The two well-known digital ad giants, Google and Facebook, have simplified the way small businesses are doing mobile marketing. The tools provided by Google and Facebook enable entrepreneurs to get excellent results at lower costs and with less effort than ever before.
However, there is a flip-side of the coin with these online marketing techniques; when things become easy, people tend to become less concerned about their promotion efforts and nonchalantly expect good results by just running a couple of online ads. Here are some reasons why you shouldn’t rely just on Google and Facebook if you want to build a strong online presence:
A robust mobile marketing strategy requires more than being on Facebook
A lot of brands say they are mobile-first, but in fact, they are really only counting their Google and Facebook spend, a large portion of which is automatically optimised towards mobile. Brands forget about creating a full mobile user experience, which also includes a responsive website, optimised landing pages, and mobile apps. Google and Facebook do play an immensely important role for multiple reasons, but they need to be part of a strategic approach.
Building a close relationship with customers requires more input from small businesses
Google and Facebook ads do increase your online visibility, but having an effective digital marketing strategy implies a lot more. Brands are not focusing enough on why their consumers are going to their mobile sites and how they form a relationship with them. If you want prospects to convert to customers and purchase from you, you’ll have to get a lot closer to them through methods such as mobile apps or email marketing.
If it’s easy, everybody is doing it
Statistics show that online ads are some of the easiest to execute marketing channels, unlike a website, social media, and organic search, which are considered the top 3 most difficult. However, it has also been shown that effectiveness is correlated with execution difficulty. So, online ads are easy to run, but a website is at the same time the most difficult to execute and the most effective marketing channel. Gaining a competitive advantage over similar businesses in your industry will require you to move towards the top and start employing some of those difficult yet highly-effective digital marketing tools.
Mobile marketing is more than just having a responsive website
Google and Facebook optimise your ads for mobile before displaying them, and your website may be responsive, but your mobile marketing checklist is not complete yet. Also, consider the following tactics: listing your company on local business directories, using Google Analytics, implementing mobile payments, installing management tools like Hootsuite and Buffer on your mobile, and using project management tools. Not all of these measures may be absolutely necessary for your business, but you can select those that will sustain your marketing strategy and make it easier to execute.
Mobile apps
Having a mobile app for your business sounds very edgy and is a great mobile marketing strategy. Good reasons to create a mobile app include needing to implement user benefits that cannot be provided on the web and providing a unique and original experience for your customers.
The whole idea is to create the best possible mobile experience, and you can do that either on the web or through mobile apps. And one thing is for sure – providing the best mobile experience is not possible by relying exclusively on Google and Facebook.
