Planning a mobile marketing strategy

'The year of mobile’ has been quoted many times over the past 5 or even 10 years as organisations tentatively decide if this will be the year to invest in their mobile proposition. A recent study by comScore suggests the dawn of mobile marketing becoming a mainstream channel is finally upon us with a recent report claiming that mobile usage (combining mobile web browsing and mobile apps) accounts for 60% of time spent consuming digital media compared to 40% via desktop. This suggests the importance of creating a mobile marketing strategy and in this post I will highlight some key components of this and case studies to illustrate where a mobile strategy has been implemented. The chart below enhances this significant change in media platform usage since May 2013 to June 2014, displaying a fundamental shift to mobile browsing: …

Our new mobile responsive home page and customer journeys

22nd August update: New library search and other updates It's nearly a couple of months now since we redesigned the site to update our design style and to make the site fully mobile responsive on smartphone and tablet. In this note I just wanted to let members know about another round of updates. Since the original relaunch we have updated our blog page template to be responsive too, so you can access our updates "on the go" more easily. Thanks if you left a comment with support - it's been nice to get a lot of positive comments! We did have a few support queries about mangled layouts with the previous updates - this can happen when the previous design stylesheet is in your cache if you have accessed a page before. A simple refresh of the browser should sort this, you may need to do this for the the new…

Mobile apps to manage your digital marketing life

The modern marketer can reap massive benefits from the mobile app revolution.  Useful marketing software is becoming increasingly available in app form, making tools and data readily available on the go.  From uploading blog posts to tracking campaign metrics, apps allow marketers to access information at their fingertips quickly and conveniently.

But of all the apps available, which are the best for the marketer, and particularly the digital marketer?  I’ve put together a list of the apps I find most useful, both to keep up-to-date personally, but also to manage company social network activity.

The Best Social Media Management Apps

Founded back in 2008, Hootsuite is a popular…

Do you have an app strategy? 5 options for reaching and engaging your audience  through mobile applications

The growth in popularity of mobile apps

In January 2010 Apple announced that 3 billion apps had been downloaded in the 18 months following the launch of the AppStore. Growth has since increased month-on-month and shows no sign of slowing down. Source: Statista: Number of Downloads from the Apple App Store Number of apps available to download from Apple App Store as…

The latest statistics on mobile app usage to inform your mobile marketing strategy

With smartphone users currently accounting for around a quarter of the four billion mobile users around the world it is already a priority to optimise content and experiences for mobile consumption. Mobile apps offer a fast and convenient way for people to access information and as such it is more important than ever to understand how they are used and to keep up with the habits of their users. In this post we have compiled the latest stats from the best  sources on mobile app downloads and usage to give a summary of statistics on consumer mobile app adoption to help members develop their mobile strategies.

How important is app usage compared to mobile browsing?

Apps have surpassed web browsers in terms of time spent on mobile devices. A recent study conducted by Flurry Analytics showed that apps currently command 86% of the time that the average…

How much does it cost to market a mobile app?

As a starting point for creating a budget for an app you need to be clear on the benefits for business and consumer of investing in the app. Why does your business need a mobile app distinct from a mobile responsive website? These reasons include: The need to offer a mobile-optimized experience for your users, whether: shoppers, readers, and social network communities. For example, Zappos offers its smartphone users to shop via a mobile app. A desire to create a stand-alone mobile app business with a free-to-play, ad-based or subscription-based business model. Games, useful apps and news services fall into this category. The necessity to establish the brand’s presence in a mobile domain. Games and useful tools help users continue to interact with the brand on mobile devices. For example, Lego and McDonalds offers free smartphone games for kids. Once the benefits are agreed…

6 trends for future consumer mobile use

With the current rapid rise in mobile usage, it's interesting to see these predictions of the path of the mobile consumer into the future. This infographic from Vouchercloud identifies six streams shaping, changing use in mobile devices: 1. Cloud and Mobile Data: By 2018, 90% of mobile traffic will be from cloud applications including video/audio streaming, social networking, online gaming and online storage. 2. Mobile Commerce: M-Commerce is expected to grow over the next 4 years, as already 90% of consumers are using their smartphones for 'pre-shopping'. Did you know that more than 50% of Amazon shoppers bought their purchases online in the first quarter of this year! 3. Mobile in Retail: Retailers are focusing on interactive in-store experiences, in future, they will use more QR codes and NFC (Near Field Communication), for engagement and ease of payment with voucher and discount offers. 4. Mobile Visuals: Anticipated growth in mobile video as consumers…

How Twitter is killing '2 birds with 1 stone' with its new mobile app promotions

One of the biggest names in social media has finally joined the mobile marketing revolution. After Facebook announced that almost half of its revenue now comes from mobile ad sales, Twitter made the wise decision to revamp their mobile app to increase their revenue opportunities from advertisers. In April, the company announced an app install suite which takes advantage of their previous acquisition of MoPub in order to allow advertisers to reach their audience both on and off site. The new interface will allow for the marketing of other apps, giving users the opportunity to initiate an app download on their phone from within a tweet.

Meeting industry demands

By creating the ability to promote apps within their app, Twitter has given advertisers everything they need to capitalize on an ever growing market.  Now more than ever, people are connecting…

Increase membership with SMS reminders

If you’re a Membership Manager, in any sector, you have the same goals – to recruit, retain and grow your membership. When it comes to membership marketing; you’re probably always looking for different ways to reach out to new people, remind members to renew as well as developing the relationships you have with your current members.Have you thought about using SMS?

Using SMS within the customer cycle of your membership marketing strategy

1. Recruit

In membership, as with any business, it is important to recruit new customers in order to grow and develop as a company. Contact prospective customers with a low-cost SMS campaign, with a 98% open rate it’s the perfect platform to make sure your message gets read.

2. Retain

Once your members are on board you need to keep them up to date with exciting content to remind them why they signed up and to ensure they stick with…

Making the case for optimising your mobile site with split-testing

Websites that use split-testing regularly will gain an increasing advantage over their competitors. By steadily increasing their conversion rate, they’re able to get higher returns for the same advertising spend and that means they can invest more in advertising and grow their market share.

Today, split-testing is especially relevant for mobile commerce. We’re at a stage where many companies will have a mobile version of their website that they serve to visitors from smartphone or tablets. But a lack either of focus or understanding of the opportunity means that very few websites are split-testing their mobile sites. And as mobile commerce grows, companies that split-test have a huge advantage.

But mobile conversion optimisation is hard. It forces you to focus on priorities. With limited screen real estate, you need to ensure that your content is well structured, persuasive and accessible.

8 Tips for mobile conversion rate optimisation

Here are…