5 Mobile Applications that will drive your Mobile Marketing
Posted by alex
If you aren’t with the program yet, mobile phones have gone to another level. Let your marketing - and mobile marketing - run with it. Don’t be left behind. Here are 5 reasons consumers will drive mobile marketing. They’re mobile applications and mobile websites that are HOT!
Firstly, go out there and get a 3G handset and pay the extra few bucks for a mobile data plan. Millions of other punters have. It’s worth it.
Google Maps for Mobile is a mobile application that you download onto your mobile phone (like a game or ringtone). Once installed (all very easy), the application references Google Maps to give you a map of your requested location or business.
When I moved from Melbourne to Sydney this mobile mapping and directory application was invaluable. After that, I was hooked. Who needs GPS? With a rudimentary sense of direction and Google Maps on my mobile I can get almost anywhere.
The flipside: From a mobile marketing perspective, Google Maps business listings are populated by local directory services. In Australia this is True Local. If you want to be found by the increasing number of Google Maps users make sure your listing is up-to-date, accurate and - most importantly - actually listed in the respective directory. I have struck out searching for things as simple as “car batteries” and “barbers” in my area - even though I know these businesses are just around the corner.
2: Opera Mini
While I was satisfied with the browser in my mobile phone for ages, I didn’t know what I was missing until I downloaded Opera’s version of their browser for mobile devices: Opera Mini. Once again, it is a mobile application free to download. My built-in mobile browser application looks basic by comparison.
Interestingly - for those search marketers among us - Opera Mini has a Yahoo! search window built-in. Watch Google move quickly to counter this! The only other thing I will add is the first 9 bookmarks are linked automatically to hotkeys on your number pad. Sweet. Check it out.
Waiting for a bus? Sitting on a train? Waiting for a client to turn up to a meeting you are (naturally) early for? Check out the very cool (and currently ad free) Facebook for Mobile. It works well for all mobile browsers and mobile handsets I’ve tested it on. Just type m.facebook.com into your mobile browser. Awesome.
If you aren’t using Netvibes as your web-based RSS feed aggregator you should be. Period. If you’ve got it, great. If not, it’s easy to setup and import your feeds etc. but that’s not what we’re talking about here. To get your Netvibes on your mobile thumb m.netvibes.com into your mobile browser. Easy peasy.
I was an early convert to Gmail and have canned all my other free-mail accounts since. 5GB of email storage and counting. Now with the Gmail mobile application (free to download) my email is available almost everywhere, the username and password is cached sweetly etc. so it’s pretty much faster for me to login from my mobile than my desktop. Hotkeys to delete and archive (7 and 9 respectively) etc. Loving life.
So what? Mobile marketing starts here!
Now if I’m onto these hot little mobile applications there’s a fair chance a good chunk of various juicy market segments out there are onto ‘em too. I’m sure I’ve left a few mobile marketing channels out here, but in these five little applications we have covered: mobile maps, mobile directories, mobile internet and WAP, mobile search, mobile social networking, blogs and mobile email. This means you have to prepare for consumers interacting with you online via their mobile as they do on their PC - and more. It makes me all jittery just thinking about the mobile marketing opportunities.
Next Steps
Let’s keep this simple. Here are a couple of things you can do this week to better understand and prepare for the mobile consumer.
1. Get with the program. Get a real mobile phone. Educate yourself and expand your horizons by spending a bit of time on a high quality mobile handset cruising the web. Try searching for stuff, check out your competitors sites. Ask your friends and/or kids what they think. Evangelize. It’s not the end of the world - it’s the future.
2. If you are a business owner or agency, update your (and your clients) contact details in online directories. Trust me when I say: there is crap information out there, misdirecting your impatient customers to your competitors. In the future, we will have even less patience than we have now.
3. Ask your web developer “is my site optimised for mobile devices?”. Test it! It’s not is it. I thought so. Hire someone (or an agency) who can solve the problem. Feel free to ask me!
4. Consider mobile in your marketing strategy as both push and pull media. That means - think of it from the start as you develop your marketing strategy. You can’t just tack it on at the end of your marketing plan. Mobile marketing is not expensive but it takes some thought to properly integrate.
Get amongst it!