Mobile Marketing: How Does Your Company Measure Up?

Twenty-two percent of survey respondents that have integrated mobile and email are using mobile-optimized email templates. Click the image above to see a fantastic example from Starbucks.

Have you ever wondered how your mobile marketing efforts compare to those of other companies?

In April 2012, StrongMail conducted a survey of 802 business leaders concerning their adoption of mobile marketing tactics. Of those surveyed, most worked for companies with 500 or fewer employees, and also held a Marketing role in their respective organizations.

The survey yields some fascinating insight into mobile marketing practices across companies, with strong adoption and growth indicated overall. A full read is definitely recommended, but here are a few highlights:

More than half of those surveyed aren’t leveraging mobile marketing.

The most popular reason? They have yet to determine the right mobile strategy. If you’re struggling with the same problem, consider a lesson from marketing behemoth P&G: don’t think of mobile as a technology, just follow the consumers.

To elaborate on that, consider ways to utilize mobile as an extension of your existing strategy. Building a mobile web site is an important first step, and 70% of survey respondents who are using mobile marketing have done so. Another option is to collect mobile numbers on your existing web site or in emails so you can deliver exclusive offers and updates to consumers via SMS.

Twenty-three percent of those surveyed are currently using mobile search, and only 2% plan to implement it in the future.

This is quite surprising given the accepted necessity of paid search and SEO in non-mobile interactive marketing. The survey results would indicate that this is an area where marketers could gain a leg up on the competition. Check out the DoubleClick Advertisers Blog for paid search tips, a few of which are summarized briefly below:

Create separate search campaigns for each platform (i.e., desktop, mobile, tablet).
Because smartphones and tablets have fewer ad slots, it may be necessary to bid more aggressively on certain keywords.
Customize your keywords for mobile (for example, include city names to bid on local searches).

Forty-six percent of survey respondents don’t know what percentage of email subscribers access their messages via mobile.

EmailMonday reports that mobile will account for 10-45% of email opens, depending on your product, target audience and email type. That’s a big range and the percentage will certainly grow larger over time. If you’re not tracking email opens by handset, you won’t be able to prioritize mobile email optimization efforts accordingly.

Fortunately, email service providers like GraphicMail and CampaignMonitor offer device detection as part of their analytics package.

A few more notable findings:

Half of survey respondents use only internal resources to manage mobile marketing, as opposed to an outside agency.
Most reported that they spend 5% or less of their interactive marketing budget on mobile. However, 70% expect this to increase in the next 12 months.

Here we’ve presented some ideas for overcoming common challenges or becoming more competitive among mobile marketers. If you’ve identified some opportunities for improvement, get started today because a 2013 survey is sure to look much different!

About the Author: Cory Gaddis is a regular contributor to the 60 Second Marketer and helps Mobilize Worldwide create mobile marketing campaigns for a wide variety of clients.