Mobile marketing has become an increasingly popular topic of discussion in recent years. Surprisingly, though, many companies are still treating mobile as an afterthought. What is it about mobile that makes an investment in mobile strategy so crucial for marketing success? I believe the two most important factors when it comes to mobile are Reach and Relevance.
Reach
The proliferation of mobile devices, including cell phones and tablets, has opened up the opportunity to reach a mind blowing number of customers with greater frequency than ever before. Recent research conducted by Mary Meeker, who reports annually on Internet trends, found that the average cell phone user checks his or her phone 150 times per day. If you want to be where your customer is (and of course you do!), chances are mobile is that place. Consumers use their mobile devices for everything from browsing the Internet to checking email and playing games. In fact, research performed by Experian has found that nearly half of all email opens are now performed on a mobile device and according to comScore, 54% of total Internet minutes accounted for by mobile. A strong presence in mobile allows marketers to not only to reach a huge number of engaged consumers at once but to continue to interact with customers as behavior increasingly shifts from computers to mobile devices.
Relevance
Mobile creates a valuable opportunity for sophisticated targeting and customization of messages. Mobile technology allows marketers to target in real-time, reaching customers with relevant information at a point in which they are already engaged. The data that marketers are able to gather through a customer’s mobile activity allows them to serve up relevant and customized messages. Some marketers are utilizing text messaging to get in touch with customers. Based on mobile data gathered from opted-in customers, a retail store, for example, could text an offer to a customer that they know based on mobile data is currently in the mall and whose search history suggests that they would be likely to respond to the offer.
Reach and Relevance are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the important opportunities presented by mobile technology. As mobile technology continues to evolve and customer behavior changes in relation, I would guess that we will increasingly see mobile marketing taking center stage when it comes to marketing strategies.
Editor’s note: AMA|Rochester has a Mobile Marketing event scheduled for March 19, 2014. For more information on the event, visit www.ama-rochester.org/WP/events/mobile-marketing.