What Mobile Means to Your Marketing in 2013

It's time to get out of denial.

Image: Social Media HQ on Flickr.

You can't look the other way any longer. A new study by Experian finds that 44% of email opens happen on mobile devices. At the same time, eMarketer predicts that US consumers will spend $37.44 billion on mobile shopping in 2013. Mobile seems expensive and overwhelming. Your marketing budget's already stretched to the limit. What's a small operation to do?

1) Visit your web site from your mobile device, and your friends' mobile devices. Do you have to do a  lot of zooming in and out? Are the links too small to click? Is data that might be critical for mobile users (like your location and hours) easy to find? What's the difference between the phone and tablet experience?

This is called "responsive design" and even though your budget's stretched, it's critical that your site can respond to whatever device is using it. Otherwise, you may be turning your audience away at the door. Decide which elements aren't working for mobile users of your web site, and then invest in a web designer who can fix this for you. Make sure to find a specialist in responsive design. You'll want to incorporate easy clicking, quick loading, and simple navigation.

2) Don't just visit your web site, try buying something, making a donation, signing up for email, account login, and any other transactional functions from your phone and tablet. Note what's kludgey and what works well. Have your responsive design pro fix the kludgey parts. Does your purchase process take three or four screens? This is too many anyway - now's a good time to reduce that to one screen, no matter what device folks are using.

3) Figure out what mobile apps already exist that can help you. Are you on Facebook and Twitter, where lots of people surf while on their mobile devices? Are you on Yelp and other local review sites? Have you thought about selling your products on Amazon or other shopping sites? Can people check into your store on apps like Foursquare? If you're a non-profit, have you investigated Facebook Causes or worked with mobile providers to make text donations easy?

4) Then, and only then, consider whether or not you need to go the expense of having someone develop a mobile app for you. What will you do with it? How will it support lead generation, sales, or donations? On which devices will it be available? How will it leverage your brand? You may not even need a mobile app. Making your web site mobile-friendly is far, far more important.

Is mobile marketing giving you hives? Share your angst in the comments.

2013 Marketing Trends

What are your 2013 marketing resolutions?

There are a few things I'd recommend you do this year to make sure your marketing does what you need it to. Some ideas:

1) Make a plan. What are your business goals this year? Is there a level of growth you need to achieve? Are you opening new channels or locations? Are you launching new products? You should map your marketing plan to your overall business plan for 2013. Then, you'll be marketing intentionally and you'll see better results. This will also help you to discard tactics that don't support your business goals.

Plan. From Flickr user J'Roo.

2) Keep mobile in mind. Mobile marketing isn't going away - more of your customers will be looking at your web site or reading your emails from mobile devices than ever. In fact, more than 8 in 10 smartphone owners surveyed used their smartphones to research and browse for products for their recent holiday shopping.

Your takeaway? Remember, you may not need to spend lots of money developing your own mobile app, but you should make sure your web site and your emails are readable and clickable on a variety of devices. With so many people using touchscreens today, think about how you can make links more accessible. Also, can you make mobile buying easier with one-click buying?

3) Customize whenever you can. Are you still sending out identical non-personalized blast emails to your customers and prospects? How are they doing? There's a lot of good reasons to use dynamic content to personalize your messaging - customers want to know that you know who they are  and what they like. If you can help make their next purchase a little easier, everyone benefits. Also, by respecting prospects and meeting them where they are, you can get them ready for purchase in a way that feels more like a dialogue and less like a command to buy.

What are your 2013 marketing resolutions? Unsure how to get there? Let me know, I can help.

Related Posts

Do You Need a Mobile App?
How to Start Your Marketing Plan

Why You Should Start Caring More About Tablet Users

The tablet is truly disruptive technology that is again changing how we consume information and how we buy. Experts predict that there will be almost 55 million tablet users by the end of 2012, most of them on the iPad.

It's time to ask yourself more about how tablet use affects your business.

Here's three basic points for consideration: 

Who are tablet users? Tablet users are more likely than the general public to be college educated, high-income, employed full time, and have a median age of 30 to 49. Many have become dedicated tablet users, abandoning other devices, like phones and laptops, to do their surfing on their tablets. They are also brand loyal, preferring to get their content from trusted providers and people/businesses they know.

How does your web site look on a tablet? If you don't have one, get one, borrow a few of the different models from friends, or just go to your local big box store and say you're interested in a tablet and check them out.

How are people using their tablets? The best way to understand the tablet experience is to have the tablet experience yourself. Borrow, or if you're able to, buy one. Tablets are much easier to carry around than a laptop, with an ease of use and speed that's much better than many mobile phones. The large screens make for better browsing and easy social networking - people can get at mobile apps, web pages, games, videos, and other experiences with speed and ease.

So, what's your takeaway? What does this mean for you?

When you're thinking about mobile customers - customers on the go who might want to buy from you - increasingly you'll need to consider tablet users.

So make sure you're addressing the needs of mobile customers in all of your campaigns - be local, social, and accommodating, and consider your app strategy carefully.

