1. Mobile-friendly email marketing.
We use smartphones for most of online activities, including checking our email. Did you know that 65% of email gets opened on a mobile device before a desktop computer? We want our emails to be as attractive on the mobile screen as it is on the desktop in order to give our customers the best content, best offer. Here are some key points on adjusting your email marketing strategy for mobile era from Aaron Beashel, Director of Content and Community at Campaign Monitor.
“The key is structuring your email to appeal to scanners, using elements like headlines and images to capture their attention as they scan and draw them into reading your copy in more detail.” Aaron Beashel
Beashel points out that the email should be broken into small paragraphs, each with its own headline and a supporting image. A vital point is that each paragraph should address one single point, making the idea very clear. Also, you should prioritize your messages, placing the most important ones first and last, as it has been proved that first and last messages in email are the ones users remember the most. You might want to use a P.S. line to boost the attention to the last message.
2. Messaging apps.
When was the last time you made a call? And the last time you texted? Texting has become a primary way of communication. Now customers are willing to interact with brands on messaging apps more than ever. Here are some strategies of using messaging apps.
- Improve your customer communication and customer support. With instant messaging it becomes very easy to do followups and get this - you are likely to get 40% more response if you use messaging apps instead of direct phone calls. Instant messaging also gives you an opportunity to stay informal and create friendly relationship with your customer.
- Marketing and promotion strategy can be complemented with messaging apps by delivering your offer to your customers using one-to-one platforms for direct communication. Experts suggest that you use messaging apps to connect with existing loyal customers rather than trying to reach new ones. But as we all know, content is king, so, by providing your customers with quality content, you would reassure that they will stay interested in your brand.
- Use chatbots. As Sujan Patel, Growth Marketer & Co-founder of Web Profits, defines it for Forbes.
“A chatbot is a computer program that mimics intelligent conversations with humans, usually through audio or text. The goal is that, rather than just searching for information on your website, a customer can interact with a chatbot to find what they need.” Sujan Patel
You can use chatbots to let your customer know your hottest promotion offer, share new destination ideas and answer most frequent questions.
3. Mobile SEM.
According to Google, more searches happen on mobile than on computers and tablets for 15 of the 24 hours in a typical day. Furthermore, mobile searches for travel related activities increased +25% in 2016 comparing to 2015.
Text ads and display ads perform differently in mobile-first world. In May 2016 Google announced that they are redesigning AdWords “to help marketers succeed in this mobile-first world”. Main changes are expended text ads, responsive ads for display, bid adjustment for each device type and “promoted pins” – new local search ads across Google.com and Google Maps.
Keep up with trends and boost your last-minute bookings by adjusting your SEM strategy, as the majority of travelers now make their last minute bookings using a mobile device, according to Criteo’s Travel Report.
4. Mobile social media.
There is no need to explain the importance of social media in modern world. Let’s just say that nearly 80% of social media time now spent on mobile devices (Greg Sterling for Marketing Land). It is good enough to say that our content in social media will be automatically resized to screens of different devices. But if good enough is not enough for your, don’t miss out on all possibilities that social offer for mobile-first world. Use live videos and videos 360 on Facebook, stories on Instagram and live streaming on YouTube to address your customers and create an impressive online experience for them.
To succeed in a mobile-first world we need to adjust our inbound marketing strategies to new trends and not only to keep up with innovations that our competitors implement, but, more importantly, to develop our own.
