Beginners Guide To Digital Marketing In South Africa (PART 6)
It's a fact that more than 90% of South Africans own one (or more) mobile device, and 92% of smartphone users say that they are incapable of living without their smartphones.
Companies world-wide are taking note of the mobile trend and research indicates that they cannot ignore a mobile marketing strategy.
The next time you are in town, take a look around. You will be surprised how many people's eyes are glued down to their phones.
Major brands are already jumping on the opportunity to talk to these customers, and platforms like Google, Facebook, and Instagram assist in making it easier for any business.
Now that the world is going mobile, there are endless opportunities and a number of different ways to communicate to reach out to potential customers.
For example: You are a restaurant owner looking to get awareness on social media. Most phones (as well as social media accounts) link to GPS, so you could use a platform such as Foursquare to reward customers for checking-in to your restaurant on social media.
Related: Beginners Guide To Digital Marketing In South Africa (PART 5)
That then creates a 'reward' system for your customers, encouraging organic reach on social media for your restaurant.
Understanding mobile marketingAs of now, more than 70% of all YouTube views are happening on a mobile device.
And when it comes to Facebook, it's safe to say that more than 90% of users access it through a mobile device.
We already know that the e-commerce space is growing at a rapid pace, but what's interesting is that more users are starting to use their mobile phones to make purchases.
Now, I understand not everyone uses their mobile devices in the same way. However, to succeed in your marketing strategy, it's important to listen to your customer's digital signals. Learn how they use their mobile devices, and do research on their shopping behaviors before you roll mobile marketing strategy.
There are numerous channels to implement mobile marketing; there is social media, SMS, search ads, email, and more.
With that said, it's important to find out which of these channels work best in communicating to your potential customers, and which one brings in the highest ROI for your business.
Mobile marketing channels and functionsMobile is not like any other marketing channel. As I have mentioned above, it can cover a wide range of marketing strategies, and the reason for that is because today's smartphones can do a lot.
The average smartphone has roughly eight ways to help enhance the customer experience and communication from a brand. These channels include:
All these functions can be incorporated into your marketing strategy and can form part of your mobile marketing campaign.
Using these functions will allow you to add a whole range of different advertising methods to your brand (and campaign), not to mention that it can help your brand stay at the top of your customer's mind.
Related: Beginners Guide To Digital Marketing In South Africa (PART 4)
Mobile marketing channels and functionsIt's imperative that you try to understand each of your customers' journey, and with that, I mean, try to find out how they came across your brand, what made them decide to give it a try and what made them a loyal customer. Understanding your users' journey, you can help streamline your marketing efforts.
You might be wondering; what has this got to do with mobile marketing? Well, today, I can guarantee you that a big part of your customers' journey is influenced on mobile, whether you like it or not.
The purchase funnel and how it's affected by mobileOver the years, marketers have come up with a way to create a visual outlay, or framework, if you will, to help organise our marketing strategies. Thus, the 'purchase funnel' was born.
The purchase funnel visualises the customer's journey and contains the following segments:
1. AWARENESS
Awareness is where the consumer is learning about your brand, and this is now heavily influenced by social media.
Social media and search engines are usually the first places where customers learn about a brand, and today, that happens predominantly on mobile devices.
It is, therefore, one of the main reasons why you need to ensure that your brand has a social media and online presence.
2. OPINION
The next segment is where users click through to your website (again, this happens mostly on mobile) so it's essential to ensure that your website is mobile-friendly.
After viewing a few pages and reading a few pieces of copy on your website, the customer forms an opinion of your brand, and this is where your brand might spark an interest in the customer's mind.
Related: Beginners Guide To Digital Marketing In South Africa (PART 3)
3. CONSIDERATION
The third segment is the consideration stage. Your customer now begins to interact with your brand and form an impression about your offerings.
If you are a B2C business, then there is a big chance that this stage also happens mainly on mobile.
Today, most consumers will send a message on Facebook or leave a message on your contact page if they have a specific question about your product or service.
