People’s attention spans have dwindled.  The average person living in New York is exposed to as many as 5,000 advertisements a day. Of course, not everyone lives the rigorous New York City lifestyle, but the fact remains that your business needs to truly differentiate itself.  With PC sales and cable subscribers both declining, developing an effective mobile marketing campaign is becoming more important than ever. Here are a few ways you can make sure to reach your target market.

Location Based Advertisements

location based advertising

Photo via Flickr by misspixels

The most successful type of advertisements in the mobile market are known as geo-aware ads.  These ads utilize personalized location data.  The idea behind the ad is based around wherever the user is located.  The message can change if the user is in the same application but different locations. If you would like to tell people 10 miles away about your dinner specials and people one mile away about your happy hour deals, this is the proper campaign for you.  The geo-aware ads also have the highest click-through rate at about 1 percent.

Another form of mobile advertising is geo-fenced ads. These allow a business to target all people within a set distance. This works great for smaller businesses that just want to get their name out to local consumers.  Although they only display one message to everyone, they have the second highest click-through rate at .92 percent.

Another aspect of geo-fenced ads allows for a business to target a specific city or zip code.  This model is known as Designated-Market Area (DMA) advertising.  If you’re a larger business with multiple locations, you can focus on the zip codes where you’re best customers are located. 

Encourage Engagement

People love to feel like they’re a part of something.  At the same time, most know that your business is looking for free advertisements. By encouraging people to get involved with your business, such as through check-ins or hashtags on the best 4g phones on T-Mobile, you’re allowing them to join in your success. Facebook, Yelp, Foursquare, and Twitter are your best bets to get your customers to connect with you. Encourage people to review your business and give feedback, helping you grow and gather market research. 

With this, you can also learn about customer’s average ages, where they’re coming from, and even gain valuable feedback from them.  All this can help to continue to tailor your marketing campaign even more and not just reach any potential customers, but the right ones.  The best way to approach this is by offering up something for check-ins or hashtags.  Something such as a free drink or appetizer could really get people’s attention and draw some new customers in.

Create an App

This isn’t always the cheapest option, but with the proper development you can ensure your customers know everything about your business.  Within the app, your customers can locate your business, contact you directly, and can even meet your staff and get to know them.  Developing an app allows a direct connection between you and your clients. You can learn a lot about them by examining the data they provide. If you have them sign in through Facebook, you’re able to gather all kinds of data regarding their preferences and places they frequent.  Again, this is expensive, but also incredibly effective.

Developing Partnerships

If developing your own app is too large of an investment for your business, working with another local business can prove beneficial. Combining your marketing efforts with another local business can open up doors to all kinds of new clients. It can also help to save on costs and develop long-term partnerships. These partnerships can then lead to cross promotional campaigns and a larger customer base.

Grabbing people’s attentions is no easy feat in the fast-paced world of mobile marketing. Traditional marketing tactics are no longer as effective; innovation and creativity help in a big way. If done properly, the payoffs from the amount of new traffic and customers could be immense. 

 

Author Bio: Calvin Sellers is a technology writer and graphic designer from Tampa, FL. Follow him on Twitter @CalvinTheScribe.