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Mobile and Local Search

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Why Mobile is More Important Than Ever to Local Search

Mobile Marketing for BusinessesEveryone is aware that having a mobile marketing strategy is no longer optional, but somehow the word is slower being implemented among local businesses.

More than ever, local business owners have to realize the incredible opportunity that being active in mobile affords them, and just how best to capitalize on that. Here are several reasons why this is important, plus some things you can do about it.

Why you need to be mobilized

Should you need any more convincing, here are a couple of the latest statistics that illustrate the current state of affairs with mobile search.

  • A whopping 97 percent of people look online for products or services in their local area.
  • A full 73 percent of those mobile searches lead to visitors and conversions.
  • It is real time: 70 percent of those searchers act upon them within an hour.
  • They’ll even use it in your store: 15 percent of consumers use their smartphone to price shop after they’re in your store.

What you can do to take advantage of mobile for local search [Read more…]

Optimize Mobile Websites

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How to Optimize Mobile Websites

Today’s world is more mobile than ever, and while it’s true that 67 percent of mobile users who land on a mobile optimized site are more likely to convert, it’s also true that nearly as many — 61 percent — of those who land on a site not optimized for mobile will hop to your competitor’s site pronto!

Since that leaves us very little choice on the matter, it’s incumbent for us to make our sites as optimized for mobile as is feasible. While there are actually many pieces to this puzzle, we’ve uncovered 7 things you can do to help your site be more optimized for mobile browsing.

7 Ways to be sure your site is optimized for mobile

[Read more…]

Content Marketing

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How to seriously pump up the volume with your content marketing

If one of your goals in 2014 is to increase the content marketing in your business, there are some things you should understand. Even though it was common practice just two years ago to just create as many pages of content as possible, never mind the quality, that is not the situation these days.

Now quality reigns, and using socially sharable content, as well as on several different channels is the way to get the coveted search rankings and traffic we all seek. The question now is: how should we do that, exactly?

So how to crack the content marketing code for 2014?

[Read more…]

Mobile Ads for Small Business

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Why Mobile Ads May Be Worth Considering for Your Small Business

Mobile is the new frontier in advertising, with a monstrous 27.8 billion more search queries than desktop searches by 2015. Pew Research tells us that that 74% of smartphone Mobile Ads for Small Businessowners use their phone to receive real-time location-based information, such as directions, which is acted upon typically within an hour.

These facts, along with the prediction of double digit growth in mobile advertising during the next five years are sending a transparent and unmistakable message to business owners: mobile is where the people are!

[Read more…]

Website Homepage Mistakes

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Top 15 website faux pas

Sometimes it’s about what you don’t do as much as it is what you do. This can ring particularly so with regards to your website. There are many things that can send visitors screaming into cyberspace to escape these grievous flaws. Let‘s find out if any of these sound familiar to you.

  1. Not possessing a clear objective – According to DinkumInteractive.com a user has to know what the site is about in 4 seconds or they’ll click away. [Read more…]

Daily Deal Sites

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Are Daily Deal Sites Down for the Count? Not So Fast!

Are Daily Deals Dead?You’d believe from all the hate that’s been reported about daily deal sites, and the way they are now all history as an effective way to market your local business, we wouldn’t like them either. You’d be wrong. There’s an awful lot that goes into making daily deal sites enhance your local business, and a few well-publicized failures, shouldn’t end up being the reason to avoid using the daily deal model. As a matter of fact, when you take a close look, the lion’s share of these “failures” had plenty in common, particularly a obvious misunderstanding of exactly how to run a daily deal promotion, poor negotiation of their deals, and not keeping track of their customers redemption and spending. Given that they had unbelievable fails in these areas, is it any wonder they failed?

[Read more…]

Green Marketing

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Is it time for your business to go green?

Earth day come once again, and it’s a great time to look at how Green Marketing can be a effective way to appeal to environmentally conscious consumers. This is not just a wise way to conserve our precious natural resources, but it has become a hot political and social topic in our communities. The most obvious reason to embrace Green marketing is to manage our available resources with an eye toward good stewardship. Nonetheless, you would be wise to keep your business’s public image in mind simultaneously, because the image it projects can be a deciding factor for many people these days. Many will opt for an eco-friendly choice over another company that doesn’t practice Green marketing on principle alone.

How to attract and appeal to socially conscious consumers [Read more…]

Mobile Marketing Strategy

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How to Cash in on the Mobile Revolution

More people these days are accessing the web using their mobile devices, and if you’re not at least mapping out a mobile marketing strategy for your small business to get a part of this, you’re leaving a lot of money for another business. Over half of all local searches are executed on mobile devices of some type. People are doing business on the fly, shopping and price comparing on the way to a store. You need to simply make sure it’s yours! Listed below are five ways to make it happen!

