By Kyle Marino
What’s Mobile Marketing?
Kudos must be given to my associate and fellow marketing guru Ryan Passarelli for creating the foundation for this series. You are a gentleman and a scholar.
Each year the number of consumers, who use their mobile devices to shop, locate, compare, and purchase products dramatically increases. With every big box business releasing their own app, it became apparent that a mobile marketing solution was needed for small to medium businesses. One of the best mobile marketing platforms for small to medium businesses at this point are mobile apps. Apps provide business owners with extra brand exposure, detailed analytics and fast distribution of current promotions.
(photo credit to: ProMobileMarketingGuide.com)
As we move into 2013 there are thousands of mobile applications for business owners to use, but don’t expect any to grow your business overnight. By arming your company with a strong mobile marketing strategy and a willingness to put in some elbow grease you can steadily increase your consumer base and advertising reach.
So you’ve decided you want to bring your company to a mobile marketing app, but now you face this question; what app and/or strategy SHOULD you use to get into consumer’s pockets?
First, understand how the application you are using works. Understanding the strengths of a particular application will make it easier attracting the interest of potential customers. Currently, there are three main types of mobile applications:
Mobile Coupons applications are great for many highly competitive industries where price can be a determining factor of where a purchase is made. (Keep in mind percentage discounts have less appeal than listing “was $100 now $75. Consumers are more likely to act on the latter) One weakness to mobile coupons is they are not social by nature and will most likely lead to one sale at a time.
Check-In Based applications are great for businesses with a social environment. This includes bars or nightclubs, casinos, music halls, and other events. These applications take advantage of a fundamental human need…friendship. People want to go where their friends are and if all their friends are going to a specific event they will most likely show up as well. The weakness of this type of application is the lack of enticement to pull the first few friends into your business or event.
Loyalty Based applications reward the loyal customer for coming back to your business with increasing discounts each time they visit. This type of application is great for purchases that are made often such as food and beverages, clothing, and beauty (haircuts, nails, massage). Loyalty applications help business owners retain customers and offer them an incentive to keep coming back (think digital punch card). However, most business owners don’t want their loyal customers getting discounts when they would have come back anyways.
Now that you understand the basics of how each type of application works you can start to develop a strategy. Take a look around and compare different mobile marketing apps. Weigh out the strengths and weaknesses and see which type best fits your type of business.
Keep in mind this is only the first step in understanding mobile marketing, applying mobile marketing strategies to your small to medium business and finding success on the mobile marketing platform. Check back next week for Part 2 of Growing Your Business with Mobile Marketing where we go over…“Developing Your Mobile Marketing Strategy…”
PromoVerse currently helps you save money on your iPhone and Android device in the following New Jersey towns: Somerville NJ, Morristown NJ, Clinton NJ, New Brunswick NJ, Frenchtown NJ, Lambertville NJ, Manville NJ, Somerset NJ, Branchburg NJ, Skillman NJ, Warren NJ, Hillsborough NJ, Phillipsburg NJ, Clinton NJ, Lebanon NJ, Princeton NJ, Raritan NJ, Bridgewater NJ, Green Brook NJ, Sayreville NJ, Lopatcong NJ, Belle Meade NJ, Milltown NJ, Dayton NJ, Califon NJ, Flemington NJ, and many more to come!
Be sure to check out these great new deals in New Jersey and start scanning! One of you savvy shoppers could be the lucky winner of a 32″ 1080p flat screen TV! Click here for more info!
Add blog to our blog directory.
