Experts have predicted it for years. And now it’s a reality. The number of mobile-only adult users exceeds the number of desktop-only internet users, according to ComScore. The scales tipped in March of 2015.
Pew Research shows just how smartphone-dependent the society is. Ninety percent of Americans own a cell phone, 67 percent check their phone even when it’s not ringing and 29 percent of cell owners say they “couldn’t live without it.”
These statistics are only expected to grow in 2016. That means marketers need to make some change this year to reach the ever-growing mobile customer base.
To get mobile-ready, here are three changes you should make to your marketing strategy this year:
Get a responsive website
You’ve probably heard the term “responsive design” thrown around for the last few years. Basically, it’s a website design that automatically resizes and reshapes websites to look great on any device, including mobile.
There’s debate about just how many website have gone responsive. One survey says just 12 percent of the top 10,000 websites are responsive. Others claim 82 percent of websites are using it.
“The moral of the story is to make sure your website is responsive so it renders well on mobile in order to rank well in search results and provide better on-site user experience,” says Tom La Vecchia, author of The X Factor Selling System: The Sales Expert’s Guide to Selling.
In addition to responsive design, here are a few tips to make sure every aspect of your site is mobile-friendly:
• Check your mobile load speed with Google PageSpeed Insights.
• Use a tool like PicMonkey to compress images to a smaller size to improve load time.
• Avoid using flash-based video, use HTML5 (which is what YouTube and Vimeo uses). Some mobile devices don’t recognize flash.
• Use subheadings throughout your content to keep it clean and organized on small screens.
Buy mobile ads
Want to capture mobile traffic? La Vecchia says you have to go where the mobile users are. He suggests advertising on Instagram.
“A lot of people talk about Instagram marketing, but don’t actually commit the resources,” he says. “Create great mobile content that drives traffic to your company’s online properties.”
Instagram ads went mainstream in September of 2015, with photo, video and carousel ad options. Data shows users are 2.5 times more likely to click on an Instagram ad than any other social ad.
With statistics like that, it’s worth checking out, La Vecchia says.
Create an app
Make this year the year your brand creates its own app, La Vecchia says.
“Spend the money on an app. It’s about time,” he says. “An app can promote your business, improve your sales and search process and facilitate your content marketing. With this list of benefits, the app will pay for itself in no time.”
When you’re ready to create an app, consider the following:
• Work with a designer that has experience building apps in your field.
• Create a list of features that you want it to have.
• Embrace push notifications to communicate with your audience.
• Test the app with a small group of customers before releasing it.
• Create a plan to market the app.
Is your business ready for “The Year of Mobile?” What marketing changes are you making to accommodate this growing sector? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