  1. Get your site mobile ready – Being sure your site is viewable on any mobile device is a crucial first step. The emphasis here is on a fast loading site. It has been shown that you have about five seconds for your site to load on a mobile device or your viewer is on their way to someplace else. Make certain your site loads quickly and accurately.
  2. Offer deals, coupons and incentives to readers – 29% of web consumers have showed a desire to download a coupon using their mobile device. Take them up on this!
  3. Utilizing inexpensive mobile ads – Mobile paid advertising remains somewhat in its infancy, but there is a lot of opportunity here. Prices are still very low, and you can receive a lots of traffic to your website utilizing mobile ads.
  4. Create a mobile loyalty program – Utilizing a mobile platform to develop a mobile loyalty program is simply a smart thing to do. No longer only used by eating establishments, you can make rabid fans by making use of a simple, easy to use digital loyalty card application.
  5. Utilize mobile email and SMS – Mobile email is being opened at a rate of 41%, and it’s on pace to surpass PC open rates by the end of 2013, reported by MarketingLand.com. SMS (texting) boasts a whopping 95% open rate. These two stats by themselves should be plenty to get you involved with the mobile side of marketing!

Social Media Marketing

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The Social Media saga continues… The next time a so called ‘Social Media Expert’ attempts to convince you why social media is extremely important, consider this very enlightening study that outlines some interesting facts about consumers. Although social media is very important, as a business owner, you need to truly understand the consumers’ view and what is important to them. Only then will you be able to effectively utilize this marketing tool. 
 

The Engagement Marketing Disconnect Between Consumers and Brands Rages On

socialmediatoday.com – “After surveying 250 marketing executives and over 2,000 consumers, it’s clear that what marketers consider to be high-value engagement is not always thought of in the same way by consumers.”

The above line is from a recent report put out by Forbes Insights and Turn called “The New Rules of engagement: Measuring the Power of Social Currency” and unfortunately continues a trend – a trend I myself have written about as far back as last December.Social Media

Last December I wrote of The Major Disconnect Between Brands and Consumers When It Comes to Social Media. About a month later I followed that up with Even More Proof of the Major Disconnect Between Brands and Consumers When It Comes to Social Media. Each article touched on a different survey/study which showed a huge divide between why marketers think a consumer likes/follows a brand on social media vs. why a consumer actually does so.

Well according to the aforementioned Forbes Insights study the disconnect is alive and well and may even be widening.

From the Key Findings of the report:

  • Marketers view consumers’ proactivity via social media as more engaging then consumers do. The inflation of “engagement” in this case has been caused by the ease of social media use and equating online followers with successful marketing. Measurement of social media engagement is an area where CMOs often don’t know what they don’t know.
  • Fundamental disconnects in how marketers and consumers understand and value engagement tactics may cost marketers great opportunities. The biggest schisms are found in approach to redemption rates, discount codes and loyalty programs. Additionally, marketers’ attempts at personalization and customization engage few consumers. This finding may stem from consumers’ high expectations of what true customization and personalization stands for.
  • Consumers identify strongly with brands, particularly younger consumers, who view their relationship with brands as a reflection of self. And they approach and interact with them in a variety of ways, from social media to traditional advertising. They don’t necessarily view this as engagement, however. Rather, their view of how they interact with and relate to brands is much more holistic.

Just take a look at the chart below and spot all the disconnects between what marketers value compared to what consumers value.

Consumer Values

Perhaps the most glaring example of a disconnect from the above chart lies in the fact that 49% of marketers rate forwards or shares of ads or other content online as a strong influence on their engagement measures, but just 15% of consumers say they feel engaged or invested in a brand when they share an ad.

So the next time all you marketers out there break into a happy dance because 100 people shared your ad you may want to temper your enthusiasm just a tad as it is not indicative of a consumer who is necessarily engaged with your brand per se.

And you also may want to not take out your dancing shoes just because you grew your Twitter followers by X%.

Twitter Followers

Different Strokes

From the report:

“The two groups (consumers and marketers) differ fundamentally in how they define the state of engagement with a brand; what companies consider engaging is not considered anywhere near so by consumers. But this also cuts both ways: some activities that consumers consider highly engaging are seen as less important by marketers. This may be costing companies great opportunities to engage consumers.”

Social Engagement

The first two results alone from the chart above say it all and if not all, they say a lot. Consumers are creatures of habit, they are human beings which means they want something in return for their engaging with your brand.

From the aforementioned The Major Disconnect Between Brands and Consumers When It Comes to Social Media:

Social Media Disconnect

This Is Not Just About Social Media Engagement

The need to engage with consumers extends well beyond the scope of social media. People want the personal touch, they want to know brands understand them and offer the ability to create a brand experience that matches their individual tastes.

Yet that is apparently not happening as you will see another example of the major disconnect between consumers and brands.

From the report:

“72% of marketing executives say that they have personally reached out to customers, but just 9% of consumers say that they feel engaged or invested in a brand because of such gestures. The personal connection has been a cornerstone of marketing strategy.”

Flawed Marketing Strategy

And since I am such a huge fan of infusing humor into, well just about everything in my life but especially advertising and marketing, I had to share this one final finding from the report which speaks directly to the power of humor to connect and engage.

