Mobile, English Breakfast Tea and Real World Marketing

Yesterday, I cozied up with a cup of tea on the couch. As I looked through the usual Sunday ads for holiday deals, I picked up a local glossy advertising magazine and flipped through the pages. I noticed a few ads that warmed my mobile marketing heart – small businesses marketing to mobile users.

The mobilized ads were using QR codes perfectly. The QR codes were linked to mobile websites designed for the small screen, had essential information and obvious calls to action – watch a video, call, email, drive to a location, share. The ads were brought to life by video; simple photo slideshows that highlighted kitchens, patios, flooring and more.

One of the first obstacles I overcome in a mobile marketing plan is technology averse clients. Small business owners sometimes project their wariness of using new technology onto their customers. Don’t be one of them. The issue isn’t whether you like iPhones, Androids, Blackberrys, iPads, Facebook and Twitter. Your customers are using these devices and services in today’s business climate. Adjust your marketing to fit the climate. Anything less is just like saying “I won’t use an umbrella because I don’t like rain.”

Apply mobile marketing strategies to your business plan because your customers will be looking for it.

Seriously.

Over half the mobile phone users in the US do web searches each month – that’s a whopping 120 million or so people looking for products, services, answers, entertainment – anything. They do this while they are commuting, lost, waiting in line, bored. The list goes on.

But consumer behavior and mobile usage is changing. We are not just using smartphones and tablets when we are away from home or the office. An interesting Mobile Search Insights Study by Performics earlier this year reports that people are embracing mobile search in many areas of their lives: At home – “81% reporting evening use, 80% reporting weekend use and 59% reporting use before work.” 61% usage of mobile search at work was reported. “Respondents also revealed dual screen multi-tasking, reporting at least occasional use of mobile search while watching TV (66%) or using the computer (45%).”

Due to our mobile behavior, Google, Bing and Yahoo’s algorithms are changing to deliver the best mobile search results. And small businesses can use information such as the Performics study results to better reach their customers and tailor engagement with them.

So, think about your customers at work, at home, out and about, even drinking cups of tea on the couch, and let them connect with you in the easiest way possible. You don’t need to build an app to be part of their mobile world. Just make sure your web presence works on mobile. And works effectively.

If you have a website, get a mobile website. If you don’t have a website, get both.

See what your website looks like on mobile using this emulator. If you can locate your business name, address and phone number, as well as instantly informative information about your products and services, you are in good shape. If not, consider getting a mobile website to effectively display that information.

Well, all this talk about mobile is making me thirsty. Time for another cuppa. See you next week!

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