The news is in from business publications, studies and marketing departments around the world. Mobile has taken over.
For a growing number of businesses, it’s not whether to initiate vibrant mobile-friendly campaigns. It’s when, and how. Companies are jumping on the bandwagon, not just because it’s an attractive trend, but because more and more of their customer base is doing business predominantly over mobile platforms. That means if a business doesn’t have a mobile-friendly component, it really loses out.
But mobile strategy is more than just building a responsive website. It’s more than just making sure that when people look up a business on their smart phone, they get a screen they can read. Mobile-friendly marketing means tailoring what the business does to the mobile interface. Here are some mobile strategies that pay off big in today’s smartphone-centric world.
Blogging About Objectives
One way to engage over mobile is to create a blog that’s constantly updated, that underscores the company’s goals and objectives, as well as its history, its corporate culture and the biggest things that it has to offer customers. The blog serves a few purposes – it drives reader engagement, and also helps to define the company in a mobile context.
Of course, this blog has to be mobile-friendly. It needs to be designed so that titles and text are easily viewed, and read on the spot. It has to be made so that the smartphone user can click into the landing site, and then into the blog, without scrolling around looking for buttons or menus.
Address Particular Mobile Environments
Businesses have to decide whether they will run their mobile content through the Internet or through a particularly designed mobile app. There are pluses and minuses both ways — for instance, fewer users may be inclined to put a mobile app on the phone, while anyone can look up a mobile site over their smartphone browser. On the other hand, mobile apps can be more personal and create a ‘walled garden’ for customers. Some experts recommend using both to augment an existing mobile-friendly design.
Leverage Social Media
Of course, a big part of the business mandate for mobile engagement involves social media, but there are particular strategies that are critically important, especially for local businesses.
One excellent example is creating Facebook events. With so many people planning their schedules around their Facebook events, a local business can drive excellent word of mouth and get people in the door, just by creating sequences of well-designed Facebook events that reach out to the community particular ways. This is especially true for food service businesses or other businesses that are public spaces — where businesses want to drive the physical meet-ups and get people to physically walk into a store or business location.
Alerts
Another way to drive engagement is through a system of smartphone alerts. These alerts can go to an e-mail inbox or, again, through an app. Alerts are often used by local government offices, schools, etc. But they work for businesses, too. When smartphone users sign up, they’re creating long-term engagement that’s worth it’s weight in gold.
All of these and other mobile-friendly strategies help the business to make sure it’s not getting left behind in an age where catering to the smartphone user is so important. WebSubstance can help a company to develop a full-spectrum strategy for the web and mobile. We have an excellent track record of supporting companies in their efforts to upgrade their marketing to reach the new digital consumer, and to really compete in tough and competitive markets.
