Mobile first has become somewhat of a buzzword in the industry.
Yes, you know you need to consider mobile when you’re looking to create and distribute content.
And you already know to map out a mobile conversion pathway on your website, right?
Related Content: Learn more about marketing and advertising your mobile app.
How many items on your marketing to-do list have a mobile component for you to consider?
A multi-channel marketing strategy is the surest way to guarantee you’re reaching the largest portion of your audience and maximizing your marketing efforts.
But why should you prioritize mobile marketing, and what are some ways you can transform your mentality into that of a mobile-first marketer?
1. Would you ever recommend to your Sales team that they completely neglect phone calls to leads? Or emails?
Accessibility is key, and ignoring an entire channel of communication means you are potentially ignoring a huge opportunity to connect with your current and future customers.
Did you know that 46% of consumers prefer to use a smartphone to navigate the entire sales journey, all the way from research to purchase? That’s significant potential revenue!
Nearly 8 out of 10 smartphone owners use their device for reading emails, and rate of mobile email opens has increased 180% in three years.
A mobile-first marketer makes sure to include mobile touchpoints when mapping out the funnel from beginning to end and smooths out the experience wherever possible to make the road to conversion an easy one.
2. Negative mobile experiences have a huge impact on your overall brand perception.
More than half of smartphone owners won’t recommend a brand that doesn’t have a well-designed mobile site, and a negative mobile experience with your brand makes a person 62% less likely to purchase from your brand later on.
“A poor experience at any point in the journey is a poor experience for your brand,” said Adam Stewart, VP of Consumer Goods at Google.
This translates into a need to bring mobile into the forefront during the design process.
Speaking from experience, it can sometimes be more difficult to create mobile-optimized designs for web pages, emails, and the like. There’s less space for copy and graphics, and something that looks lovely on the expansive screen of a desktop or laptop computer might look ridiculous within the bounds of a mobile screen.
Seven out of 10 people using mobile devices to read emails automatically delete ones that are not designed for mobile.
For that reason, it can be useful to start thinking in terms of mobile right from the start of a project rather than waiting until the end.
3. One of the most important aspects of being a mobile-first marketer is approaching mobile marketing with creativity and enthusiasm. Instead of considering it to be just one more thing for us marketers to worry about it, it should be viewed as a huge opportunity to create a lasting, powerful impression on audiences.
Mobile payments, mobile coupons, and SMS text messaging campaigns are only a few ways marketers have been innovating the customer experience with a mobile-first marketer’s approach.
For example, I once developed the marketing strategy for a trade show/conference with a client, a company that created apps to improve the travel experience for hotel guests.
As part of the event marketing campaign, I led a team of designers, developers, and client service specialists in releasing a mobile app for event attendees that showed off the features and functions the company offered. We partnered with restaurants around the convention center where the conference was held to offer discounts through the app as an added incentive, and the app was also used by attendees to register for our giveaway.
The app drew the attention of one of the executives of a major brand, who then reached out to us to create a version of the app for the brand.
Despite the rise of ad blockers and other factors that pose challenges to mobile marketing, mobile-first marketers will embrace the chance to use mobile creatively by thinking out of the box and trying out new things.
For more information or to discuss mobile marketing opportunities that would work for you, feel free to reach out to me.