Other trends for 2012? 

Business News Daily has some interesting trend predictions, including gesture recognition (it's not going to stop at Kinect gaming technology), universal shopping experiences (across mobile, web, and in-store), mobile learning, and increased franchising.

What are you up to this year? Drop me a line and let me know.

News this Week: Kindle Fire, Holiday Sales, Online Tracking

What should you be paying attention to this week?

Three new tools to help you track everything you do online - if you're terrible at keeping track of all that great content you see in your daily journeys through Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere, EgoArchive, Memolane, and Greplin can help.

Your takeaway: I don't know about you, but I'm a little squeamish about archiving my entire online life online. At the same time, I am always losing cool links. These might be worth considering if you're starting a blog or wanting to raise your social media presence, but can't keep your content organized. 

Holiday retail sales continue to be a bright spot, says the National Retail Federation, which just raised this year's sales forecast to $469.1 billion. (New York Times)

Your takeaway: Here are four ways to stay relevant after Cyber Monday, including Free Shipping Day, which is December 16th. On the other side of the coin, if sales are doing so well, what's with so many empty shopping malls? This economy isn't all better yet.

The new Kindle Fire already has software update on the way, due to several major complaints, including an unresponsive touch screen, slow browsing, and lack of privacy. (Washington Post)

Your takeaway: You can never do too much product testing. Make sure you're including people who are familiar and totally new to the product. Sometimes it's a good thing to slow your roll and get it right, rather than invite poor product reviews and disgruntled customers.

What's up with you this week? Drop me a line and let me know.

Have a good weekend, and thanks for reading.

News This Week: Smartphone Use, Google+ and You

What should you be paying attention to this week?

His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama. Photo: Flickr user Abhikrama.

First, for all of us thinking about mobile, it's important to remember that only 37.4% of US mobile users have a smartphone. (This blog, and Business Insider)

Your takeaway: This is good to consider as you invest in mobile apps and marketing. A simple text messaging campaign has the potential to do far more than an expensive app, depending on who is in your core audience.

Second, Google+ has opened up company pages. These look the same as people pages, but there's a little icon to indicate that they are branded pages. More on this from Mashable, including instructions on making your own company page.

Your takeaway: This is going to make Google+ a true competitor and possible game changer in the social world - now business can really be done on Google+. I'd recommend that you try to spend a few minutes with Google+ sometime in the next few weeks to determine if you need a presence and how much time it might take to maintain it. By some reports, most people on Google+ are either involved in the tech or social media world, but when brands like Coke and Target start doing promotions on there, more people will follow. Also, content like the Dalai Lama - Desmond Tutu birthday hangout will bring more people to Google+ to see what's possible.

Have a great weekend, and thanks for reading!

The Facts About Mobile Marketing

I've been talking a lot about mobile marketing on this blog lately - ruminating about the wisdom behind investing in mobile apps, thinking about how customers use their mobile phones while they engage with your brand, and reporting on current mobile news.

That's all fine and good, but it's important to take all of this with a grain of salt.

Chart from Business Insider/Asymco.

Why? Check out this chart, from the folks at Business Insider and Asymco. I'm reposting it here, because it's really, really important. 

What stands out? While the US still has the largest smartphone market (China is catching up), only 37.4% of mobile phone users have a smartphone. Android is the most common, with 39 million users. Apple smartphones have about 24 million users.

So, what does that mean? 


Although smartphone adoption is continuing to rise, the vast majority - 62.6% - are not on a smartphone. That means many of your customers can't use all those fancy apps - they can't use your special app, they can't find you on Yelp or RedLaser or anything else, they can't download coupons or reviews or anything else.

So, how do you reach them?

This is why you have multiple channels - you'll need to keep paying attention to your web site, support a robust email program, and (gasp!) answer the phone to make sure you're reaching everyone, unless all of your customers are urban, high-income people between the ages of 25 and 39. And don't forget good, old fashioned text messaging. One of my favorite local bars handles free dessert coupons via text - that's right - no fancy app, no downloads- just a text and a free dessert.

Need help reaching a diverse customer population? Let me know - I can help.

News This Week: Women, Siri, Real Time

What should you be paying attention to this week?

The world's women are now responsible for more of the world's economy than men, controlling $20 trillion in yearly consumer spending in 2009, a figure that will continue to rise in the next five years. (Harvard Business Review)

Your takeaway: Don't ignore your female customers, but don't patronize them either. It's not about "making it pink" - women don't  need pink web sites or pink merchandise to embrace your brand. We need quality products, easy access to reviews and other product data, and a way to talk to our friends about it.

To the women's only train cars in India. Photo: Flickr user Zoonabar.

The iPhone 4S's new digital assistant, Siri, is down. According to this article, Apple was unable to be reached for comment. (Business Insider)

Your takeaway: Bugs happen, seemingly no  matter how much you test. Don't ignore them and get them resolved as quickly as you can. Communicate progress via all possible channels and make it right. Customers become more loyal when you prove that you stand behind what you do.

