Category Archives: Mobile Marketing 101

Since the first edition of my book (The Mobile Marketing Handbook) came out in early 2009, people have been asking me how to start a business in mobile marketing. Last week I discovered a new idea to add to my answer about how to do it.

Most of the thousands of people I have helped to start and build their mobile marketing businesses have done it via the local business service model – by helping businesses use mobile marketing to bring more customers in the door. I love this business model and, as my core business, continue to train and teach this aspect of building a business.

It is not for everyone though. Some people are people attracted to mobile and the concept of doing something with it, but they don’t really want to start a service-based business.

Until now, I haven’t really had anything to suggest to those folks.

Now I do.

It is a mobile-focused business that can be started for less than $10 and is not about selling mobile services to businesses.

If that sounds intriguing to you, then please check out this website. I highly encourage you to watch the quick videos on the home page and be sure to see the App Questions section of the FAQ.

OK, I’m interested enough to take a look

If you already have a local business mobile marketing company, this is something you can do completely separately in order to have something mobile you can offer to consumers. Plus, for certain types of businesses who might be your clients, this could make an excellent source of residual income for them and you.

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Given that nearly everyone on the planet who is old enough to be a potential customer of yours (explored fully here) has a mobile phone, it is imperative that your business takes steps to mobilize now. If your customers haven’t already interacted with you on mobile, they will. Mobilizing simply means making it easy for your customers to interact with you via mobile and determining the best way to reach out to them via mobile with relevant information for them.

Let me start with why the first two steps I am going to share with you are not optional. It is quite simply because the choice to interact via mobile is not in your control, it is literally in the hands of your customer. It is their decision whether to visit your website using their phone, tablet or their desktop computer. If they choose to use their phone and your site is not mobile friendly, then you lose.

Same goes with checking email. If they happen to check email using mobile and your email is too big and bulky to be read easily on the small screen, then it is your email that is ignored. The choice of using mobile is theirs, not yours. Not optional, see what I mean?

Three Steps to Mobilize Your Business:

1. Mobilize your website.

Yes, you need to create a mobile version of your website even if you think that smartphones make mobile websites unnecessary. First of all, smartphones are not yet the majority of phones. In the US the smartphone adoption rate is only 35% as of the end of 2011. It is only 30% in Canada. (See Tomi Ahonen’s blog post about smartphone adoption rates for details.) If you do live somewhere where smartphone adoption is much higher, keep reading to see the second reason you need a mobile site.

Secondly, even though smartphone browsers are, for the most part, powerful enough to serve up a desktop site it doesn’t mean that these desktop sites are easy enough to see and/or use on a mobile screen. It is always smart to give mobile visitors an experience that is customized to their mobile device and the choice to use the desktop version if they would rather.

• Short paragraphs that make it easy to read
• The information that your visitors need when they are mobile (hours, location, etc.) prominently featured
• Small sized graphics that don’t take a long time to download
• Calls-to-action that work well on mobile (click-to-call, links that go to mobile commerce enabled pages, etc.)
• All of this powered by a mobile platform that detects when the visiting device is a mobile one and serves up the mobile site

2. Make your email marketing mobile friendly.

Quick poll: Do you ever check your email on your mobile phone? Yes, you do, I’m willing to bet on it. And so do your customers. Most of them probably do on a daily basis. Let me ask you this: what happens if the email you so carefully crafted and designed doesn’t even open on their phone? Or when it does it is unreadable?

You know as well as I do that people don’t have time to read their email twice, much less once. So your one chance at getting your email read is to have it opened and read the first time it is encountered. The best way to make sure that happens is to send every email out as if it will be opened on mobile.

A few tips about mobilizing your email:

• Don’t send multiple column HTML emails filled with lots of graphics
• Instead, keep your email design simple. Consider following the principles of “skinny email” as written about here.
• Remember that any calls to action you have in email should also work on mobile.

3. Build an opt-in SMS text messaging list.

If you are seeking a way to reach past your customers’ crowded email in boxes using a mobile technology that provides relevant value in a hyper timely fashion, you need to look no further than text messaging. Building an opt-in SMS list at this point in time is analogous to beginning an email list in the mid 1990s. The businesses that did it first and did it well reaped great rewards. You have that chance right now.

