Mobile marketing report

Mobile Marketing For Small Business
How Mobile Marketing Can Increase Your Profits And Benefit Your
Small Business Overall

INTRODUCTION
Mobile marketing is exciting! Really! It gets me out of bed in the morning and has done for
years simply because of the dramatic effect it can have on businesses regardless of their size.

I started SendViaText with a very simple goal, to bring mobile marketing to ‘the little guys’ – the
local businesses that could have a life changing effect from the benefits of mobile marketing.

In this report you will find the reasons why bringing your marketing strategies into the mobile
world can enable you to have a wider reach and raise awareness of your brand.

You will also discover the various aspects of mobile marketing, how they are used and which
are best suited for a small business or for an entrepreneur who is still learning the ropes in this
marketing strategy.

So read on and find out how mobile marketing can ultimately benefit you and enhance other
marketing strategies you are already using.

CHAPTER 1 | WHY MOBILE ADVERTISING?

Most business owners have now caught up with the times and recognized the importance of
having an online presence. If you’re one of these savvy entrepreneurs then most likely you
already have a website set up for your business.

However if you want a solid online presence, then you need to do things the right way.

Setting up a website is not enough to make an impressive mark in the virtual world we all know
as the ubiquitous Internet.

You need something more, something that can enable you to have a wider reach and be in
contact with more people.

You need to have a mobile-friendly version of your website.

You might have already heard or read from various sources that you need to adopt mobile
marketing but you might still be wondering why. Why is it such a big deal for you as a business
owner? Why should you go to the trouble of having another website set up when you already
have a regular one?

Why indeed…

Mobile Marketing For Small Business | 2

Mobile Marketing Can Increase Your Profits And Benefit Your Business Overall.
According to a Web.com survey, 3.84% of small businesses that use mobile marketing see
increase in their business activity. Five hundred (500) small business owners were surveyed and
70 of them employ mobile marketing strategies. Of these 70 small businesses, 84% indicated
that they’ve seen an increase in their new business activity caused by their efforts in mobile
marketing.

This survey result is already a good reason to integrate mobile marketing into your business’s
marketing efforts.

Another reason is the fact that the global use of mobile phones is on a steady increase. In the
United States alone, there are about 234 million Americans who own mobile phones and more
than 80 million of them are using Smartphones. This number is still expected to increase
because of the fast way mobile technology turns over and the costs of these gadgets are getting
cheaper.

Mobile technology is steadily becoming simpler meaning that more people are finding it easy
and comfortable to use Smartphones. Users of this device now range from 18 and below to 65
and above age groups. The result: consumers are becoming more open to mobile commerce
and more willing to act on offers from mobile ads.

So as you can see, a greater percentage of the businesses that have used mobile marketing saw
increase in their business activity and the number of mobile phone users, particularly users of
Smartphones, are continuously increasing.

If you need more reasons why you should adopt mobile marketing for your business, take a
look at the result of a study conducted by Google [1]:

 As Smartphone ownership rises, more and more people are also accessing the web
though their mobile phones.

 Consumers constantly use their Smartphones while browsing online at home, at work,
on the go, while in a store and everywhere else.

 Consumers turn to their Smartphones to search for local information then they take
action.

 After looking for local information, 1 in 5 users make a purchase.

 At least 50% of mobile shoppers buy monthly on their Smartphones.

 Smartphones tend to influence the purchase decisions of consumers.

 Research done through a Smartphone tends to lead to a purchase either online or in-
store.

This Google study result shows that people like the convenience mobile phones offer and they
are rapidly adapting to the mobile marketplace.

Smartphones have practically become consumers’ primary shopping companions. Smartphone
users tend to go online to read the reviews before buying a product they are considering.
Statistics show that 54% of women and 67% of men stated that they would rather consult their
mobile phone than ask a salesperson for assistance when at a store.

Smartphones are convenient for comparing prices, searching for product information and
finding a local retailer, this is according to 79% of Smartphone users.

