Are there any statistics on mobile phones or mobile marketing that don’t amaze you? Did you realize that more than 75% of smartphone users make use of location mobile marketing services to gain information about retal businesses? This includes reviews of businesses, getting directions, calling the business and using the business’ mobile app. This will be a game changer for the retail industry.

Location-based ads are the future and will lead to a revolution in mobile advertising.

Eric Schmidt

It is simple … the objective of location mobile marketing is to encourage shopping by driving foot traffic, sharing discounts, and building customer loyalty.

It starts with knowing your customer targets. Defining your target audience is one of the most important factors in any marketing campaign, and your job is made easier by focusing your marketing efforts on appealing to a specific group of people.

Related post: 11 Steps to Media Framing Messages for Optimum Engagement

Ideally, you’ll have defined the target market for your product much earlier than the marketing stage.

Businesses that are investing in efforts to increase their location-aware audience are reporting improved conversions. How? By ensuring that their business is easy to find and by skillfully combining location-based marketing with an overall targeted marketing. This includes social media, push notifications, email newsletters, and even offline marketing.

Location mobile marketing … the context of mobile

Unless you have just returned from a deep sleep over the past few years, you are very aware of the mobile trends. The growth of the smartphone has been something extraordinary. Will this growth in smartphone utilization lead to an equal growth in mobile marketing campaigns?

We say yes in resounding fashion. Is your business employing mobile internet marketing? Here are 14 reasons you should be and why we believe the smartphone is becoming marketing’s next big thing:

It’s very personal

It enables social, location, preferences, and behavior, resulting in a HUGH advantage.

It creates ability to influence and reward behavior

It can target in near real time and location.

It is fun to use

The smartphone is a great social and casual entertainment source.

It represents ubiquitous computing

The local processing and storage technologies are remarkable.

The results are easily measurable

They yield real world activation

Everything is easily accessible

Nearly everything, everywhere.

Change explosion

Fantastic applications and utility growth.

Smartphone utilization

Massive utilization growth acceleration.

Network speed and bandwidth

Murphy’s law continues to dominate.

JiWire, the location-based mobile advertising company, has an interesting Mobile Audience Insights Report examining trends in location and mobile shopping, connected device adoption and public Wi-Fi usage.

Key highlights of the report include:

Connected device trends

Almost half of the ‘on-the-go’ audience is connecting to public Wi-Fi from smartphones (31%) or tablets (14%). By contrast, the connection from laptops has decreased from 70% last year to 55% currently.

Location-Based app adoption

70% of C-level executives use location-based apps on a weekly or daily basis. 73% of small business owners use location-based apps daily (57%), or weekly (16%) and more than half of all business executives use apps on a daily basis regardless of position or company size.

The top three most-used app categories are travel, weather, and social networking for business travel, with booking reservations the most important service, followed by finding nearby business services.

Mobile shopping behavior

37% of ‘on-the-go’ consumers have used a mobile wallet in the past three months, and it continues to grow rapidly.

When shopping in-store, 49% of consumers compare prices with other stores. Comparison shopping has become one of the biggest competitive threats and challenges for retailers. Retailers will need to make it a priority to develop a strategy that addresses this trend.

For more information on value propositions, see our article on building the best unique selling proposition.

Have you prepared your business to take full advantage of a mobile marketing strategy to engage your customers? This data should convince you.

An offline business such as a restaurant, retailer, florist, or another retailer that places content about its business, operating hours, etc.derives two benefits. Mobile searchers are finding the immediate benefit with needs that require quick if not immediate gratification.

Another benefit is brand awareness for both new and existing customers. There are plenty of competitors and distractions out there, so what are you doing to stay top of mind with customers and prospects?

Location-based mobile marketing brings about the convergence of online marketing and the physical shopping experience. Preferred tools include QR codes, click-to-call, coupons, and mobile apps. Fewer than one out of four offline businesses are making effective use of these tools.

Those that are have already gained a considerable advantage over slow adopters, but all is not lost, it’s still early. And there’s time to catch up and capture market share with location-based mobile marketing.

Why a mobile marketing strategy?

Your business needs a mobile marketing strategy for the same reason that you need a computer and Wi-Fi access – this is the age in which we live. Walk around any major city, and you’ll find more than just a few folks with faces glued to their smartphone screens. According to recent reports, 40% of users’ internet time is spent on mobile devices, which means simply ignoring the rise of mobile just isn’t an option.

