Digital Marketing

How to Optimize Your Mobile Marketing Strategy

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By David Tomas, on 30 September 2021

There is no excuse: if mobile is not at the core of your digital marketing strategy, it is time to adapt. Mobile phones generate a huge amount of traffic, so in order for your digital marketing strategy to succeed, developing a mobile marketing strategy is crucial. Adapting your digital strategies for mobile simply means identifying key elements of your marketing efforts and introducing them to your user's mobile devices.

The mobile app market has reached maturity, and users are ready to get the most out of mobile marketing. In order to fully understand and incorporate mobile marketing into your strategy, let’s take a look at what it is, the tools you can use, and how it can be used to increase conversions.* Discover the most important digital marketing metrics you should know!  Click here to download ourfree ebook that breaks down these 130 metrics,  including video, social media, and SEM analytics.

How to Optimize Your Mobile Marketing Strategy


What Is Mobile Marketing?

Mobile marketing focuses on promoting products, services, and mobile apps on mobile devices like smartphones.

Its biggest advantage is that it creates a personal channel between the advertiser and the audience, offering lots of options for personalization.

Over the years, the popularity of smartphones has completely changed the way that people access information and shop. Thanks to this, new forms of marketing have risen to the top and many even believe that mobile marketing has created a paradigm shift in the advertising world.

Not too long ago, mobile marketing was considered a complement to traditional digital marketing that targeted desktop users. Nowadays, there is no doubt that mobile has become king.


Why Invest In Mobile Marketing?

The statistics prove that mobile marketing is capable of giving your brand the extra push it needs.

  • Users connect more frequently from their smartphones than from their desktops. In the United States, 75.1% of internet users connect from their mobile devices.
  • Another mobile marketing advantage is how easy it is to convert users. By using smartphones, you can reach users in real time, even when they aren't homes and when they are most willing to purchase. According to one of Google’s studies, 50% of users who made a local search from their smartphone ended up taking an action like visiting a store. As for users who made these searches from their desktops, only 39% ultimately took action.
  • Most consumers search for holiday events and gift ideas from their smartphones, making mobile marketing a very attractive channel for holiday campaigns. This is especially true for small and local businesses, as it can help inform users where to go to make purchases near them.


The Most Important Mobile Marketing Tools


1. Mobile Searches

Search results on mobile devices are different than ones shown on desktop, and for quite some time, Google has made mobile indexing the priority. In other words, it is essential to have a specific SEO strategy for mobile.

When optimizing your website for mobile devices, follow these best practices:

  • Mobile users do not read as much as people who search from desktop devices, so less is more.
  • Patience is also significantly reduced on mobile devices, so be sure your loading times are as short as they can be.
  • Prioritize responsive design and usability. The size of the buttons is also very important.


2. Mobile Ads

Traditional banners are met with increasingly more skepticism and disapproval, and smartphones are no exception to the rise of adblockers. For this reason, it is important to use formats that are less intrusive and offer a better user experience like interactive ads, animated banners, and videos.


3. Mobile Apps

Smartphone users have completely integrated apps into their lives. A brand app can be an incredible investment to increase engagement and improve the users’ experience. It is important to make sure that your app is supported by a thorough and complete app marketing strategy. The design is just a fraction of the work.


4. Coupons

Discount coupons have been around forever, but, thanks to mobile, they have been completely revolutionized.

Now, you can send personalized offers by using the user’s location and other data, capturing their attention at the right time. If you really want to modernize your strategy, “disappearing coupons” on apps like Snapchat are a great way to create a sense of urgency.


5. Email Marketing

One of the main tasks people use their smartphones for is to check their emails. According to Hubspot, there are 4 billion email users daily, and this number is expected to climb to 4.6 billion by 2025.

Email marketing techniques are better than ever. If you do decide to use email, be sure to use responsive templates.

Periodically, send a newsletter summarizing the latest posts published on your blog and share news about your industry and internal and external videos that might be interesting to your customer database. Additionally, you can send promotions or offers and let them know of any changes that could affect their buying habits.


6. Geolocation

Geolocation is one way in which mobile marketing has completely revolutionized advertising. You can now offer users promotions and discounts depending on their physical contexts.

Location-based mobile platforms also offer people the chance to share content based on a certain space or location. The latest exterior digital advertising formats also open many new and exciting doors to encourage interaction.

Geographic location is a great benefit of mobile marketing. Mobile internet access offers endless possibilities and allows for greater accessibility. User response is much more flexible, dynamic, and immediate.


7. Text and Multimedia Messages

Text messages (SMS) were the first tool to be used in mobile marketing, and they are still an efficient way of offering users promotions and information. So, don't forget about them!


