Local Marketing Online: Part 9: Mobile Marketing

With the rise in the US mobile subscriber market to 234 million users and more than 69.5 million of them accessing the internet and other communication services via their Smartphones like iPhone, Android and Blackberry devices, mobile marketing has opened up local marketing opportunities for many businesses.

Mobile phones have become a way of life. There is actually about three times more mobile phone users now than there are internet users. According to comScore’s latest report on the US mobile subscriber market, almost 70% of US mobile subscribers use text messaging compared to the less than 40% using mobile browsers to search.

The point is that more and more people are relying on their mobile phones and other mobile devices to search, find, and communicate. Google is aware of this fact and has initiated a direct mail marketing campaign to tote the benefits of its local marketing programs such as AdWords on Google Maps and sponsored Boost ads highlighting an advertiser’s Google Profiles page in search results.

Whether it is tailored text messages triggered by user behavior or sponsored ads in one of the many search engine marketing programs, mobile marketing focuses on users who are currently in your city or region or are searching for information about your city or region. In effect, it’s like standing in front of your store and waving people to come in except that you already know they want what your offer and you can reach more of them.

Just as I discussed in Part 8: Pay Per Click Integration, before you initiate a mobile marketing campaign you need to have the other aspects of your local marketing campaign in place and ready to receive your targeted local audience. You must have at least begun to strategically develop your online identity and authority so that the information about your company and what it offers is readily available online to those who need more information, want to read a review to learn what others think about you, or visit your website first.

In Part 10 of the Local Marketing Online series I will talk about optimized website design and why it is central to your online local marketing strategy.

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