The CMO’s Guide To Mobile Marketing (2023)

Mobile-focused marketing strategies

Build your marketing strategy around mobile devices

Let’s start from the basics. An aeroplane needs an airport before it can take off, not a railway station. You need to develop your digital assets to serve mobile-first.

Build mobile-friendly, responsive websites, not adaptive.

You need to ensure you optimise the designs of your websites for mobile devices. Keep in mind that most of your traffic will be from mobile and that the numbers are only skewing more and more towards mobile traffic.

Design your site first for navigation on a phone or tablet
Be aware of the small screen size and limited internet connectivity on mobile devices
Make sure your visuals are responsive to various screen sizes
Optimise your offers for mobile devices
Communicate your call to action so that it’s apparent and actionable on mobile devices
Utilise push notifications to engage with your customers.

Consider a Mobile App for your business.

If you don’t already have a mobile app, you need to design and build one!

Having a mobile app gives you screen real estate on the most used and personal device in peoples lives. You can take advantage of features like; location services, push notifications, off-line, Apple Pay and Google Pay. Mobile Apps are a great way to increase engagement via retention with your customers.

Please keep it simple! Space and time on mobile devices are at a premium. Give the user only what they need, not everything you have.
Keep it fresh! Update your app regularly with new information and special offers. Keeping users coming back often is key to a successful mobile experience.
Make sure your app meets and exceeds user expectations and industry standards. Companies like Apple have raised the bar over the last ten years. For most users, a suboptimal experience is a deal-breaker.
Be sure to include a feedback tool so your users can submit suggestions and comments directly from the app. A direct tool will keep the feedback coming to you and off the AppStore.

Customer journey mapping

The customer journey mapping process consists of understanding the different touchpoints that consumers have with your company. For example, if a consumer wants to book a hotel room, how would they do this?

CMOs need to identify and understand where their customers are in their journey and create a personalised experience to help guide them along.

Let data be your North Star.

The temptation for CMOs to go with gut feelings and intuition is enormous. And during the COVID-19 pandemic, many were forced to improvise.

The best marketing strategies are data-driven!

You need to know where you’re going before you can get there. You need to see if you’re on the right track. Due to the daily usage of mobile apps, you are provided with more data more often. The flow of data also means you need to be able to react quickly to new information.

Collect real-time information about your customers and their behaviour on the go.

Use mobile marketing and location data to improve your customer targeting efforts by engaging the correct customers with a timely offer based on their current location.
Use real-time data to drive your business growth and build customer relationships that are personal, relevant, personalised, and targeted explicitly to the right channel.
Make sure to measure the performance of your campaigns and adjust your marketing strategy accordingly.

Don’t be afraid to mingle – build an audience with Social Media.

CMOs know that social media is not just a fad.

Social media is here to stay, and it provides you with the opportunity to engage with your customers deeply. Since users prefer to access and engage with brands on social media from their mobile devices, this is a must-have.

Here is what you should be doing:

Picking the right platform can help you scale, get noticed, and get new customers.

Start by understanding the social media landscape and what works best for your business goals, brand voice, target audiences, resources available to you, and the competition.

The right platform is essential. It guides not just your content strategy but the kind of brand perception you want to create for yourself. Familiarise yourself with the social media platforms’ policies, practices, and algorithms – especially consider those committed to protecting users’ data and against misinformation, racism, and online hate

It’s best to start with one platform at a time (if you don’t have the resources) and do a good job. Create a sense of community with your followers by being responsive, informative, funny or personable – whatever you’re comfortable doing.

Make sure your profiles are complete, accurate and consistent.
Ensure your content is mobile optimised and uses photos, videos, gifs that are more eye-catching on social media channels like Instagram or Tiktok

Sync social media with the rest of your marketing strategy to maximise your efforts.

You need to build an audience and connect on social channels. It is a great way to stay in touch with your customers, get feedback, drive conversations and keep them engaged.

