The mobile phone is quickly taking over the desktop. Online shopping, addictive apps and social media procrastination – we’d rather sit on a sofa with our phone than at a screen with our desktop, and this is creating enormous opportunities for your business. Opportunities to get up close and personal on the sofa, opportunities to be there in a crisis and opportunities to boost your online activity by up to 39%.

This guide sets out where to begin with mobile marketing, with three simple and effective tips you can use now to boost your online activity.

1. Live in the customer’s moment

In the moment of crisis, question, or need our phones are there immediately. What have I seen that guy in before? Emergency plumber. Bike repairs near me. People aren’t searching for your brand or product; they’re searching for an answer to their need.

Google calls these “micro-moments” and they happen all the time. 91% of smartphone users check their phone for information during a task. 82% are checking their phone for products and prices while they’re in a shop – talk about brazen!

You need to create a marketing strategy that recognises this by:

– Tailoring your SEO and keywords to what your customers are searching for

– Using location to your advantage

– Making your website mobile-friendly and easy to make a snap decision

– Offering a quick and easy solution to a problem

How? Research. Retailers have benefited by 16% just by using cross-device strategies and you’re missing out. Anticipate what your customers are likely to need, what words they are going to search for and create content that solves their problem, is easy to find and easy to read and buy on the go.

2. Use the power of hyperlocal

Mobiles allow consumers to search on-the-go and when you’re on-the-go, location becomes all that more important. If your customer is at the side of the road with a broken bike chain, they want (and search for) a bike repair service nearby not one in the Scottish highlands.

Create a strong hyperlocal ranking for your business by:

– Optimising marketing and search for your area, including streets and colloquial names

– Get in local directories, rating services and review sites, including Google’s My Business

– Use geo-targeting to run offers when people enter key areas or a local event is on

– Use local and regional websites, even when part of a larger brand

– Use local forums and social media groups to spy on your target audience and understand their needs, wants and awareness of your brand

You may not be the only business offering your services in the area but you can beat your competition by telling your customers you’re nearby when they need you the most.

3. Push up success rates with push marketing

Any business with an app should be using push technology to increase conversions. Push technology keeps your app active on the user’s phone, allowing you to send messages such as offers, discounts and freebies to lure them in.

These messages may be linked to an event, location, new product, limited discount or just as a way to engage and increase your brand’s visibility. And they work – USA Today saw an 18% boost in app opening just by using push notifications.

Create a push marketing strategy that is:

– Focused on a goal;

– Timely;

– Relevant;

– Targeted with a clear call to action

It’s a simple and great way to engage customers and keep your app installed.

3, 2, 1 – Summary

These three quick and easy tips can be put into place now, keeping you ahead of your competition as your customers become more mobile-obsessed and attracted to brands who provide a seamless desktop, mobile, app and social media answer to those pressing problems.

Author Bio

Izaak Crook is the Content Marketing Manager at AppInstitute, a SaaS App Builder platform that allows anyone to create their own iOS and Android app without writing a single line of code.