Mobile Marketing And Your Small Business

We are living in a mobile world, some of us more than others. A recent mBlox survey revealed that 90 percent of 18-24 year old consumers spend between 1 and 5 hours per day on their mobile devices. The other 10 percent spend a whopping 5 to ten hours per day using mobiles. As a mobile marketer I don’t even come close to what most 18-24 year olds manage via their devices, but the reality is that whether your customer base is heavily skewed to that demographic or not, your best bet is to have a mobile strategy for your business because your customers are mobile.

Streaming technology has gone mainstream, from septuagenarians instant streaming Downton Abbey via Netflix, to proud young parents skyping with their baby to say hi to Grandma and Grandad. Personally, my family uses Skype and FaceTime to contact family and friends overseas, and we are constantly moving files to and from the cloud in the course of our personal and professional lives: photos and word processing files, as well as hour long audio interview files.

As far as live TV broadcasts, in our house that means some sporting events and singing shows. Everything else we stream. We use Netflix, Vudu, Hulu, Crackle and Amazon. The new parental purgatory begins when your Internet connection slows to the point where your sick kid can’t stream a movie while they lay in bed recovering.

As a nation, we have arrived at the point in time where more people have smartphones than have regular old cell phones. Eventually the discovery of what mobile technology can do will morph into the expectation that mobile technology will always be there, whenever you need or want it. A few years ago it was cool, now it is what we rely on. My 12 year old sends me Google docs created entirely on her iPod touch. She recently asked me, “Mom, did you get the new Google Drive app yet? It’s the best free word processor you can get for mobile that I’ve ever used.” It’s a different world now for sure!

It will be a few more years until my daughter is in the 18-24 year old demographic, so what will the numbers look like then? It will be interesting to find out. Right now that group is eager to make purchases via their mobiles – 21 percent would rather make purchases from a mobile device than go into a store and make a physical purchase – or even purchase from their PCs.

A recent web.com survey showed that 84 percent of small businesses showed an increase in new business due to their using mobile marketing. The survey also revealed that 64 percent of small business owners are also the company’s one-person marketing department. Limited resources, was cited as a main hurdle to going mobile. The good news is that it’s not as difficult to go mobile as you may think. A mobile website can easily be created. Having one will put you in front of consumers who are ready to purchase, drive to your location or call you – consumers ready to take action.

Have you taken your business mobile yet? If your business isn’t mobile, maybe you would like to share what your hurdle to going mobile is at this time. I would love to learn more about your business in the comments section below.

 

Article by Françoise Rose Jeanes.

Françoise Rose Jeanes is founder of Mobile Marketing Max, a Charlotte, NC based mobile marketing company, specializing in mobile campaigns for small businesses and Non-Profits. With over fourteen years experience in Internet marketing, Fran now concentrates on implementing, educating, and consulting on mobile apps, mobile web development, proximity advertising, and text message marketing. Fran is also the host of the online radio show, “marketing moxie* – marketing with passion and purpose”.

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