September 3, 2010 ( PowerHomeBiz.com )
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I think by it is safe to say the mobile market is as big as any. With the
big surge in smart phones such as the Blackberry and iPhone, many online
retailers, as well as local businesses such as restaurants, clothing stores,
etc are seeing the huge potential the web is having on mobile search
(news continued below)
As many people are using their mobile more and more as a source of
information and browsing the internet, the search is on and you better be
there before you miss the train. If you think the mobile market may not be
for you, try and reconsider this thought.
Some of the things you can start doing which is very popular right now is
having your own app for mobile users. Millions of applications for smart
phones are being downloaded daily and if you haven’t thought about having
your own app, it just may be what can put you over the top of many of your
competitors as they tend to spread well if it is an application that can be
useful for the end-user.
My personal favorite form of mobile marketing that I think can be
effective immediately when put in place is texting. Texting? YES. Texting.
In a report from CNN, just the teen demographic alone send about over 100
text messages a day on their own. Again, that isn’t including ANY other
demographic. Text messages are just as, if not, more popular than making
phone calls and it is instant communication, which as online retailers, that
is exactly what we want with our customers. Instant communication.
If you’ve been an online retailer for sometime, you know the
effectiveness of what a good email list can do for your business. A good
email list, obviously depending on the size, can generate from ten dollars
to thousands of dollars in the click of a “send” button. Why can’t this be
true for text? Maybe because an email is gathered on the web, the same place
you can complete the transaction? Yes. So, the same holds true now for
mobile users.
While collecting user information as you do in the checkout process, it
may not be vital to collect a field named “cell phone” and have a box
checked off for them to agree to get text messages from your company with
offers and coupons. I see this as a huge marketing scheme and can work
wonders for online retailers.
Paul Dylan is in the marketing department of Fortune3, a
shopping cart software company based in Doral, Florida focusing on
ecommerce software for online retailers.
