Think about how many people you see out and about with smart phones in hand – checking emails on the go – texting friends and family – watching videos and surfing the web. It’s a growing trend and businesses who tap into the mobile communication stream are profiting and growing their businesses.
There are many different aspects of mobile marketing –
♦ Mobile Websites
♦ Text Mobile Marketing
♦ Mobile Coupons
♦ Mobile Tagging (QR Codes, etc.)
♦ Mobile Applications (Apps)

Businesses Large and Small Are Using Mobile Marketing

Businesses small and large are implementing mobile marketing strategies to bring in customers, move inventory, increase appointments and increase revenues. No matter what your small business is or does, you can profit using low-cost mobile marketing strategies. Here are some examples of the power of mobile marketing –
♦ Medical, dental, optometrists and chiropractic practices use mobile marketing to remind patients of appointments, follow up on office visits, provide wellness information and promote new service offerings to encourage ongoing use of the service provider
♦ Beauty salons, barbershops, health spas, massage therapists and aestheticians use mobile marketing to prevent cancellations by offering pre-appointment reminders, to fill open time slots or increase foot traffic on slow business days
♦ Retailers, whether clothing stores, accessories shops, bookstores, wine and liquor stores use mobile marketing to move dormant inventory through discounts offerings, promote new products and advertise special sales and in-store events
♦ Service providers such as auto repair shops, landscapers, housepainters, handymen, HVAC, carpet cleaners and maid services use mobile marketing to promote services and offer discounts to increase their client base
♦ Restaurants, bars and nightclubs use mobile marketing to fill empty seats on sluggish nights with last-minute coupons and offers to bring in customers and invigorate profits on what would have been dead nights
♦ Movie theaters, stage theaters, comedy clubs use mobile marketing to offer 2-for-1 deals and last minute specials to fill empty seats that represent lost revenue at every performance

Mobile Marketing Can Benefit Any Business

No matter what your small business does or where you are located, mobile marketing can benefit you. Mobile marketing is so successful because it is easy to implement, requires little technical knowledge and is one of the most affordable modes of advertising and promotion.
According to a recent Nielsen report, roughly 50% of all Americans now own a smart phone – that’s a nearly 40% increase from the prior year. Smart phones mean mobile web access – more people now use the mobile web on their smart phones to search for places to shop, dine, party and for service professionals – including home repair, medical, personal services, hair salons and more.
If your small business doesn’t have at least a mobile website, you will be passed over by consumers who shop for businesses on the mobile web. What’s more, people now ignore most promotional emails – they head straight into the spam folder! Direct mail flyers hit the trash can, unread, 84% of the time. Mobile marketing circumvents the normal filters that create barriers between consumer and service provider or retailer.
Mobile marketing can be easy to implement and is one of the lowest cost forms of advertising. Ignoring the mobile marketing trend can be hazardous to your bottom line and the likelihood of your small business either thriving or dwindling.
Ian Carrington, Google’s director of mobile advertising recently said, “Businesses need to get mobile in order to provide a positive user experience for their customers. At the moment, businesses are not keeping up with consumers [unless they use mobile marketing.]”

Between 2009 and 2011, mobile web browsing grew by 1000%. It went from less than 1% to a 7% market share in less than two years. A recent study in March 2012 by Opera (a web browsing company) showed that 43% of respondents say that mobile web is their primary means of accessing the internet. If this trend holds out, the mobile web is set to almost entirely replace the traditional web by 2015 according to research firm IDC.

Mobile Website – Some Statistics

What these statistics translate to for small business owners is that a web presence is now mandatory. Traditional websites that were designed to be viewed on 10-15” screens are largely incompatible with the much smaller screen of smart phones and tablets. Not only will your standard website be difficult, if not impossible, to view on the smaller screen, the functionality will be unusable.

A mobile website that works well on mobile devices is one that has been designed specifically to function on the mobile web. Most mobile devices won’t load Flash graphics – a common aspect of traditional web design. Large graphics files are also incompatible with mobile website browsing. Your mobile website is expected to load within 3-5 seconds on a mobile device and any load-time exceeding this leads to lower and lower browser satisfaction.

Bloomberg news reported last week that “twice as many mobile-phone users abandon a website for reasons such as sluggishness than their desktop counterparts.” If your site won’t load, 1/3 of users will try to reload the site and 2/3 will move on instantly. After another failed reload, all but 1% of browsers will move on, most likely to a competitor that has a mobile website presence that meets their needs.

The Bloomberg reporter then added that, “almost half of all mobile users are unlikely to return to a website at all if they had trouble accessing it from their phone.” This means that if you don’t have a mobile website you have lost the opportunity to engage that potential customer, likely forever. But using a SmartWeb Online mobile website can prevent you from losing business you never knew you could have had.

What You Need in a Mobile Website

The Bloomberg article cites one of the problems with slow load times is that “often it’s because the webpage isn’t designed to load quickly on a wireless device.” Mobile website design can be very thin and provide just the basic information about your business to your potential customer including:

• Location – preferably with click-to-navigate option for GPS navigation
• Phone number – preferably with click-to-call functionality
• Hours/Days of operation – in the easiest to read font and format
• Opt-in – a link or info on how to opt-in to receive text offers and information
• Calendar – if you offer special events or certain items on certain days, a simple fast loading calendar or roster is helpful
• Photos – if relevant, for menu items, inventory, etc. and if they are fast-loading, these can be helpful to customers

Whether you enlist the aid of a professional mobile website developer or decide to go it on your own with a mobile website builder utility, any mobile web presence is infinitely better than no mobile website presence.