When posting content to your social media profiles, be sure that the post is directed towards your audience and not just about your brand.
Ensure you optimise your social media profiles for mobile devices (i.e., images, videos, and graphics). You don’t want your audience frustrated with a profile or media that takes too long to load.
Make sure you create and post native content on your social media channels (images, videos, graphics) that look great on a mobile device.
Use social media to drive more traffic to your mobile responsive website.
Make it easier for users by adding share buttons on your content to get the most out of these synergies.

Experiment with new social media channels and features on existing platforms to determine what works best for your business.

Instagram Reels, Facebook’s gift cards or TikTok For Business are all examples of new features or social media channels worthy of experimentation. When consumers discover new features, they tend to develop a soft spot with brands associated with them.

Use influencers and creators to your advantage.

Influencers have become a more popular approach for marketers, with marketing budgets being allocated to them up to 7.5% above previous levels in 2018 and set to increase to 12.7%. As a CMO, you must identify the right influencers to attract target consumers to your brand.

Cash in on Real-Time data.

CMOs can use real-time data from mobile apps and websites to drive business results.

Once users have opted in to receive information from brands, marketers can fine-tune their target market by sending push notifications to users entering or exiting specific locations.

iBeacons and geo-fences are new technologies that brands should look for opportunities to exploit. By experimenting with these emergent technologies, you can provide richer experiences to your customers.

For example, Target, Macy’s and Nordstrom are already using beacon-based mobile marketing strategies to help shoppers find their way through stores and locate specific products with their apps. Additionally, these emergent technologies can be used as signals to send personalised offers or discounts based on location.

Create an immersive experience.

CMOs need to create immersive experiences through the use of virtual and augmented reality applications. By incorporating AR and VR into your mobile marketing approach, you can use these immersive experiences to create a level of human interaction that consumers cannot experience with other forms of media, including print and TV.

Brands like Ikea, L’Oreal, BMW, and Airbnb have experimented with Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality to help customers better understand their product’s appearance in real life. In the case of IKEA, customers can see how a particular piece of furniture fits into their home before they invest in it.

For the customers, these immersive technologies help overcome many objections to buying, such as whether the product is a good fit, whether the colours are what they want, or if the item physically fits into a space.

For marketers, both VR and AR helps them engage with their target market in a more meaningful way which helps them build stronger relationships with their customers.

CMOs need to understand that VR and AR are still in the early stages of development, but the technology is snowballing. They need to learn how these technologies can help them achieve better business results and turn these technologies into a revenue driver.

Don’t be afraid of In-App Advertising.

As consumers become more accustomed to using their mobile devices, the number of apps they download increases.

According to App Annie, “In most markets analysed, the average smartphone user has more than 80 apps on their phone and uses close to 40 of them each month.”

With this, CMOs should also target their marketing efforts on apps rather than solely on the mobile and responsive web.

Mobile and responsive web are great tools for new customer acquisition and activation; mobile apps are fantastic to engage customers more frequently, leading to increased customer retention.

Make the transition between different platforms seamless.

Today, a typical consumer would want to perform many tasks on their mobile device, such as searching for information, scheduling an appointment, booking a hotel room, or renting a car.

CMOs need to understand that customers want an easier way of doing things, whether shopping, fleet management or interacting with brands. To be successful in mobile marketing, brands need to look into creating an all-inclusive mobile experience.

Create a personalised experience for users so they can transition between different platforms without any hiccups or frustrations. For example, you can incorporate value-added services like financial planning, news, or sports updates in your mobile experience.

Incorporate messaging tools.

CMOs need to keep in mind that consumers are spending more and more time on their devices, meaning your brand can reach them through messaging apps. Messaging is critical in today’s world, mainly because it is a medium that people are most comfortable with, and they already have these apps installed on their mobile.

Apps like Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp have made messaging common. By integrating messaging into your mobile marketing strategy, you can communicate one-on-one with your customers on a more personal level.