10 Tips to Convert More With Your Marketing Campaigns for Mobile Devices


1. Be Responsive. Responsive design is imperative for your marketing campaigns to succeed. Remember that you not only have to adapt your webpage but also the rest of your promotional materials.


2. Improve your website’s navigation. If you want to increase your conversion rates, your UX is key, so prioritize navigation. Simple details like including a smooth and simple way to navigate to the menu and page footer make the difference between a satisfied customer who makes a purchase or a frustrated one who leaves your site halfway through. Your CTA buttons and links must also, of course, be totally compatible with mobile devices.

3. Create your own app. When you design it, ask yourself why users should download it and keep using it 6 months later.


4. Don’t forget about desktop. This may seem contradictory, but desktop computers still have a spot at the marketing table. They are very useful for pre-purchase researching, when users want to take a deeper look at content.


5. Adapt your content to mobile users’ preferences. When people are out and about, their needs in terms of searching for content change. They don’t really want to stop and read a 3,000-word article. They need quick solutions that work for smaller screens. So be clear, concise, and use short titles.


6. List your store on Google My Business. If you want users to visit your store, you’ll have to show up when they search for you. For that to happen, you need your business to be on the map. It is a very simple process that will immediately improve your traffic from search engines.


7. Add a personal touch. In a world full of content, users need to know you are thinking of them. Here are some quick tips to get closer to your audience: identify each user's specific needs, use images and videos, and tell stories about your brand.


8. Include social media in your strategy. Nowadays, most social interactions come from mobile devices. Mobile social networks, like Instagram, are extremely rewarding for businesses when paired with the right targeting.


9. Combine different channels in your campaigns. Don't limit your campaign to just one channel. Reach out to each user in a personalized way and offer an integrated, seamless experience. When planning campaigns, think of different ways to connect with your users on mobile devices.


10. Follow up on your results in real time. There are an incredible number of metrics at your fingertips - use them! If you really want to optimize your campaigns, consider A/B testing.


10 Steps to Optimize Your Mobile Marketing


1. Create a Responsive Webpage

The conversion rate is 160% higher for consumer shopping sites that are optimized for mobile. As we mentioned above, Having a responsive format is crucial to improve the consumer experience and improve search engine rankings. Google penalizes companies that do not have adapted websites.

Having an entirely responsive website should be the first step in your mobile marketing strategy.

Has your company already taken this step? Great! Then, you can focus on the next one: improving the user experience.

One thing is clear: the easier you make things for your users, the easier it will be for them to convert into clients. A smooth mobile experience that makes the purchasing process easier is one of the best investments you can make for your brand.

Offer the options of logging in or signing up using social profiles, rather than forcing them to create a profile from scratch. This makes it much easier for them to continue with their purchasing process.



2. Include an Option to Pay via Mobile

Smartphones have changed the way we shop. 71% of buyers using loyalty programs use their smartphones to compare prices and 88% say they trust the reviews they read online.

For mobile users, less is more when it comes to conversions. That's exactly why big companies have implemented the option to pay by mobile.

Social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have integrated “Buy Now” buttons that allow users to pay and purchase directly from their phones, instead of being redirected to an external page. This significantly cuts down on potential distractions, making it much less likely for users to abandon the process along the way. Logically, this translates to higher conversion rates.

Mobile purchases are an incredible opportunity to reach out to users at the precise moment when they are ready to buy. This method is a key part of many brands’ mobile marketing plans.

If you want to be sure you are doing right by your mobile marketing strategy, you should investigate and read up on payment platforms until you find one that offers security as well as simplicity.

Technology has impacted stores, especially mobile, as they have changed the purchase path between users. Creating an ecommerce platform is a good option to retain the most frequent users of online shopping and modernize your image.


3. Launch a Mobile Ad

Mobile SEO is vital if your goal is to increase your brand’s visibility. A good mobile marketing strategy keeps users who are searching for you on their mobile phones at the center.

Thanks to tools like Google AdWords, you can create ads specifically for mobile, allowing you to make the most of their “real-time” potential. These kinds of ads are particularly useful for local searches and depend heavily on the context.

The next step is to figure out what people most frequently search for on their mobile devices related to your brand. With the help of keyword tools, dig deep into the most searched keywords on these devices and figure out how you can solve your users’ needs with your content. Creating a fully and entirely optimized campaign can be quite tricky when starting from scratch, so if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch with a SEM expert who can help you get the most out of mobile advertising.


4. Increase the Ways to Interact With Your Brand

Users are not all the same, nor are all purchasing experiences. That's why it is so important to offer users different ways to communicate with your brand. Here are some ideas:

  • Clicking on an ad’s image
  • Calling directly from their smartphones
  • Messaging you on social media
  • Seeing offers and placing orders through an app
  • And if you have a physical store, give them all possible ways to find it! Why just give them an address when you can include a map?

