January 8, 2013

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How Small Businesses Can Figure Out Mobile

All roads lead to your customer. (Tweet This)

To engage an on-the-go consumer – start with data and dialogue. First, let us consider the facts: “This year more mobile devices will be sold than ever before…,” according to Silicon Republic. Also “tablets were projected to hit 100M shipments last year alone and by 2015, 81% of U.S. cell users will have smartphones (Sources: ABI Research, 2012; Goldman Sachs, 2011).

In terms of mobile phones, “there are 6 billion mobile subscribers worldwide (87% of the world’s population), nearly 1.2 billion people access the mobile web, eight trillion text messages were sent in 2011, over 300,000 apps have been developed in the past three years and to-date mobile apps have been downloaded 10.9 million times.”

Moreover, “Google accumulates $2.5 billion in annual revenue from mobile advertising and mobile ad spend is projected to hit $20.6 billion by 2016.” (Source: Digital Buzz Blog, 2012)

While these mobility statistics are impressive, how does the data relate to your customer? What are their underlying and unmet mobile needs?

How to Prepare your Business to Go Mobile

The mobile landscape is vast. An understanding of mobile coupled with preparation can set your business apart from those who launch an app here and broadcast an SMS offer there. Here are 10 ways to prepare your business to go mobile:

1. Understand the mobile landscape.

Develop a basic understanding of the mobile market. Stay current on trends from mobile industry-related associations including the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the Mobile Entertainment Forum, CTIA – The Wireless Association, and the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA).

2. Consider your customer.

When asked, “How well does your organization know the level of mobile device adoption of its customers?” 75% of marketers [did not] understand mobile device adoption of their customers,” according to Marketing Sherpa.

“If you don’t believe your customers are mobile, just think about how many people access email on their mobile device today. I think we get hung up on the notion that mobile is about Web access, that mobile is iPhone and iPad, that mobile is apps. There is so much more to it,” said Damir Saracevic, Director of Digital Marketing at Catalyst.

3. Develop a mobile strategy.

Why do you want to invest in mobile? Do you want to:

a. maximize brand awareness,
b. drive more traffic to your company’s website by making it more mobile friendly,
c. improve customer service by creating apps for high involvement, on-demand services,
d. enhance employee productivity when managing big data initiatives, or
e. develop a mobile Intranet to facilitate collaboration?

 AMP Agency CEO, Gary Colen asserts that most clients are “looking to achieve high consumer engagement on mobile—resulting in increased conversion rates.”

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