For marketers who are looking for an interactive channel that shows immediate results, mobile marketing is an ideal strategy. It lets marketers reach their target audience effectively and enables them get good ROI on their marketing money. By using mobile marketing, marketers can choose whom they want to reach, the location they want to cover and the specific devices they want to focus on.

To ensure that these benefits are derived as expected, here are some tips to launch a successful mobile marketing campaign:

Identifying your target audience

As with any kind of marketing or promotion campaign, determine who your target customer is based on the demographics of different carriers. This will help focus the ad to the appropriate group. First, identify who your prospective customers are, then explore the best ways to connect with them.

Leverage click to call ads

One of the biggest benefits of mobile marketing is the availability of the device with the customer at all times. To make them take action, use click to call ads that will take prospects to your website or your social networking profiles, like Twitter and Facebook. Click to call ads produce instant results and almost all mobile ad networks let you allocate a daily budget for a specified amount of time.

Simplicity works best

Bear in mind the mobile screen’s size and plan the ad accordingly. The ad should neither be full of text nor loaded with graphics. Avoid using any kind of web form since it can be very annoying to try and complete it.  Limit yourself to asking for the minimum information required to qualify. The ad must be designed in such a way that it can be easily viewed across different devices and load quickly even when the data networks are busy.

Choose ad placement wisely

There is a variety of options you can use to reach the mobile customer. This includes apps, games, the mobile web or a text message. Depending on your brand’s goal, place the ads in the most appropriate channel since customers do not like a stream of ads interrupting what they are doing.

Finally, the mobile marketing campaign must be launched at the right time, when the recipient is likeliest to respond.  Unlike other media where the audience can respond any time, with a mobile campaign, one could be viewing the ad anywhere and at any time. Make it easy to respond with a single click where information can be sent to their phone to allow them to respond as soon as it is convenient for them.

After the above tips are implemented, track your mobile ad campaign metrics for performance so that the necessary changes can be made to improve the effectiveness of the campaign. It is worthwhile experimenting with different mobile networks to find out which one is the best for your mobile marketing campaign.

With mobile marketing becoming a part of every brand’s promotion strategy, it is only natural to wonder whether mobile SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is required, particularly when the business’ main website is optimised. The question arises as most marketers offer a mobile version of their websites.

It would be safe to assume that mobile SEO is essential to optimise the website for mobile search, keeping in view usability, relevance to search and marketing. Mobile SEO differs from regular SEO and here are some reasons why:

• For regular websites, SEO focuses on keyword rich content to show the search engine that the pages are relevant to the search. On mobile web pages, it can be tough to stick to the ideal 250-words rule related to content due to the size of the screen and reluctance of the mobile user to scroll.
• Mobile websites obviously have different criteria since the user-experience is very different here.  If one has to follow the regular SEO best practices for site-optimization, implementation will not be easy. Mobile SEO has to be brief and to the point.
• Mobile search is different from desktop search because mobile users do not always use keywords. Thanks to options like Google Goggles, Gesture Search, and Voice Search, a user no longer has to pull up the Google search screen to enter a search phrase. Viewed from the mobile context, this means a significant change in the way user needs are perceived.  The same keyword could mean different things to different users. This calls for mobile keyword research in addition to the regular keyword research.
• To provide a better user experience, mobile search uses different ranking algorithms such as location.
• With mobile phones, there are different levels of brand-user engagement. Whether it is search results or ad positions, businesses must compete for first position on the mobile. In the limited space offered by the mobile screen, brands must find their place and stay visible to keep their click through rates healthy.
• Although a user’s engagement with the mobile screen is much higher than with a desktop, the likelihood of scrolling is much less on the mobile screen.

SEO campaigns must factor in mobile click through rates and search volume, since most users use their mobile phones to browse and search. Understanding and action on the differences between mobile SEO and regular SEO is critical in order to rank in mobile search results.

Mobile marketing has opened up a whole new avenue for businesses to connect and interact with their audience in a targeted manner. This is possible because of the nature of the device, which users are likely to carry with them all the time. This reliance on their mobile phones has paved the way for marketers to communicate with customers and prospects and have meaningful conversations.

Here are some statistics from mobiThinking on mobile phone users

• Many mobile web users are mobile-only, i.e. they do not, or very rarely also use a desktop, laptop or tablet to access the web, according to On Device Research.
• In many developing nations, the majority of mobile web users are mobile-only, highest include Egypt at 70% and India at 59%.
• In developed nations, in the US particularly, many mobile-only web users are older people, and many come from lower income households
• In Africa, the 85% of the mobile-only web users access the web with a feature phone.
• In Africa the top mobile activities for mobile-only users are: downloading games (55%); downloading music (54%); social networking (52%); search (48%); email (46%).
• Many mobile-only web users do not have a bank account, in India this is 57% of the mobile-only.

There is also research to prove that over 40% businesses use mobile marketing currently, and this includes mobile email, mobile web sites and mobile apps. As the number of mobile users continues to grow IBM, in its state of marketing 2011 report reported that another 20% of businesses plan to adopt mobile within the year.  This brings us to the question of whether businesses are using the right mobile strategy to engage their consumers with their brands.

Enter mobile barcodes

Mobile barcodes have the ability to stimulate conventional, as well as digital communication channels by inspiring users to engage on the go. Not only are barcodes interactive, but also measurable, enabling tracking and monitoring for effectiveness, so that businesses can calculate their return on investment from the campaign.

The best thing about mobile barcodes is they are easy to use and can be highly focused on the user while providing a call to action. The user will need a camera phone to scan the mobile barcode, and get directions to the nearest store where they can grab their coupon and use it in a number of ways. The biggest advantage is the opportunity for engaging the user instantly with the brand, leveraging their impulsiveness and converting it into action.

comScore reports that “14 million mobile phone users in America scanned QR or barcodes on their phones in June this year, mostly from newspapers or magazines, and on product packaging both at home and in store.” Although this makes it look as though mobile barcodes are the answer to a mobile marketer’s prayers, they are a new marketing tool and naturally, there are challenges.

For a marketer who plans to use mobile barcodes it is important to consider some best practices before actually designing and implementing the campaign. Here are some basic questions to ask.

• The purpose of your mobile barcode – increase sales, boosts customer engagement, educate the market?
• Is the barcode properly positioned for the consumer to find it easily?
• What is in it for the consumer? Giveaways, discount coupons?
• Does the code lead to the correct link and show the appropriate content?
• Is the content optimized for different mobile screens?
• Is it easy to scan with various devices?
• Is there a call to action?
• Does the code tell the user how to scan?
• Has the barcode been thoroughly tested?
• Is there a solid analytics system in place to measure and monitor the campaign?
• After grabbing the user’s attention, is the marketer clear about the next step?

The answers to these questions will help design a successful mobile barcode campaign that will bring in the expected results.