The Art of Developing an Effective Mobile Marketing Strategy Starting the process with a sound mobile marketing strategy will set you up for success

Like any type of marketing, mobile marketing works best when you have a solid strategy behind it. But mobile marketing isn't like traditional marketing—and it differs from other types of digital marketing as well.

A successful mobile marketing strategy helps you recognize those differences and build an effective campaign. But creating that strategy can be more of an art than a science. You'll need to do some research up front and be ready to optimize the campaign while it's running.

Here are four steps to get you started on building your own successful mobile strategy.

• Understand Your Market

Your marketing tactics need to match your target audience. How old are your potential customers? What devices are they using? What are they interested in? Which types of mobile marketing will catch their attention?

For example, let's look at marketing to Generation Z. This group uses smartphones and tablets on a regular basis, so mobile marketing is likely to reach them. Upfront Analytics suggests that edgy, progressive campaigns will capture their attention.

Gen Z is also big into video, with 71% of them reporting watching three hours or more of online video each day. So YouTube, Periscope, Facebook Live, and Meerkat are likely to get traction.

You'll want demographic, behavioural, and psychographic data wherever you can get it so that you can get a deeper understanding who you're marketing to.

To get additional details on the types of marketing and advertising that will work, look at your own mobile analytics. See which types of marketing work well with your audience. Find out if they respond better to push notifications or SMS. Check to see whether they prefer video or text. Run surveys, focus groups, and interviews to get more qualitative information. All of this data helps you form a deeper understanding of your audience and how they interact with mobile marketing.

• Dial in Your Message

What is your campaign going to say? Don't make the mistake of using the same message as your non-mobile marketing. Consumers have different problems and priorities when they're on the go.
For example, the Red Cross' non-mobile campaigns are often eye-catching print ads that focus on how easy it is to donate your change after a purchase.

But their message is different for mobile users. It focuses on how easy it is to send a single text message to donate a few dollars. The emphasis is on ease and speed, things that appeal to people on the go. And it works. Mobile donations accounted for over $32 million after Hurricane Katrina.

To get this part of your mobile marketing strategy correct, you'll want to get in touch with your customers. Ask them about what problems they're trying to solve and how you can help.
And, again, pay attention to your analytics, because behaviour gives insight into priorities.

• Get Specific with Targeting

Your mobile marketing strategy will work best if you have a very specific target audience. It might be based on your buyer personas, the device your users are on, their history with your company, or something else.

For example, National Geographic ran a campaign that only targeted users on tablets connected to their home wifi networks. The goal was to encourage watching a new series.

National Geographic took the time to figure out which of their viewers were likely to take the desired action, and they tailored both their message and their targeting to appeal to those viewers.

• Specify a Mobile-Friendly Goal

What's the end goal of your mobile marketing campaign? What counts as a conversion? You'll see more success if that goal (and the associated call to action) are mobile-friendly.

Mobile users are less likely than desktop users to complete a 12-part form to start a free trial. Desktop users might not have a problem with this level of involvement if the offer is valuable.

But filling out a long form is more difficult on mobile. A more abbreviated form—say 3 items, instead of 12—will likely get more responses from mobile users.

On a related note, ensure your calls to action make it clear that you're not asking your users to do something lengthy and complicated. Make the mobile conversion process as frictionless as possible.

• Experiment, Update and Succeed

Successful digital marketing campaigns are flexible. Real-time analytics will show you what's working and what's not — and by taking action on those insights, you'll consistently improve the performance of your campaign.

Starting the process with a sound mobile marketing strategy will set you up for success. But developing that strategy isn't the end. You'll need to react to changing usage patterns, priorities, and audience characteristics, too.