Almost half of small retailers find it tough to keep up with the ever-changing world of mobile marketing. But don’t worry, here are 14 tips to help you get a handle on it.
1. Start with the basics: Before you dive into mobile marketing, make sure your website and social media channels are up-to-date. Check your Google profile too. Make sure your pictures and logos are on point before you kick off any marketing campaign.
2. Localize your content: Highlight what’s unique about your area in your content. For instance, a blog post about the top five restaurants in your area can help search engines link your business to that location.
3. Be ready for mobile responses: Your customers want to shop, leave reviews, and get in touch with you from their smartphones. So, make sure your website is mobile-friendly and ready to handle this.
4. Enable mobile payments: More and more people are comfortable buying stuff from their mobile devices. So, make sure you can accept mobile payments. You’ve got options like PayPal, Apple Pay, and many others.
5. Offer deals: Use technology to offer incentives. You can use text messaging or software to target local markets with deals and discounts.
6. Use location-based services: Services like Foursquare or Google My Business can help promote your business. You can create special offers for customers who check in at your location, encouraging them to come back.
7. Optimize for voice search: With more people using digital assistants like Siri and Google Assistant, it’s important to make sure your content uses the kind of language people use when they’re speaking, not typing.
8. Create mobile-exclusive offers: Develop special offers that are only available to mobile users. This can create a sense of urgency and exclusivity, encouraging people to act fast.
9. Use SMS marketing: SMS marketing can be a great way to reach local customers directly on their mobile devices. You can send messages about sales, special events, or new products. Just make sure you’re following the rules and that customers have agreed to receive these messages.
10. Offer customer loyalty rewards: There are plenty of apps out there that can help you reward customer loyalty. Just make sure whatever you choose is easy for customers to use and opt out of if they want to.
11. Join mobile directories: Mobile directories can give your business a boost. Look beyond the obvious ones like Google Local and Yelp to find ones that are more specific to your area.
12. Make Google landing pages: If you have multiple locations, create a Google landing page for each one. Use keywords related to your search, the name of your city, and the Zip Code to optimize for local search on mobile.
13. Track your progress: Once everything is set up, keep an eye on how things are going. Look at more than just clicks. Make sure you’re ranking for the keywords you’ve chosen. Online surveys can also help you understand what’s working and what’s not.
14. Keep at it: Don’t give up if you don’t see results right away. Keep looking at your analytics and adjusting your strategy as needed.
Despite the potential benefits, mobile marketing can be a challenge for small retailers. They often have limited resources and may lack the technical expertise needed to implement mobile marketing strategies. The rapid pace of change in mobile marketing trends can also be difficult to keep up with. And then there are concerns about data privacy and security, targeting the right audience, integrating offline and online strategies, measuring ROI, mobile optimization, competition from e-commerce giants, and keeping up with changes in consumer behavior. But with persistence and the right approach, small retailers can overcome these challenges and succeed in the world of mobile marketing.
