17 Ways to Improve your Business with Mobile

1) Mobile Loyalty or Newbie programs – Need new customers, or want to stimulate some repeat business? Try setting up some programs to reward your repeat customers, or set up specials to entice some new people to check you out. This can be great because people are looking for new things when they are in close proximity to your location already.

2) Run a text-to-win campaign – This is a great way to increase awareness for a new product or service, or a new promotion that you are offering.  It is fairly easy to combine your text campaign with other forms of media you may be utilizing, and will help if you are trying to build a database of phone numbers or email addresses for remarketing purposes.

3) Create a mobile optimized website – Do you have a mobile optimized website?  Try pulling up your site on your smart phone or an iPad, and see how it looks.  Is it easy to navigate the site and for the user to accomplish the goals you are trying to get them to do?  If not you may want to look into a mobile website, especially with the huge increase in search traffic coming from mobile devices.

4) Mobile Couponing – Mobile couponing has a return rate of over 10x that of print coupons… Which should be enough to make you consider this as an option right there!  Just keep in mind the logistics can be a little tricky if your business doesn’t have a scanner than can read phone bar codes.  You may want to try a blanket offer that you won’t have to keep track of specific coupons, or you could try using unique promo codes to each device.

5) Use QR Codes – Try using a QR code either from your location, your own marketing materials, or from another form of media to take the user to either your website or your social media pages.  This will work well with some type of contesting involved. Keep in mind that unless there’s something cool as a prize or a strong call to action to make the person use the code, you may be disappointed with low click throughs.

6) Use mobile banners to drive traffic to your offer – Mobile banners are hot.  Try combining some mobile display banners to reach people while they are on the move, and take them to your mobile offer or coupon page. Have a creative message to keep the user interactive with you and be clear with what you would like them to do or what you are offering them.

7) Optimize your Google map listing – If you haven’t claimed your Google map listing, you should do it now… I have information here on how to claim your here: Claim Google Map Listing.  This will allow your business to be found for your categories when someone does a local search on Google.  Your business will show up in the results if the persons location is near you. A great tool to gain traffic when people may be closest to purchase.

8) Mobile Commerce – Is your computer set up to take orders and allow users to easily make purchases from their mobile device?  If not, chances are that you are missing out on some sales to your competition that is.  According to a ComScore study in 2011, over 38% of smart phone users consistently use their phones to make purchases, and that number rises every year… don’t miss out on this business which is on the rise!

9) Interactive Mobile Applications – “mobile apps” seemed to be one of the hottest crazes in 2011, but after seeing what seems like a million horrible and pointless apps, I’m taking this one a step further by saying that your business should think about an interactive mobile app.  An app with a clear purpose, and something that will keep the user interacting with you and interested.

10) Bluetooth proximity marketing – This can be a great tool to gain direct business instantly to people in your immediate area.  Through bluetooth, you can actually offer promotions, specials, deals, or pretty much anything you have to offer to peoples mobile devices through the use of bluetooth technology.  This is a great idea for a business that is in a high foot traffic area,or even at a trade show, conference or something similar with a lot of people in your immediate area.  Most of the time when this is in use, it is accompanied by some sort of signage or other media informing people about the bluetooth content.

11) Updates, Appointments, and Reminders – Great idea for any service based industry.  Doctors offices or even auto shops, can text or send mobile messages to update customers on statuses or just to remind about appointments.

12) Mobile Contesting – The rise of mobile use and ease of tracking and accessibility has made contesting through mobile devices one of the hottest and fastest growing vehicles to deliver a message and get people signed up for your database.  Offer a prize that will be worthwhile for someone to sign up for, and think about combining other types of media (both traditional advertising and online  or social media) when trying to utilize mobile for a contest… a multi-media approach is usually best.
13) Email – Pretty straightforward here.  Email marketing has been a great tool for years to reach new clients or just to keep your database up to date with your new services or new information about your business.  Keep in mind now more than ever that people are checking their emails from mobile devices though. You should probably double check any email marketing collateral that you send on your own through a smart phone and tablet just to make sure its easy to read.
14) Social Media – In this day and age, there’s no excuse for not keeping up and connecting with your customers at all times.  I suggest using an app like HootSuite to easily organize your news feeds and social media posting. Quick response and social etiquette can keep you in tune with your customer base, and a lot of times extinguish a problem before it becomes a huge issue.

15) Mobile PPC Campaign – According to Mobile Marketer, 70% of mobile searches result in action within 1 hour.  That number is staggering… and I’m not sure any other medium can boast such a stat.  You should really think about adding a mobile search campaign to your media mix, to capitalize on all of that action.  Depending on your industry, this could be a huge help to local sales and customer conversions.  Also, this works great if your industry is an emergency need.

16) Usetablets wisely – Whenever I see businesses incorporating tablet use successfully, it just makes them look that much more tech savvy and professional.  Recently I noticed a server at a restaurant taking orders using one, and a manager at a nightclub taking bottle reservations on a tablet.  This can streamline all of your processes, and just plain looks cool… I’ve personally been using a tablet for all contract signatures, which I can immediately email to my customers on the spot.  Along with impressing most people, the use of more electronic devices will limit your need for paper and increase efficiency.

17) Test your site mobile readiness with Google’s GoMo – Mega-company Google is spearheading an initiative to get businesses mobile-ready.  Check and see how your site ranks here:  http://www.howtogomo.com/en/b/
This should give you an overview on a lot of the current business capabilities with mobile marketing and devices that should improve your business by either streamlining processes or helping your marketing efforts.  Please feel free to contact Bret Talley for any more information at 954-495-7939 or for more articles like this one visit www.brettalley.com

-Bret Talley