Take a look at the table below to get an idea of typical mobile user behavior when in the
store[2]:

In-store Smartphone User Behaviour
33% Take pictures
32% Compare prices
27% Read product reviews online
26% Scan a barcode
23% Look for coupons or use a coupon
20% Use the store app
11% Purchase and pay at the register

As you can see, the least percentage is of those who make in-store purchases. If it’s your store,
you can increase your sales by offering coupons.

Since consumers tend to compare prices in search of a better deal, making your business
available in mobile searches can increase the chance that your product gets appraised. When a
consumer likes what you offer, she’ll likely make her purchase from you.


CHAPTER 2 | WHAT IS MOBILE MARKETING

After the ‘WHY’, now we go to the ‘WHAT’.

What exactly is mobile marketing?

By definition, mobile marketing is communicating with your consumers using a mobile device
to do any or all of the following:

 Send a simple marketing message

 Introduce consumers to a new audience participation-based campaign

 Allow consumers to visit your mobile website

Mobile marketing is many-faceted but far from making it a complicated marketing avenue, it is
actually one of the best ways to merge various marketing strategies. We will talk more about
this later.

The Aspects Of Mobile Marketing

 SMS/MMS

SMS stands for Short Message Service and it’s also commonly referred to as 'Text Messaging'.
It’s text only and lets you send messages that are no more than 160 characters.

MMS on the other hand stands for Multimedia Message Service which can include audio, video,
and pictures and up to 1000 characters of text.

SMS have a higher open rate than emails. In fact, recipients open 95% of text messages within
5 minutes of receiving them. Compare that to emails that only have an open-rate of just 5%.
This is a huge indicator of trust, SMS recipients tend to trust their senders because the SPAM
rate for text messages is below 10%. In other words, out of 10 text messages, only 1 is
considered unsolicited.

As a business owner, you can use SMS marketing in 2 ways:

1. Direct marketing where you send a text message directly to yourmobile subscriber list,
making compelling offers to drive them to purchase.

2. Used to enhance other form of marketing you are already doing. SMS marketing can
enhance other advertising methods in two ways: (a) connect typical mass-advertising


mediums like TV, radio and print with your mobile friendly website, social media
accounts or apps, and (b) allows you to build very detailed customer profiles.

We will cover more about using SMS and MMS marketing in practice later on.

 Mobile Websites

A mobile website is a website optimized for the small screen-size of a mobile phone.

When a consumer uses his Smartphone to search for local information and came upon your
website which is not optimized for the small-screen, he will most likely leave.

In the image below, you’ll see the regular website of CBS and how it appears when browsed on
a desktop.

The red frame shows what a Smartphone user sees if CBS did not have a mobile-friendly
website.

As you can see, mobile users see only a small portion of the site and will have great difficulty
navigating it to see desired information. This will result to a bad user-experience which is why a
lot of established companies have a mobile-friendly version of their website.

In the following image, you see CBS’s mobile website:


If you observe CBS’s mobile website, the menu is simpler
and placed on top. The search box is also in a prominent
spot which allows people on the go to search for news and
information they are looking for. A search box is a
convenient way for people to get to the information they
want fast and easy, especially if the site they are on is a
complex one, like CBS’s.

The most popular news reports are also made readily
accessible, perfect for busy people who are trying to keep
up with current news.

The home page is clean and smart looking, making it very
easy for users to navigate through the site and go where
they want.

 Coupons

Perhaps you’ve heard that coupons don’t work?

That is however only true for print coupons, with mobile coupons, it’s a different matter.

You see printed coupons, the ones you cut from newspapers and magazines, are very difficult
to track. And because of that, it’s hard to figure out which coupon works well if you’re ‘split-
testing’ so it’s almost impossible to tell if coupons are actually good for your business.

With mobile marketing however, you can easily do some split testing where you test which type
of coupon is preferred by your prospects. Split testing coupons involve sending one coupon to a
small segment of your mobile subscriber list and another coupon to another segment.

Then you observe which coupon works better and then send that to the rest of your mobile
subscriber list. With the ease brought by online technology, you can keep on testing and
refining coupons to better increase your conversions.

