In 2011, mobile accounted for just 6% of all web traffic. Just two years later, that number has jumped to about 25%. There are now an estimated 4 billion mobile phones in the world, and over a billion of those are smartphones, capable of accessing the internet from virtually anywhere. And with 50% of all local searches originating from mobile devices, business owners are quickly realizing that they can’t afford to ignore mobile marketing any longer. But as business owners scramble to catch up in the mobile marketing game, they’re likely to make a number of mistakes. Some are pretty minor and won’t cost too much, others are more serious. Here’s a look at three major mobile marketing mistakes and how to avoid them.

One size doesn’t fit all

If you own a smartphone, you’ve probably stumbled across a website that wasn’t optimized for mobile. Websites that are designed to be viewed on a desktop will not be displayed properly on a 4- to 5-inch screen. Images and text may overlap each other, or the text will be small that users have to pinch and zoom just to read it. In many cases, it proves too inconvenient and users simply go elsewhere to find what they’re looking for.

Failing to optimize for mobile is a rookie mistake, but a major one that can be very costly. Fortunately, there are a couple of different things you can do to avoid this mobile marketing pitfall. The first is to create a separate mobile version of your site. The second, and preferable option is to invest in responsive web design. With responsive web design, your website is optimized according to the device being used to view it. Though it costs more, it is simpler than having to manage two separate websites.

QR codes

Quick Response codes, or QR codes were at one time immensely popular among mobile marketers. As a result, they became the poster child for mobile marketing campaigns. When a person uses their smartphone to scan a QR code they can be taken to a company’s website, a link to a video, or automatically entered into a sweepstakes, to name just a few. While they can be very effective, most QR code campaigns fail miserably. In order to get people to scan QR codes, you have to pay a lot of attention to location. If your QR code is going to be on a cup or something that the mobile user will be very close to, it should be relatively small. On the other hand, if it’s going to be on a billboard, it better be huge and the billboard better be in a place where people can safely stop to scan it.

Mobile marketing campaigns don’t market themselves

Many business owners mistakenly believe the mantra, “build it and they will come.” This isn’t true when it comes to mobile marketing campaigns. No matter how much effort you put into your mobile marketing strategies, they won’t be effective unless your customers know about them. The solution is to launch an ad campaign for your mobile campaign. It may sound crazy, but it works.

Source:  Business2Community