For many years, mobile was viewed like an emerging share that belonged on one of the alternative courses, too risky to make it onto the main board. Jumpy marketers would spread their exposure to fledgeling mobile marketing platforms. Today, this is no longer the situation. Mobile marketers everywhere are noting the fact that it's the traditional ad guys who are now making a case to the c-level marketing executive with spend to allocate.
Many readers will know that 2016 was the first year where mobile overtook desktop during the annual global Black Friday to Cyber Monday shopping extravaganza. Now, it seems that not only are mobile's overall numbers growing quite nicely, but mobile marketing executives are getting better at what they do. For example, recent research by Nielsen suggests that marketers have become savvier about their mobile campaigns, figuring out techniques that get them the same level of success as their other campaigns. Nothing says the future belongs to mobile more than further research which looked at if any particular campaigns have been more successful than others. The research, again by Nielsen, found that campaigns aimed at people ages 18 to 34 or ages 25 to 44 were more successful on mobile than on desktop. In contrast, ads targeted to people ages 18 to 49 were more successful on desktop.
What this says to me is that one technology is on the rise, and one technology is on the way out. It's as clear as the decline of monochrome TV. All of this prioritises the need for a mobile-centric strategy for your business.
We've said this before but you really need to work on making your website mobile friendly. It bears repeating that we're not talking about creating a mobile version of your primary site. Those days of scaled-down, mirror sites are gone. Your primary site needs to be smartphone and tablet friendly because fewer and fewer people are accessing the web on clunky, desk-bound PCs at work.
Google's search rankings are slightly biased towards mobile friendliness so the investment will more than pay off. A whopping 80% of social media surfing is initiated via mobile handsets. Imaginatrix doesn't have to tell you that - a cursory glance around any public place will reveal people near you ensconced in their mobiles and you know they're not doing anything more productive than checking up on former boyfriends or pursing their lips at the front handset camera.
Marketers who are looking to build higher levels of brand presence really need to prioritise LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram. There's nothing wrong with following a hardcore sales approach in your mobile marketing. Being upfront about chasing consumers' rands and cents is, in fact, probably a refreshing change from trying to swipe them by stealth. So, if you are following a sales-centric approach, offering a seamless checkout is absolutely essential. The idea here is to cut down on clutter by reducing the size of forms and other distractions on the way.
We all need to align our 2017 'To Do' list tasks with mobile - or risk losing out in a big way. Whenever you're planning, designing, or implementing anything to do with your business's public presence, make sure it views wonderfully across all mobile devices.
Does my updated social media presence look good on a 7-inch mobile screen, can Gmail users reading my emails on their Samsung cell phones appreciate my new logo in all its intended glory? Those are some of the practical questions you need to ask this year. It simply has to look great on mobile in 2017 or it counts for very little.
For more information, visit imaginatrix.mobi.