The Growth of the Mobile Internet

Whether or not you are fond of the iPhone or the iPad, these devices are changing the way the world interacts with the internet.  The mobile device market continues to evolve and adapt to the ever increasing demands to provide a rich user experience.  This includes internet features previously accessible only through our desktop and laptop computers.

eMarketer, the business information service that provides research and analysis on digital marketing, estimates mobile penetration at nearly 80% in the United States and claims 85.5 million mobile users will access the web from their mobile devices in 2010.  With the increased feature sets of mobile devices (smart phones in particular), data content is becoming the primary focus of carriers.

eMarketing also states that the use of social networking applications for mobile leads the list and has increased 240% between April 2009 and April 2010 through a report by comScore.  To review the breakdown of the fastest-growing US mobile applications please see this article on the eMarketer website.

According to Flowtown there are over 100 million users accessing Facebook through mobile devices.  These people are twice as active on Facebook than non-mobile users.  The number of cell phone users connecting to Facebook through a mobile browser grew by 112% from a year ago.

Planning a Mobile Marketing Strategy

Define the WHAT before the HOW

As with any plan defining your goals up front is crucial for success.  Are you looking to increase your branding reach?  Are you striving for increased direct sales through promotions and special offers?  Are you trying to grow your social site participation, or provide a conduit to improve your customer satisfaction numbers?  Figure out WHAT you want to do before planning the HOW portion of your plan.

Text Message Marketing

This is one of the hottest segments of mobile marketing because texting is more than twice as popular as mobile browsing or application usage.  In April of 2010 Merkle found that 63% of U.S. adults 30-39 text, as do 49% of adults 40-49.  Smart marketers are using texting for promotions, event reminders, to develop customer relationships and more.  The beauty of text message marketing is that once it is in place, there is no creative development needed beyond creating the programs and text for the messages.

There are a variety of ways to incorporate text messaging into your marketing plans.  Branded short codes allow consumers to opt in to a company’s promotions similar to an email newsletter opt in.  Contest entries can be traded for a text message opt in.  Facebook offers a common shortcode that marketers can use to “Like” a Facebook page from a mobile device.  This is a great tool to use in retail environments or wherever the consumer does not have access to a computer.

Make Your Website Mobile Friendly

If you have read this far, hopefully you don’t need any more convincing that a mobile friendly website is important these days.  Using fluid layouts, losing the clutter, centering content, keeping your pages short and compact are just a few of the best practice techniques for good mobile friendly website design.

Competitive Edge

In summary keep in mind that many companies have not had the time or resources to address consumers in the mobile markets.  By figuring out what you want to do and getting a game plan together you can have an edge on your competition.  And in today’s economy that is something all businesses are looking for.  Download my white paper for case studies and real world examples of best practices in internet marketing.