that people will open their texts than read emails, and texts are opened more rapidly than emails, too.

Transition to a mobile-ready website

Responsive design is crucial – if you don’t have it, you risk text that doesn’t fit on the page and may notice that your customers come up missing, supporting a competitor who can offer a site that is mobile-ready. Make sure your website reads beautifully whether it is accessed on a laptop, desktop, mobile phone, or tablet.

Create a mobile app

Mobile apps aren’t inexpensive to build – they can easily cost a pretty penny if you’re willing to pay. Like anything, though, with some time and effort, you can make sure the process is affordable. Your app doesn’t have to be super fancy, and you don’t have to join forces with a well-known firm that will charge you a lot of cash. Find new creators who are eager to get business and showcase their talents. Pay them reasonably and offer referrals and site recognition, too.

No matter how you do it, make sure you get an app built, around 80 percent of smartphone users use apps every day. You can’t let your business miss this simple way of making sure your brand is in front of all of those people.

Incorporate mobile payments

Small businesses have either a product or a service to offer consumers. As a result, your strategy should include acceptance of mobile payments – know what to look for in a payment processor before you rush to make a decision. Payment processors offer various benefits when it comes to service, security, ease of use, and cost efficiency. Make it easier for customers to pay you with modern payment options.

Have meaningful social presence

Facebook isn’t all about fun and games, and while it is a lot of fun, it’s also a great way to gain new customers. Marketing is about first giving to your customers. This means you should give your audience on social media what you would want yourself. Share posts and start meaningful conversations. Leave comments and ask and answer questions. Work to make sure your brand is where people see it and appreciate it; it doesn’t take much time out of your day.

Offer up deals

Your business can continue to make money while sending out digital deals. Send messages straight to your consumer’s smartphones, SMS coupons have redemption rates 10 times higher than print coupons like the ones we see in the Sunday paper. The other good news: it’s nearly impossible to lose the smartphone version of a coupon.

Consider mobile customer service

More businesses are jumping on the mobile customer service bandwagon to track orders, take payments, share shipping details, and respond quickly to questions via smartphone. This is easy and convenient for both the small business owner and customers. Plus, customers really enjoy the quick response time mobile customer service offers.

Register with mobile directories

The days of thick phone books with yellow pages are just about history. Instead, the majority of people now turn to mobile directories. To ensure your small business is found, register with various mobile directories. Think along the lines of YP, Yelp and Google+Local.  Remember to include the details of your business such as its name, the products and services offered, business hours, a contact phone number, a link to your site, and your physical address.

Mobile marketing is constantly moving forward and evolving. Stay on top of the trends and times and make sure you know what your competitors are doing in the mobile marketing arena. Try not to fear the cost or changes that accompany mobile technology — Smartphones and small businesses are a perfect match.

In addition, realize that mobile marketing isn’t going away – it’s actually our future — so now is the time to get on board and don’t look back. While some small business owners shy away from mobile because they perceive it to be complex or time-consuming, many realize it’s simply another way to market a small business. After all, small business owners are in a better position to utilize mobile for customer engagement. It’s all about connecting with customers, and mobile allows that to happen.

Photo credit: GaudiLab/Shutterstock

8 Mobile Marketing Tips for Small Business by Megan Totka.  Available from <http://www.business.com/marketing/megan-totka-mobile-marketing/>. [October 26, 2016]

The Rise of M-Commerce: Tips for Effective Mobile Marketing & Sales

The Rise of M-Commerce: Tips for Effective Mobile Marketing & Sales by  .  Available from <http://paymentweek.com/2016-10-17-the-rise-of-m-commerce-tips-for-effective-mobile-marketing-sales-00284/>. [October 17, 2016]

When you look at your mobile device – phone, tablet, or any other digital sidekick of choice – what do you see? One answer should hopefully be “a gateway to online shopping. According to Internet Retailer Magazine, mobile commerce (M-commerce) accounted for 30 percent of all e-commerce sales in 2015. That’s a 38.7 percent increase over 2014, putting revenues to just over $104 billion.