Optimise for voice.

Voice-activated assistants such as Siri and Google Assistant are becoming more popular with consumers.

Here is how it works: Users can talk to their devices to place a food order or book a hotel room.

Businesses looking to drive more traffic and sales through mobile devices must optimise their website and apps for voice search and assistants, respectively.

Incorporate video into your messaging mix.

A video is a powerful tool for marketers because it is a way to tell their story informally and engagingly.

CMOs must do this because consumers appreciate and respond well when they see a human face behind the brand.

When creating videos, here are some best practices:

Make new stuff regularly. Use the full spectrum of content, from interesting to hero material, storytelling, campaign videos, and how-to tutorials.
One size doesn’t work – Keep an eye on different ratios and dimensions and look for the ad spec to ensure compatibility.
As much as possible, try not to use scripted productions. Instead, allow your customers or employees to tell their story as it is.
The power of participation – Include the audience in your video marketing campaign by running a contest or asking for their opinion.
End videos with a call to action. For example, a clear call to purchase or a special offer for those that take action right now.

Think Global – Act Local!

As with all marketing campaigns, it’s essential to make sure that your mobile strategy is personalised and unique for each customer.

Consider languages, culture, and location. And adapt accordingly!

Remember, English is not the only language. Even if you’re not targeting the global market currently, you can still make your content available in other languages.

Make sure you have the appropriate agency partners in your corner.

The better the quality of your mobile app, website or other marketing campaign material, the higher your chances are that it will be successful.

To ensure that whenever you’re outsourcing, you are working with the best agency for your needs.

At Bilue, our mobile app developers are industry leaders in what they do. Get in touch with us today to see how we can help.

Adopt agile marketing strategies and think Lean

Adopt agile marketing strategies and think Lean.

The more you can do, the better it is for business!

Lean is a philosophy centred around the concept of build, measure and learn.

The Lean approach means constantly re-evaluating your strategy, leveraging the data to use your budget better, and creating a more impactful approach to marketing.

The shorter the feedback cycle, the better your chances of improving what you’re already doing.

Lean is all about ensuring that the company has substantial market insights discovered through testing and measuring everything, along with constant course correction based on short feedback loops.

Get some inspiration from other brands and companies.

In this competitive market, CMOs cannot afford to be complacent in any way.

To achieve the best results, they need to watch what other brands are doing and what is working for them.

These observations provide the chance to learn from others mistakes and successes so that you can apply them to your brand in a way that is appropriate and works well.

The best companies consider what works for their target market and then incorporate it into their mobile marketing strategy.

We’re constantly learning from the market; it’s essential to be open-minded and aware of what is going on around you.

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes – test, measure and optimise!

The goal is always to increase engagement between your brand and customer.

As long as you are constantly learning and improving, it’s a win-win situation.

Don’t worry about what others think of your marketing strategy.

Be confident in your approach, and go for it!

There are endless possibilities out there to explore when it comes to mobile marketing.

Don’t be afraid of trying new things; if you have a hypothesis, it will work for your brand and target market, go for it, and learn from it.

Mobile is the way of the future; embrace it with the help of Bilue.

Personalisation and localisation will become even more important to brands in their mobile marketing strategy in the years to come.

As CMOs, your job is to stay on the cutting-edge of technology. It would be best if you found new ways to reach customers by creating mobile-first and mobile-friendly touchpoints.

And at the heart of it all is a mobile application – whether it is creating an immersive experience with AR, personalisation with AI, targeting with location beacons, or integrating with other systems like loyalty programs. Ensure your brand makes the most of this powerful tool at its disposal and even creates new ways to connect with customers.

At Bilue, we want to help drive your brand forward by providing you with the best mobile app developers out there!

Bilue dedicates itself to Mobile app development and building native apps on all platforms. We’re also there for you at every step of the process. A problem is never too small or too big for us to tackle, and we always ensure that our solutions are highly scalable.

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