A recent report revealed that mobile usage (including time spent on mobile apps and web browsers) accounts for 60% of all time spent on digital media (http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/21/majority-of-digital-media-consumption-now-takes-place-in-mobile-apps/). This means that mobile usage has surpassed all other forms of digital media. It also means that if you haven’t introduced mobile into your marketing and operations yet, you’re missing out. Here are a few fantastic ways to integrate mobile into your business.
1. A Mobile Site
According to studies, “46% of consumers won’t return to a webpage if it doesn’t open properly on their mobile device.” That means you miss out on almost half of your potential inbound leads if your site isn’t correctly set up for mobile. Your site should be clean, consistent, and easy to navigate on a mobile device. It’s important to check the full site, particularly landing pages and online event registration, where people are actually going to submit their information, for mobile responsiveness. More and more, people use their phones to check email while on the go. If your email has a link to your website, you had better make sure your site is going to look as great as it does on a desktop.
2. Mobile Apps
Mobile apps are getting increasingly more popular. They’re convenient and fun. Americans are now spending more of their time on mobile applications than they are desktops or mobile web surfing. 52% of all time spent on digital media takes place on apps. If you’re attending a tradeshow or other event, mobile apps are an ideal way to quickly and easily collect information. Planning to host your own event? Get instant feedback from your attendees with a mobile survey.
One of our client hosts an annual conference for professionals. They used a mobile app, Zwoor, to get immediate responses from conference attendees. This approach ensured that no one forget to answer later in an email and it was much more efficient than gathering written responses. Attendees were able to provide their feedback while they were still at the event, which meant that their thoughts and suggestions were still fresh.
Another client who sold educational products was attending a trade show and wanted an effective way to collect attendee information and follow up. They implemented a “Text to Win” campaign, where attendees could sign up to win a tablet using QR codes. Attendees’ contact information was then uploaded into the client’s CRM database, for use in a follow-up campaign. During the event, attendees received mobile information from the company about additional ways to win while directing them to the client’s booth for confirmation and conversations. The client collected contact information from 200 of the 800 conference attendees: more event attendees interested in their product than ever before. This enabled them to establish an ongoing text message campaign, reaching their ideal prospects in the most effective way possible.
3. Not just for Marketing…Using Mobile in your Sales and Operations
Mobile may be great for marketing, but it doesn’t stop there. Everything from organizing your work day to managing payments can be managed on mobile app. Two areas where mobile is particularly useful are sales and operations. Effectively manage sales opportunities while you’re on the run on a mobile CRM system. Update contact information, sales meeting results, stages of the sales process on your phone or tablet. Mobile can also help better facilitate communication and organization when your team isn’t behind a computer screen all day. Workers in manufacturing plants can use apps to keep track of inventory, critical orders, work progress, targeting, and resolving problems in real time. All of this can get updated in real time when apps are implemented, meaning problems can get resolved more quickly and insights into overall productivity can be gleaned. The investment is much lower than many other strategic initiatives. Apps have been show to boost productivity by 5%-10%.
There you have it…if you haven’t fully embraced mobile yet, there’s no time like the present! How have you used mobile in your business? Do you have any mobile success stories you’d like to share? We’d love to hear—Let us know if the comments below!
Sources:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveolenski/2015/01/29/11-things-cmos-need-to-know-about-mobile-marketing-strategy-and-app-development/
http://marketingland.com/library/mobile-marketing-news https://www.textmarketer.co.uk/blog/2013/09/sms-marketing-ideas/mobile-vs-email-statistics-infographic/
http://www.andplus.com/mobile-apps-in-the-manufacturing-industry/
http://www.cognizant.com/latest-thinking/perspectives/role-based-mobile-apps-transform-manufacturing