While email open rates plummet (ironically, even though we are all checking our email on mobile devices) SMS messages are seen instantly or nearly so. And because so few businesses have an SMS list built yet, you have the chance to be one of the few businesses with direct access to your customers wherever they are.

Since I am so avidly against mobile spam in all its forms, I have to say that it is important that you fully understand that any text messaging you send to customers must be done with explicit permission. This is not the post to go into this in detail, just know that it is critical to stay completely above board with text messaging.

A few thoughts about starting an SMS text messaging list:

• The only way to build a list is to launch a campaign that your customers will opt into.
• You must entice them to sign up with a compelling offer – a reason to sign up: a special discount, something for free, information they can only get via mobile, etc.
• When sending out your text messages you want to include a strong call to action, something worth their time and attention and all the details they need to move forward.

ACTION STEPS:

If you want to mobilize your business here are some additional resources for education and training:

• The Mobile Marketing Handbook

If you want to build your own mobile marketing business and help other businesses mobilize here are some additional resources:

• International Mobile Marketing Business Network

• Mobile Marketing BOOTCAMP: SMS Business

• Mobile Marketing BOOTCAMP: Mobile Web

I am so excited to have a new design for my site and want to say that while the site is live, there are still quite a few tweaks and adjustments we are still making. If you see something strange or missing graphics or links that don’t work, please excuse our virtual dust. We’re sweeping up as fast as we can.

Today I will be mobilizing the site (watch for more about that whole process soon) and getting some more questions up on the FAQ page. If you have any mobile marketing questions, go ahead and submit them on the FAQ page.

Once I get my new slider graphics installed and all the loose ends tied up I will have a grand opening celebration and I’ll let you know all about it.

If you are just getting started with your mobile marketing business, you might find these tips helpful.

1. Learn the basics of mobile marketing first. If you jump in without knowing some of the most basic requirements and regulations you could land yourself and your clients in hot water. I suggest reading the Mobile Marketing Association’s Best Practices document as your first step. A lot of it will be completely over your head the first time you read it. That’s OK. Do it anyway. Then come back to it later when you know more.

   You can also check out my Mobile Marketing QuickStart as a quick, easy, affordable way to get started in mobile marketing.

2. Read case studies and examples of mobile marketing in action. It will help to see what other businesses are doing in the mobile space. It will also get your ideas flowing about what you can do with your business. I read MobileMarketer.com every day for this very reason. You can also “Like”  the Mobile Marketing Profits Facebook page. I share case studies and mobile marketing examples there all the time.
3. Subscribe to as many text message campaigns as you can find. Use the mobile web frequently. You need to use this stuff in order to know how to sell it. If you don’t already have an unlimited data plan – get one now. Here’s your first chance:

   * * * * * * * * * *
   For a series of 10 weekly tips about mobile marketing from me:
   Text KIMD to 69302
   Message and Data Rates May Apply. You will receive one message per week for 10 weeks. You can stop receiving messages at any time.

   * * * * * * * * *

4. Start determining what you want to offer to your customers: text messaging, mobile website development, mobile coupons on demand, mobile advertising, mobile marketing strategy or a combination of some of these. You will find that your ideas will flow best around a certain type of service. Start with that.
5. Make a list of potential local business clients and brainstorm what you’d offer them. This will be so much easier if you are reading case studies and participating in mobile offers. Of course when you are ready to start acquiring clients you will not just walk in and tell them what you want to offer them, you will start first by seeing what their needs are and then show them how mobile can solve their problems.
6. Find a vendor (or most likely several) who provide the technological backbone to what you’ll sell. You’ll be looking for a text messaging company, a mobile website builder, etc. Check out my list of recommended mobile marketing vendors as a good starting point.
7. Get training. If your vendors have training – take it! If you would like step-by-step guidance in building your mobile marketing business, please check out my Mobile Marketing Business in a Box (my self-study program) or the Mobile Marketing Masters Group (a 6-week group class personally lead by Kim Dushinski).

Good luck with your mobile marketing business. Please let me know what you’re doing and how I can help.