mobile marketing Archives | waveSpawn Marketing

December 2, 2014

1 Minute Advice: Email Remains Old Faithful for Marketers

Reports of the death of email are greatly exaggerated. Email continues to outperform other marketing channels, according to the Direct Marketing Association (DMA). The DMA reports in its 2013 Statistical Fact Book that last year emails produced an ROI of 4,300 percent, earning over $42 for every dollar spent on email.

The big difference is the growth of mobile email. For the first time, 51 percent of all email opens were via mobile devices. Mobile data traffic grew 81 percent during the year.

The 2014 Email Marketing Metrics Report from emailing firm Mailer Mailer showed that average open rates increased in 2013 over the previous year, even though clickthrough rates were lower. The report makes this important observation about mobile email: “Mobile users appear to behave differently with email than desktop users. They view email more frequently, perhaps out of boredom or as a way to pass time, but are less likely to interact.”

The Mailer Mailer report cites other useful statistics about email, including most effective days to send email, length of subject line, use of personalization, and more.

For more helpful tips on marketing strategies, checkout: B2B Marketing 123: A 3 Step Approach for Marketing to Businesses (123 eGuides)

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October 30, 2012

Mobile commerce and marketing to smartphones

Smartphone shopping app As the number of consumers using smartphones and tablets continue to rise, businesses are incorporating new marketing strategies to reach these potential customers. In fact, a growing number of people no longer use the traditional desktop computer or laptop outside of the workplace.

What does this mean for a small business?
This shift in mobile technology doesn’t mean that consumers are no longer buying online. Quite the contrary – online spending is expected to rise for the fourth straight holiday season. “Online shoppers in the United States will spend $54.47 billion this holiday season, up 16.8% from $46.63 billion last year”, according to a new projection from eMarketer.

This tells us that more and more people are shopping online using their smartphones and tablets. Here are some additional statistics regarding smartphones:

4 out of 5 consumers use smartphones to shop. (Source: comScore, 2012)
74% of U.S. consumers use location based services on their smartphone and 46% of mobile phone users use location based services. (Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2012)
Mobile searches related to restaurants have a conversion rate of 90% with 64% converting within the hour. (Source: xAd and Telemetrics, 2012)
According to a recent Mobile Advertising Survey, 64% of survey respondents who have smartphones have made a mobile purchase after seeing a mobile ad.
3 in 5 Mobile Users Pay Attention to Mobile Ads While Visiting Social Media Sites (Source: Prosper Mobile Insights™, 2012)

Smartphone and tablet users are very active on the Web. This presents a powerful opportunity for businesses to engage with these mobile users through relevant and highly targeted advertisements. So just how are businesses marketing to mobile users? There are a number of tactics which can be customized and integrated into a business’ marketing strategy.

Mobile-friendly website – ensure your website is accessible through a mobile browser
Mobile advertising – include easy contact options in your mobile ads such as direct call buttons
Geo-marketing – reach a highly targeted mobile audience with a custom message
Social Media – integrate the appropriate balance of digital and social media: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, blogging, Google Local, foursquare, Yelp, Groupon, etc.
QR Codes – drive targeted traffic to unique web pages, specials, coupons, etc.
Mobile applications – create uniquely branded customer loyalty programs, payment facilities, notifications of appointments, services, directions, etc.
Mobile deals and coupons – if appropriate for your business, consider some of the deal sites which can generate a large amount of regional buzz and help your branding efforts.

These are just a handful of mobile marketing opportunities to consider. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Each business will need to test and evaluate a number of these mobile initiatives to determine what works best for them. waveSpawn is always happy to discuss marketing strategies and help small businesses communicate better. Please contact us for more information.

October 25, 2011

Marketing to mobile phones

Small businesses these days have a lot of marketing options. Staying focused and under budget can be challenging. Here’s a quick tip for targeted search advertising:

Marketing to mobile phones
If you already use pay per click (PPC) advertising models such as Google AdWords, you may be familiar with ways to reach your target audience. This could include defining the geographical location, specific keywords or phrases, time of day, etc. What you may not be aware of is the ability to create and deliver custom ads for mobile devices. This can be a convenient and effective way to reach new prospects. Since you know they are connected via a mobile device, you can integrate direct calling features to make it easier for them to contact you. You can also modify the text and message so that it’s optimized for mobile display. Consumers are increasingly using their handheld devices as mini laptops and business owners can certainly increase sales by keeping up with mobile technology. Being able to search and contact businesses on a handheld is essential.