Another very important thing to remember is that people use a large variety of mobile devices to shop online. Make sure your mobile marketing is compatible with different devices and operating systems.


5. Join Mobile Social Networks

Although you must consider all possible distribution channels, social media is a key channel. In fact, 39% of Facebook users come only through mobile, and in the case of Twitter, this percentage rises to over 60%.

Networks such as Instagram, Snapchat, and Periscope use mobile to their full potential and create unique opportunities, as it is a vital piece of the marketing puzzle.

But, as all marketers know, social networks come and go. Although one may seem to be taking over the world today, there is no guarantee that it will be around forever.

For your social media marketing to work, personalization on each platform is key. Be sure not to publish the same content on all networks at the same time, or you will run the risk of driving away your followers and friends. Instead, bond with them by publishing real-time photos or videos that will get them used to your brand’s day-to-day life, philosophy, experience, and personality. If you want to impress your clients and get your mobile marketing to work, diversify, adapt and thrive!

And, of course, do not forget to measure and monitor the results from all your social media channels to discover what content really works and continuously optimize your brand’s communication.


6. Make the Most of Marketing via SMS

If you think SMS is a thing of the past, you couldn’t be more wrong! Using SMS to contact your customers is a good idea and it's also less frequently used than email.

Avenue, a clothing company, has realized that its female clientele loves mobile offerings. For this reason, it has based part of its marketing campaign on sending SMS messages with offers and coupons to present new seasonal trends.

Studies seem to show that smartphone users tend to read promotional SMS more frequently than emails. Mobile Marketing via SMS can be one of the best ways to get quick results, especially if you combine them with discount codes or coupons that redirect users to your website.


7. Make the Most of Coupons and Discounts

Remember when our parents would cut out coupons from newspapers and magazines and take them to the store? Well, mobile marketing can use this same strategy to attract clients… slightly more conveniently and efficiently!

No one goes anywhere without their smartphone, meaning we don't have to worry about forgetting our coupons at home. Mobile coupons make it easy to attract our clients’ attention. By combining them with geolocation technology and push notifications, we can tempt them with offers tailored to their location at any moment.

To make the most of your discount strategy, create irresistible offers adapted for any situation. Marketing automation can help you manage different profiles to make sure you make the perfect offer at the perfect time. And if you want to create a certain sense of urgency to encourage conversion, try combining these coupons with temporary content on social media, such as Snapchat.


8. Mobile App or Mobile Website

Many companies are rushing to create an application simply because their competitors are. On average, Americans check their phones at least once every 5.5 minutes. Most of this time is spent interacting with apps.

Creating a mobile app can be costly. So, consider a properly optimized mobile site, as it can fulfill all your needs without needing to be physically downloaded. A couple of other advantages are that access is possible from any device and it costs significantly less.

On the flip side, a mobile app allows for more creativity and higher conversion and retention rates because users spend more time interacting with it. There is a clear and easy path to acquire leads, client data, and connect with your audience.

If you decide to include a mobile app in your mobile marketing strategy, remember that promoting it properly is essential.


9. Plan Ahead

Normally, people start planning their Christmas shopping months in advance, even if it’s just by making a list of gift ideas. It is never too early to start planning your campaigns for next year. As a general rule of thumb, aim for your Christmas campaigns to be ready by September at the latest.


10. Make the Most of Trends and Events

The holiday season is full of opportunities to launch mobile marketing campaigns! For example, you can prepare for Black Friday ahead of time, making it easy and straightforward for users to access your deals and offers. In this case, Google Ads for mobile can be extremely useful and can be used to plan any type of seasonal campaign.

Remember that in terms of mobile marketing, integration is key. When planning out your strategy, think about creating synergy between your mobile marketing strategy and your other channels. For example, if the link in your SMS redirects to a page that is not adapted and ready to be viewed on mobile devices, you will not get any conversions. Strong coordination is essential when implementing your holiday mobile marketing strategy. Good luck!


5 Mobile Marketing Metrics Any Manager Needs to Know

It is vital for your brand to have a mobile marketing strategy that consumers resonate with. To know whether or not your efforts are successful and justify your investment in mobile advertising, you need to fully understand mobile analytics. So, here are the 5 mobile marketing metrics managers need to know.


1. App Installs

The number of times your app has been installed is the most obvious indicator of your app marketing strategy’s success. The first step is, naturally, to convince potential users that your app is worth downloading. If you are able to attract a significant amount of downloads, it will generate a type of magnetic effect that will attract even more people. But App Installs is not the only metric you need to pay attention to: keep reading to find out which are the most exact and effective mobile marketing metrics.


