Online marketing gurus have been quick to proclaim 2013 as the year of mobile marketing. The only problem? They’ve been saying that for the last three years. The truth is mobile marketing is totally reliant on more than just technology — it’s reliant on consumers warming up to said technology, and that is something which operates on its own time. The real mobile marketing explosion, it appears, is a few years off. Still, mobile usage and mobile ads steadily grow every year while tablets and smartphones are selling like crazy. So there are a few things brands of every size can do to get in on mobile marketing mania.
The first thing companies can do to prepare for the mobile boom is focus on design. Getting websites “mobile ready” with the help of good web designers is key. Last week, Michael Della Penna at ClickZ wrote about how important responsive mobile design should be a priority:
“While HTML5 websites and mobile landing pages are a given (particularly for retailers), much more is required. To create great mobile experiences, be sure to optimize email rendering to adjust to different device types as the majority of email (moving past 50 percent) will be viewed on a mobile device moving forward,” he writes.
In other words, make sure your website can be enjoyed by desktop and iPad users alike. Work with designers who are well-versed in mobile websites to ensure your business is ready to communicate with mobile followers.
Continuing to create great content is another simple way to be mobile ready. Social media marketing and blogging are two things you are probably already doing… but if not, you should be! Sites like Facebook and Twitter are huge with mobile users, and recent data show that more and more smartphone users interact with brands using their devices. Ditto with blogging. Blogs have found millions of new followers thanks to tablets and e-readers. Now more than ever, your blog can be read anywhere in the world and on tons of devices. Therefore not creating and maintaining a blog would just be silly.
While big companies spend tons of dollars prepping for the impending mobile marketing blitz, small companies can stay on top of it by making sure they continue to produce content that mobile users can have access to and by creating a website experience that invites mobile users rather than deters them.
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