It has been shown in recent studies that people redeem coupons from their mobile phone up to 10 times more than they do from printed sources.
So if you are a small business owner who is looking for a new and effective method of marketing your business, it would seem that mobile coupons could be the answer. However, keep in mind that when you start off a mobile coupon promotion, it won’t be the same as marketing in the print medium.
For a start, mobile coupons are obviously accessed by means of a smartphone. These days approximately 30% of all mobile phones are smartphones, and that percentage can only increase. It is estimated that the use of smartphones will increase again by at least 20% every year. So for the astute small business owner it is a technological phenomenon which cannot be ignored. If you don’t have a mobile website yet, you should definitely get one. They are pretty cheap these days, and I even offer free mobile websites, so there is no excuse!
Once you have decided to try mobile coupon marketing, you should put your coupon in a large banner ad on your mobile website. These mobile banner heads have plenty of colour and attention grabbing graphics, and if you do have a smartphone you should be well used to seeing them. You should only use a minimum amount of text, S a mobile screen is pretty small and as a consequence your text will also be very small, almost unreadable. In fact, you could get away with just using one word – FREE!
You should also include a QR code in your banner ad. These are the square barcodes that are cropping up everywhere these days. Most mobile phones come with an inbuilt scanner which enables the user to scan the QR code and go straight to the website containing your coupons.
You should also make use of off-line marketing techniques, such as displaying a sign on your shop counter, or perhaps in your shop window. Of course your website will also have an opt in form, where people can find out how to get your coupons and how to get on your mailing list to get notification of any new coupons, and once you have their e-mail address and mobile telephone number, you have the ability to contact them whenever you want by email or by SMS – for example if you are running a daily or even hourly special.
You should also look at the possibility of having a referral system, whereby existing customers get a small reward for referring their friends and acquaintances and getting them to sign up to your newsletter.
So do not ignore a new marketing trend which is happening right under your notes. If you do not take advantage of mobile marketing, you can be sure that your competitors definitely will!