How to Create an Effective Mobile Marketing Strategy

Mobile marketing is a digital marketing strategy that is intended to target people on their smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. Digital marketing has shifted to mobile because the majority of people now own a smartphone. In 2015, this was brought to a realization as mobile searches surpassed desktop searches for the first time. By 2021, e-commerce is expected to reach $4.5 trillion. 

Knowing how important mobile is, it’s important to have a mobile marketing strategy that meets the needs of your mobile audience. Though they might be very similar to your desktop audience, mobile users tend to be in a different frame of mind. They want websites to be sleek and simplified. They expect pages to load fast and actions to take place in three clicks or less. 

Here are seven steps to creating an effective mobile marketing strategy. 

Create mobile buyer personas 

Buyer personas are fictional representations of your customers. It’s best to think of each persona as a real person so that you can be specific about their wants and needs. Create a profile for each persona and list out their background, job description, goals, objections, preferred content, etc. This will help you determine an appropriate tone for your content. 

Also make sure that you target your persona’s mobile habits as well. Are they comfortable researching products and services online? Are they willing to make purchases from their mobile device? How many touchpoints does the person take to convert? You can understand these numbers by viewing Google Analytics. 

Set goals for your mobile strategy 

By creating a specific mobile marketing strategy, what goals do you hope to reach? It’s helpful to bring in multiple departments, such as sales and marketing, so that you know what your current numbers look like and what goals are realistic. For example, if you already have mobile initiatives taking place, what are your sales numbers? Are you seeing success with your current tactics? Are you measuring everything? 

Here are some common mobile marketing goals:

• Increase sales 
• Generate new leads 
• Create more brand awareness 
• Exceed customer expectations 

Establish key performance indicators 

Your key performance indicators (KPIs) help you measure the success of your mobile campaigns. Determine which KPIs are realistic and measurable. Here are some of the most common KPIs: 

• Average time for conversion 
• Net sales – dollar or percentage growth 
• Number of customers retained 
• Monthly website traffic 
• Number of qualified leads 
• Conversion rates for CTAs 

Using these metrics, you can learn what is working for your campaigns and what is not. 

Monitor mobile metrics 

Use Google Analytics to understand what people are doing on your site. You can determine what content is most effective at engaging your audience, what landing pages need to be optimized and more. As you learn about your mobile audience, you can fine tune your website so that it’s more intuitive and helpful. 

Maintain a mobile-friendly website 

It’s 2019. There is no question that your website should be optimized for mobile. Not only is more traffic coming from mobile devices, but also mobile-friendliness is a ranking factor. To show Google and other search engines that your site is mobile optimized, it must have fast loading pages, content that adapts to the screen (no zooming or scrolling) and no mobile-specific errors. If you fail in any of these categories, your site will likely drop in the rankings. 

Luckily, you don’t have to bother your web developer to find out where your website stands. Use Google’s mobile-friendliness tool and enter in a URL. The results will tell you if your page is mobile friendly or not. It will also notify you of page loading issues. If you find that a lot of your pages have problems, talk to your web developer about optimizing your site for mobile. 

Utilize mobile advertising for email 

Remember, the emails you send to customers are being opened on mobile devices. Make sure that your emails are mobile friendly as well. To do this, you’ll want to choose a responsive design for your emails, as this ensures they adapt to all screens. 

Also, keep your CTAs, buttons, forms, etc. in mind for a mobile audience. If you want users to convert by clicking on a button, the button must be “tappable.” Otherwise, users will end up frustrated and will leave the funnel. The button should also take the user to a unique landing page that helps them complete the desired action.

A few tips for optimized landing pages are: 

• Keep forms minimal. People are on their mobile devices and don’t want to fill out a lengthy form. Ask only for the info you need, and make sure all form fields are easy to type into. 

• Choose a simple layout. The layout should be easy to navigate. There should be one call to action, a bullet list to clarify main points and an image to reinforce your message. 

• Run A/B tests. Split test the various elements on your landing pages to see what works best for your audience. This way, you can continue perfecting your pages and getting a better response. 

Add SMS marketing to the mix 

Another form of mobile marketing that you may want to add to your strategy is SMS marketing. “Short messaging service” is a powerful channel for marketing because it sends personalized messages to a highly targeted audience. The open rates for SMS are high, and most people open the messages within the first few minutes. This allows you to target customers with a special offer when they are near your business. 

The best text messages are short and concise, offer value and have an enticing CTA. Let recipients know who is sending the message and avoid using slang or abbreviations that people may not understand. And, as a friendly reminder, only send text messages to those who have opted into your program and agreed to receive notifications from you. 

As more people rely on their mobile devices to browse the internet, read emails, make purchases, interact with brands and more, it’s imperative that you are there with an optimized strategy. To create a mobile marketing strategy that supports your digital footprint, contact WSI Net Advantage at 510-687-9737 or fill out our online contact form.