Mobile phones have become a central part of the everyday human experience. Since the first iPhone entered the market in 2007, an estimated 3.8 billion people use smartphones around the world. For reference, that number represents half of the global population (7.9 billion as of March 2021). The bottom line: mobile marketing can help your business expand its reach substantially.
And in a time of widespread screen fatigue, people appreciate receiving straightforward, simple text messages from brands. According to Gartner, mobile marketing is known to have higher read (98%) and response rates (45%) than email (20% and 6% respectively).
Here are a few simple recommendations to help you add a mobile marketing strategy into your campaign mix.
Mobile marketing best practices
Mobile marketing differs from desktop and physical marketing for one fundamental reason: constant and continuous access. According to an article in the International Journal of Business Innovation and Research:
“Increased use of smartphones and other mobile devices means more frequent contact between the brands and consumers. Interactions happen on any time, anywhere basis, going much beyond the boundaries of traditional customer connect.”
On a computer, audiences have more viewing space and access to a full keyboard. Whereas on a phone or tablet, people are more likely to encounter distractions or be in “browsing” mode, so capturing your audience’s attention can be tricky, but not impossible. (Research has also found links between mobile devices and anxiety, potentially due to the cognitive switching that a mobile environment promotes.)
Ultimately, though, marketing is about building connections with your audience. But what makes a strategy effective? Consider the following:
- Your opt-in process. First and foremost, mobile marketing is a permissioned channel, meaning your campaign recipients choose to be in or receive communication from your company.
There are a number of global privacy and consumer protection laws that exist to prevent predatory or invasive behavior; if you’re unfamiliar with these privacy laws, we recommend reading up on a few.
Once you have a campaign plan in place, make sure to execute it in a compliant and respectful manner. To learn more about some of these protections, take a look at this article on planning an SMS or MMS campaign.
- Bandwidth usage for your campaigns. One of the challenges of mobile marketing is that your audiences often have limited bandwidth and may not have the funds to pay for extra data that gets eaten up with multimedia campaigns featuring GIFs, photos, etc. For this reason, you’ll want a clear understanding of your target audience.
Does your customer base consist of individuals with high net worths? If the answer is “yes”, run your multimedia campaign — just make sure you get an opt-in first and clearly explain what type of content your audience should expect to receive.
- Your mobile audience experience. How long should your messaging be? How frequently should you send messages? What types of campaigns should you run on mobile versus other channels? What should be your call to action?
Check out this mobile marketing guide can help you navigate these types of questions and brainstorm campaign ideas.
Mobile marketing examples to try
So, now that you have a few ideas percolating in your mind, you’re ready to execute. Here are three mobile marketing examples to help structure your ideas.
SMS and MMS
SMS stands for short service messaging, and MMS stands for multimedia messaging service. (Read about the difference between the two, here.) In short, a SMS is a text message and a MMS is a text message that includes a multimedia graphic like photos and GIFs.
This particular marketing strategy is all about context. Perhaps you want to send your audience an offer a few days before a holiday to remind them that your delivery service is available for last-minute deliveries. In this situation, consider sending subscribers a low-bandwidth, multimedia message as a reminder. Just make sure you’ve already received consent (which you should have received during opt-in) before sending these types of messages.
No code mobile apps
Did you know that you can build a high-quality mobile app without ever needing to write a single line of code? With platforms like Bubble, Adromo, and Adalo, it’s easy to build apps using templates.
To get started, browse the available templates, marketplaces, and case studies from these no code app companies before selecting the platform that’s right for you and your marketing strategy needs. Choose a platform that will provide the most effective and straightforward build for what your campaign needs.
And keep in mind that as your business grows, you can always build a custom app.
Chatbots
Chatbots help you streamline communications, at scale, with your audience.
Even though people want immediate help, they don’t necessarily want to talk to a human — in fact, 62% of people prefer conversing with a bot.
A chatbot can help you develop interesting, engaging, and fun conversations for your audiences to enjoy. The key to success with a chatbot, though, is to be playful and connect audiences with interesting content.
To brainstorm a few ideas on how to best implement a chatbot into your marketing strategy, take a look at this guide to what chatbots are used for, which walks you through ManyChat’s email opt-in chatbot flow and can help you visualize what a fun, upbeat conversation could look like.
Last but not least
Remember that marketing is additive and interactive. With a solid foundation and campaign infrastructure, you can start testing timeless and universal brand concepts that apply to all of your marketing channels.
Don’t be discouraged if something doesn’t stick the first time, either. Even though half the world’s population has a mobile device, it is still relatively new technology, especially from a marketing perspective. Be patient, and keep an open dialogue with your audience.
Deepen your customer conversations by creating a chatbot. Try ManyChat for free, today.