2. Registrations

The first mobile analytics mistake you need to avoid: mixing installations up with registrations. They are two very different metrics and, in fact, they tend not to match. This happens for two reasons:

  • Users download your app but never actually open it, and therefore never register in it.
  • Users install your app on several devices (on their smartphone and their tablet, for example), but only use one account.

All in all, registrations offer a more trustworthy perspective of your app’s real number of users.


3. User Activity

When analyzing user activity data, we start leaving behind the world of mere metrics and enter into the world of KPIs, which can truly provide you with valuable information to guide your business decisions. Here are the user activity metrics you must not lose sight of:

  • Active Users. Normally, this number is measured over a certain period of time: the most common being daily, weekly, and monthly active users. If all of your users were to use your app every day of the month, then your number of daily active users would be the same as your monthly active users.... But alas, real life tends to be slightly more challenging than that.
  • Frequency of use. This metric is very important to measure how much people actually interact with your app. You can also calculate the engagement rate by dividing the daily active users by the monthly active users. For example, if your daily audience is 100, and your monthly 500, your engagement rate would be 20%, although it is important to keep in mind that this isn’t uniform.
  • Retention Rate. This figure measures the frequency users return to use the app again. It is normally measured over a period of time: two days, a week, two weeks or a month. It is very important and particularly relevant for financial planning in mobile marketing.
  • Session Duration. Lastly, you should be paying attention to how much time users spend interacting with your app. The importance of this metric compared to others depends on the kind of app. Games or social networks, for example, strive to make sessions longer whereas booking apps want users’ experiences to be quick and easy.

4. Monetization Metrics

To monitor the performance of your app, you should establish some reviewable KPIs periodically. The first indicator to pay attention to is the cost/download, taking into account all the costs involved to obtain a download. Another metric to consider is the Lifetime Value (or value of lifetime users), which consists of measuring how much each customer contributes to your margin in the long run. You can use this to find patterns for your users. Additionally, paying attention to the number of daily active users will help you identify areas for improvement.

We’ve reached the part that managers will find most pertinent: monetization. How much money do users spend on your app, and how do they spend it? The indicators below will help you find out:

  • Average income per user. The most basic of the monetization metrics.
  • Average income per account. Same idea as the last, but in this case measured by account, as opposed to by individual users.
  • Average income per paying user. This tends to be significantly higher than the previous two, as it only takes premium users into account.
  • Lifetime Value (LTV). The average income generated by each user during their lifetime in your app. This is the most important metric to determine an app’s long-term profitability; in fact, many mobile marketing strategies fail because their LTVs are lower than their acquisition cost for each user.
  • A user’s average lifetime. Closely related to the LTV, this metric tells us how long users remain active. The longer you can make it, the higher the Lifetime Value will be and the higher the chances of monetizing your app.

5. Advertising Metrics

ASO, or App Store Optimization, is the process of optimizing an application to appear in the top search results on the app stores, and therefore get more downloads. Over 63% of users downloading smartphone apps do so through the Google, Android, or iOS App Stores. It is essential to choose keywords that work. You also need to be careful about the categories you introduce your app in since this choice can make the difference between success and failure.

Additionally, social ads are one of the most effective ways to promote an app. Facebook Ads and Twitter Ads, for example, have specialized formats to attract new users to an app or increase app engagement. But how do you know if you are getting what you want? Follow these metrics:

  • CPI (Cost Per Installation). It is calculated by dividing the advertising costs by the number of installations achieved. Remember that the importance of the number of installations is relative, so don’t rely on this metric alone.
  • CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost). It is calculated in the same way as the CPI, but taking into account the number of registrations, as opposed to installations. For this reason, it is a more trustworthy way to know how much it costs to attract new users through advertising.
  • Conversion ratio. This is one of the most important metrics to optimize your mobile marketing strategy. It is most commonly calculated by analyzing the relationship between the number of times an app is clicked on, and app installs. It can also be used to compare the quality of the traffic received.

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David Tomas

CEO y cofundador de Cyberclick. Cuenta con más de 20 años de experiencia en el mundo online. Es ingeniero y cursó un programa de Entrepreneurship en MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. En 2012 fue nombrado uno de los 20 emprendedores más influyentes en España, menores de 40 años, según la Global Entrepreneurship Week 2012 e IESE. Autor de "La empresa más feliz del mundo" y "Diario de un Millennial".

CEO and co-founder of Cyberclick. David Tomas has more than 20 years of experience in the online world. He is an engineer and completed an Entrepreneurship program at MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2012 he was named one of the 20 most influential entrepreneurs in Spain, under the age of 40, according to Global Entrepreneurship Week 2012 and IESE. Author of "The Happiest Company in the World" and "Diary of a Millennial".