To the average person mobile advancements are convenient, but to a marketer or advertiser, mobile is clutch. Over the past few years, mobile media has made a lasting impression on sales organizations of all different shapes and sizes. My point in 30 seconds or less? Mobile is important. No matter what your business or target audience, you need a mobile strategy if you want to stay (or get) on top.
Perhaps the most fascinating thing about the mobile marketing boom is that advertisers and marketers in all industries are adopting mobile practices and technologies that integrate into their already established markets. For example, in the world of print (ads, mail, packaging, and labels), several types of mobile marketing have become increasingly popular and left a momentous effect.
Here are a few types of mobile marketing technologies that printers throughout the world have been adding as part of their services and offerings. Keep in mind that offering a customer a direct mail campaign is great, but offering a direct mail campaign that has mobile components is a sure way to increase the life and success of a campaign.
Popular Mobile Technologies
SMS:
Short Message Service, better known as SMS, has given new life to brand labels everywhere. In this day and age, consumers are hungry for information. Now with their mobile devices in their pockets, the world is at their fingertips.
Adding a SMS call to action on, for instance, a beer label, creates a new way to engage customers with the product and their mobile phone.
QR Codes:
QR Codes are a type of barcode that, when scanned by a mobile device’s camera, can link to a URL, e-mail, phone number, and so on. Putting one of these on a print ad is an awesome way to bring a prospect from a physical piece of advertisement to a corresponding mobile part of that campaign. Remember, engaging customers on various channels and through multiple media sources (including mobile devices) is the best way to achieve marketing success.
There are several advantages of QR Codes, including creative branding and consumer interaction.
NFC
Near Field Communications (NFC) is a set of standards that allow smart devices to communicate with each other when they are in close in proximity. This has resulted in several trends and new ways to integrate mobile in marketing.
AR
Augmented reality (AR) is basically the application of taking graphics from a media device and integrating them into real-world environments.
In conclusion, if you want to be successful and keep your marketing and services relevant, mobile matters. Mobile has completely integrated itself into our everyday lives, and is now the bridge we can call "opportunity" between customers and businesses.
To celebrate the holidays and the end of the year, I wanted to give all my readers a special gift—a copy of our latest infographic, "The World Gone Mobile," packed full of fun and interesting mobile statistics. Please click here to download your free copy. I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday!
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- Business Management - Marketing/Sales
John Foley Jr. is the CEO of interlinkONE and Grow Socially. John and his team help printers get on a strong path to marketing success. Their approach includes software solutions, consulting, Website development, marketing audits, and strategic marketing plans. interlinkONE’s software solutions for the print industry include their marketing automation platform, MAX, and ilinkONE V8. Learn more about MAX: Marketing Automation. Executed. by visiting MarketWithMAX.com, John at JohnFoleyJr.com, and his companies at interlinkONE.com and GrowSocially.com.