Why Mobile Marketing is Here to Stay

I came across a number of interesting statistics that pertain to mobile marketing and devices, which I would like to share. Based on these figures released by the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona, this type of marketing strategy is only going to become a more important way to generate revenue for business owners.

•   Mobile subscribers number 6.6 billion - that's nearly 95% of the entire world population

•   There are 1.3 billion broadband subscribers

•   73 percent of people who own smartphones use them while shopping

•   40 percent of brands have their websites optimized for mobile internet users

•   90 percent of the planet is covered by mobile service

•   75 percent of the world's population is connected by mobile technology

•   8 trillion text messages were sent in 2011, which works out to 1,100 text messages per person

•   1.2 billion apps were downloaded during the last week of December 2011

Consumers love their mobile devices and savvy marketers will be making sure that they are developing strategies that will work well with them. Businesses that are getting a lot of traffic from handheld devices need to make sure that they have a mobile-friendly site. Internet users who are using smartphones and tablets to browse for information are working with a much smaller screen than desktop computer users. A mobile website needs to load quickly and the site owner may need to forgo some of the bells and whistles of the main site to accomplish this goal.

As mobile marketing continues to grow in popularity, businesses will begin to see mobile as a "must" in their overall marketing strategy, rather than an addition or "nice to have."

Mobile Internet Users to Outnumber Desktop Counterparts by 2014

Based on this marketing forecast, businesses simply cannot afford to sit back and take a "wait-and-see” approach to adopting a mobile marketingstrategy. I know that as technology advances, and devices continue to get smaller and more portable, consumers' expectations of mobile technology is only going to continue to rise.

Now is the time for businesses of all sizes to devote a specific portion of their advertising budget to their mobile website and analyze how this will attract new business for them. Using iPhones, iPads, and tablets to access the internet and look for information will increasingly become part of the buying decision. I know that many people make a point of checking Google before they decide to purchase a product or service, and this method of gathering information and comparing prices is not going to go away.

Companies interested in mobile marketing should make a point of not ignoring the power of Facebook and other social media websites. If they want to be successful in attracting new business and retaining the current customer base, I think they need to invest a certain amount of new advertising budget and efforts into reaching out to individual customers through these sites.

Consumers are less likely to believe the corporate advertising brand or message then what another person has posted about that company online. Managing the online reputation has to be part of the overall mobile marketing strategy for it to be successful.