Mobile coupons are highly measurable, allowing you to precisely track which coupons were
redeemed, by whom and when it was redeemed. You can even see what other items were
bought when they used the coupon.


 Quick-Response (QR) Codes

QR codes are like barcodes but instead of a bunch of parallel
lines, the codes are 2-dimensional like with the image on the
right.

When the QR code is scanned by a phone camera, the user is
then redirected to a target URL. Essentially, the QR code
eliminates the need to enter lengthy website addresses which is
a hassle with mobile Internet browsing.

You can use QR codes to direct a user to almost any online
destination such as: to a website, a social networking site like Facebook or Twitter, to a Google
Map location, an App Store download, a video, an article, an email address or message, a text
message, your contact details, a buy now link or a coupon.

This will only work if the Smartphone user has installed a QR-reader app.

The only problem with QR codes is that there are ways for hackers and spammers to spread
malware through the codes. If this information is spread by the media, then more people won’t
be too keen on using QR codes.

If you decide to use a QR code in your mobile marketing, use managed QR codes that allow you
to track and analyze how often a code is scanned. Also, tracking QR codes that redirect users to
different destinations lets you do some easy split testing to know what offers are best preferred
by your target market.

 Mobile Apps

Mobile apps are NOT really recommended for small businesses. There are a number of reasons
but the most important one is the lack of visibility.

Nobody will find your app, unless they are specifically looking for it. And if your app is found,
what’s the chance that it’ll be opened more than twice?

Mobile apps that get opened repeatedly are those that have functions most users really need
like a weather forecast app for example.

You can successfully launch an app only IF your business has a solid social media presence
where you have a strong following. But for small businesses, investing time and resources for
something that requires a long-term strategy that may not even work is simply not justifiable.


CHAPTER 3 | MOBILE MARKETING AND HOW TO DO IT

Now we’ve reached the part where you learn how to use the various mobile tools in marketing
your business.

SMS Marketing

As already stated, you can use SMS marketing in two ways: (1) direct marketing and (2)
enhancing your other marketing and advertising strategies.

 Direct Marketing

For direct marketing, you need to first build a list of people who are interested in getting SMS
from you (pretty much like building a list for your email newsletter), and second, send targeted
text messages to that list.

Because people trust SMS senders more than email senders, and they have high open rate,
SMS-based marketing is more advantageous than other forms of marketing.

Now you might be wondering how you can build a list of prospects.

The technical part of this list building is quite simple – you either get your prospects to give you
their cell number or you use short codes and keywords.

A short code is a 5-6 digit phone number that you get from the carriers where your prospects
can send a short keyword.

An example of using short codes and keywords
in SMS marketing is shown on the image [3] on
the left.

The short code is ‘313131’ and the keyword is
‘Joes’.

When the user typed the keyword and sent it to
the short code, he received the business’s (Joe’s
Pizza’s) marketing SMS.

The sender receives a preferred membership
and a 20% discount on his next order. The
business owner on the other hand received the


mobile number of the sender and now has it on the database as part of their growing list of
prospects.

With short codes, Smartphone owners are not the only ones who can use them, but practically
anyone with an SMS capable mobile phone.

Most businesses don’t own a unique short code but share it with other small businesses. The
keyword is the only thing unique to each business. Also, short codes are only rented. If the
carrier decides that a small business’s use of the short code is unethical, their keyword is
terminated and they can no longer send SMS to their list.

You may be wondering, how do you let people know of your business’s short code and
keyword?

Well you can easily integrate your short codes and keywords with other advertising strategies
you are already doing. For example, you have newspaper ads or TV or radio ads, you can
include your short codes in there. If you’re doing online advertising, you can use your social
media presence to let people know of the short code.

 Enhancing Other Forms of Advertising

There are two ways you can use SMS marketing to enhance other form of marketing:

1. Text for information

2. Text to join

When you let users Text For Information, you are letting them have a look at what you are
offering without them having to give you their contact details. Giving prospects good, solid
information without asking for anything in return is a good way to hook them. When they’re
satisfied, they will initiate the move and give you their contact details.

