Many experts believe 2020 will be the year mobile-first marketing finally matures. If your business is looking for profitability and sustainability from its promotional efforts, here’s why it’s worth shifting your focus to the most promising mobile marketing trends.
Mobile Marketing No Longer an Option
According to the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), some of the biggest trends currently impacting the way businesses work include:
- a social and digital-savvy millennial workforce,
- the automation of business activities, and
- an increasingly data-based economy
What does that mean for your business from a marketing perspective?
It means there’s no time like the present to start positioning your business on social media, mapping out your business processes, and using data tools and a CRM (customer relationship management) system to improve and personalize your offerings.
With some 75 billion devices expected to connect to the internet by 2025, it’s clear that prioritizing your company’s mobile marketing campaign can no longer be considered an option.
3 Mobile Marketing Trends You Shouldn’t Ignore
Our increasing reliance on smartphones and tablets to access websites, social media, and apps has effectively hijacked time spent on desktops and laptops. In Canada, mobile now accounts for almost a third of all media time – a figure that’s on par with TV.
So let’s take a look at 3 mobile marketing trends that will provide the most bang for your buck in 2020 and beyond.
1. Mobile Video and Audio
The enormous popularity of mobile video and audio is only going to increase going forward. While digital audio accounts for the biggest share of mobile time spent in the US (followed closely by social media and digital video), heavy YouTube and Netflix usage has made Canada’s share of time spent with digital video higher than that of most nations.
Add in the fact that more than half of all Americans have listened to a podcast – and that 29% of Canadian internet users tune in regularly – and you’ll understand why your business should be thinking about including mobile video and audio in its content marketing plans this year.
2. Business App Advertising
Consumers not only accept mobile apps – they’re going to continue to embrace the app experience for years to come. Research suggests that the average smartphone user spends well over half their time within apps, which leads to a couple of important conclusions:
- Your business should think carefully about its ad placement strategy in 2020. If you use or have been planning to experiment with display ads, now’s the time to focus on in-app ads, rather than limiting your platform to mobile browsers.
- Creating (or improving the promotion for) your own business app may be well worth exploring. Just remember that in today’s competitive market, mobile apps with the highest retention boast the greatest growth and sustainability.
3. Marketing Automation
Whether your 2020 mobile marketing strategy includes starting a podcast or launching an app, you won’t get far without the ability to track and adapt your campaign.
Advances in marketing automation will play an increasingly key role in providing better visibility into data and outcomes. Machine learning incorporated into marketing solutions will also empower smaller teams, making it easier for your business to:
- improve customer connections at every stage of the buying journey,
- adapt marketing strategies on the fly, and
- drive more conversions
From gamification, to visual search technology, mobile marketing offers so many new ways to direct leads and sales to your business, it’s worth spending the time to keep up with growing trends on a regular basis.
