Can you imagine spending a day without having access to your mobile phone? Neither can we! Anything is possible using smartphones. You can book a flight to Vegas, make a reservation at your favorite restaurant, buy tickets to an NBA match, get answers on Google, and much more.
Thanks to mobile phones, now small businesses can effectively create a marketing campaign and make it a success! The profit of a business lies in its marketing strategy, and how you market your services will determine how much revenue your brand generates in the long run.
Marketing can be viewed as a tool that is used to create demand, reputation, competition, and relevance. If you think that a useful marketing strategy will cost you a lot of money, you’re wrong. Your mobile phone is enough to have an essential marketing strategy.
On that note, let us look at the evolution of marketing or mobile app marketing!
What is mobile marketing?
Mobile marketing can be defined as a type of multi-channel digital marketing aiming to reach target audiences through cellular devices or mobile phones.
People have increasingly shifted to their mobile phones from the laptop or personal computer in the last decade. Mobile has emerged as the fastest-growing digital marketing channel and is forecasted to grow another 25 percent by 2023. Thus, mobile marketing aims to tap into this niche market and advertise products and services to smartphone users.
Mobile marketing can include a wide range of advertising types and formats, including social media marketing, mobile app marketing, etc. Mobile marketing is most relevant to app-based platforms.
Mobile app monetization stands out among several mobile app marketing features because it has dramatically shaped the advertising landscape.
The evolution of mobile marketing
To understand how mobile marketing works, we need to look at the evolution of mobile marketing and how it all began.
In 1973, the first and the most basic idea of an SMS channel was conceived by Martin Cooper, and however, his invention went unnoticed for two decades. In the United Kingdom in 1992, the idea of mobile marketing was created through the transmission of SMS.
A couple of years later, the first mobile phone capable of connecting to the internet was launched. This was the tipping point for mobile marketing. Gradually it became the ideal investment for businesses wishing to engage with their audience.
Since 2002, brands and businesses have started ‘SMS’-ing their customers about deals, offers, incentives, etc. This was a great strategy as network providers were determined to guarantee reliable delivery to customers.
As smartphones started to become smarter, and with the launch of the first iPhone in 2007, a new generation of apps was ushered in. This shifted the focus from SMS marketing to mobile app marketing. Apps were the channel through which users consumed the internet. Thus, most companies started creating their own apps.
The decade after 2010 saw the rise of 3G and 4G Internet. App developers started focusing on mobile app monetization, otherwise known as in-app purchases. This was a whole new level of marketing as mobile apps became seamless and engaging.
From 2017 onwards, mobile phone users receive an average of 100 advertisements every day through their apps. Therefore, the evolution of the marketing concept and mobile app marketing has emerged as the most successful form of digital marketing.
Why is mobile marketing important?
The mobile marketing industry is the only one that makes it possible to reach almost every person in the world. There are more mobile phones in the world than the number of living individuals. In fact, the estimated number of mobile users worldwide is expected to be 7.33 billion by 2023.
How Mobile App Marketing Works?
Several advertising and marketing formats are included in the mobile marketing definition, and mobile marketing goes beyond sending and receiving text messages and apps. Here are some examples that fall under mobile marketing:
Mobile apps:
Mobile apps are one of the most popular mobile marketing platforms. Almost every business has an app nowadays. With the right strategy and a practical roadmap, apps can become an opportunity to drive traffic and engagement with customers. For instance, the latest online casinos all have their own mobile applications which can be downloaded from various stores. These apps are a useful channel for connecting with customers, making them aware of exciting offers, and gaining useful feedback. The gaming apps, or any app for that matter, use GPS location to help developers understand their consumer base and create a geo-profile, which helps them create customized region-specific offers and ads. For example, betting apps know if there is a customer from Chicago and will ensure that they see more prompts and offers when the local team plays. Other marketing strategies used are proximity and in-app marketing (wherein you make in-app purchases to help progress in the game or enjoy the product more).
Mobile-optimized websites:
Websites that are optimized for the mobile phone are among the top choices. These websites should have an intuitive design, content that fits the screen and be free of mobile-specific bugs.
Push notifications:
Mobile marketing apps can also use push notifications to notify their customers about limited time period offers.
Traditional Marketing Vs. Mobile Marketing
Many have speculated that mobile marketing will soon replace traditional marketing. While traditional marketing has several advantages, the cons outweigh the pros. Traditional marketing is face-to-face and tangible. However, they cost a lot of money, are less engaging, outdated, and the results are difficult to measure. Thus, they are considered less effective.
On the other hand, users can be reached anytime and anywhere through mobile marketing. In addition, they’re better at targeting a niche audience, less expensive, the results are easier to measure, and there are hundreds of platforms and features to choose from.
Conclusion
The evolution of mobile marketing has come a long way since the 1990s! With the recent trends in the digital revolution, it is intriguing to wonder what the future of mobile marketing will look like.
It is clear that mobile marketing is dominating the industry currently, and there’s still enough untapped potential. If you’re a small business looking to reach its customers, mobile marketing is the easiest and cheapest channel to pursue. The ROI on mobile marketing is incredible, and there’s hardly anything to lose!
