Today, there are more ways than ever to communicate with customers through mobile. The mobile marketing industry has come a long way since the early days of text message marketing. As opposed to other marketing channels, mobile is especially effective because it is more personal and direct. Some of the greatest advancements in the industry have been with mobile pull techniques. These include mobile apps and mobile websites that rely on customers being proactive and engaging with these features to be successful. However, some of the changes to mobile marketing over the years have been with mobile push marketing techniques, namely with push notifications and text message marketing. Here’s a look at the two most popular push techniques in mobile marketing.

Push notifications

For many businesses, especially larger businesses, a mobile app is becoming practically essential. Mobile apps allow customers to interact with a business in a unique way. Typically a business’s mobile app will offer more features than their mobile website. For customers who are frequently having to open up a mobile web browser to access a business’s website, they like the idea of having an app. For businesses that decide to invest in a mobile app, the first priority should be getting customers to download that app. One of the easiest way to do this is to include a link for the app download on the homepage of the mobile website. Right off the bat customers can see that a company has a mobile app.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t end with just getting people to download the app. Both Android and iOS have reached the one million mark in their app stores. The vast majority of those apps are downloaded and forgotten and often deleted. To be successful, a mobile app has to be downloaded and then opened over and over again. One way marketers have found to accomplish this is by sending push notifications via the app. These push notifications can include information about updates to the app and new features to keep people interested.

SMS marketing

If there was one element essential to all mobile marketing campaigns it would have to be SMS. Sending a text is quick and direct. Best of all, it will most likely be read within minutes of being sent. Compared to mobile app marketing, SMS is much easier to get customers engaged in. All you need to do is get customers to opt in to receiving texts. This can be done be easily done by creating a giveaway where the only cost to enter is an opt-in. Offering a small freebie for signing up is another way to quickly build a texting database. Once you have their permission, your businesses is free to text them whenever you want. Just remember that less is more. Like push notifications, SMS is great because it allows your business to initiate contact with customers rather than waiting for them to seek it out.