The text for information aspect is a really good way to start conversations with potential
customers, enhance your traditional marketing and advertising methods like broadcast and
print advertising. It’s also a great way to attract fans to your social media network, ask for a
feedback and a lot other options to create a first point of contact.

The Text To Join approach is best for getting customers to join your list so that you can keep
sending marketing text messages and increase repeat-sales.

Building a list also lets you create customer profiles which will allow you to send specific
targeted offers to the appropriate members of your list. As you progress, you will be able to


know what your customers want and so you’ll be sending them only offers they will likely
respond to.

MMS Marketing

Since MMS supports a wide range of media (pictures, slide shows, video, audio), you can use
whatever useful content you already have in your MMS marketing. Or, you can also create good
content to send to your list relatively fast and easy.

MMS is best used in the soft part of your marketing where you utilize this type of messaging to
create brand awareness, evoke feelings and brand loyalty. You can do this by telling a story that
your prospects can connect with.

Whatever you come up with, it should be information that is not shared anywhere else. People
like it when they are part of something exclusive, like maybe a VIP Club or a Preferred
Members’ Club.

The only problem is, MMS only works on Smartphones so traditional phone users are excluded.

It’s best to stick with SMS marketing for the time being. Once you’ve identified a group in your
list that uses Smartphones, then you can start adding MMS in your marketing methods.

Your Mobile Friendly Website

If you have a normal website for your site, you should also have a mobile version of that.

There are plugins you can install on your website that are supposed to automatically convert
your traditional website into a mobile-friendly one.

The problem is search engines like Google don’t recognize these plugin modified websites as
mobile sites. That is because to these search engines, normal websites and mobile websites are
two different entities.

Also, the search-behavior of someone online is different from that of someone looking for
something using their mobile. A user searching for something on their mobile device is looking
for ‘instant gratification’. They want to find what they’re looking for fast, and they want to get
it fast. In other words, mobile users are ready to purchase.

So if you want your business to be found by mobile users, then you better have a mobile site
set up.

Basically, you need to create a sub-domain and put a mobile specific site there. You do this by
replacing the ‘www’ bit with ‘m’.


For example, your normal website is:

http://www.sendviatext.com

Your mobile site should be

http://m.sendviatext.com

So what will happen next?

When your site recognizes that it is being viewed using a mobile device, it will automatically
redirect to your mobile site.

What About The Design Of Your Mobile Site?

There are good practices to keep in mind when designing your mobile site so it will be user-
friendly and gives instant gratification.

 Keep it quick – mobile users are on the go and they don’t have a lot of time to enter
significant amounts of information. Make your site load fast (compress images) and easy
to read (larger copy, bulleted texts).

 Simplify the navigation – your mobile site should not confuse your viewers. If you have
a complex site, search functionality will enable your visitors to find what they need
easily.

 Make the site thumb friendly – mobile users navigate using their fingers obviously but
what you really have to consider is that people have different finger sizes. You have to
design your mobile site so that people with larger hands can interact with it with ease:
make buttons larger and give them breathing room to avoid or minimize accidental
clicks; make text clickable and pad smaller buttons.

 Make your mobile website easy to read – there should be contrast between
background and text. The content should fit on screen and readable without zooming or
pinching.


 Your mobile site should be accessible – an ideal mobile website works across all mobile
platforms and handset orientations.

 Make it local – mobile users look for local information on their phones most of the time
so you should include a functionality that lets people find you.

 Make your website easy to convert – make it easy for prospects to buy from you or
contact you. Focus on product details and other info that will help conversion; minimize
the steps required to complete a sale; keep the forms short; make data entry easier by
using scroll menus, lists or check boxes; utilize click-to-call functionality for phone
numbers.

Check out the following examples of good, clean, user-friendly mobile websites [4]:


Coupons Are A Smart Move

Coupons are a smart move IF you have clearly defined objectives that can make them work.

