Innovative Trends for Upping Mobile-Customer Engagement Mobile devices open the possibility of marketing to customers when and where they are likeliest to buy, but only if you can win their attention.
By Brett Relander Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Mobile is growing and growing rapidly. There are now 1.91 billion people in the world with smartphones and the number is forecast to reach 2 billion within the next year. It has never been more important to ensure that you are keeping your mobile marketing customers engaged.
What exactly is customer engagement, and why do you need to be concerned about it? From a marketing standpoint, engagement involves establishing higher value customer relationships, and deepening the relationship with your current customers. The ultimate goal of customer engagement is to encourage your customers to spend more time with your brand while establishing a stronger connection. In exchange, engaged customers tend to be spend more money and be more loyal.
Shoppers today are dramatically different than consumers yesterday. That want to interact with your brand, and they want to do so on their own terms. This want to choose where and when they interact with your brand. The good news is this presents the perfect opportunity to get to know your customers.
Competition within mobile marketing is fierce. To capitalize on available opportunities, your brand must adopt innovative techniques.
Related: The 4 Digital Advertising Trends That Are Reshaping Advertising
Leveraging interactive ads.
Video is big in mobile marketing. Mobile video now accounts for approximately 55 percent of all mobile data usage. To make the most of this opportunity you must stand out from the crowd. Video is no longer enough. A growing trend for user acquisition in the mobile sector are interactive ads, which require the user to take some type of action. Compared to advertisements that the user views passively, interactive ads set the stage for far more meaningful feedback.
Related: The New Prime Time for Ads -- and How to Use It to Your Advantage
Geo-based promotions.
Near Field Communications (NFC), though certainly not new to advertising, is making a big splash connecting with consumers while they are in retail shops. Timing is essential when it comes to marketing. With the use of beacon emitters and GPS tracking, brands can now take advantage of geo-targeted marketing when customers are most likely to make a purchase. Knowing a customer's location always delivery of contextualized, relevant ads in real time. Marketers can bring unprecendented personalization to their mobile promotions.
Wearables.
The wearables market continues to grow. Already, 9 percent of Internet users are using their smartwatches to search the Web. This drastically smaller screen space requires brands to think more strategically about their marketing techniques.
In light of all of the above advances in mobile marketing, along with Google's recent mobile-friendly rules, it is has never been more important for brands to think outside the box and devise more innovative ways for reaching their customer base and keeping them engaged.
Related: Designing Wearables for People Who Don't Like Wearables
