How important is mobile marketing in 2013 and what do you need to do to capture a piece of the mobile marketing pie?

According to the ZMOT Handbook – Ways to Win Shoppers at the Zero Moment of Truth, published by Google, Mobile Commerce (M-Commerce) is exploding. In 2012, M-Commerce was a $6.7 billion business, and is expected to climb to more than $31 billion by 2015. With the growth in smartphone use, more people are searching, researching, reading, comparing and purchasing from their mobile devices. With some savvy mobile marketing, it’s easy to take advantage of this growing market.

So what’s required to make your online marketing mobile-friendly?
Follow these 7 Mobile Marketing steps:

1) Go Mobile

a) Have a Dedicated Mobile Site
It sounds obvious, but there are still a lot of sites that have yet to adapt. A mobile version of your site is designed and optimized for viewing and interacting with mobile devices. A good mobile site can make the difference between a customer reading more, calling, making a purchase or leaving your site altogether because it was hard to view from a mobile device.

b) Implement Responsive Web Design
Responsive web design allows you to adjust your current site so it can be better viewed on mobile devices. Responsive web design is better than a dedicated mobile site, as it serves all platforms with one site. It works by automatically reconfiguring your site’s layout to suit different screen sizes and the dimensions of any device, including desktops, tablets and smartphones. An important advantage to a responsive website is that you only need to manage a single site with all your content. That one site is able to reconfigure itself to provide an optimal layout that suits the device it is being viewed on. This ensures optimal user experience for the visitor, no matter where they’re viewing the website. Responsive web design is also easily compatible with SEO and is becoming the industry standard recommended by Google for various reasons.

2) Use Click-to-Call

Once you have configured your mobile site, you want to drive targeted traffic to it. Google and other ad networks have a PPC feature called Click-to-Call that allows people to click on your phone number directly from your ad. This means they bypass going to your website and call you directly from your listing on the search engine. Phone calls are hot leads and tend to have an urgency factor. 77% of consumers say they prefer speaking to a real person before making an online purchase. Making it simple for your customers to speak with you is key to converting leads into sales.

Note: Click-to-Calls cost the same as a click through. We recently discovered that clients are charged by Google, even if somebody clicks on the phone number then chooses to cancel the call before it connects. While we are debating this issue with Google, we still believe that the benefits outweigh the negative. We hope that Google will improve the system with time and not charge for calls that don’t officially go through.

3) Track Your Calls with Online Phone Tracking System

If incoming call leads are a big part of your online business, and you’re implementing SEO, PPC and Click-to-Call into your strategy, then it’s beneficial to track all your calls to monitor the quality of leads that you’re generating from each source. Now that Mobile Marketing is a predominant factor of your marketing mix, call tracking is another layer that adds valuable data that will not only provide you with your call lead sources, but will also help you determine the quality of those leads and how your call centre or staff are handling these leads.

4) Include Mobile Video/Ads

Mobile users often opt to watch, rather than read on smaller devices. Providing a video that captures their attention and generates a call-to-action can be a great source of leads. A tap to call button at the conclusion of your video makes it extremely simple for customers to find you if they like what they see.

5) Use Local Targeting

Local search is key for mobile. In Google’s Mobile Playbook, published by Jason Spero and Johanna Werther, it is pointed out that 95% of smartphone users have searched for local information. Of those, 90% take action within 24 hours. 59% visit one of the local businesses they found through search. As you can imagine, this opens up a huge market to you. Creating content that captures the interest of people searching for local businesses is a surefire way to generate leads with customers who need your services.

6) Get on Mobile Apps

There’s an app for just about everything you can think of, and more are popping up daily. Their popularity shows no sign of slowing either. A 2012 study indicated that mobile users spend more time using apps than they do mobile browsers. Apps provide an excellent opportunity for your business to be found on mobile. No matter what you’re selling or who your target is, there is an app for you to advertise on. If advertising on apps isn’t for you, consider creating one of your own. Remember the key to a good app is making it useful to your customers. A well-designed app offers something of value that isn’t already on your website, while offering customers a way to find you and drive home a sale.

7) Take Advantage of Social Media

Time spent on social media accounts for almost a third of all the time that mobile users spend on their phones. That makes it the most popular smartphone activity. Any complete mobile marketing strategy must take into account social media. Keeping your content fresh and integrating call-to-actions is key to driving leads on social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Google+.

Mobile is growing and shows no signs of slowing. As a business, it’s in your best interest to get ahead of the trend and start optimizing your website and content to appeal to mobile users. As demonstrated above, there are numerous ways to target mobile users, so there’s no excuse not to capitalize on this growing market. No matter what you’re selling or who your target is, there is a place for you in the world of mobile marketing.

To build your online mobile strategy, mobile site or responsive web design, call our interactive agency at 905 669 9550 to optimize your site for mobile marketing.

If you have any other mobile marketing ideas, or experiences that have proven successful, feel free to share them with us in our blog.