Before you start using coupons, you have to make your objectives clear: is it your goal to
increase average order size? Reach an audience you wouldn’t reach otherwise? Increase your
customer base? Encourage referrals?

Most of the time you will have an idea of what a good offer will be but you still need to test
your campaigns to really know which work best for most of your clients.

If you have one or two good ideas for coupon campaigns, then start with that. You don’t have
to worry about the cost because mobile technology makes split testing your projects easy and
cheap.

Where you will encounter some challenges is with the redemption part.

There are several ways your customers can redeem a coupon:


 They can present the code on their mobile phone and the cashier gives the discount.

 They can show the code on their mobile phone, the cashier enters it in the system and
gives the discount. This is much better because your tracking is automatically done now.

 If you have the technology, the cashier can scan the coupon code which is in the form of
a barcode (viewed only on a Smartphone). If you opt for this redemption method, you
should also have an email-to-print functionality for those who don’t have a Smartphone.
They will receive an email of the coupon so they can print it out.

 The coupons can be downloaded to a reward-program then the customer can use the
credit any way they want.

Though it’s nothing complicated, you need to train your checkout staff to ensure that they
know what they are doing and that the process of redemption is smooth. You have to work to
avoid a bad checkout experience for your customer so as not to lose them.

QR Codes Can Be Handy If…

QR codes can be really handy if your target audience has Smartphones. Still, not all Smartphone
users have installed QR-reader apps. In fact, a very small percentage of Smartphone owners
have QR-reader apps on their phones – just 6-7%.

So unless your target audience has QR-reader apps installed on their Smartphones, QR codes
are not a good idea right now.

SUMMARY

So by now you should already know the potential of using mobile marketing to enhance other
marketing strategies, boost brand awareness, increase sales and reach more prospects.

There are many aspects to mobile marketing but if you’re still learning this route, what we
recommend is:

1. Create a mobile version of your website (http://m.sendviatext.com)

2. Utilize SMS marketing to the fullest

3. Use coupons


A mobile version of your normal site makes a lot of sense because of the ever-increasing
number of Smartphone users. As mentioned earlier, if you want a solid online presence, you
have to make your business available in mobile searches as well.

Making use of SMS marketing is also a smart move because you can include everybody –
Smartphone and traditional mobile phone users. SMS marketing is also ideal for direct
marketing, building your list of prospects and enhancing other traditional advertising strategies
you’re already doing.

Coupons too are great for attracting new prospects, ensuring repeat sales and building
customer loyalty. If you have a well thought out campaign and if you are not afraid of doing test
after test, using coupons can really do wonders to your sales. Coupons too can help build your
list fast.

Now you may be asking:

“These are all good but how do I start putting these in practice?”

“How do I come up with a dynamic design for a compelling mobile-friendly version of my
website?”

“How do I start building a list?”

We offer free consultation so you can contact me or the team and we can discuss how you can
integrate mobile marketing into your overall marketing strategy. We aren’t called marketing
expert for nothing!

Contact us at:

info@sendviatext.com

Office: 020 3286 5464

Or visit our website


REFERENCES
[1] Our Mobile Planet: Global Smartphone Users. (Feb. 2012). Retrieved from
http://services.google.com/fh/files/blogs/final_global_smartphone_user_study_2012.pdf

[2] Laja, P. (2012, May 30). What You Need to Know About Mobile Internet Users and Their
Shopping Behavior. Retrieved from http://conversionxl.com/mobile-internet-users-and-their-
shopping-behavior/

Sullivan L. (2011, Nov. 11). Study Analyzes Mobile Search, Buying Behavior In Retail. Retrieved
from http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/162261/study-analyzes-mobile-search-
buying-behavior-in-r.html

[3] Image Source: Keywords On Our Shared Short Code. Retrieved from
http://www.eztexting.com/marketing-features/shared-shortcode-keywords.html

[4] Image Source: 15 Beautiful Examples of Mobile Website Design Done Right. (2011, Nov. 04)
Retrieved from http://www.640pixels.com/design-showcase/15-beautiful-examples-of-mobile-
website-design-done-right.aspx


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