What is mobile marketing? It refers to any promotional activity that takes place on smart devices. This form of marketing is aimed at reaching an audience of mobile users through various methods. These methods include push notifications, mobile optimized ads, and mobile apps.
Marketers are always looking for methods to enhance the user experience. They also try to find relevant opportunities to share special offers and product-related news.
Building an engaged user base increases brand loyalty and purchases. It can also turn your best clients into brand advocates. To do this, you must evaluate the possible mechanisms for engaging target audiences. You also need to focus on creating marketing campaigns that connect with clients.
Mobile phones have caused marketers to move towards the adoption of mobile-marketing strategies. This helps them to engage with clients in real-time.
Mobile Marketing Trends
Smart devices have transformed the marketing game. But as fast as technology changes, so do mobile marketing strategies.
Mobile marketing trends focus on improving the convenience of engaging with brands. Also, they move away from previous methods that were found to be annoying and invasive. So what are these mobile-marketing trends that have changed the marketing landscape? We tell you about them below.
1. Rapid Adoption of 5G
This is the latest technology standard for broadband cellular networks. 5G allows marketers to provide engaging data-heavy experiences to users. This was previously unavailable because of the limitations to bandwidth speed.
Users are upgrading their smart devices to take advantage of carriers’ 5G technology. And as such, marketers must be ready to exploit its capabilities.
The 5G technology comes with increased bandwidth. This enables high-definition virtual reality experiences and high-speed data delivery. Brands are now working towards harnessing the power and opportunities that 5G will create.
2. Push Notifications
This is a popular mobile-marketing trend integrating mobile devices. It’s the most straightforward approach to communicating with customers. It helps to deliver relevant information targeting the right audience.
Shopping apps, for instance, will alert a client about a launched product based on previous purchases. Also, downloaded apps on Android devices notify users even without internet connections.
The best thing about Android is that they make it easy for users to operate their devices. Their devices are user-friendly. They also provide Android reviews for those who can’t figure out how to take full advantage of their devices.
3. The Metaverse is Taking Over
Facebook launched its parent company, Meta, in 2021. This was a demonstration of what the future of social and brand interactions will look like.
As a user, you may spend 2022 and beyond exploring Metaverse. It’s a virtual environment that blurs the lines beyond the digital world and reality. Strapping on a VR headset to shop or navigate through a brand’s site will be more common in the future.
You have seen how Facebook became a popular social media platform. So expect Meta to take off in the same manner. According to reports, Metaverse applications will generate more than $3 billion in consumer spending by the end of 2022.
4. Location-Targeted Mobile Ads
Location-targeted mobile ads and the use of effective marketing strategies have enabled businesses to gain tremendous success.
With the help of geolocation data, the target audience can be outreach due to proximity. This enables marketers to understand their client’s habits while developing personalized messages.
This mobile marketing trend can improve customer retention. That’s because at least 60% of clients click on mobile ads to make weekly purchases through their phones. Technically speaking, location data can be very profitable. But only if you follow accurate marketing trends at the right time. And while taking care of your audience’s interest.
5. User Generated Content
User-generated content (UGC) is still an effective form of marketing. UGC is content related to an image, audio, video, or a brand that users create and post online. This is unlike influencer marketing where users are sought out and paid by marketers. UGC engenders a high degree of trust depending on real-life and unpaid experiences.
UGC can be a double-edged sword. If it’s positive, it generates word of mouth that drives sales and increases trust for your brand. But if negative, it can do the opposite and ruin your client’s perception of your brand. Below are examples of user-generated content:
- Blogs
- Social media posts
- Client reviews on Reddit and other forums
6. Augmented Reality
Due to the emerging fast-tracking technologies, conversion rates of clients are more important. The much-hyped augmented reality(AR) apps like gaming apps and Snapchats are good examples.
Moreover, eCommerce business owners can use the software to create augmented photos for products. That’s why AR experienced substantial growth in 2020 and 2021. This trend is expected to continue getting mass acceptance. As a result, its visual elements among mobile companies and business apps are growing.
7. Native Advertising
The widespread use of native advertising has continued to gain momentum. Native advertising takes the form of:
- Blog posts
- Recommendations
- Branded or sponsored content
- Instant messenger sticker packs
This type of content continues to prove the effectiveness of native advertising. Also, known as content marketing, this trend helps to strengthen consumer loyalty. It brings value to clients looking for specific information, without disrupting their experiences.
Native advertising doesn’t demand viewers to make an immediate decision to purchase. This allows users to familiarize themselves with the brand. This makes it more likely for them to convert later when re-encountering an ad with a direct call to action.
8. Programmatic Advertising
This form of advertising is a combination of big data processing and automation. As well as the work of technical experts. It utilizes artificial intelligence to get more targeted advertising automatically.
It’s a deeply automated process that works faster and more efficiently. This is compared to traditional advertising. This allows you to optimize costs and increase conversion. However, you must note that its effectiveness is based on the competence of the specialists involved.
The difference between pragmatic and traditional ads is that the former works in real-time. Additionally, this tool isn’t limited to the digital space. You can also utilize it in selling and purchasing various types of media. It’s expected that this technology will advance with the introduction of technologies like 5G.
