When considering your mobile strategy, there are a number of things that you need to take into account. These things need to be planned in advance and implemented as your campaign takes shape.
The first impression, the one that is the most brief, is the most important and dictates whether your recipient will move on to more forms of engagement. Effective mobile marketing is using that first impression to leverage interest and thus encourage continued engagement. In this case…. simplicity in usability.
Getting Started, Identify your mobile users. See if site visitors are using mobile devices to visit your site and what devices they are using most frequently. Knowing the devices used to visit your site most frequently, such as an iPad, Android, Blackberry, or iPhone, will help you prioritize optimization efforts toward those devices.
Keep your campaigns simple.
The goal in any marketing campaign isn’t to be as complex as the technology, it’s to be as simple to read and understand as any form of print or audio advertising. In 2011, Sony and Fetch Media launched the music single Bounce by Calvin Harris and Kelis. Although created by two of the world’s cutting edge marketing companies, the premise and delivery was surprisingly simple. A single banner ad with a bouncing ball was enough to get people to tap on it. Immediately, the person was led to the full screen version of the ad and a call to action that gave them the options to watch the video and purchase the single. The simple ad got more than 8 million impressions in 10 days and the single went to number on in Great Britain and number 2 on iTunes in its first week.
People don’t like guessing games and mobile marketing is such a transient form of media that you need to be crystal clear in order to get results.
Understand Mobile’s Limitations
Customize for mobile, not desktops. While mobile devices have capabilities beyond the desktop computer, also keep in mind their limitations when designing a mobile site or app. Create content and designs for a small screen, no mouse, and a device on which extensive typing is unwieldy.
Don’t require users to sit through renderings of large images. Not only can it be expensive depending on their data plan, but it can also waste their time and will probably result in site abandonment.
Create short forms. You can ask users to fill out forms, but pare down the fields as much as possible. Typing on a smartphone is a nuisance at best and difficult at worst, so shortened forms and those with prefilled options the user can scroll through are ideal.
Don’t hide content behind multiple clicks. If a user would click three times to get to it on their desktop, they might only put up with two clicks on a mobile device before giving up.
Create content tailored to small screens. Shorter content that is formatted in bite size chunks is ideal for the mobile experience. Be succinct, and utilize bold headings, bullet points, and numbered lists to break up longer paragraphs and make it easy for the reader to find what he needs.
Make Your Email Marketing Mobile-Friendly
Create plain text and HTML email versions. Some email clients will default to plain text and give readers the option to show pictures, while others will load pictures automatically. Be prepared by ensuring your emails render quickly and clearly in either scenario.
Craft a crystal clear subject line. When mobile users have a few minutes to check their email, they commonly divide their inbox into three categories: “read now,” “delete,” and “save for later.” With a vague subject line, you’re sure to end up in the “delete” category. Create a clear subject line to get your email read immediately, or at least starred for later.
Integrate Mobile with Your Inbound Marketing Strategy
Integrate mobile campaigns with your CRM. As with any other campaign, you can and should track and nurture leads that come through mobile campaigns.
Include calls-to-action. Mobile browsing should be more streamlined than desktop browsing, but calls-to-action are still a must. Compile the CTAs you’re using across all marketing campaigns, and select those that make sense to use in your mobile campaigns to create a congruent user experience.
Integrate paid search. Your mobile marketing strategy can include a paid search component by posting Google Mobile ads through your AdWords account.
Test
Test different devices and browsers. Just like you test your site in multiple browsers and check how emails render in multiple email clients, test your mobile campaigns on multiple devices and in multiple browsers to ensure the experience is consistent throughout.
Give the customer something if you want something
The rules of engagement, of strategy, nearly always include giving something to get something in return. Mobile media is no different and you have at your disposal several things you can “give” to potential customers in exchange for their loyalty. These can include, free apps, coupons, discount codes and inside information. The items you give to customers don’t have to be tangibles but they should be something useful, like instant directions to the nearest store that features your product or service. If you have fantastic mobile content give the user the option to share it through social media.
Don’t get left behind!
With technology constantly progressing, battery life getting longer and Internet speed improving, mobile marketing is set to become an important part of most digital marketing campaigns.