Quick, which item do more Americans use on a daily basis than a toothbrush? Here’s another hint; most of us have one of these within an arms reach 80% of our day. There’s probably one of these in your pocket or on your desk right now. You may even be reading this post on one. I’m talking about mobile phones.
The proliferation and advancement of mobile technology over the past several years is astounding. The amount of computing power we can hold in our hand greatly surpasses the amount of power contained in an entire building just a generation ago. Mobile devices (especially “smart phones”) are changing the way we communicate and interact with the world around us.
Mobile is practically an ever-present marketing channel. Think about it…we throw away newspapers and magazines, turn off the TV and radio, log out of our social media accounts, and step away from our computers, but almost always have our mobile phones on us. From a marketing standpoint this is a very exciting situation. One of the greatest challenges a marketer can face is to just get a message to actually get noticed. By utilizing a practically ever-present marketing channel, a message has a much greater likelihood of getting read and acted upon.
SMS is a good way to take advantage of this reality. There are studies out there that have shown upward of 95% open rate on marketing related text messages! One great way to incorporate this technology is to text a reminder to your customers and prospects to take action. This can be especially effective for time-sensitive activities. “Don’t forget that tickets go on sale today. Get yours while supplies last”; “Your VIP demo at Booth 123 starts in 15 minutes”; “Today is the last day of the Sizzlin’ Summer Sale”, and other messages of this nature can help drive more traffic, stimulate more customer conversions, and lead to more sales.
Our mobile devices can also turn a static display world into a dynamic one. Mobile devices can go far beyond displaying “read more” text – they allow respondents to view video or other rich media, participate in a survey, play a game, add an item to an online shopping cart, or some other kind of interactive experience. When you provide this kind of deep, multi-sensory experience, a marketing message is much more likely to stick. Your options are only limited by your imagination.
Mobile marketing is a rapidly evolving and growing field, and is sure to yield amazing results in the near future for those businesses that can capitalize on the technology available to them.