Some other interesting mobile marketing statistics:

80% of mobile device time in spent on apps, with game apps eating up the largest percent of app time

People browse 70% more web pages on tablets than smartphones

Retail conversion rates are 2.2% on tablets, considerably higher than 0.7% on smartphones, but traditional PC conversion rates are still highest at 3.3%

Mobile searches increased 200% year over year in 2012

Mobile is predicted to surpass desktop in 2014

Mobile is here to stay, and if forecasts are correct, it will be soon by eclipsing desktop usage. If you don’t have a mobile marketing strategy yet, it’s time to get going!

When it comes to consumer attitudes and perceptions about mobile marketing, there’s good news and bad news.

The good news, according to a 2014 study by Hipcricket, is that mobile marketing is reaching consumers. Two-thirds of consumers have received a text message or mobile alert from a business in the last six months.

Meanwhile, only 47% have “liked” a brand on Facebook, and only 12% have followed a brand on Twitter.

Now, the bad news. Most mobile marketing is missing the mark by sending messages that consumers don’t find relevant, useful, or personal enough.

While about half of respondents (45%) said their most recent text message or alert was useful, a similar percentage (46%) said it wasn’t. Worse, more than half (52%) say the message felt “intrusive or spammy,” while one-third said the message didn’t offer any value.

Consumers are eager to get relevant messages — so much so, in fact, that 41% say they’d be willing to share more of their personal information with businesses to get relevant discounts. Location data (20%) and demographic data (19%) are the most common kinds of information consumers are willing to share.

Location based mobile marketing … how mobile is revolutionizing marketing

If the mobile is now the primary screen, far ahead of television, it is not a coincidence. For instance, 53.8% of the population in France are using a mobile device and 4 out of 5 mobile users access the Internet almost daily from one. 43% of mobile shoppers buy at least 1 per week on a mobile. 18-44-year-olds are the most heavily represented group among mobile buyers (source MMA France).

Mobile technology has enabled the development of new usages not only for individual users but also for businesses. Here are five examples of the new scope that marketing is reaching through mobile.

Immediacy

One strong highlight of the mobile is the intrinsic quality of smartphones: immediacy. As it is located on a person almost constantly, mobile meets the needs instantly. You can reach your target straight away.

Proximity: Geolocation

Mobile devices allow you to know the geolocation of the mobile user. One of the many use cases is proximity advertising. In the Salon E-Commerce Paris 2014, Renaud Biet, co-founder of Tabmo, showcases the power his company brings to advertisers and e-commerce through their specialty of mobile advertising and programmatic purchases.

Their offering establishes a link between the physical world and the digital display by synchronizing urban (local) ads with mobile advertising.

Contextualization “In Place, In Time, Insight.”

Mobile can take into local account information in real time and thus present information in the context of the mobile user. Then you can multiply that power by combining it with behavior data. Doing so allows you to connect with the right person at the right time and the right place to present him with just the right offer.

A recent study by Accenture in the US reveals that 65% of buyers at the point of sale want to receive contextualized offer related to their buying habits right on their smartphones.

The engaging mode

The many interactive possibilities on a mobile device can transform a user experience to make it more attractive and desirable, anytime and anywhere.

location based advertising examples — Location based advertising examples.

Intimacy

All the reasons above tend to create true intimacy with the user to create a unique and personalized experience. One of the best examples is the iBeacon. iBeacons are small physical devices that are always broadcasting their location and unique identifier to a small nearby area. They broadcast only and receive no information back from the mobile device

iBeacons can be used to have a phone notify its owner of nearby items that are on sale. They can enable payments at the point of sale (POS) so customers don’t need to remove their wallets or cards (source Wikipedia).

Thanks to mobile, marketing has a new high-performance tool to optimize campaigns and target its messages. It combines consumer data with contextual information.

This opens doors for innovations and approaches to reach the right customer with the right message at the right time. However, marketers must be careful not to become too intrusive.

And you, how do you market on mobile?

Alternative approaches to mobile

Here are several location-based mobile marketing options that businesses can use in different settings.

RFID

RFID tags worn by people at events or placed within lanyards or even in stickers transmit locations, offer insight into an individual’s interests, or can provide specific information. RFID is in most cases short range and can also be referred to as NFC (Near Field Communication). In fact, if you have a relatively new Samsung phone it probably has this functionality built in.

