Ring, ring... hello mobile!

Mobiles, who doesn't have one? I have one, everyone in my family does, my grandparents do, even my great-grandma does! It is estimated that worldwide there are more than 5 billion people with a smartphone (https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2019/02/05/smartphone-ownership-is-growing-rapidly-around-the-world-but-not-always-equally/). Clearly, the world loves mobiles and smartphones, the question is how have businesses adapted to using them for marketing purposes and what tools do they implement.

Notifications are every day, almost every minute experience to a mobile user. They appear in various forms, most popular being banners. Banners occur in-app, for example, if you're playing a game they will usually appear to promote another game similar or as notifications, from your downloaded apps - my most common is Instagram. Focusing on Instagram specifically, the marketers will often program banners to prompt further use of their application, for example, 'follow @sarahknight because you follow @sarahday you are likely to enjoy her page'.

So why are all these companies focusing their efforts into mobile marketing? The mobile acts as a portable device in the back of your pocket, not only is its size convenient but it has access to a world of information with a swipe of a screen and from the above, the accessibility to an audience of not hundreds, thousands or millions but billions in seconds, is any business marketers dream (https://visme.co/blog/types-of-mobile-advertising/).

source: http://anthillonline.com/here-are-4-mobile-marketing-tips-that-every-australian-entrepreneur-should-know-today/

To capture the power of a society that has become reliant on mobile information accessibility, Google created micro-moments. A micro-moment occur[s] when people reflexively turn to a device—increasingly a smartphone—to act on a need to learn something, do something, discover something, watch something, or buy something (https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-resources/micro-moments/how-micromoments-are-changing-rules/). Listed, micro-moments are classified by I-want-to-know moments, I-want-to- go moments, I-want-to- buy moments and I-want-to-do moments.

The crucial element for businesses to lead into is to be ready to address the consumer's intent once one of the above moves is made. For example, I as a consumer see a new trend on Instagram for tan colour pants, after scrolling and observing a trend I decide I-want-to-buy this product. The key factor here is me (as the purchaser) intent to buy - the company does not need tools to convince me. To respond to this, the Instagram search engine can identify that it is a common product and provide sponsored posts relative to my clothing inquisition, the specific business can provide 'click to shop' tags on the post which will immediately show me the price and relocate me to their site.

The above is also relative to in-store purchases, often consumers will revert to their phones to locate a particular item catalogued via social media. In fact, 82% of smartphone users do this. The key is being at the consumer's 'swipe' with the right information to 'seal the deal' (https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/en-aunz/marketing-resources/micro-moments/micromoments-guide-pdf-download/).

So what does this mean for us? As aspiring marketers, this information is extremely valuable if learnt how to implement effectively. As a user on the other hand, what do you think? Are we too targeted to the point of diversion from our initial search plan?