You’ve heard it a thousand times – mobile marketing is everything. It’s not enough to be mobile-friendly or mobile-ready; mobile is the first screen – and it’s all true.  With more than 7 billion people walking the Earth’s surface, apparently more own smartphones than toothbrushes. Well, that explains some things…

A friend of mine recently told me that he finds it fascinating how much I disconnect with the world when I am on my phone. “Most people just use their phone simultaneously with whatever else they are doing”, he tells me.

This lack of ability to maintain focus on multiple things is not something I am proud of. In fact, I’ve made it one of my new year’s resolutions to spend less time looking at the screen! While he might not have been mistaken about my phone habit, he was wrong about one thing – it’s not just me.

So before this turns into a ‘Hi I’m Tanja and I am a smartphonoholic’, let me tell you about how my intimate relationship with my mobile device (and I am sure I am not the exception) can be beneficial to you, dear marketer.

We’re inseparable – and that means I’m always within reach

We’re all a little bit hypocritical when it comes to this one. Sure, we don’t want to be available and at someone’s disposal the whole time, but in reality, we don’t part with our phones all too often.

Not to be gross, but a 2015 survey by Verizon reported that a whopping 90 % out of 6,000 respondents said they bring their phones with them when they use the bathroom.

My phone is “the one” I wake up to and the last thing I see before I fall asleep. In the 14 hours between that, an average person looks at their phone 85 times a day. That’s almost a third of the time a person is awake.

Fun fact: more smartphones than toothbrushes on this planet.

Huge viral potential of mobile marketing (if you do it right)

There is only one thing that influences the purchasing decisions of mobile users more than an offer received from a company – a friend’s opinion.

And it’s really not that difficult to get mobile users to share your content these days. A cheesy video or a decent discount will do the trick.

However, make sure that your promo content actually can be shared. If your social sharing buttons do not work when displayed on mobile, a lot of people won’t be seeing your content simply because it isn’t shareable from a mobile device.

If I had a penny for every time I wanted to share a cool commercial on my Facebook wall or just forward a link but the sharing buttons were broken, I’d have about 15 pennies. But you get the idea – if it doesn’t work the first time I try, I don’t bother trying again.

First it crosses my mind, then I search it

People are needy.

You get up too late in the morning again, miss the bus to work (again) and you might find yourself looking up cars for sale while waiting on the next one. You might get hungry in the meantime, so you’ll search for the closest deli. Maybe you get some mayo on your shirt so you need a quick wash & dry.

Get what I’m saying? Those are marketing opportunities!

The smartphone is the holy grail of location-based marketing; sharing the right message to match a user’s location and actions at the right moment. If I’m grabbing my phone to search for a product or a service I need, I intend to purchase it when I found what I’m looking for.

If you don’t believe me, trust Google, since apparently 9 out of 10 mobile searches lead to action, with more than 50% leading to sales.

Tailor-made offers

Everybody loves getting some special treatment. A little bit of personalization of in-store experiences will go a long way with your customers.

Incentivize purchase by recognizing their shopping preferences, offering time-limited discounts or giving your shoppers additional information about the product, such as stock quantity.

Mobile marketing has the super power to bring together the instant access of data from the cloud and real-world engagement from in-store shopping to make magical things happen.

Nothing haunts us like the things we didn’t buy.

The smartphone is the new wallet

Of course, you can use your desktop computer to shop online and it still is the preferred platform for actual conversion, but GlobalWebIndex reported a growing trend of smartphones being used to lock purchases down, as well.

That being said, almost 50% of global population is unbanked and without a credit card; at the same time, there are more active mobile phones than there are people living on Earth.

With mobile payment, they can purchase your products or services right from their mobile phone!

“Check it out! It’s scratchable and shakeable!”

One of the most often heard wisdom quotes about leading a quality life is to never stop having fun.

This applies to your audience, too, so take advantage of many available interactive banner types and create an ad they will want to engage with.

Give them a discount they have to scratch to reveal or walk them through a 360° presentation of your product.

And do video ads! Mobile marketing is way more beneficial for videos over desktop advertising, because viewers watch them in full-screen mode on their mobile phones, focused totally on your video. Also, they like when there are no ads popping up and down all over the place to distract them.

When talking about mobile, only sky is the limit! So, for recap version, check out the slides below:

Mobile is not an option, it’s a must

Some of these things might seem pretty self-explanatory; some may have surprised you.

But if you’re going to take away one thing from this article, one reason why a mobile marketing strategy should not be an option but a must, think about this: a 2016 report from Cisco says that by 2020, there will be more people globally who own a cell phone than those who have electricity or running water.

Looks like we have no problem dying of thirst, as long as our mobile-hungry tummies are full. Yum.