Sales are up!  That’s the good news. But you might be surprised why.

This year, online shopping on Black Friday and Cyber Monday increased by 30.3% over last year’s figures and you might be as surprised as those of us in the marketing business as to why that is.

Reports are coming in and surprisingly, it’s mobile marketing that just might be the platform that pulls many businesses through this holiday season.

Mobile vs Social Media

In reports that surprised even marketers, the data regarding this holiday season’s exciting findings around what mobile is doing for businesses compared to businesses who are using  social media as a platform for driving sales this holiday sales is surprising to everyone.

Mobile Commerce News reported that “At the same time that mobile marketing is engaging consumers, retailers are also finding that social media – while interesting to consumers – is not converting them into buyers. According to IBM data, consumers did have a positive feeling about the various promotions, convenience, and shipping options available over mobile and they enjoyed the ability to communicate with retailers over social. However, at the same time, they weren’t using it to actually make any purchases”.  This is disheartening to many business owners who have put so much time, effort, and money on the table to establish a social media presence for their business’.

This Trend is Expected to Continue

It wasn’t surprising to me, I’ve known this was coming from the very beginning of mobile marketing’s inception.  I think we all did but I think what really surprised us was the timing.  We didn’t know it was going to happen this quickly.  Based on the data in these reports, one thing is perfectly clear, mobile is winning and it is expected that the numbers will continue to show this progress for mobile marketing consistently over time.  In my opinion, being able to send a message to people on a medium (mobile device) that they keep within reach for nearly every waking moment of their life seems like a pretty simple to understand strategy yet many still aren’t using it.

Further, it was reported that although shoppers did regularly use their social media accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn, the data shows that of all of the Black Friday online sales, those through social media represented only 0.34 percent.  This number is a drastic drop over last  years 35%.

The same trends were reportedly seen on Cyber Monday. While mobile marketing shined, social media generated only 0.41 percent of all online sales on that day. This drop of over 26 percent from last year’s data was more than disappointing to business owners.  You can read the entire article here

Learn More About Mobile Marketing & How it Can Help Your Business

If you would like to learn more about what mobile marketing is, what you can expect from it, and specifically what it can do for your business, we’d love to share that with you.  We are here to help you.

If you need more information ask us how you can receive our free reports “Mobile Marketing for Businesses” and “QR Code Marketing for Local Businesses”.  Both of these reports are available on this website or simply give us a call and schedule a free consultation today and we’ll bring them to you and give you a live demonstration of a mobile marketing strategy that is working successfully for a business similar to your own.

We’re here to help your sales grow!

I found this very cool chart today that was posted by Silicon Alley Insider.  The chart shows how many minutes per day people are spending with their smartphones vs how much time they spend watching TV.

The chart, from mobile analytics firm, Flurry shows that in 2012, people spent 127 minutes per day with their smartphones which is just short of the 168 minutes per day that they watch TV and as you can see, over the last three years, the number of minutes spent with smartphones is growing while  both web browsing on a computer and TV watching has pretty much leveled off for the same time frame.

As you can see from the chart, 2012’s 127 minutes is up from 66 minutes per day in 2010 and it is expected that this trend will steadily grow for several more years before reaching the level off stage.

We are spending more time with mobile phones and apps than we do on the web. This time spent is rapidly approaching the time we spend watching TV.

What does it mean? Well…

It means that you should be spending a large part of your advertising/marketing budgets on mobile marketing.  It’s easier to get the attention of potential buyers if your ads are where your market is looking.  Make sense?

If you would like to learn how we can help you design a mobile marketing strategy that’s right for your business, call us today.

Mobile Marketing works and we can prove it to you.  Give us a call at 843-647-9489

P.S.  Don’t take our word for it, you can read the original article here: https://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-web-mobile-tv-consumption-2012-12#ixzz2EwQFsB4f

Let me ask you this.  What is your objective in business?   Where do you want your business to be 3-5 years from now?  If you are like most, you would you like your business to make more money or perhaps you would like to gain more exposure for your non-profit?  Well, you can breathe a sigh of relief because mobile advertising is here to help you meet your objective whatever it is.

Why Your Business needs innovative mobile advertising solutions will become very clear to you if you’ll just start studying of the behavior of people when they are using their mobile devices.

Notice how everyone’s got their head in their mobile devices now?  The fact is, that people are spending most of their time talking, texting, or surfing the web from their mobile devices and not from their other computing devices.  People are spending less &  less time sitting in front of their PC’s.

Still don’t believe me? Need more proof?  The video below should not only give you a good chuckle but also convince you that what I’m telling you is true.  You may not realize it yet, but you’ll soon learn that for businesses, mobile devices and mobile advertising  are almost like finding a goldmine!

You probably already know that TV commercials, newspapers, radio ads, phone books and other forms of traditional advertising  are just not as effective as they once were.  But what is a businesses best bet when it comes to advertising?  We at Charleston Mobile Marketing believe it is innovative mobile advertising and here’s why:

The number one reason why mobile advertising is so powerful is that mobile marketing allows your business to reach your target audience where they are; on their mobile devices!  About 90% of the people in this country have a mobile device and those people have a unique relationship with their mobile devices.  Just look at them!  They are walking around every town in America reading or sending a text message right now!  Do you realize that 98% of the mobile devices in this country are capable of sending and receiving text messages and that text messaging is the preferred method of communication for a huge segment of the population?  Even better, text messages are usually viewed within just a few minutes and stay on a users phone for about 2 weeks!

