Traditional marketing involved creating a message and pushing it out. With television, you would aim for prime time, and with a magazine or newspaper, you would control when the marketing campaign would commence.
Mobile, on the other hand, is a whole new game. The consumer is no longer a passive entity that is fed messages. The mobile consumer is hyperaware, craves interaction, and initiates a pull style of marketing rather than the traditional push.
Chuck Martin, author of The Third Screen: Marketing to Your Customers in a World Gone Mobile, suggests that while technology has rapidly changed, the real differences are behavioural. Of course, these are inevitably intertwined—as bigger companies change their marketing behaviour, the expectations of consumers will change alongside them.
Small business adaptability an advantage
Unfortunately for smaller businesses, these expectations will stretch across the board. However, small businesses have the adaptability, more so than big businesses, to keep up with the movements. As Chuck notes, the consumers who deal with your business via mobile are actually your best customers. They willingly opt-in to receive more information from you, and thus have the most marketing potential.
Small numbers that pack a big punch
Especially within a small business, there may not be many of these opt-in mobile consumers, but it is important to remember that a tiny percent of your customer base can generate a huge percentage of your revenue. It is not the size of these consumers that counts, but their marketing value. Mobile marketing generates a powerfully interactive relationship between your business and your consumers, in a way that has never before been possible.
Personal relationships: a winner
Consumer behaviour may be shifting and changing, but for a small business owner—it is definitely to your advantage. Small businesses have always had the capacity for personal relationships with customers and clients, and mobile marketing really works to those strengths. This article is based on an extract from the Marketing Goes Mobile webinar with Chuck Martin, author of The Third Screen: Marketing to Your Customers in a World Gone Mobile. Learn more about Chuck Martin, here.
