How SMBs Can Capture Digital Marketing Success

Mobile marketing continues to soar to new heights. According to new figures from eMarketer, mobile ad spending in the U.S. is expected to increase by 50 percent, reaching $28.72 billion and accounting for 49 percent of all digital ad spending in 2015. In fact, a recent study conducted by the BBC World News indicates that mobile advertising worldwide is twice as effective as PC-based advertising, and up to four times more effective among affluent consumers.

The trending growth in mobile marketing creates a unique opportunity for marketers, even those at small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). With consumers and businesses alike utilizing their devices for everything from playing games to making major business purchases, marketers must embrace mobile and ensure it is integral to their overall marketing strategy. Mobile advertising offers the unique ability to deliver your tailored message to a scalable audience. Combine those capabilities with both contextual and hyperlocal targeting layers (via geo-fencing), and an effective medium emerges for businesses of any size.

Unlike other forms of digital marketing, mobile marketing allows marketers to advertise 24/7 and potentially reach customers in a moment that it is relevant or without distraction. This "always on" mentality enables SMBs to reach their target audience where and when they are actively engaged. Consider how consumers already interact with their mobile devices, and take advantage of that behavior in your digital marketing strategy. So, how can small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) use mobile marketing effectively? Based on the experience of my company Choozle's customers and hundreds of mobile advertising campaigns, we have a few suggestions to help achieve digital marketing success.

SMBs have granularity available in building their digital marketing campaigns, including the targeting of consumers based on their geographic location. Utilizing demand-side platforms (commonly referred to as DSPs), marketers can layer multiple third-party segments to refine mobile audiences including demographic, psychographic and/or purchase behavior data sets. As an example, our client Clearwater Toyota recently leveraged third-party data to target consumers in-market for Toyota cars as well as consumers who were shopping competitive automotive brands. This resulted in "the highest sales month in Clearwater Toyota's history, with more than 450 cars sold" according to John Morgan, VP of Digital Media at YouConnex, Clearwater Toyota's digital agency.

SMBs should work to eliminate anything that makes buying more difficult, such as a website that doesn't load correctly on a mobile device or hard-to-find contact information. Employ creative messaging that drives a user to engage while they are on their mobile devices. Your call-to-action in your creative could be anything from a "click-to-call" or "click for directions." Another Choozle SMB partner, Sock101.com, included a clear "two-for-one" discount within their creative strategy, which aided in growing their daily e-commerce sales by over 50 percent in the first three weeks of their digital advertising campaign.

Unlike desktop digital marketing campaigns, mobile advertising has less time to engage the potential customer. Thus, it's critical for SMBs to get their point across in few words: product images, for instances or testimonials from people using your products are always great starting points to captivate and capture new customers. You could also try using phrases like "buy now from your phone" or "special mobile offer" that provide clear calls-to-action and indicate the consumer can make their purchase with a few simple clicks right on their phone. With programmatic channels and platforms reducing the costs of planning and managing campaigns, multiple creative angles can be employed and tested with ease, thus enabling efficient and effective optimization toward the best performing creative campaigns.

With its current share-of-voice with consumers, it is clear that mobile marketing should be part of all SMBs' digital marketing plans. Refining your marketing mix through testing will yield the proper spend levels to complement other channels, including email, direct marketing and video. With increasing consumer consumption across mediums (and the resulting fragmentation), it is more important than ever for SMBs to create a unified strategy across all marketing channels to reach your targets wherever they are.

Mobile advertising is a smart marketing method for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that can help drive consumer engagement and generate efficient personal communication between both parties. With today's targeting tools at their disposal, marketers can create mobile campaigns that take on the feel of direct communication. Utilizing mobile is a "must-do" for SMBs that are looking to drive the most ROI from their limited advertising budgets.