It’s also important to know that mobile marketing has also proven to be extremely effective in producing a higher return on investment (ROI) than that of traditional marketing methods.  We can show you how to see the highest returns with our proven mobile marketing strategies.

Mobile devices are far more heavily used than the traditional PC. In fact, mobile devices are practically a permanent attachment for most people today.  They sleep with their phones under their pillows or next to their beds.  They never let their phone be more than a few feet from them.  Are you starting to see the power in mobile marketing? You can literally reach your potential marketing no matter where they are because they will have their mobile device right by their sides!

You need to know that  mobile marketing is just getting started and is already ON FIRE. This means that your business needs to be a part of this revolution and you will boost your profits in the process.

You may be wondering how hard it is to start up a mobile marketing campaign.  Well, the truth is, it depends on what you want to do.   Charleston mobile marketing is not a text messaging company.  That’s not to say that we don’t use and recommend text message strategies but there are many mobile marketing strategies to consider and many times mobile advertising strategies work best in conjunction with one another and with whatever other marketing methods you may already be doing.  For example, to start a mobile text messaging campaign, you simply build a targeted list of mobile users, create offers and campaigns related to your business, and start communicating to your list of mobile users. The only thing left to do after that is to start watching your profits rise…and they will!  The best way to answer that question however is to sit down and talk about your objectives.  We offer a free website analysis and consultation to make that easy for you.  After that, we’ll present you with a blueprint of what it will take to help you reach that objective.  From there, you’ll have a foundation from which to build a complete mobile advertising campaign and we hope we’ll be part of that.

Don’t wait to learn more about what mobile advertising can do for your business.  Now is the time for you to break into the very lucrative area of mobile advertising! Competition is lower than any other advertising method as most businesses have not caught on just yet – but they will.   That being said, it should be clear that businesses that take action RIGHT NOW have the upper hand as they are claiming their mobile ground before their competitors do.

Give us a call today!  In Charleston, call 843-647-0489  Throughout the U.S. call toll free: 866-945-9707.

Oh, and remember, don’t text and walk 🙂

P.S. If you haven’t already, hurry and get our free report  “The Small Business Guide to Mobile Marketing“.

I’ve decided to call this section of Charleston Mobile Marketing’s website “Show & Tell”  It’s our blog but play along for a minute.  Can you remember what show and tell was like? What comes to mind and what kinds of images and feelings are brought back when you hear the words “Show & Tell“.  You DO remember show & tell don’t you?  I thought it was the best part of the week!  In my classroom, every Friday I think, everyone in the class brought in one of their favorite things and they would stand up in front of the class and share it with everyone.  They would show it, sometimes pass it around, tell us what it was and teach us all about it.  It was great!  I always loved show & tell.

When you think about it, learning what others have to share about their favorite things, the things that they are the most passionate about, is probably the best way to learn about anything in the whole wide world and today, on the world wide web.  I also believe that having the ability to share my own expertise on things that were important to me gave me my earliest sense of contributing to the world around me.

So, why have we stopped sharing in this manner?  Or have we stopped?…

Today,  I think of Social Media websites as the biggest and best show & tell game the world has ever seen.  Not many would argue that they don’t love being able to share on Facebook or Twitter.  Except now, the game has changed a little bit and instead of sharing with a class of 25 students, you have the potential to share with the world and the best part of all of this is that it’s still great fun!  I would even go so far as to say that it’s social proof that everyone enjoys a good game of show & tell.

So WHAT does this have to do with you and Charleston Mobile Marketing?

Well, mobile marketing isn’t much different than a good game of show and tell just like social media is.  The difference, is that instead of waiting until Friday to show off to the world what you are excited about or, posting it to social media and waiting for someone to come and be excited about it too, you share that message with them right now.  Practically right this instant as a matter of fact.

That’s when I started thinking about the kinds of things I wanted to share with the readers of this website,  I knew that I’d be sharing the latest mobile marketing news & knowledge of the industry by not only myself, but by others who are considered experts in the industry.  I want to show you what companies are doing in the mobile marketing industry and share with you what’s coming in the future.  I want to offer you everything you need to know about mobile marketing in order to run successful mobile marketing campaigns for your business.  So, this is how I’ve decided to do that for you.  The show & tell section is where you will find everything I want to share with you about the new and exciting industry that I have become so passionate about and that I believe is the single best new technology for your business.

I encourage you to play along in the game by making sure you comment on the posts and sharing with others your thoughts and experiences in what you’re doing for your business with mobile marketing.  I look forward to seeing your favorite things here and hearing you tell me what it is and all about it.

So be sure to check this section every time you visit the site or better yet, text show&tell to 72727 to get all of our updates and never miss a show & tell moment.

Best,

Leigha Baer