Is Mobile Marketing Necessary Today?

Mobile Marketing is the fastest growing marketing strategy today and it will remain the fastest growing until we develop telepathy. To see the facts all a person has to do is browse the internet, read magazines, read newspapers or even watch television. Sometimes the signs are subtle and sometimes they are very evident. For a better understanding of what mobile marketing is and view the trend download my free 2011 Mobile Marketing Report. Clink on in the right sidebar to gain instant access to one of the most read reports on the subject of Mobile Marketing.

A long time ago a person told me that I was too pointed in my analysis and needed to sugar coat things a little better. I have never been one to tell people what they want to hear, rather what is really going on in their business. This makes it easier for me to sleep at night knowing that I told the business person the truth and informed them of a way to fix the problems they may be having. Sugar coating is for the Federal Government, not me.

Mobile Marketing Facts

Now back to my original question, whenever I speak to or visit with a local business person I get a lot of responses but three most common reasons not to start mobile marketing  are:

1. I’m not interested
2. I can’t afford it
3. I already have advertising and it is costing me too much

Usually within 3 seconds of hearing these replies I can tell if this is just a stall tactic or if they really don’t care. If they really don’t care then that is great for me because I just saved a lot of time and move on to the next appointment. If it is a stall tactic then I can get into the real meat of mobile marketing and really help the individual. In each case I can quickly show the business owner how a mobile marketing solution can help them increase their revenue, sell more products and build a stronger customer base.

The facts are every business owner and manager should be interested in Mobile Marketing. They should be interested because:

• The demographics are there
  1. Approx 293 million smartphones in the US alone
  2. 43% use their phone to view the internet daily
  3. 90% use their smartphone to search for local business information
• Mobile Marketing’s ability to actually reach their customer personally
  1. 90% of their customers own a mobile device
  2. 100% of those with a mobile device keep it within 3 feet of 24 hours per day

Any business that can’t afford mobile marketing should consider shutting the doors. That sounds harsh doesn’t it, but I told you that I pointed and am telling you the truth. In just a few short years Mobile Marketing has proven to have a better ROI than any other form of business marketing. In other words a better ROI means that you are making money on your investment. Making money on an investment means that it is not costing you anything. What part of making money do some business owners not understand. For example,

• you can the typical SMS text message can be sent for .04 to .10 per contact and  the average conversion rate is between 9%-20%.  That is $45 to $100 dollars to contact 1000 people personally. When done correctly 90 to 200 of those recipients of your message will convert into a sale. That is much cheaper than any print ad I have ever seen. Don’t kid yourself, you can afford to use mobile marketing.
• A mobile website will usually cost 1/3 of the cost of your main website. You need a mobile optimized website because  people are searching on the internet from their phones.

Advertising does cost a lot of money if you can’t see any return. However mobile marketing can be integrated into any other marketing efforts with no extra overhead than the mobile effort. Combining a mobile marketing strategy into print, radio, television and website advertising provides ways to track your overall marketing campaigns. If you are spending too much now look for ways to save on your current efforts:

• a smaller print ad
• a shorter radio spot
• a less expensive radio ad

The fact is one less print ad that costs you $450 a month will pay for an average Mobile Marketing campaign.  Put aside $100 a month for an SMS campaign and integrate the “call to action” for your text list in all of your print advertising, your indoor and outdoor signage, and the flyers that you are already paying for. It really isn’t that difficult to integrate mobile into you current efforts.

The Mobile Marketing Mindset

Its easy to see how all of the usual objections against mobile marketing aren’t really objections at all. They really amount to smoke screens by business owner who cannot see the value of mobile marketing. The true value of mobile marketing is the ease of implementation,the affordable cost, and that it reaches  the fastest growing consumer base on a personal level. Justification of starting a mobile marketing campaign is easy when you can see the demographics and understand the mobile consumers habits.  Mobile Marketing works for every industry and in every business no matter what the size of that business is.

I invite you leave your comments and let me know your experiences and thoughts on mobile marketing. One thing you should remember though, you either start a mobile marketing campaign  and enjoy the return on your investment or be ready to play catch up with to your competitors.