Once your mobile or WAP ad has been setup, monitor the activity over a reasonable amount of time and continually refine your message and demographic options to improve performance. These little adjustments can help you maximize your marketing budget!

July 26, 2011

Planning for successful mobile application development

As an iPhone user, it’s exciting to be involved in the fastest growing market segment in the world – mobile application development. There are endless opportunities for companies to leverage the reach of smart phones and mobile applications. Custom mobile development can help creatively market your business and distinguish your products/services from competitors. As the number of smart phone users continues to rise, mobile apps can help you reach new audiences, encourage loyalty, and accelerate growth in an innovative format.

As companies assess mobile application development options, there are a few factors to keep in mind. The first step is to do adequate research and find a reputable design and development firm. It’s often convenient to work with a local vendor to be involved throughout the process and create a more efficient timeline. From concept collaboration through testing, you’ll typically find the communication and revision process much more streamlined. Additionally, establishing a trusted rapport will ensure future enhancements and releases can be completed as necessary.

Furthermore, is this really something you want to outsource overseas? I’ve personally heard of several bad experiences from failed attempts at outsourced mobile development. Examples include unstable apps, missed deadlines, wrong image resolutions and format, slow and broken communication channels, failure to deliver source code, as well as additional billing. In many cases, additional expenses combined with the cost of time and personnel involved can ultimately far outweigh a bargain price. If you’re looking for shortcuts or to save money – there may be other business areas to do so.

While today’s web development mantra is “release early, release often,” mobile application development is a bit different. Companies are realizing they can’t launch something quickly with the intention of fixing it later. It’s extremely important to thoroughly test and release new versions only after bugs and issues have been resolved. All app stores, including iTunes, feature user reviews. These reviews are powerful marketing tools and can directly influence the success of the app. An early release of a buggy app is very likely to receive negative reviews. This in turn, can impact the number of downloads and users.

Releasing your app isn’t the end of the process, it’s just a start. To maintain downloads and keep usage levels up, you need to update often, adding new functionality, UI tweaks or data. If you just let your app sit statically on iTunes or on users’ handsets, it will quickly get overtaken by the competition.

An app is a dynamic utility and should constantly develop and change based on user feedback and new developments in your marketplace. Apps can quickly be forgotten, so you need to make sure that you’re constantly giving your users a reason to revisit and re-use your service.

For example, if you’re releasing a shopping app, you need to make sure that you’re adding the latest functionality as soon as it’s available and stable. If all of your competitors enable bar-code or QR scanning, you’d do well to add this functionality or be left behind.

waveSpawn is proud to offer full mobile application development services throughout Western New York and the greater Washington DC area. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or would like to discuss ideas.

May 18, 2011

Social Trends – Mobile Marketing and Deal Sites

As the social media landscape continues to form, new marketing opportunities and trends are becoming visible. Here are a couple of statistics and trends which are continuing to grow and may be helpful for your business.

Consumers are continuing to go mobile through the increase in smart phone users and tablet device sales (iPad, PlayBook, etc). A recent study showed that almost 50% of mobile subscribers are using smart phones. This means a growing number of consumers have access to browse the Internet, access mobile apps, downloaded content, or text messaging. If the growth rate continues at this pace, it would lead to about 142 million smart phone users by 2012. This is really opening up a whole new opportunity to reach prospects and customers in new ways. Since consumers are taking these smart phones and tablets in place of laptops, companies should make every effort to ensure – at minimum – they have mobile compliant websites.

Many businesses are developing mobile applications. They are leveraging some of the GPS technology that exists through services such as foursquare and Facebook places to implement loyalty programs. It’s a relatively low-cost way to identify and reward good customers – as well as exposing your business to new audiences. There are a number of ways to integrate mobile marketing with traditional and social media marketing to maximize the effectiveness.

Another current trend is with social deal sites. We are seeing an increasing number of daily discount offerings from Groupon, Living Social, Huge Daily Deals, etc. A lot of these present great opportunities to market, especially for small businesses with a regional focus. They can create a significant amount of targeted exposure, but you really need to do a cost analysis to make sure it’s effective for your business model. Even if it’s at a break-even point, you could open up yourself to new customers, new prospects, and more importantly – repeat business. The good news is the ROI, return on investment, is relatively easy to measure because the numbers speak for themselves.