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SMEs moving to mobile and online marketing

A new report that SMEs across the UK are increasingly moving away from traditional marketing disciplines in favour of online and mobile tools, should come as no surprise.

The study undertaken by Pitney Bowes says 26% of SMEs have reported that traditional offline marketing accounts for less than 10% of total marketing activity, while a further 22% said that they don’t achieve anything at all. With SMEs providing 60% of private sector jobs, accounting for half of private sector turnover and two thirds of them saying they’re ambitious to grow within two to three years, it is time to show that mobile and digital marketing is well within their compass.

UK has become addicted to Smartphones

Whether the company is big or small, no company can now afford to ignore the potential that mobile and online marketing offers.

New Ofcom research shows the extent to which the UK has become addicted to smartphones;

• 27% of adults and 47% of teenagers now own a smartphone
• 59% have acquired their smartphone, over the past year
• Access to the internet using a mobile phone in the UK has more than doubled between 2010 and 2012, from 24% to 51%, according to the Office of National Statistics
• In 2012, 32% of adults accessed the Internet using a mobile phone every day
• By 2015, more than half the population will use a smartphone.

To ignore this development would be foolhardy.

So, what are the options open to SMEs, how could different tools be used and what factors should be considered when starting out?

Mobiles on the go

If your business has so far focused on traditional or conventional marketing techniques, simply transferring the same activities online or onto mobile will not give you the result expected. You must change strategy as mobiles are accessed “on the go”. Increasingly smartphones and tablets have touchscreen navigation. This means ensuring enough space for the user to navigate on your site or click through your messages without the frustration of fat-finger syndrome.

Don’t forget, with smartphones accessed ‘on the go’ you need to ensure that your messages are simple, easy to access and easy to act upon. Don’t go in for information overload and always include a call-to-action in your SMS Campaigns.

When it comes to mobile SMS, Juniper Research has suggested that B2B SMS market will overtake person-to-person texting by 2016.

Mobile devices, as we know, are becoming ubiquitous, and businesses who want to connect reliably with their customers over mobile are increasingly turning to SMS.

• 90% of text messages are read within three minutes of receipt.
• 66% of consumers would like to receive offers from brands they trust on their mobile devices, yet only 23% of consumers have actually received an offer from brands on their phones.

Digital and mobile requires less budget

The comparative cost depends, of course, on the type of campaign that you plan to run. Either way, however, digital will require less budget than conventional marketing. Dr. Augustine Fou, who lectures in digital strategy and integrated marketing at Rutgers University and NYU, presented a comparison in his presentation “Why Digital Kicks Traditional Marketing”. Fou explained that in terms of the cost to reach 1000 users or page impressions, direct marketing cost around £315 per thousand, radio advertising £91 per thousand, a newspaper £42 per thousand and prime time television around £19 per thousand compared with online advertising at around £6 per thousand and online search even less.

Further more, the cost of sending a text message is pennies compared to printing and mailing direct marketing letters (Some advertisements including pictures or videos may only be available to customers with smartphones).

But there are other advantages. Embracing digital effectively affords any business, however small, the ability to compete nationally and even internationally. With digital, nobody knows the size of your business and it enables you to punch well above your actual weight. It can also be far more cost effective. Comparatively, your digital marketing strategy will require less budget than would be needed for a conventional above the line advertising programme. And analytically, your digital campaign will be easier to measure and likely to yield a faster response than more traditional techniques.

Author Bio: Triin is Key Account Manager for mobile marketing company TextMagic, has previously worked with UK Startups and loves to write about online marketing trends, startups and business development.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Textmagic

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This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Triin Linamagi .