5 Mobile Marketing Questions You Should Always Ask

Venture outside your house at any given moment, and you’re bound to encounter a new breed of human. Unlike the people of yesteryear, who actually met eyes with people and interacted with their brethren, today’s average person stares straight down, face aglow with an eerie blue light, only looking up to avoid running into another distracted consumer.

Hello, my name is Humankind, and I’m addicted to my smartphone.

Hello, Humankind.

We are a plugged-in, tuned-in, mobile breed. As a business person in the 21st century, you know you have to have a mobile marketing strategy. But before you jump online and let loose, make sure you’re going about it the right way and ask yourself these five questions.

Who is my mobile audience?

Before you can start designing a mobile campaign, you need to know who your audience is. Start with your business’ current in-person or online audience – how will this audience morph through mobile mediums? For consumers who need info quickly while en route, a simplistic, icon-heavy front page featuring your most popular content is probably a good idea. For those visiting your site from an over-stuffed chair, hot tea in hand, feel free to play a little with style and text.

How do I effectively reach my audience?

Part of being effective in reaching your audience is making sure you catch them at a good time. Pushing out content at the wrong time is akin to calling your friend while she’s trying to get herself ready for work, her kids ready for school and the dog from eating everything in sight. Don’t be that person. Know when your audience is online and receptive to new content and schedule your posts accordingly.

What’s the best content to send via mobile?

OK, so you know who your audience is and how they’ll access your site. Take that info and run with it, keeping in mind what mobile users want: visuals, inspiration and information, all in a bite-size package. Pair your info with a pic, if possible, and keep it short and sweet.

I know I need a mobile-optimized site, but what about an app?

When considering whether or not to design an app for your company, you need to weigh the costs, which can be high, against profits. Apps can be rich in features and work with the phone’s native apps (think: providing directions via GPS or scanning barcodes with the camera). But mobile-optimized sites are designed to work on any phone and require no user set up. So, unless you plan to take advantage of a smartphone’s built-in gadgetry, put app development on the back burner.

How do I measure ROI (return on investment)?
The bottom line of any business investment is: is this helping the company? To know if your mobile marketing campaign is working, you need to know how to measure your ROI. And to do that, you have to get a little “OCD-like” about your data. User-test the different data trackers out there (Google Analytics is just one of them) and find the one that works best for you. Keep monthly reports so you can track your progress over time.

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