Local coupons. Check. The ability to pay for a purchase directly from your phone. Check. Maybe a touch of augmented reality technology to add some flair. Check. These have become the staples of any sophisticated mobile marketing or sales campaign.
As smartphones continue to evolve - not to mention the competitors’ campaigns - it would be smart to consider thinking even further outside the box.
1. Include a store locator in your mobile plan, says Matt Silk SVP of Waterfall Mobile. (via the E-Commerce Times).
Customers can text into the keyword with a ZIP code to receive a text back with the address for the nearest store. "This no-brainer function helps build a mobile subscriber list and creates a new way for customers to find the store nearest to them."
2. Set up a mobile subscription list. Mobile subscriber lists can be used in the same way as email or direct mail lists, according to Silk. "Customers who subscribe to the SMS messaging campaign receive alerts for events, promotions, and giveaways, keeping them in the loop on the latest happenings and sales."
3. Consider building an app - but market it a little differently than just slapping it up on iTunes. "Conventional app stores powered by device manufactures, carriers or other third-party providers, aren’t the only place to 'sell' free apps, says Paul Reddick, CEO of Handmark at MoCoNews.
"Brands can distribute them from their own web sites or other traditional media outlets. Expect tons of apps to be distributed from places that don’t exist primarily for the purpose of selling applications."
4. Build a mobile website. It may even be smarter than building an app, which may languish in the approval process, notes Practical E-Commerce. The bicycle company Trek is a good example of making the mobile web a higher priority than apps, Practical E-Commerce said. "Repeating the same dual-device keyword experiment for 'bicycles' ranked Trekbikes.com number one, the only bike manufacturer with a mobile site on the first page of rankings.
"Apple featured Trek in its business profiles, where Trek's director of marketing Derek Deubel said Apple's mobile devices account for 55,000 to 60,000 site visits a month."
