Marketing is Mobile
There’s a very good chance you are not reading this on a desktop computer.
According to a 2013 PEW research study, 63% of adult cell phone owners use their phones to go online. A full 34% go online almost exclusively with mobile devices, completely forgoing their desktops and laptops.
Now, more than ever, marketing is mobile, and there a few simple things you can do to make sure your organization is too.
Make Sure Your Website is Responsive
A website is considered responsive if it automatically adjusts to fit the size screen you are viewing it with. For instance, if you’re on a desktop computer you get the full site in all of its glory, laid out before you. If, however, you happen to be working on a Surface with a smaller screen, the site rearranges itself to present important information in an attractive way and tuck away more detailed content that there simply isn’t room for. Smaller still, if you switch to working on your smart phone, the site responds by scaling even further. An important thing to note is that responsiveness is not simply making your full-size site smaller until the font is unreadable. The image here shows the Rowland Water District website on a smart phone, a tablet, and a full size screen.
Inspire Curiosity
The fact that your audience can come to your website from anywhere is a tremendous boon to marketers. You no longer have to make people remember your url. All marketing has to do these days is to inspire curiosity. If your advertisement (be it a billboard, magazine ad, or business card tacked to the cork board at your local coffee house) grabs someone’s attention, odds are they will check out your site right then and there. Of course, you have to tell them where to go. Use a shortened url to make things easier, or even better, include a QRC.
Give Them What They Came For
Now its time to take full advantage of your audience’s attention. Don’t land them on your homepage and make them search around for the thing you know they want. Instead, create a landing page specifically for this particular advertising campaign. Make sure that the url they typed in (or QRC they scanned) takes them directly to the page of your site that they’re interested in. Your customers will be happy, and you will be able to track how successful your campaign was by how many people land on that specific page of your website.
Putting It All Together
Say you’re waiting in line at the DMV to renew your registration when you look up from your smart phone and spot a poster that says “Don’t wait any longer – renew your registration online.” It has a QRC code that you scan with your smart phone and which takes you directly to the online registration renewal portal. Five minutes later, your registration renewal is complete. You step out of line and get on with your day. By utilizing an effective mobile marketing campaign, this DMV increased their productivity and saved a customer time. It’s a win-win.