Start Here! Mobile Marketing for Small Business

I had the pleasure of appearing on Pamela Muldoon’s Next Stage Business radio show this past Saturday.  Pamela is a small business expert and always produces compelling content for her listeners.

You can listen to the interview here.

Interestingly, the most important steps in understanding mobile marketing is the least technical: understanding your customers’ mobile device ownership and the ways they use those mobiles.

The easiest way to understand the importance of this first step is illustrated by two companies:

• Surfer Girl is a surfing apparel company appealing to young women.  They have a significant Facebook following.  Surfer Girl’s demographic own fewer smartphones than average (significantly less than 20%), favor text messaging over other mobile uses, and frequently access their favorite brands using their mobiles and social media.
• New Reflections is a three-location AVEDA spa and salon chain.  New Reflections clients own more smartphones than the 20% average, with Blackberries being the most commonly owned device.  Clients’ favorite mobile use is acessing email.

Surfer Girl should consider extending mobile offers that are fun, fresh and relevant via social media, participating in social media conversations of interest to tween and teen female customers.

New Reflections may want to focus on mobile marketing through compelling mobile-friendly offers delivered through their popular, existing email marketing campaigns.  Customers can bring offers into the salon on their mobile, increasing redemption rates.

Understand how your customer wants to interact with you via her smartphone or feature phone and you are half-way home with mobile marketing!

[Image courtesy of Cafe Press]