4. PREFERENCE
You have now engaged with the customer, and they form a liking in your brand. Once you have reached this phase, your chances of converting the customer have more than doubled.
However, if your brand doesn't have an online presence, and is not on social media, or if your website is not suitable for mobile devices, then you would struggle to move the customer past the awareness stage.
5. TRANSACTION
The customer physically buys your product or service at this stage, and this is increasingly happening on mobile devices, which makes it another reason to ensure that your website is 100% mobile friendly, fast, and optimised to improve the user's experience.
6. ADOPTION
The sixth segment is the adoption phase. Now, this is probably one of the only segments that is not influenced by mobile or digital marketing.
The customer has now bought the product, loved it, and adopts a recurring purchasing behavior with your brand, which then takes us to the final segment.
7. LOYALTY
Loyalty is self-explanatory and can be influenced by mobile through constant communication from the brand, along with a strong social media and online presence to keep your brand top of mind.
Now that you understand how mobile is changing the way customers find, engage, review, and purchase from brands, it's important to ensure that your business is mobile ready, to prepare for the future.
Auditing your mobile readinessTo ensure that you are mobile-future ready, you will have to do a thorough audit of your business. Is your company using some of the following tools below as a part of its marketing strategy?
If not, then you are probably falling behind.
The list can go on. However, these are some of the key elements you need to have checked to ensure you aren't missing on new ways to drive more sales.
If you have realised that you hadn't checked many of the boxes, then don't worry, because I'm going to map out where you can start, in order to catch up with the trends.
1SMS MarketingAs I have said earlier in this guide, more than 90% of our population has mobile devices. With that said, I suggest you start by collecting contact numbers from your customers, which will allow you to send them an SMS the next time you have a specific offer or promotion.
This works like a bomb as it's an easy and convenient way to remind customers about your brand. It's also a great way to capitalise on customers that are between the transaction and loyalty segment of the funnel.
A few tips that can help to optimise your email for mobile include:
In Part 5 we discussed how effective email marketing is, and it can be even more effective if you optimise it for mobile devices. Did you know more than 70% of people open their emails on a mobile device?
Now, imagine you had this great promotion you wanted to share with your customers, but soon realised 70% of your customers weren't able to see it properly. All the hard work that has gone into making the promotion happen would have been in vein.
So, what to do? Make sure to code, design, and create your emails in a way that it's suitable for mobile devices. This will allow your message to come across with clarity and it can help spark the engagement of users which will lead to more sales.
A few tips that can help to optimise your email for mobile include:
Related: Beginners Guide To Digital Marketing In South Africa
3Social media ads and mobileIt's all good and well having a social media presence, but one will have to pour petrol on the fire if you want to drive more sales.
With that said, in Part 4 we talked about social media marketing (especially Facebook), and with that in mind, make sure to optimise your social media ads, creative, and messages for mobile users. Also, make sure to include mobile devices as part of your targeting when you run your next social media marketing campaign.
A few tips to optimise your mobile and social media marketing include:
In Part 3 we talked about Search Engine Marketing (SEM). If you are currently spending money on search ads and display ads then like social media, ensure that they are optimised for mobile devices.
When running display ads make sure that your message is clear and test it on a mobile device before you roll it out to the public. Also, ensure that you include mobile targeting on both your search and display ads.
Another thing to do is to break the analytics down. Have a look at how many impressions you are getting on desktop vs. how many you are getting on mobile. Chances are you are more popular on mobile which in return gives you a better CTR (Click Through Rate) and lower cost per click.
A few tips to optimise your ads for mobile include:
In Part 2 we talked about SEO and what you can do to optimise your website for search engines. One of the first things on your checklist needs to be ensuring that your website is 100% responsive to the different mobile and tablet screen sizes.
If it's not, I can promise you that there are a bunch of annoyed customers out there that are about to consider rather buying from a competitor.
A few tips to optimise your email for mobile devices include:
There are numerous other ways to ensure you maximise mobile and its marketing capabilities, but as a beginner, I suggest you start with the five mentioned above.
By implementing the following tips and strategies, you will help narrow the gap between you and your competitors.
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