Let’s say you own a businesses and you’ve got some money to spend. Hooray! So far, so good.

But before you get down to the fun part of spending your money on stuff, you’re going to need to ask yourself one very important question: What’s in it for me and my business?

Nobody wants to throw away cash on things that have zero benefit, no matter if that’s a business purchase or a personal one. Think about the time you cheaped out and bought something that ended up breaking a few weeks later (damn you, IKEA cutlery set!). Wasn’t that a frustrating feeling? Now imagine that rather than a minor frustration, your business’s future and reputation is at stake. Yeah, that could be a much bigger deal than ending up with half a knife mid-meal. 

To avoid making a mistake like this when it comes to business,  you’re going to need to carefully think about the risks and benefits. Is spending that cash really going to be worth it? Or should you wait and save it for something else?

One place that it often is definitely worth splashing out on is on mobile marketing. What’s that, we hear you say?

Mobile Marketing for Small Businesses

Where it’s at

Take a walk down any high street in the UK (or, really, the world) and we bet you’ll notice loads of people practically wedded to their phones. Whether they’re talking, texting, browsing, photographing or getting directions, their phone is almost always at hand. So mobile advertising is a smart choice, because your brand will show up right where their eager eyes are already looking. 

In other words, mobile marketing lets you reach your target market directly. It’s your big chance to get straight to their hands, pockets or coffee tables and get your message across to the customers you need to reach.

This then opens the door to a personal line of communication with your target market that can make them feel valued and important. For businesses, it’s important to strengthen and deepen their relationship with customers, and an effective mobile strategy can be a really powerful tool to reach that goal.

Tone

Right, so you know that the potential for communication is there. Now it’s the next step: how should you craft your messages?

With millions of brands on social media and the Internet, it’s more important than ever for businesses to have a distinct tone and voice. Lots of brands aren’t afraid to be more informal and relaxed and have a real personality on mobile in a way that’s different from other mediums. Don’t be afraid to be quirky if that’s what your brand calls for. However, if offbeat doesn’t work for your business, just keep things friendly and a bit more laid-back than you do for other company communications.

In short, through eye-catching, personal mobile messages, brands can develop the right way to talk to their customers. If you don’t get it right the first time, keep adjusting it until you find the tone that works.

Use the right method

Customers are more likely to give your mobile marketing messages a read than other forms of advertising. People have developed a hardened attitude toward mass emails, cold calls, leaflets and print adverts, but a text message still feels more personal.

Even better, once a text has been opened, you’ve got a great opportunity to persuade the customer that your product or service is worth investing in. You need a strategy and plan for how you’re going to do that but without mobile, you might not be able to open that door in the first place.

Which bar is longer?

— Old Spice (@OldSpice) October 23, 2015

This works with your already loyal customers, too, and might even be more effective there. Send customers signed up for your mailing list occasional text messages to let them know about special offers and deals, or send them something they might find useful related to your brand. The best one I’ve ever gotten was from an airline. During my layover, they sent me a text message right after my first flight landed to let me know which gate my next flight would be leaving room. It was a small gesture, but a helpful one that definitely stood out.

Cost

Apart from keeping your customers happy and helping you to establish your brand, mobile marketing can also help your business cut costs on advertising. Just take a look at the cost of these packages from GlobalMessaging and compare them to how much you might be spending on leaflets, print adverts, etc. Saving money while delivering better results should be the goal of any savvy business – and a good mobile campaign can do just that!

Speed

If you’re the sort of business that likes to be able to leap on an opportunity at very short notice then mobile marketing is great. You can send out huge quantities of messages in just seconds with mobile methods. Social media campaigns require relatively little time to set up and execute, too. Though, of course, it’s no use just sending out spam, so do be choosy about what you send out, no matter how easy it is to mass message thousands of people.

No shame in my #selfie game. These pics help my team see the state of hardware over time. http://t.co/kQmYm7dUJ9 pic.twitter.com/CtSQODPofA

— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) October 13, 2015

Embracing mobile marketing campaigns can help your business be more flexible and react quickly to events in a fast-paced world. Companies can make big headlines for coming up with a clever response to an event that’s currently trending online. One of the best examples of this is Oreo, who were lightning-quick to send out a witty tweet in response to a power blackout at the Super Bowl in 2013. Of course, when you have a 15-person strong team (including copywriters, artists and a strategist) watching the event, is easy to capitalise on moments like this.

Feedback

The best companies stop and think carefully about what works and what doesn’t. With mobile and online advertising, it’s easier than ever to get feedback from your customers and clients to see how you’re doing.  Mobile surveys are a very simple and effective way of doing this, as they let you collect all kinds of information from tons of different types of people. Then, you’ll need to take the information you get from those surveys to shape your future steps.

Data

Mobile can also help your business to become much more data-driven, just because you can collect and analyse so much information. Mobile and data go hand-in-hand. Not only can you collect all kinds of data but you can also use that to launch a more successful subsequent campaign. Clever marketing campaigns look at things like delivery reports from SMS messages and stats from mobile landing pages. That helps them to pinpoint what’s really working, as well as what they should skip for their next campaign.  

Have we convinced you that you should be doing mobile marketing yet?

Let’s do a quick sum-up of how mobile marketing can increase your customer engagement:

• It can lead you to a place you can be 100% sure your customers and clients will be looking
• It can speak to them in a personal way, using a friendly, informal tone
• It can also be cheaper, easier, quicker and more effective than traditional methods
• And, of course, it can help you deliver valuable data and feedback to help you assess your performance and make your future campaigns even better!

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Printsome is a mobile friendly t-shirt printing agency delivering from Preston to Bradford and everywhere in between. For some advice on bulk t-shirt printing, or simply a nice chat about your last phone, don’t hesitate to get in touch!

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