The Future Of Marketing Is Mobile

What do we know about the current and future state of web use?

According to the Ericsson Mobility Report, current mobile device usage sits at around 54%. This means that for businesses who are online, over half of your potential customers are searching via a smartphone or tablet, rather than a computer.

Reading into this more, it tells us several things:

• Social media apps are extremely popular (and by far the most popular way to browse social media platforms)
• The way your website behaves on a mobile device is slightly more important than how it does on a computer
• That people are browsing and shopping more on the go, and during more hours of the day

The report has also predicted that mobile traffic is going to increase by another 25% by 2025, emphasising how crucial it is for businesses to prepare for an overwhelmingly mobile world.

Secondly, your website absolutely needs to be geared towards mobile and tablet screens. Statistically, at least half of your website visitors are going to be on mobile devices, with this becoming an easy majority in the years to come. Make sure that your website adapts to every screen size, make sure elements are easily readable and clickable even on small screens, and allow visitors to navigate quickly and easily to target pages. Your marketing efforts are likely to direct visitors to your website, where the final stages of your funnel will occur. If your website can’t effectively deal with mobile users, then marketing campaigns and budgets are wasted.

Your advertising should also be targeted towards mobile users. Running social media ads is a great way to reach a huge number of targeted potential customers, due to the high number of social media users. Ads on Google can also be used to prioritise smartphone and tablet users, which will help you to reach the large numbers of people who are searching with their phones. Focusing your advertising efforts on mobile users will become extremely important in the future, where users will be more prevalent and more engaged.

And lastly, your business needs be “available” 24/7. Thanks to tablets and smartphones, browsing the web has become easier than ever, giving way to a broader time period in which people are online. Whether it’s early hours of the morning, late at night or in the middle of the day, potential customers are online browsing for what you have to offer. It’s essential that you’re there for them at all times, otherwise you risk losing potential business.

Your business can do this in a range of ways – anything from having a website with useful info and FAQs, to having an ecommerce store that can generate sales around the clock, to having a chat bot that can answer questions at any time, to having a social media presence that potential customers can browse. These will all provide a solid first contact point for visitors, and will allow them to engage with your business in some manner, no matter the day or time.