It is estimated that there will be more than 7.1 billion mobile users worldwide towards the end of 2021. This is a good enough reason to invest in mobile marketing. It is a time when businesses and marketers must understand what is mobile marketing and how to create and run successful mobile marketing campaigns.
What is Mobile Marketing?
Mobile marketing is defined as any marketing or advertising activity that is carried on mobile devices that includes smartphones, cellphones, tablets, and other similar devices. You’ll use a mobile device to reach your target audience. Just like you have TV advertisements that go on air over the television, mobile marketing involves running marketing campaigns on mobile devices:
Here is an example of mobile marketing:
A simple SMS can take your ideal customer to the landing page and then to your website. Your audience can complete the purchase right from their mobile. This is what’s called mobile marketing where interaction initiates from a mobile device.
Types of Mobile Marketing
Mobile marketing is a powerful digital marketing channel that has several types. You have a lot of options to choose from when it comes to mobile marketing. Here are the most powerful types:
SMS Marketing: All such techniques that use text messages as the marketing channel.
App-Based Marketing: Your marketing message is delivered to your target audience via mobile apps. It is estimated that 80% of mobile time is spent on apps so it’s the best way to reach your target audience.
In-Game Mobile Marketing: It is a type of app-based marketing where your ads specifically show within a game. Google AdMob is the most popular ad network to run these types of ads.
QR Codes: It involves techniques where you interact with your ideal customers via QR codes. It could be any type of campaign that uses QR codes to reach and connect with your audience.
Location-Based Marketing: This is a mobile marketing type where you target individual customers based on their physical location such as a few kilometers away from your physical store.
Mobile Search Ads: These are the typical search ads that appear only on mobile devices.
Bluetooth Marketing: Also known as proximity marketing is a mobile marketing type where you send marketing messages to your audience via Bluetooth.
The list can go on and on as there are several other types of mobile marketing too such as mobile-friendly websites, MMS marketing, and any other form of marketing that uses mobile technology.
Why Mobile Marketing
Why should you invest in mobile marketing? Does it offer more than digital marketing?
If you don’t know much about mobile marketing and its benefits, here is a list of reasons and benefits that make it a must-have for any brand today:
1. Personalized
Mobile marketing is personalized than any other form of marketing for two main reasons:
First, mobile marketing is personalized by nature. Think of a location-based marketing campaign. Your ideal customers will receive a message when they’ll be in a specific geographic location. This is extremely personalized and consumers love it when they receive personalized messages from brands.
Second, research shows that 91% of mobile users keep their phone at an arm’s reach so they can instantly check it throughout the day. And another study found that an average person checks his/her smartphone 150x a day when he/she is waking.
This shows the importance of a mobile phone in an average person’s life. Users keep it close to them. And when your marketing message shows on the mobile phone, it puts your brand in a similar position. Users feel close and attached to your company.
2. Reach
A whopping 7.49 billion people are expected to use mobile devices by 2025. There are 4.80 billion internet users worldwide out of 92% access the internet via a mobile device:
More people today access the internet via their mobile phones as compared to the desktop. This means mobile marketing lets you reach a wider audience as compared to a desktop marketing campaign.
This means your target audience is more likely to see your ad on a mobile device as compared to a desktop. This is a good enough reason to invest in mobile marketing.
3. Cost-Effective
This sounds like a deal-breaker.
Yes, mobile marketing is cost-effective and more effective at the same time.
Consider a TV advertisement campaign. The average cost of a TV ad is around $115K (30-second commercial). This doesn’t include the cost of production yet.
An average mobile marketing campaign on Google will cost you between $1-2 per click with minimal production cost:
That’s a lot of difference.
Don’t forget the laser targeting you get with mobile marketing as compared to the TV ad that’s mass marketing.
Realistically, most of the small and mid-sized companies have a yearly digital marketing budget of under $115K (the amount you’ll pay for a single TV ad). It has no match in terms of cost.
4. Instantaneous
If you want to reach your target audience instantly, go with mobile marketing.
It is an instant marketing method where your message reaches your audience instantly. And the best part: They’re most likely to read it instantly.
Text messages have an open rate of 99% and more than 90% of these messages are read within 3 minutes of opening. This means your message reaches your audience instantly and is most likely to be read instantly too.
What’s better?
You don’t get such an instant delivery rate with any other type of marketing. To give you an idea, email marketing has an average open rate of 22% and a 3% average click rate.
Mobile marketing rocks.
Mobile Marketing is the Future of Marketing
Well, it isn’t the future as it is already here.
If you aren’t using mobile marketing to reach your target audience, you are making a big mistake. And mobile users will increase in the coming years. You’ll be left with no choice to have a mobile-friendly website and mobile marketing campaigns.
You should better go mobile or get ready to experience a decline in growth.
Featured Image: Pexels