Google Analytics Real Time tells you what's happening on your site right now, and is now available to people with the new version of the Analytics software. (Google)

Your takeaway: Real Time can be really useful to determine the immediate impact of social media posts - on your blog, Facebook, Twitter, or on other networks. Even more useful, you'll be able to see when  your social media stops working - how long does a Facebook post last, or a Tweet?


Have a good weekend, and thanks for reading!

Your Business and Mobile Users

So you're feeling pretty good about your multi-channel strategy - you're using a good mix of social, PR, advertising, online, mail, and whatever else you can think of.

Then, like lots of people, you find out from the nice folks at Pew Internet that half of adult cell phone users have apps on their phones. That rate has doubled in the past two years and will likely continue to increase as people trade in their old phones for new smartphone devices.

Android. Flickr user osde8info.

Crap, you say. Another channel to manage? But I'm already customizing content for so many channels. I just can't take on anything else!

Not to worry, you're going to be OK. Here's what to do:

1) Just because people are using apps, doesn't mean you have to invest in your own mobile app. Just make sure you're available to mobile users in a variety of ways, like, for example:

2) Be available on popular check-in apps, like Foursquare. You want to be findable and sharable.

3) People do a lot of comparison shopping on their smartphones while they are shopping in your store, so make sure your prices are available on comparison shopping apps like Price Check and RedLaser.

4) People also look for restaurants, coffee shops, bars, and other hangouts using their phones, and check reviews on the way, so if you have this kind of venue, make sure you're findable on Yelp and Urban Spoon.

5) Last but not least, make sure your site is optimized for mobile. If you're going to invest in mobile, this is where your dollars should go, long  before you develop your own app, which you might not even need.

Still going crazy with too many channels? Drop me a line. I can help.

Marketing News Roundup - July 8, 2011

What's new in marketing (and elsewhere) this week?

App to watch: Bitcoin, just launched to Android users. Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer virtual currency that's been around since 2009. No banks are involved and it's not mapped to any existing currency - users trade bitcoins with one another. This kind of digital wallet app makes me go hmmmm.... (Wired GadgetLab)
photo © 2006 Amy | more info (via: Wylio)

In other app news, the Apple App Store reaches 15 billion downloads. Store now contains 425,000 different apps. Wow, that is a lot of apps (CNET)

Is it finally time to kiss costly college textbooks goodbye? Academic presses embracing much more affordable e-books. Definitely a boon for books with niche appeal and overall idea-sharing. So sorry, super-expensive university bookstore (um, not really). (Inside Higher Ed)

What's Google's new social platform, all about? Here's seven ways you can use Google+, if you can score an invitation.  (TheNextWeb)

Have a great weekend, and thanks for reading! What's news to you this week?

Related Articles:
Last week's news (in case you missed it)
Do you need a mobile app? (In case you want one)

Do You Need a Mobile App?

So a new report from Flurry claims that consumers are now spending more time using mobile apps than on the Internet (thanks, Mashable, for getting this some attention). Consumers are spending an average of 81 minutes daily using mobile apps vs. 74 minutes of web surfing.

So, this means you need to go right out and create your own mobile app, right?

Not exactly. We'll talk about this in a second.
photo © 2010 clive darr | more info (via: Wylio)


The first thing you need to do (if you haven't already), is visit your web site while using your mobile phone, and the mobile phones of a few of your friends. What you see on your desktop isn't what you'll see on your Blackberry, Droid, iPhone, or tablet. Make sure people using any popular smartphone or tablet these days can use your site. 

Questions to ask:

1) Can they read your content or do they have to keep zooming in, zooming out, and scrolling back and forth?

2) Is your site fully functional via mobile? Can people order your products, access customer service, and easily navigate to your content?

3) Is there something most customers on a mobile would want to see first on your site, like maybe your phone number or directions? How can you make this easier for them to find?

So, now it's time to create your own app, right? Not exactly.

It can be expensive to get a developer to make you your very own app. So think about apps that are already out there that can be used to promote or access your business. Ask yourself:

1) Is your business available to people using social apps, like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn?

2) If you're brick-and-mortar, are you sharable on check-in apps like FourSquare and SCVNGR?

3) If you run a restaurant, are you available on review sites like Urbanspoon, and reservation apps like OpenTable?

So NOW is it time for my own mobile app?

Sure. But really give some thought to a problem your mobile app will solve, and if there's an app already out there that can be used. After all, existing apps (like Urbanspoon, for example) already have a dedicated audience. If you make your own app, you're starting over.

Also, games are great and it's tempting to make your own game for people to play. But how does this help? Does it really get people to buy more of your product or is it just an opportunity for people to play at your expense?

That said, it can't hurt to talk with an app developer and see what kind of ideas they might have for you.

You might also consider holding an app development contest for your customers. See what they think you should be doing on your mobile.

All apped out? Let me know. I can help.