Geo-Fencing

This technology that can be put to great use by stores to automatically alert customers to deals, discounts, offers, and more when they are close to your store or restaurant. Here’s how it works. Let’s say we developed a mobile app for your small business. You would use the mobile app management system we provide to setup your geofence. For example, you select a one-mile perimeter around your store. You then set up the push notification you want to be sent to people who have your mobile app when they come inside your fence.

It’s that easy. Now every time someone with your mobile app comes within 1 mile of your store, they will automatically receive your offer, discount, announcement, etc. via push notification. All you have to do is be there to serve them when they walk in.

Effective location-based marketing with mobile devices demands that you run a data-driven campaign. Data collected from different marketing experiments and consumer behavior should be leveraged to create messages that are as personalized as possible.

One in three adult social media users has his account configured to display location. On the other hand, a sizable number of people, out of privacy concerns, deny mobile apps for location-based information. A lack of trust primarily may cause this fact. Or perhaps it is simply because they haven’t been presented with the benefits of accepting push notifications and sharing their location.

In my experience, if customers are asked to accept push notifications and share location data to receive special offers, discounts, event announcements, etc. they are happy to do so. After all, they are shopping or dining with you because they trust you and want to return. You just need to give them a reason to do so.

geolocation mobile marketing — Geolocation mobile marketing.

App based marketing

With the increasingly widespread use of smartphones, app usage has also greatly increased. Therefore, mobile marketers have increasingly taken advantage of smartphone apps as a marketing resource. This allows for direct engagement, payment, and targeted advertising.

There is a lot of competition in this field as well. However, just like other services, it is not easy anymore to rule the mobile application market.

Game marketing

There are essentially three major trends in mobile gaming right now: interactive real-time 3D games, massive multiplayer games, and social networking games. This means a trend towards more complex and more sophisticated, richer gameplay.

On the other side, there are the so-called casual games, i.e. games that are very simple and very easy to play. Most mobile games today are such casual games, and this will probably stay so for quite a while to come.

Brands are now delivering promotional messages within mobile games or sponsoring entire games to drive consumer engagement. This is known as mobile advergaming or Ad-funded mobile game.

Mobile web marketing

Advertising on web pages specifically meant for access by mobile devices is also an option. The Mobile Marketing Association provides a set of guidelines and standards that give the recommended format of ads, presentation, and metrics used in reporting. Google, Yahoo, and other major mobile content providers have been selling advertising placement on their properties for years already.

Advertising networks focused on mobile properties, SMS resellers, and advertisers are also available. Additionally, web forms on web pages can be used to integrate with mobile texting sources. These are often used for reminders about meetings, seminars, and other important events that assume users are not always on their computers.

Mobile websites are another aspect of mobile web marketing. They are an excellent tool that can make purchasing goods and services easier as well as create better communication opportunities.

Location-based services

Location-based services are offered by some cell phone networks as a way to send custom advertising and other information to cell-phone subscribers. The cell-phone service provider gets the location from a GPS chip built into the phone or using radiolocation and trilateration based on the signal-strength of the closest cell-phone towers (for phones without GPS features).

Some location-based services work without GPS tracking technique, instead of transmitting content between devices peer-to-peer.

QR code employment

Until recently, the ability to employ QR codes was one of the most untapped marketing resources available. (And we say this with a great deal of respect for the efforts that advertisers poured into their QR code campaigns.)

In my years working in the industry, I was particularly struck by the alleged “low conversion” rates of traditional QR codes. Now however QR codes are enjoying increasing levels of popularity.

Nowadays, we’re making great strides towards a much better understanding of QR codes and how to unleash their true potential. But let’s start at the beginning.

What are QR codes?

Quick Response, instant contextual information that the customer reaches out for. They are a simple symbol designed to transmit digital messages. It is the ultimate permission marketing technique.

Common applications

Some of the most common applications include: opening the website to a key landing page, dialing a company telephone number, reading an RSS feed, sending an e-mail message, scheduling a calendar event, launching any App on the smartphone, retrieving location data, or sharing a contact card. Just about anything you can imagine. You can be very creative.

Data capacity

Considerably more than the old bar codes. Numbers = 7089 and alphanumeric = 4296

QR code generators

There are considerable differences in QR code generators. Do your homework on the available generators. And then establish your QR code objectives before selecting the generator that is best for you. Make sure you consider the different metrics and tracking you will need. This should include your error correction level requirements; and the graphic customization you want.

