We’ve been getting a lot of questions recently about SMS mobile messaging. There seems to be a lot of confusion about what it is, and how small businesses can use it to reach their customers and grow their business.

Fear no more. We’ll go through each of your questions, so you can get started utilizing mobile phones to get your messages across to your customers. We’ll cover some best practices, offer ideas for campaigns, and show you how some different businesses are using SMS and mobile marketing to improve their business.

If you have a question about SMS that you’d like us to answer, send us a message through our contact form. We’ll answer as soon as we can.

What is the meaning of mobile marketing?

Mobile marketing is a digital marketing strategy that businesses use to reach their customers on their phones, tablets, or other mobile devices. This is really important for businesses because as of April 2021, 56% of all web traffic came through mobile phones. If you’re not reaching people on their phones, you can bet your competitors are.

Mobile marketing is done through a number of  channels and tools, including:

• SMS – text messages with links that drive a consumer to an action. One of the biggest advantages of SMS messages is that they are built into every mobile phone
• Messaging applications – these are similar to text messages, and include popular services like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. However, for customers to receive these messages they will need to download an application
• Email – more than 70% of people read email from their mobile phone, making it a very popular mobile marketing channel
• Social media – About 83% of social media is consumed on mobile devices, and about half of all people exclusively look at social media on their phones.

One key to successfully reaching and converting with mobile audiences is to tailor the user journey to a mobile device. Here are some things you should be doing

• Create mobile-friendly websites – you page should load quickly, fit the screen, and make it easy for customers to take the actions you want them to take
• Use SMS best practices – your messages should be clear, direct, and only sent to customers who opted in for your messages
• Send Mobile friendly email – make sure your emails use a responsive design. Consumers tend to delete email where they have to scroll from side to side to read it on their phone.

What are some examples of mobile marketing?

SMS messages are one example of mobile marketing. You can send customized messages to consumers in bulk, or creating marketing automation programs through text message that will drive them to take the actions you want on mobile.

However, there are plenty of other examples.

In-app ads – if you’ve ever played a free game on your phone, you’ve likely been suggested to at least two forms of advertising. Depending on the type of game, you may see video ads ranging between 5 and 60 seconds long. These ads run either between turns, or ask you to watch the ad as an incentive to get an extra turn.

Banner ads – Banner ads do appear in some games. They are also found on news and blog websites, enticing consumers to click on the ad.

Physical QR codes – this one of the more interesting mobile marketing techniques, because it starts with a QR code in the physical world. Users scan the code using their phone, leading to a number of different possibilities. Most QR codes tend to open websites, usually with some type of special offer. However, so creative QR codes will open text messaging applications, with a message a phone number included. This makes it easy for a consumer to contact a company simply by scanning the code.

Which industries benefit the most from mobile marketing?

The truth is that every industry benefits from mobile marketing, because so many people are on mobile devices and use it for all their searches. For example, you might think that there is no real reason for a construction company that specializes in building swimming pools to have a mobile presence. After all, no one is going to see a banner ad and order a pool.

However, construction companies could create videos of the pools they designed, showing beautiful pools with kids playing and adults enjoying themselves. That video could easily be shared through mobile tools, and be easily searchable for consumers in the market to install a pool.

The key is understanding the way that your customers search for you, and presenting the right type of information that will move the customer to take the action that you want them to take.

If you sell shirts through a Shopify site, your goal will be to sell a new shirt to customers who arrive on site. Your mobile marketing activities should be priming the customer for shirt via retail sms, with text messages or ads that show off your products and demonstrate the value that they will bring to the customer.

You mobile marketing efforts should be focused on the sale. That doesn’t necessarily mean a hard sell, but your goal is selling a shirt. Contrast that with the pool construction company we were talking about. No one is going to see an ad and click order. It’s a different sales process.

Your goal in that case would probably be to make pool construction appealing to your target market so that they call for more information. Rather than sharing construction specs on your mobile site, you will probably talk about things like family together time, having fun, and possibly price. Then, when your customer calls you can work out the details relating to the actual construction.

Got any more marketing text questions?

If you have any questions about using text message marketing software for your next campaign, visit our contact us page and let us know. We would be happy to answer any questions that you have, and offer you guidance for your next SMS marketing campaign. Until then, have a great day!