When you think of new technology and marketing, people tend to get stuck on the two main areas – the internet, and email. We think of the big brand names – Google, Facebook, Twitter, Gmail and Hotmail. We think of new lingo, like search engine optimisation and open rates.
But when it comes to the future of marketing, rarely do you hear of the medium that has over 6 times as many users as Facebook, and open rates that are unheard of in email marketing.
Mobile marketing.
If you’ve ever seen anyone stress about forgetting their mobile phone, or just how addicted people have become to their iPhones and their Blackberrys, you’ll understand what a huge opportunity there is in mobile marketing.
While Facebook is all the rage in social media marketing circles with 600 million users, there are over 4 billion users worldwide with a mobile phone. And as email marketers strive for 40-50% and better open rates, statistics have shown SMS marketing to have open rates as high as 94%!
Mobile marketing with SMS is cheap, immediate, and can have a profound impact on your business. By building a list of subscribers who want what you have to offer, you can improve your business with techniques such as:
- Boosting sales during slow days by blasting a special offer to your SMS,
- Reducing appointment no-shows by sending reminders to your customers,
- Building your customer base by running special SMS promotions, and
- Attracting new business with special offers that can be forwarded around family and friends,
SMS marketing can be a fine line however – too few messages and you won’t realise the profits that you perhaps should, but too many messages will quickly turn your customers against you and to your competitors!
Make sure your customers opt in to your mobile list and are aware what they will receive from you, and treat the chance to market to their mobile phone as a privilege, not a right. Done well, mobile marketing could give you the head start on your competition that your business can thrive on!
If you don’t know where to start and would like further information on how mobile marketing could benefit your business, please contact me.
About Tristan