Metrics

There are lots of metrics to consider. These include: where your customers are opening the codes; which ad locations are most effective; and which creative attract the most attention to the code. It will be well worth experimentation with your target customers.

Test effectively

You definitely must do thorough testing before launching your code, as there are many variables that could create problems. Start with scanning your printed code and then try several readers on each of 3-4 phones.

Test all major operating systems. Make sure you use the lighting you expect from locations you expect customers to be scanning the code. Don’t take anything for granted.

Common QR code employment mistakes

When I examine ads that are employing QR codes today, here are some of the common mistakes I see:

Not telling customers what they will receive from the code.

Not placing the information about what they will receive close to the code.

Poorly defined campaign.

Leaving customers hanging.

Putting material in QR codes that is limited in value.

No contact information for the brand

Pay attention and try not to repeat these mistakes.

Application examples

Here are two very good examples of applications and their results:

The American ketchup brand Heinz placed QR codes onto its bottles in US restaurants. Patrons were offered prizes for answering trivia questions. About one million customers subsequently scanned the bottles. One of the most creative campaigns we have seen.

L’Oreal received a 7% increase in sales when it advertised inside NYC taxicabs. The QR codes were linked to videos with Lancôme and Yves Saint Laurent beauty products. During the five-day campaign, the app was downloaded on average 80% more.

Growing employment

The number of smartphone users sits in the region of 2.5+ billion. This not only serves as a massive incentive for marketing departments to find innovative means of attracting customers, but it also makes mobile marketing more attractive.

In the West, QR code usage is enjoying a much warmer reception among patrons. The use of visually appealing QR codes is fast gaining traction. QR codes are now being incorporated into marketing messages in such a way that causes users to find them too enticing to resist. The goal is to juxtapose QR codes seamlessly into messages, images, and marketing strategies.

Here is the thing to remember. Clutter is not too much information; it is a failure in design. Employ QR codes to help you make designs more effective.

Mobile campaign tactics

We’re leaving you with some quick mobile marketing tactics to make sure you make the most of the mobile.

Be clear and concise

Mobile devices have small screens, which means words should be used sparingly. Cluttered and crowded ads will just drive users to scroll past. When it comes to mobile, it’s best to keep things simple.

Optimize for local

Be sure to remember that 1 in 3 mobile searches have local intent. Users often use mobile devices to complement their immediate worldly interactions – where is the nearest gas station? Is there a nearby coffee shop that has Wi-Fi? Optimize for local mobile marketing to make sure you are aligning with users’ queries.

Consider your audience

The type of audience you’re hoping to reach should influence the kind of mobile ads you use. Are they gamers? Then try taking advantage of in-game ads. Are they young and tech-savvy? Mobile Facebook promoted posts might be more likely to get their attention.

Timing is essential

Text messages and alerts are extremely personal and the most intrusive forms of digital marketing. It’s crucial to be certain you are sending messages and alerts at relevant times, or consumers will quickly cut you off.

If your business is e-commerce or another industry with customers around the country, it’s important to be aware of customers’ time zones. You don’t want to wake someone with an ill-timed message.

Tap into history

Use data you’ve collected from customers’ past shopping habits to tailor mobile marketing messages to their needs and interests. Relevance is especially important when messages are interruptive.

Start slow and build on success

Track how customers respond to mobile marketing messages, and use that information to expand your campaigns. If certain customers are highly responsive, you may want to message them more often. Two-three messages per month is a good frequency to ensure you don’t wear out your welcome.

Protect privacy

Make it clear how you will use personal information and what the benefits to the customers are. Customers are more willing than you might think to share personal data, but you need to state what they will get out of the exchange and provide offers and coupons that have substantial value.

Also, make your privacy policy clear when collecting information and share how you protect customers’ data. Finally, make it easy to opt-out at any time.

Experiment with different strategies

There’s a lot of room for experimentation when it comes to mobile marketing. Don’t be afraid to test out some ad extensions with your AdWords enhanced campaigns – try the Google offers ad extension, or the click-to-call extension, and see how they work for you.

Benchmark your results

Experimenting is great, but there’s no point in trying new techniques if you’re not tracking your results to see what works and what doesn’t.

Mobile trends to watch

With mobile playing such a significant role in the successful marketing business, let’s take a look at some of the top mobile marketing trends.

