The global nature of the pandemic has seriously damaged the global growth story and has thrown all the consumer behavior analytics out of the window. Most of 2020 has been miserable not only for the businesses but also for the consumers as well. Under the shadow of Covid, the entire global lifestyle witnessed unprecedented changes. Along with needs, storage, quantities, supply system, shopping mediums and payment modes, even the usage of products has changed.

With consumers displaying massive changes in purchasing patterns, marketers have their tasks cut out. Digital marketing and advertising experts have gone to their drawing board to comprehend these developing changes and to devise new strategies to build consumer confidence and to bring the shoppers back to their happy times.

Major Changes in Marketing Trends:

As marketing experts, we have observed quite a few robust changes that may make every marketing strategy redundant. And though the goals may remain the same, the strategies and tactics have to be changed fundamentally at the advent of the 3rd decade of the 21st century.

In this regard, a few emerging trend changes are:

1) The necessity of having an online habitat

The lockdown due to Covid19 revealed upon businesses – small, medium or big – that online presence in the form of a website or a mobile app is inevitable to remain a player in the market.

2) Offering something tangible:

Consumers won’t be lured with lofty promises and good packaging anymore. Businesses are now compelled to offer something that consumers touch or feel, like a part of a product, to believe in a service or product.

3) A thrust on audiovisual content:

Science has proven that humans are more receptive to things that have both, audio as well as visuals, to understand the offerings better. Hence, video marketing is the best choice for any business that is serious about making gains.

4)Investing in retainable consumers:

Suspension of economic activities during the pandemic brought a paradigm shift in business thinking. Instead of investing billions in acquiring new customers, the focus should be on retaining the existing ones as it is cost-effective and improves the profit ratio gradually.

5) Personalized Promotion:

Going personal and touching the senses of the consumer is the new mantra. Every business is attempting one or the other way to add that human & personal touch in their communications to make the consumer feel connected with the brand.
To showcase your products in a contactless manner, having an online presence is inevitable. And, unless you offer some verifiable stuff to consumers, building trust in the brand would be a herculean task. Also, mere words won’t do for the consumers anymore. There should be content that consumers visibly can see and feel to believe. Moreover, investing in existing customers would be a more reliable marketing strategy compared to blindly spending on acquiring new consumers.

However, among all the challenges that marketers are facing today, taking brands to the personal level of consumers is the most demanding and critical. This is the reason why Personalized content has been the most talked-about issue among marketing experts across the world.

The Solution:

We, as innovative digital marketers, have identified the challenge and have come up with a solution. Though it is always easier said than done, we believe Mobile Marketing is the viable alternative to all kinds of marketing to reach the workspaces, studios, classrooms, kitchens and bedrooms of consumers effectively and productively.

What is Mobile Marketing?

The background:
The days are gone when smartphones were a luxury. A laborer earning Rs 10000 a month can afford technologically advanced smartphones nowadays. In a country like ours, smartphone penetration has reached up to 65% and is set to grow at a 14% rate in the year 2021.

Mobile Marketing

Mobile marketing is an approach in which content is optimized for smartphones and promoted through apps, games, entertainment platforms, social media and websites.

Mobile marketing provides an opportunity for brands to provide location and time-sensitive information that is truly personalized for the user. This tech-driven promotion enables brands to deliver exactly what consumers need, and at a time they need.

Why is Mobile Marketing strategically important?

This widespread expansion of mobile technology allows us marketers to push the mobile-optimized audiovisual content not only on smartphones, but other digital devices as well. Mobile marketing not only allows brands to navigate across a large audience landscape but also inspires them to promote on a more personal level.

One of the major advantages marketers have with mobile marketing is the time consumers spend on a mobile. On an average, an Indian consumer spends close to 5 hours on mobile phones. That alone is a fact enough to inspire brands to push their promotions on mobile phones with more personalized content to quicken the acquisition and onboarding process.

Another factor that makes mobile marketing a preferred choice over others is the “do more with less” theory. Among other significant advantages of Mobile Marketing, is the reduced long-term marketing cost. This is because once the brand information reaches the personal level, brands may not require to spend their fortunes on other offline and digital marketing channels to reach out to potential buyers.

Here are some more interesting mobile marketing statistics:

• Mobile users spend 80% of their time on apps, especially on gaming apps!
• Compared to mobiles, users prefer checking websites on tablets more, by 70%
• Tablet users are more likely to buy a product as compared to mobile users
• In the US, 79% of mobile users have shopped online in the last 3 months
• In India, active eCommerce penetration has reached up to 74% due to mobiles
• Globally, internet crossed the 100% penetration mark in Q4 of 2018

As per these are the mobile penetration trends across the globe and the fact that Covid has sent almost all the businesses online, internet marketing consultants will rightfully surmise that the era of smartphones has truly arrived. Moreover, developing consumer behavior trends suggest that if a digital marketer isn’t putting the best practices of mobile marketing in place, he/she is to lose much more ground in a post-covid world.

Best Practices in Mobile Marketing:

Look from whichever side, marketing trends indicate only one reality – go mobile. Because staying ahead of the trends and competitors isn’t an easy job and because mobile is far too local and drives immediate sales, adhering to best practices for mobile marketing is crucial for every digital marketer.

Engage with a broad consumer base:

A brand cannot afford to confine itself to a limited or selective audience base but have to think of the big picture. A digital marketer must ensure a unified source of information flow and integration of data from various channels as well as cross-channel interactions.

This allows designing a marketing strategy that adapts to the right messaging at a personalized level through every touchpoint – be it emails, mobile apps, websites, gaming apps or even SMSs.

Pursue the right users:

Since the smartphone user base is vast and growing rapidly, acquiring the right users for your brand is challenging. Usually, brands spend fortunes on acquiring new customers. Therefore, to make sure that the spending does not go in vain on such customers who may not remain engaged, devising a smart marketing strategy is critical.

Think of long term growth:

Since mobile marketing is relatively new, phenomenal marketers are getting acquainted to, looking for immediate gains is an obvious quest. However, strategizing beyond the immediate future should be the key goal of mobile marketing strategy.

Mobile marketing scope should be broad enough to not only acquire new customers but also engage them after the first purchase.

Optimize for local users:

As an online marketing expert, you must have observed the extensive use of the “Near Me” feature. Smartphone users always look for instant solutions from the closest possible geographic source. While solving their query, it is essential to provide them the solutions from the environment they belong to in the shortest period.

Be Clear and Concise:

All that smartphone users have to look for information and make a decision is from the 6 inches of a specific space. Therefore, brand promotion should be pinpointed, precise, and simple. If a mobile user is searching for something, he/she is a potential buyer of that stuff. Being straightforward and bold enough to provide exact information relating to users’ needs helps acquire new customers quickly.

Compelling CTA:

The most important aspect of mobile marketing is offering a Call-To-Action throughout the promotion. Besides, content should be very precise to the needs of customers to push them to the next logical conclusion of clicking the buy button.

Conclusion:

The importance of mobile marketing has grown in the rapidly changing world. Digital marketers are still exploring new avenues to promote brands more efficiently, reduce marketing costs, build a new customer base, and retain customers for a long time.

As there will be new trends in mobile marketing as well as brand promotions, we will continue to explore the new resources and will continue to write on the right strategy, purposes, usage, and gains of mobile marketing in the future. Keep looking up to this space.