4 Effective Mobile Marketing Strategies

Mobile marketing for small business takes many forms. Just as there are many ways to use a mobile device, there are many ways to connect with your target audience in a mobile manner. Here are four mobile marketing strategies that will improve the effectiveness of your website and email marketing goals.

Have a Responsive Website…

The first mobile marketing strategy is to have a responsive website for your business. A responsive website is one that automatically adjusts its display for any screen size—whether on a desktop, laptop, smartphone, or tablet. This mobile marketing strategy is important because if mobile website visitors have to pinch and zoom to view your content, they are less likely to engage with your site, and most likely to abandon it. In fact, according to McKinsey & Company, 61% of users are unlikely to return to a mobile site if they had trouble with it, and 40% will visit a competitor’s site instead. Make it as easy as possible for current and potential customers to engage with your business on their mobile devices.

One more reason to use this mobile marketing strategy is because it can help with your website’s search engine optimization. Google gives favor to responsive websites, as they provides a positive experience for its users. This means that going responsive can help to get your business on the first page of Google.

…Or Make Your Website Mobile-Friendly

If you don’t have the option of creating a responsive website, you can still take measures to make your website mobile friendly. Here are some steps you can take to maximize the performance of your website on mobile devices.

• Make Navigation EasyMobile users are working with limited space and most likely many distractions, so they need extra guidance on what to do on your site. Make sure your site is easy to navigate with clear calls to action.
• Limit Actions
  In addition to indicating what users should do on your site, limit the number of steps required for those actions. Make sure your end goals don’t require too many options to tap, menus to navigate, or form fields to fill out.
• Prioritize Your Information
  Make sure that upon viewing your site, users get the most essential information about your business before having to scroll. This includes contact information, with a tap-to-call number.
• Optimize Images
  It is important to have high quality images on your website, but large file sizes can slow down page load times on mobile devices. Be sure to limit the number of images on your site and compress them so that they are the highest quality with the smallest file size.
• Keep it Simple
  Keep your design clean, and check to see that you have a proper font size and line spacing.

Use Mobile Online Directories

Another mobile marketing strategy for your website is to register it with mobile directories. Mobile directories are typically just popular online directories that have mobile friendly features or a mobile app. These include:

• Google My Business (which will help you to rank higher on Google maps)
• Yelp
• Bing Local

Be sure to update your listing periodically so that your information remains accurate. Also, encourage customers to submit reviews on these sites, to enhance your visibility on these mobile platforms.

Create Mobile Friendly Emails

To maximize both your email marketing success and your mobile presence, be sure that the emails and email newsletters you create are optimized for mobile. Some mobile strategies to implement in your email marketing include:

• Limit colors, images, and animations to optimize load times.
• Be concise in your wording to make it a quick and easy read. If you can, segment your email lists so that you can make them more direct.
• Use catchy and effective subject lines. Users checking their email on mobile scroll quickly through their inbox to determine what to open. Make sure your subject line catches their attention
• Make use of preheader text. A typical email inbox list contains the sender, subject line, and a line of text underneath or to the side that briefly describes the email. This is called the preheader text. By default, the first line in the body of an email becomes a preheader text. However, many email platforms enable you to customize your preheader text. If you have this ability, create a concise yet captivating preheader that will prompt mobile inbox checkers to open it.

Use these mobile marketing strategies to cater to the behavior of your target audience. In doing so, you enable current and potential customers to engage with your business, no matter where they are.