Consider what they mean for the businesses utilizing them.

Better targeted marketing

Because location technology has improved so much recently, companies can better target their audiences. And it’s not just targeting a large group of their audience, but the capability of targeting individuals. When targeting an individual, businesses must use a more personal approach.

A great personalized way of doing this is by incorporating native advertising into their mobile app marketing strategy. Businesses are using mobile app marketing techniques to create a more personalized experience for their users. Examples of such sites implementing this include USA Today, CNN and Facebook.

Going native provides a more personalized and meaningful experience for users. Through location technology and knowing a user’s mobile history, businesses can target each user with relative mobile apps and sites.

Doing this means their users are more likely to download the apps and visit the sites shown.The results? It means those businesses will better monetize their mobile visitors.

Mobile app burnout

There are hundreds of thousands of mobile apps available. The average smartphone user downloads anywhere from 25-40 apps, but then only regularly uses half or a third of those. It’s common for people to download an app and only open it once or twice.

Since there are more apps are out there than people can handle, the result is a serious case of mobile app overuse. With this happening, a business needs to make sure if they create an app for their consumers that provides significant value.

One brand that did this most successfully is Starbucks. With the Starbucks app, customers pay for their coffee and track their purchases on their smartphones. It also has a loyalty program, My Starbucks Rewards, where customers earn rewards when they purchase with their phones. They can then redeem their rewards for free Starbucks products.

This app shows Starbucks understands its customers’ needs because it makes life easier for every on-the-go Starbucks customer. How? By improving responsiveness and convenience, not to mention a chance at free stuff.

Growing use of social media apps

Let’s be honest; society is addicted to social media. Social media has penetrated nearly every element of society. According to one study, social penetration (how much of the population is using a social network on a monthly basis) is around 40% across the globe and growing.

And why shouldn’t we be addicted? It’s a way to stay connected with friends and family, a way to get and share information, and a great way for businesses to reach their consumers. About two-thirds of smartphone and tablet users access their social network accounts from mobile devices, with Facebook being the top smartphone app accessed.

This means businesses are looking to connect better with their consumers and market their brand to a wider audience. Facebook for example lets you quickly set up mobile app ads to push to users. Other tactics could include Facebook remarketing, promoted tweets; LinkedIn sponsored updates, Stumbleupon paid discovery and other tools or maximum exposure.

Wearable technology

The craze of the future is wearable technology, and we see that craze only growing in the future. Wearable devices aren’t meant to replace people’s current mobile devices. Instead, they’re devices with apps that collect a user’s data and relay real-time notifications and feedback to them.

Fitness trackers and smartwatches are currently the top ones used. Businesses wanting to jump on this wearable craze don’t need to create a new app. All that’s required is making some tweaks to their existing mobile app to fit their wearable design.

Technology advances and people’s needs change every day. Meaning mobile trends regularly change, and businesses have to keep adapting to these trends.

Adapting isn’t a new concept; it’s very possible for a company to do. Partnering with other companies to give customers exactly what they need is one way of adapting.

But the best way of being prepared and adapting to these changes is staying up to date with the mobile industry. They need to take the time to understand mobile trends and to make mobile a top priority.

These trends don’t necessarily negatively affect mobile apps. They just mean businesses need to continue evolving and improving with technology and the times.

Nielsen recently released a report that showed a trend between mobile users and television engagement. Many consumers use their mobile devices while watching television, and this can give marketers a chance to convert instantly on people watching advertisements.

Nielsen reported 14 percent of US tablet owners and 7 percent of smartphone owners had used their devices while watching TV to purchase an advertised product. They also noted that 18 percent of US tablet owners and 12 percent of smartphone owners use their devices to discuss programs on social media while watching TV.

Need some help in capturing more customers from your marketing strategies? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with potential customers?

Call today for a FREE consultation or a FREE quote. Learn about some options to scope your job.

Call Mike at 607-725-8240.

All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.

When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step. Call today.

Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.

Are you devoting enough energy improving your marketing, branding, and advertising?

Do you have a lesson about making your marketing strategy better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?

Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find them on G+, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed how reasonable we will be.

More reading on marketing strategy from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:

Target Market … How to Target for Best Marketing Campaigns

Tagged alternative approaches to mobile, geolocation mobile marketing, location based advertising examples, location mobile marketing, mobile marketing strategy, the context of mobile

Is Location Mobile Marketing a Game Changer for Retail?