How did we get to a time where mobile purchases accounted for nearly a third of all digital commerce sales in the United States?

With M-commerce on the rise, it’s not enough to realize how much M-commerce is growing. To be truly effective at marketing and selling through this channel, retailers should be aware of the reasons why it’s growing in order to better engage customers through this shopping platform.

Smartphone Ownership

According to Pew Research, 68 percent of Americans owned smartphones in 2015 – a figure up from 35 percent in 2011. With smartphone ownership on the rise, it’s no wonder M-commerce numbers are rising with it. Using smartphones to shop is only natural, especially since they’ve become computers on-the-go. Now, the entire web is at consumers’ fingertips no matter where they might be – and forward-thinking retailers and app developers have come to realize that consumers want to shop using their smartphones, the same as they would using a computer.

Mobile-Friendly Websites

There used to be a day when a consumer could look at a website for their favorite retailer on their phone, and be frustrated that it wasn’t mobile-friendly. That’s where tech-savvy retailers, who began thinking mobile-first, began to transform their existing websites into either responsive mobile designs, which adapt their website appearance to the type and size of a visitor’s device, or specialty mobile designs, which are built specifically for mobile users with less overall functionality but improved design for purchasing behaviors.

Similar Web issued a report in 2015 stating that more than 55 percent of traffic to today’s leading websites is from mobile devices, an increase of 14 percent over 2014.Google also released an algorithm update in April 2016 that penalized websites in mobile search results that were not mobile-friendly (though there is no current impact to those same websites in desktop searches). This means sites are being rewarded if they offer a mobile-friendly website, and is a great motivation to move into mobile-friendly territory.

Popular Industries

Which industries are attracting the greatest volume of M-commerce traffic? Similar Web’s 2015 report lists the following industries as the leaders and most-visited by mobile users:

  • Beauty
  • Garden and Home
  • Health
  • Animals and Pets
  • Society and People
  • Auto
  • Hobbies and Recreation
  • Sports
  • Entertainment and Arts
  • Travel
  • Industry and Business

Consumer M-Commerce Habits

How are consumers engaging in M-commerce? It varies by industry, so considering a personalized plan for your business is one key to successfully engaging consumers through this channel. Even if customers don’t purchase a vacation, plane ticket, or car directly from their mobile device, their mobile device is playing a key role by giving that consumer the necessary information to make a purchase decision.

“For consumers, mobile devices have become an extension of the research and comparison phase of shopping, especially as they can quickly find products and reviews, as well as check their rewards through loyalty programs or credit cards via their mobile device,” said Amy Parsons, Vice President of Global Commerce at Discover. “Retailers should consider being present in the mobile channel based on what’s best for their type of business, whether it’s an app, mobile-friendly website, or social media channels, in order to reach customers and deliver relevant information.”

This means that even if your business as part of an industry where most sales are completed via desktop or even in-person (such as a car dealership), you should consider investing in the mobile platform as a part of your digital marketing strategy, knowing your customers will use mobile tools to come to an informed purchasing decision.

Key Takeaways

As the busy holiday shopping season nears, now is a key time to ask how you can improve your brand’s efforts around M-commerce. Do you need to hire a consultant to help your brand meet your customer’s mobile shopping expectations? How can you use your current website analytics (such as bounce rates and popular pages) to enhance your customer’s overall mobile research and purchase experience? Are you doing everything you can to make it easy to be found in mobile searches and to be user-friendly once customers find you?

The easier it is for your customers to complete a mobile purchase, the sooner you’ll start to build engagement among this digitally-demanding customer demographic. M-commerce is on the rise, which means the “M” piece of your digital shopping experience could reach new heights as well.

The Rise of M-Commerce: Tips for Effective Mobile Marketing & Sales by  .  Available from <http://paymentweek.com/2016-10-17-the-rise-of-m-commerce-tips-for-effective-mobile-marketing-sales-00284/>. [October 17, 2016]