Conclusion
Mobile devices have become more powerful and the audience keeps getting larger. The ability to access information via smartphones has raised a non-trivial task for marketers.
It enables them to produce content that can immediately capture a client’s attention. While creating the right conditions for a comfortable and organic customer journey.
The use of mobile internet is growing at a staggering rate. In 2015, mobile internet finally suppressed the desktop browsing. Smartphone ownership is growing in developing countries, and in the United States, more than two-thirds of digital media are viewed on mobile devices. These trends have brought mobile advertising into the marketing spotlight. Big companies and the world’s most respectable marketing agencies are adapting their content and marketing strategies to smartphone browsing, and the number of mobile apps has tripled over the last few years.
Mobile marketing is a very dynamic field. It is influenced by the development of mobile technologies and communication patterns. Each year when Samsung, Apple, Microsoft, and Google present their new phones, the mobile marketing strategies are complemented with the new set of features. The vast popularity of mobile apps has reshaped the marketing teams, which now contain at least one app developer and UI designer. In this article, we have shared the latest mobile marketing trends that will help you to engage mobile users and turn them into customers and brand advocates.
Messaging bots
Today, messaging apps like WhatsApp, Viber and Facebook Messenger, are the most popular social platforms. Marketers have combined them with the advanced technologies in the artificial intelligence field to create chat bots. The purpose of this software is to ignite conversations and answer users’ questions and requests. The introduction of chat bots coincided with the beginning of the new phase of more personalized marketing. This one-to-one marketing approach is directly connected with the increasing popularity of messaging apps.
Chat bots allow marketers to engage thousands of consumers at a personal level and present them with a highly customized sales pitch. Since they use the concept of deep learning, they can provide consumers with answers and bring them into the company’s sales funnel. For marketers, the bots’ learning abilities are their most important feature. Constant learning and fast data analysis improves bots’ abilities and enables them to have meaningful conversations with consumers.
Streaming and 360 video
In 2016, digital marketing was revolving around videos. By 2019, online videos will represent more than 90% of consumer-based traffic. Mobile internet users prefer video content over articles. That is one of the main reasons why the video views on Facebook have jumped from 1 to 8 million in only one year.
Marketing agencies have been closely following these statistics. A few years ago, they started offering social media video production services. This includes the production of 360 videos, which is the next logical step in video content evolution. In 2017, the ad expenditure on mobile video will grow by another 30%. Streaming is also ‘the new black’ in the mobile marketing field. It allows companies to involve millions of consumers into their promotional events.
One-time apps
Since the 5 most popular mobile apps account for more than 85% of mobile app usage, companies that have invested huge sums into app development are now facing a grim reality. There are thousands of mobile apps that lay completely forgotten on Google Play and iTunes. Google have decided to put an end to this and help app owners and developers. They’ve recently announced the launch of the Instant Apps store. At this brand new app store, users will be able to launch an app by simply clicking on its icon. They won’t need to download it or set its permissions. This new app-as-a-service concept will inspire companies to develop thousands of simple one-time apps and use them for promoting limited offers and various promotional events.
Mobile marketing automation
We have already mentioned the chat bots, but they are just one small part of the growing mobile marketing automation trend. Most automation platforms offer top-notch mobile analytics, together with a long list of other functionalities, including:
- The management of mobile channels;
- Real-time messaging;
- A/B testing;
- Deeper integration of installed apps;
Sending direct and push messages to consumers’ mobiles is a privilege for any marketer. The automation of this segment helps marketers to get exclusive data of consumers’ needs and behavior that will help them create valuable, relevant and personal mobile marketing content.
Snapchat lenses and augmented reality
Pokemon Go! has shown us the promotional capacity of augmented reality technologies. We’ve seen thousands of people chasing imaginary creatures around city streets and parks. Snapchat is the first social network that has implemented augmented reality technologies. Their lens tool is very popular among marketers and consumers. Several musicians have sold out their albums after their songs have been featured on a lens filter. Studios like 20th Century Fox and Pixar used Snapchat lenses to promote their movies, and cosmetic companies create campaigns that involve special makeup filters, and apply them on customers’ selfies.
Geofencing technologies
Geofencing is a new concept, which allows location-based companies to advertise their offer by using push notifications. Beacons, installed in stores, restaurants, and cafes can send out push notifications to all registered users, within their area. This way, stores can advertise limited-time offers and discounts and influence consumers while they’re making purchasing decisions.
Starbucks is one of the first big companies that have installed beacons in their stores. Their “Mobile Order and Pay” feature uses geofencing to allow customers to order their coffee before stepping inside the store. The further development of geofencing technologies will help location-based retailers to compensate the losses caused by increasing popularity of e-commerce.
Mobile advertising uses much more personal approach than any other form of digital marketing. Since smartphones allow marketers to contact their consumers anywhere and at any time, in the future, they’ll need to work on creating a highly personalized content for targeting different groups of mobile users. That is why the fast development of mobile analytics and the shift to the app model are the most important mobile marketing trends that will completely reshape this industry in the next few years.
Author:
Emma Miller is a Sydney based writer with a degree in marketing. Interested in digital marketing, social media, start-ups and latest trends. She’s a contributor at BizzMark Blog.