The Dominance of Mobile Marketing Is Complete In just 10 years mobile technology has gone from the next big thing to the biggest thing ever.
By Murray Newlands Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Mobile Marketing is not merely an "in" thing, nor is it the future. Mobile marketing is dominating the marketing world right now. Since the day the iPhone entered the phone market in 2007, smart devices have exploded into an everyday necessity. It is almost an indispensable part of who are and how we communicate with the world today. For many of us, we are so glued to the devices that we never leave home without it. Have you ever felt your heart skip a beat when you thought you lost your phone? Yeah, we thought so.
As devices become more and more prevalent today, mobile marketing becomes that much more important. The trend of growth seems to have no end and is only getting bigger. In 2014, the number of mobile devices exceeded the number of people in the world, at over 7.7 billion devices. Furthermore, Australia holds the epicenter of this as having one of the highest smartphone penetration rates in the world.
Need even more reasons to make mobile marketing a high priority in your current marketing strategy? Here are a few more:
Mobile commerce is all the rage.
Ecommerce once upon a time was a computer desktop activity. One would turn on their desktop device, go to the browser, then to their preferred retail site and shop to their hearts content. This trend is no longer the case as people are now turning to their mobile devices to get a piece of e-commerce. According to HubSpot, mobile commerce will lead the way with 24.4 percent of overall ecommerce profit by the end of this year.
Social media is even taking kindly to this new trend as applications are adding ways to shop via their networks. Instagram recently launched its "Shop Now" call-to-action button that can be used in sponsored posts. Pinterest is also integrating "Buyable Pins" onto the site.
Related: 4 Digital Marketing Trends to Pay Attention to Right Now
Mobile screens are captivating.
Some fun mobile facts:
- IDC research shows a staggering 79 percent of smartphone users have their phone on or near them each hour of the waking day
- People spend an average of 195 minutes per day using their smartphone.
These simple facts, can help put your brand in the face of smartphone users all day long. People use their devices 24/7, so it's imperative that brands keep up with consumers during their phone usage.
Related: How I Turned Cell Phone Addiction Into a PR Opportunity
Google will punish you.
In April of 2015, Google made an update to it's search engines, whereas it favored websites that in considered mobile-friendly. Initially this seemed to make little impact in the world of marketing, but soon enough, a new study came out that suggests that "Mobilegeddon" indeed was as big of a deal as it was advertised. All it needed was time.
Google's Mobilegeddon update actively penalizes websites that are not favorable towards mobile marketing. In essence, your site should be mobile-friendly, meaning responsive and easy to navigate on mobile devices. If not, guess what? Google will knock you down in search rankings, and we all know how much that can affect a business. Brands beware; these penalties will only get stricter over time.
