This year is a big one for mobile marketing. 2014 is the year that mobile devices are set to surpass the number of PCs. All the numbers seem to point to a mobile takeover. While just a few years ago, nearly all web traffic originated from a PC, now nearly half originates from a smartphone or tablet.

Despite the promising numbers, there are still many marketers and small business owners that are hesitant to jump on the mobile bandwagon. Perhaps they think mobile is a fad just passing through or that only a small percentage are using it. All evidence is to the contrary. Mobile is here to stay and will only continue to increase in popularity.

Though mobile continues to grow in popularity, businesses aren’t investing a lot into mobile ad spending. One report found that mobile only accounts for 1% of ad spending compared to print’s 25%. It seems that marketers and business owners have some catching up to do.

Get with the program

Mobile is a totally different medium that television, radio, and print. In these other mediums, it’s enough to just show off a product or service. With mobile it gets trickier. Thanks to smartphones’ ability to keep people connected to the internet anywhere in the world, mobile shoppers are more savvy than their non mobile counterparts. They know how to comparison shop and frequently use their phones to shop online even while in a store.

Marketers and business owners looking to break into mobile marketing need to know a few things about the mobile shopper before jumping in. Because they are informed shoppers, the focus of mobile marketing needs to be getting the relevant information to mobile users. That information should be easily accessible.

Mobile customers are typically looking for fast answers. And when they find what they want, they’re going to complete the purchase quickly. Usually within the hour. Mobile marketers should make sure that contact information is easy to find on mobile websites so mobile shoppers have no trouble finding the business.

Some mobile tips

Here are a few mobile marketing tips to get you started:

• Mobile is about diversity. There are dozens of mobile tools out there to help you succeed. Don’t limit your strategy to one or two of them. Combine different mobile marketing elements to create the best mobile marketing campaigns. Use SMS, mobile websites, push notifications, etc…
• Don’t forget quality. Just because mobile is a very successful marketing medium doesn’t mean you can put out mediocre content. If you’re going to invest money in mobile marketing, make sure you’re using creating worthwhile content. Remember the mobile shopper isn’t a sucker
• Keep innovating. Perhaps more than any other marketing channel, mobile changes from day to day. Unless you continue to innovate and stay in the loop with advancements in the industry, you’ll quickly stand out as being old fashioned

Source: Huffington Post