Mobile marketing can be defined as the art of marketing your business to appeal to mobile device users. The users that are targeted by mobile marketing are those who are in possession of a smart phone; the reason for this simply being that smart phones have the capability to show advertisements in a way the old Nokia brick phones never could. When it comes to mobile marketing there are so many things that you should be doing, but there are also so many things that you should avoid doing.
Mobile marketing, when done correctly, can be one of the main reasons as to why a marketing campaign is successful. There are a literally endless number of examples of mobile applications that have been created for marketing purposes, that have failed to fulfil their goals and expectations.
The Do's Of Mobile Marketing
When you are creating an advertisement, there are quite a few things you should consider. I’m going to call these things the criteria. If these criteria have been met, then your advertisement is more likely to be successful. To clarify this advertisement could be anything from a promoted ad on Facebook to a full-blown application that you have made.
Now you're asking yourself - "But where do I begin?" - and before I answer that, I am going to set the record straight that an ad can literally work without this criteria being met. But if you want to increase the likelihood of it working, then these will definitely help.
This chart is the current top grossing apps on the app store, looking at this you see that pretty much all of the top free apps on there are lacklustre free games that force an ad down your throat at every opportunity it gets. This really proves the do's I'm about to list are not essential.
Make it FREE. This generally will only apply to an application. Literally no one wants to buy an app from the app store. An app being free increases its accessibility, and this is crucial to every marketing campaign.
Make it SIMPLE TO USE. Simplicity is extremely important. It is not easy to achieve simplicity when it comes to an application but the seamless experience of an app is likely to have users revisiting the app on a consistent basis. Just look at the McDonald's app for proof that simplicity works.
GAMIFY the app. This is a bit obscure for those who don’t know what gamifying is. Gamifying in short is adding elements commonly found in game design into your marketing campaign, this could be by adding achievements or unlockables. Fitbit does this very well. This just makes an app fun to use. It’s as simple as that if something is fun to use, more people are likely to use it.
The Don'ts Of Mobile Marketing
I could make this section very short. Just saying that you should avoid doing the opposite of the three criteria I mentioned previously would honestly be enough. But I'll bore you a bit more and give you one more tip.
The main thing I have to say here is that you, whatever you do, should not make the assumption that your product will sell itself. It sounds dumb but it’s crucial. You need to think like the consumer. When you do this you realise that if you stumble across an 8 year old website that is the digital equivalent of an book sitting dusty in an old library; you really won’t want to read it. So, if your site is, pardon my French, shit, uncustomised, slow, outdated, kills your battery life and more. It won’t sell.
Keep your advertisements up to date the same way you keep your applications up to date. Just because there are millions of brands and companies being left behind as we progress into a digital age, does not mean you and your brand need to be left as well.
Thanks For Reading
Thanks for your time. If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to leave them below.
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