Mobile Marketing
Jocelyn Shahu
Mobile marketing plays in integral role in the advertising world today. Consumers over the years have increased phone usage, where the average person uses it 4 hours and 30 minutes a day (Statista 2022). Reaching consumers where they already are is a strategic way to optimize marketing efforts.
Why Brand Must Use Mobile Marketing
Mobile devices holds a strong lead of 64.95% of global traffic distribution compared to computers and tablets. People use smartphones to do just about anything - online shopping, scrolling on social media, ordering food, or even playing games. Brands can integrate advertising and marketing into the things that their target audience already uses based on data research on behavior.
Social Media
Whether your audience is on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest, brands can reach consumers effectively on these platforms. 61% of all time spent on social media is consumed through our smartphones (Nahai 76). Social media has become a powerful tool in the marketing world, and for good reason. Here’s a list of why social media is such an important medium:
Cost effective: social media marketing is much cheaper than traditional forms of media.
Target marketing: Traditional media reaches a mass audience, and while it may seem nice to get that many eyes on your advertisement, it is much more effective to reach those who will actually be interested. With algorithms, social media will place your ad to those who are more likely to interact with it.
Large audience: As magazines and commercial TV begin to lose the consumer’s eyes, social media platforms are consistently rising. You can assure that your audience will see your ad on the correct media platform.
In-App
In-App mobile marketing is another push that advertisers can use to generate buzz about their brand. “In-app marketing allows you to improve the customer experience, collect feedback, and communicate with customers in a highly relevant way,” (Optimove).
Starbucks utilizes in-app marketing strategies such as sending notifications and creating a user-experience. This is effective in generating awareness and productive communication with the audience.
Brands can advertise themselves by directly sending out notifications to promote new products, market certain deals, or simply to stimulate thought surrounding the brands name. Notifications also can lead users to the app with one simple click.
Starbucks’ app is a perfect example of effective in-app marketing. By sending reminders like “Happy Hour today at 3 p.m.," it generates awareness about the certain deal and reminds potential guests to participate. Recipients can click on the notification where they are led into the app. Starbucks makes the user experience easy, by allowing customers to order straight from the app to their desired pickup location, and fun, by including rewards and challenges to earn more points towards a free goodie.
Common Pitfalls
Of course, mobile marketing has its flaws, so it is important for brands to not put all their advertising eggs in one basket. With issues concerning privacy and short attention, brands must consider these factors in order to make sure they are making the right decisions for an advertisement. Here is a list of some mobile marketing drawbacks:
Data Privacy concerns: While algorithms are useful for brands to reach a certain audience, users are skeptical of how their data is collected and there has been a stronger push for privacy standards.
Ad Block Control: 22% of smartphone users (aprprox. 419 million people) are now blocking ads (Nahai 76). This means that some ads will never reach certain users which is detrimental to sales.
Lack of Attention: Social media and smartphone characteristics are meant to be fast-paced, which has trained the consumer mind to have a shorter attention span. Brands must make no error in creating the perfect, consumable advertisement.
Conclusion
Mobile marketing is becoming increasingly popular as the digital world expands. It has great potential for brands to increase awareness and sales if done properly. Due to its cost-effectiveness and ability to reach a targeted audience, it is certainly something that brands should take advantage of.
Citations
Abaev, B. (2023, November 9). Council post: All eyes on the screen: Why mobile marketing is vital for brands. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2023/11/07/all-eyes-on-the-screen-why-mobile-marketing-is-vital-for-brands/?sh=9828f193216b
In App Marketing . Optimove. (2023, March 26). https://www.optimove.com/resources/learning-center/in-app-marketing#:~:text=In%2Dapp%20marketing%20is%20any%20marketing%20campaign%20inside%20a%20mobile,in%20a%20highly%20relevant%20way.
Laricchia, F. (2023, December 6). U.S.: Mobile Phone Daily Usage Time 2024. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1045353/mobile-device-daily-usage-time-in-the-us/#:~:text=The%20average%20time%20spent%20daily,and%2039%20minutes%20by%202024.
Nahai, N. (2017). Webs of influence: The Psychology of Online Persuasion. Pearson Education Limited.