Importance of Humor in Marketing

Sources: Forbes Insights, MarketingCharts.com, Google Images

Named one of the Top 100 Influencers In Social Media (#41) by Social Technology Review and a Top 50 Social Media Blogger by Kred, Steve Olenski is a senior content strategist at Responsys, a leading global provider of on-demand email and cross-channel marketing solutions. 

As a business owner, the time you spend working on your business is vitally important to your company’s success. Considering the enormous amount of time it takes to stay focused on current social media trends, you need a team of experts that you can count on to provide timely and accurate marketing techniques that produce results. We believe your time is better spent working on what you know best, your industry. Let us focus on the latest social media trends; contact us today for a free initial evaluation and consultation. 

Smartphones and Mobile Marketing

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Image the customers you are losing by not having a mobile optimized website! This article provides real life data that confirms that mobile is the future of targeted marketing.

Smartphones win for traffic, tablets for revenue over Thanksgiving

By Chantal Tode

November 27, 2012

Mobile Marketing on iPadThe iPad drove Thanksgiving revenue for retailers

All signs point to mobile having played a significant role for shoppers over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. However, taking a closer look at the numbers, there were clear differences between smartphone and tablet consumers.

It appears that tablets – in particular the iPad – were a significant driver of online sales over the holiday weekend. Smartphones, on the other hand, proved to be significant traffic drivers and invaluable in-store shopping tools.

“This weekend proved how incredibly important mobile commerce has become, and how influential these channels are for retailers,” said Scott Wingo, CEO of ChannelAdvisor, Morrisville, NC. “The line between online and offline commerce continues to blur as consumers whip out their mobile devices to compare prices while shopping in bricks-and-mortar stores, or shop online while waiting in line for Black Friday deals.

“Retailers need to make sure that their Web sites are mobile-optimized to make it as easy as possible for shoppers to purchase via these channels,” he said.

Smart in-store shopping
Overall, 24 percent of consumers used a mobile device to visit a retailer’s site over Thanksgiving and Black Friday, up from 14.3 percent last year, according to data from IBM.

Smartphones were the stronger in-store mobile device.

IBM also found that 58 percent of consumers used smartphones in stores to shop for bargains on Black Friday compared with 41 percent who used tablets.

Overall, mobile sales increased significantly, reaching 16 percent of online sales, up from 9.8 percent last year, per IBM.

Also pointing to the strength of smartphones for in-store shopping are results from price comparison app PriceGrabber, which reports that smartphones accounted for 17.8 percent of its traffic on Sunday, Nov. 25 compared with 11.50 percent for tablets.

Smartphone use is also growing faster, up 3,288.5 percent from last year compared to 1,027.5 percent for tablets. PriceGrabber’s desktop traffic dropped 13.5 percent.

Smartphone users accessed store locators, wish lists and reviews more frequently than tablet users, per Branding Brand.

Tablet commerce
Overall, it appears that smartphones were the biggest drivers of online traffic, with 20 percent of the total while tablets were the biggest drivers of revenue with 14 percent of the total, per Branding Brand.

“Tablet users consistently spent more per order than smartphone and desktop users,” said Chris Mason, CEO of Branding Brand, Pittsburgh, PA. “On Thanksgiving, the average order value of a tablet user was two percent higher than desktop users, on Black Friday it was nine percent higher.

Tablet users viewed approximately two more pages per visit than smartphone users and converted at rate 3.5 higher than smartphone users, according to Branding Brand.

Some retailers may have been caught off guard by the strength of tablet commerce over the holiday weekend. A recent report from Skava found that only seven percent of the top 100 U.S. online retailers have a tablet-optimized Web site while 95 percent are optimized for smartphones.

The retailers without a strong tablet experience could end up being among the biggest losers this holiday season. The Skava report reveals that tablet shoppers are more lucrative online shoppers than smartphone users, with 2.3 percent of tablet shoppers likely to purchase goods online compared to 0.6 percent of smartphone users.

By device, the iPad was one of the biggest factors driving mobile shopping and commerce over Thanksgiving and Black Friday.

Shoppers are using mobile to look for deals and special offers and the iPad is a big winner. ShopLocal, a division of Gannet that delivers retailer offers online and via mobile, reports that so far in November, its iPad traffic has grown 172 percent compared with 67 percent for mobile overall.

IBM’s data reveals that the iPad generated more traffic than any other tablet or smartphone, reaching nearly ten percent of online shopping. The iPad also dominated tablet traffic with an 88.3 percent share followed by the Barnes and Noble Nook with 3.1 percent, the Amazon Kindle with 2.4 percent and the Samsung Galaxy with 1.8 percent.

In terms of mobile traffic overall, the iPhone came in second with 8.7 percent of mobile traffic and Android with 5.5 percent.

“Mobile is no longer a sliver of your audience,” Branding Brand’s Mr. Mason said. “It is quickly becoming the main point of interaction.

“Retailers should enter 2013 with a mobile-first strategy for their e-commerce presence,” he said.

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York

If you are interest in learning how to implement mobile marketing for your business, contact us today and we will help guide you through the complicated process.

 

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