Green Mobile Marketing in Lakeland? Yes!

Quick! What’s the one thing you are most likely to have with you, wherever you are? I think it’s pretty safe to say you are not going to mention the Coupon Book, the Clipper Magazine or the Sophisticated Buyer, mailers, the newspaper or the yellow pages. The thing is, everyone, without exception has their cell phones with them at all times. As mobile technology advances, and more people are upgrading their phones to “smartphones” (by Christmas, 2011, Nielsen predicts that 1 in 2 Americans will have a Smartphone. (Nielsen, 2010), businesses today can do their part in saving and protecting the environment by shifting their marketing efforts away from printed coupons, mailers and advertisements that are more likely to end up in the trash can or forgotten at home, than the cash register.

Mobile Marketing in Lakeland is Sustainable

Sustainability is not a buzzword anymore. It’s a best practice for all businesses. Environmentally conscious or not, businesses need to pay attention to reaching their customers in more efficient ways. Mobile technologies provide an exciting solution for Lakeland businesses on several different levels. When a customer is mobile, (or not in front of their computers) they are still connected to their networks, via e-mail, Social Media, Text and even their Search Engines.

Businesses who have learned to leverage this are reaping the rewards and thriving, in spite of the recession. How? Because they are providing special offers that can be created once and recycled, updated and tracked and sending them to their customers on the one object they never leave home without – their cell phones.

Lakeland Consumers are Ready for Mobile Marketing

There are thousands of consumers in Lakeland that are eager for their favorite businesses and business they have never visited before, to give them a reason to shop with them and give them an opportunity to express their loyalty through their social networks. Mobile Marketing strategies are a no-brainer. It just takes a little strategic thinking to figure out how it can work for any business.

Here are a few ideas that businesses in Lakeland can use right now to reduce paper waste, generate buzz around their business and increase their bottom lines.

Businesses can partner with other businesses to create an SMS campaign that can offer special promotions to their Mobile Subscribers
Individual Businesses can have Mobile Contests, Like a Text2Vote or Text to Win Campaign
Mobile strategies like QR codes and SMS/Text campaigns can drive traffic to websites that have been optimized for viewing on mobile devices
Location-Based Social Media Applications like Foursquare, Facebook Places, SCVNGR, Gowalla and Yelp can be utilized to offer customers special discounts for “checking in” with their mobile phones and sharing with their social networks.

National Brands have proven the power of this marketing tool and have launched Green/Mobile Campaigns with incredible success. This proves that Lakeland consumers are likely looking for ways to enjoy these technologies locally too, because Buying Lakeland Makes Good Cents!

Chrissanne Long is a Media and Marketing Consultant and Partner with Marketing System Blueprints, an interactive Marketing agency that offers Search Engine Optimization, Video, Mobile and Search Engine Marketing services for local businesses seeking to improve their online visibility and brand awareness in Lakeland, FL and other local markets.

What is Mobile Marketing?

A media consumer is overwhelmed with content on a daily basis. There are games, websites, text messages, and phone calls that are all bombarding the user at one time. A popular emergence in the advertising field is that of the use of Mobile Advertising. Over the past couple of years the emergence and growth of mobile advertising is amazing.

Online advertising started with pop-ups, and banner ads that are available on websites. Although with an internet capable phone these ads could be viewed, they are often overlooked or ignored by users. The use of mobile advertising began to really come into existence with the use of the SMS system. Which is an instant message that is sent directly to the phone. This allowed companies to send advertisements to consumers in an unobtrusive way that respected the privacy of the mobile users. By sending ads over an SMS system allows the ads to not only be viewed instantaneously but also does not interrupt what the user is doing at that current time. With this in mind the user is more likely to interact with the ads and view them then when they viewed them as an invasion of their time and privacy.

Mobile Advertising Grows in Popularity

It is estimated that in 2010 there will be over 4.8 billion mobile users. The advertising opportunities are endless with this amount of potential viewership. With the emergence of adding benefits or rewards to the ads this allows the viewers to want to interact with not only the product but the company that is involved with the advertising. Remembering that as technology changes the mobile advertising will change will allow companies to change with the times and keep the ads to the target audience that is the main focus of the advertising campaign.

Although mobile advertising is becoming more and more popular as mobile devices become a regular staple in people’s every day life. The amount of money that is spent on advertising in the mobile range is still very little, as low as .05% by some companies. With the emergence of mobile advertising it is hard to tell what effect it will have on the companies bottom line. However as mobile devices become more popular and advertising moves with technology, mobile advertising will become more of a norm with companies.