Moms Responding to Mobile Marketing Offers from Retailers

As most mothers know, their shopping habits change significantly when they decide to start a family, so it makes sense that they would respond well to mobile marketing initiatives made by retailers. From the time they find out that there is a little one on the way, they have very little time for themselves, but the number of tasks they are expected to perform in and around the house rises exponentially.

As a group, mothers are pressed for time but know they need to make decisions about buying items from retailers. This presents a golden opportunity for stores to connect with this demographic by bringing mobile coupons, text message promotions, and SMS marketing directly to their smartphones or mobile devices. Once a woman has one or more children who need her time and care, she has even less time to comparison shop for items she wishes to purchase.

If she can receive mobile marketing promotions and/or mobile coupons directly wherever she happens to be at present, she is halfway to making a decision to buy from that particular store. All the retailer has to do is make the effort to connect with this particular group of customers. To sweeten the deal, if a retailer can offer extras like how to videos, or independent reviews of its products, this attention to detail will only serve to boost sales.

Mobile Coupons Allow Retailers to Connect with Consumers

I've been thinking about how retailers can use mobile marketing techniques to connect with consumers in a meaningful way that will help them to increase sales and mobile coupons immediately came to mind. They are a way to present mobile phone marketing offers that consumers will find interesting and relevant directly to their smartphones or tablets.

This type of highly targeted mobile marketing technique makes it easy for retailers to develop an ongoing mobile engagement marketing relationship with their customers. The electronic coupons can be forwarded to customers on a regular basis. To get the maximum result, the mobile coupons should have a specific expiration date or be good during a certain time of day. This tactic provides a clear call to action for the recipient and encourages them to visit the retailer in a timely manner.

Some types of mobile coupons require the customer to e-mail them to him or herself before printing them. Other types of electronic coupons can be scanned at the cash register, and the discount is immediately applied to the customer's order. The latter type is the most convenient way to deliver a money-saving mobile coupon offer to a prospective buyer, since he or she doesn't have to take the extra step to print them and physically present them at the store.

If the idea is to make saving money easy and convenient, delivering offers directly to the customer's mobile device is the way to go.

How to Use Mobile Coupons in Your Business

Choosing to use mobile coupons is one of the best strategies that a modern business owner can use to boost sales and promote his or her enterprise. Now that the majority of adults in the U.S. own mobile phones, it makes good sense for businesses to deliver money-saving mobile coupon offers directly to their customers.

Text message promotions and mobile coupons can be delivered to the customers who have opted in to this service quickly and easily. The text message marketing can include a link to the company's mobile web site as well as a coupon code and instructions for the customer so that he or she can use it.

Spread the word about your mobile engagement platforms such as a mailing list by posting information about it on your advertising materials, your company website, your Facebook page, and in your store. Offering new subscribers a discount or another incentive is a good strategy to encourage people to opt in to your mobile database.

Once you start getting subscribers to your list, send them mobile coupons on a regular basis. With each message that you send out, make sure that you include instructions for people who change their mind and would like to unsubscribe from the list.

It is a good idea to deliver mobile coupons and other mobile engagement solutions to opt-in customers, which can be redeemed online or in a brick and mortar location. This approach gives them flexibility in how they will use it and will help to boost sales.

Getting Started with SMS Marketing

SMS marketing is an effective way to stay in touch with customers. To get the maximum benefit, businesses need to approach mobile as a whole a determine its overall strategy, from building their database to executing SMS messaging. The options you choose will depend on the type of business you are running and what kinds of SMS promotions, offers and information your customers will want to receive. You will also want to figure out how you will encourage customers to opt in to your SMS campaign and what the process for allowing them to opt out will be.

Once you have a basic idea of what you want to accomplish, you will need to determine what strategies you will use to build your list. I would suggest using multiple text message marketing strategies to reach this goal, such as inviting visitors to your website to sign up and instructing your staff to mention your SMS marketing program when they are communicating with customers.

Offering an incentive to customers who sign up for your SMS promotions list is a good way to encourage them to take action. The incentive can be a mobile coupon, a free service, or a special report your target market would be interested in receiving.

When you are sending out SMS text marketing messages, you will want to make sure that the content is relevant to your customer base. Treating your list members as VIPs by giving them advance notice of sales and extra special offers will encourage them to stay on your list.

Mobile Coupons Great Choice for Earth Day and Beyond

Mobile coupons are a very popular mobile engagement marketing choice and there are good reasons why a company should invest in them. As consumers are becoming ever more aware of the impact their choices are having on the environment, I can see that businesses that are demonstrating their commitment to keeping things green will be more likely to attract this type of buyer. The eyes of the world will be focused on this issue on Earth Day, but presenting your business as an environmentally friendly one is one of the best practices for mobile engagement, and is something you can do on a year-round basis.

The advantage to using mobile coupons is that they can be placed in your customer's hands quickly and easily. With cell phones becoming a necessary item for many people, you can get your offer directly to your target market and personalize it so that they are more likely to take action than if you had your coupon randomly delivered to a specific geographic area.

Delivering mobile coupons directly to your customers' cell phones is a much more effective choice, since your customers are more likely to view and use the coupons, and no trees are sacrificed to make the coupon. Your business can reach out to buyers to offer special deals on a regular basis without the customer having to deal with more paper coming into their homes or lives. It's a way to do business that benefits both parties.

Luxury Retailers Now Offering Mobile Coupons to Customers

I was interested to discover recently that luxury retailers such as Neiman Marcus are embracing mobile marketing and changing the way they attract customers. These companies are offering mobile coupons and mobile apps campaigns, and the results of this strategy are proving effective for them.

NM Service App

For example, Neiman Marcus has recently introduced a program called NM Service. Customers accessing this pilot program can find out when their favorite sales clerks will be working. This mobile app for business also allows customers to schedule an appointment with a specific salesperson or pick out the items they are most interested in seeing when they arrive at the store.

I can see that this mobile marketing strategy would be an effective one to engage buyers and foster loyalty with a company's existing customer base. The app reaches out to customers where they are and offers them the convenience of dealing with staff members with whom they have already developed a relationship. This mobile engagement platform also allows busy consumers to focus on the types of items they are most interested in when they visit the store's brick and mortar location.

Customers who are shopping at luxury retail establishments have a certain expectation of the level of service they are going to receive when they go shopping. Being able to arrange an appointment in advance at the store with someone they know is going to be an attractive feature for customers and being able to arrange to view a set product line is even more likely to make these customers feel special.