Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

For 15 years, the Pew Research Center has studied the social impact of the internet, and the shift from using devices tethered to a desk to engaging with mobile devices has climbed steadily. In fact, in just the last four years, the number of U.S. adults who own a smartphone has leapt from 35 to 64 percent, with nearly half reporting “they couldn’t live without it.”

Not surprisingly, mobile marketing is likewise on the rise, and savvy, agile marketers are developing optimized marketing strategies to keep up so their brands reach their target customers in the right channel, at the right time.

Mobile Marketing Reaches Consumers on the Go — and at HomeEvery week, CMO.com offers a selection of “Mind-Blowing Stats,” and the publication recently set its sights on mobile marketing. Pointing out that consumer consumption habits are changing, the article notes one significant difference in mobile use: It is not exclusive to when consumers are out and about.

They are also using their smartphones and tablets at home while they watch TV, during their daily routine and at many other times. While it’s clear that mobile usage has made marketers sit up and take notice, some of the statistics suggest that marketing may not be adapting as quickly as needed....

Now that Google has officially confirmed that there are more searches on mobile than desktop, sites that aren’t mobile-friendly just won’t cut it anymore. After all, it’s bad for business — 70% of these mobile searches convert to some sort of online action within the first hour.

That’s why we put together a checklist of the mobile friendly best practices (from our #MobileReady webinar) to help arm you. You can download the checklist here....

Whether browsing through Amazon on a tablet or flicking through the latest offers on our mobile phones, we’ve grown accustomed to the digital shopping experience. However, it’s one thing to do your weekly shop from an iPad, and quite another to book a holiday abroad.

For businesses, mobile devices certainly present a far more accessible means for consumers to research their next purchase and reach out with any queries, but unfortunately the vast majority simply aren’t about to carry out large transactions on the same device.

According to BoldChat’s latest Effective Mobile Engagement Survey, there is a growing gap between the number of people using mobile devices to research and query products, and the amount of money they are spending. Last year, only 1 in 10 people spent more than $1500 via their phone or tablet. For smartphones, this falls to as few as 5 percent.

So what is stopping them from committing to these large purchases? Recent iOS and Android security breaches, such as the XcodeGhost and 'long password' vulnerabilities, certainly haven’t helped businesses build trust among consumers....

Even knowing the above stats, it can be remarkably easy to underestimate the power our smartphones hold when it comes to marketing. I mean, I still work on a laptop for most of the day—maybe you do, too.

But beginning in early 2014, internet usage on mobile devices began to exceed desktop usage.

These days, more Google searches take place on mobile devices than on computers in 10 countries, including the U.S.  And Goldman Sachs has predicted that the number of people making purchases on smartphones and tablets will grow to nearly half of all e-commerce by 2018....

Mobile consumers exercise tremendous where-and-when control over their buying decisions. Marketers must be at the ready to respond to these savvy consumers' mobile interactions. Powering marketers' overtures are fresh mobile-marketing technologies and software, but that doesn't mean mobile marketing is as easy as a swipe and a tap.

Marketers are still grappling with new strategies for the m-commerce landscape. Although the essential components of successful cross-channel marketing strategies haven't changed, today's digital marketers now have to blend these more exacting mobile approaches into the mix.

Direct Marketing News Editor-in-Chief Ginger Conlon and Chuck Moxley, CMO of mobile technology company 4INFO, co-hosted an editorial roundtable on mobile's best and most challenging aspects for marketers. Highlights of the conversation included mobile attribution and targeting; how to connect agencies' and brands' differing perspectives regarding what data to collect and measure; how to integrate mobile into the multichannel mix; and what role mobile should play in marketers' media spend. —Alison Lowander...

This week Target became the latest retailer to integrate beacon technology into the shopping experience, announcing that it will test using low-energy Bluetooth beacons to deliver coupons and special offers to the mobile devices of shoppers when they’re near the product in question.

Target is currently testing the beacon technology at 50 stores in major markets across the country, including New York City, Chicago, Denver, San Francisco and Seattle. The retail giant plans to limit the number of mobile push notifications sent to each device to two per visit, in order to avoid driving shoppers insane....

On June 29th Bank of America released the findings of its second annual report on Consumer Mobility. The report showed that the US population is perpetually plugged-in with 71% of those surveyed disclosing they actually sleep with their smartphones. This prompted us to revisit the study we conducted in Q2 of 2014 in which we first uncovered the rise of a new breed of mobile users: the Mobile Addicts.

Worldwide Mobile Addicts Grew 59% in the Last Year

The chart below shows the results of the new research. It is clear from that chart that the trend Bank of America is talking about is not limited to the United States. In fact, that trend is global.  From Q2 2014 to Q2 2015, the total population of smart devices measured by Flurry grew from 1.3B to 1.8B, a 38% year over year growth. Regular Users, consumers who use apps between once and 16 times daily, grew from 784 million to 985 million in the same period, a 25% increase. Super Users, consumers who use apps between 16 and 60 times daily, grew even more in that same period from 440 million to 590 million, a 34% increase....

In the year 2015, it’s a safe bet to assume there’s an app for that.Particularly in the payments and commerce ecosystem, being consumer friendly means, first and foremost, being mobile friendly. And mobile optimized. And mobile app friendly. And mobile engaged.

And mobile.

Just as much as payments and commerce are converging, the push toward digital media apps has imploded in the past few years. In fact, comScore’s data show that digital media has grown two-fold in the past two years alone. And what can we attribute to that growth?

The mobile app, of course....

In what some observers are equating to the next evolution of marketing's "moment of truth," Google has come up with a new term, "micro-moments," to define how the omni-presence of mobile devices is redefining the consumer's journey.

In a new report, "Micro-Moments: Your Guide to Winning the Shift to Mobile," Google pointed to findings showing that over two-thirds of smartphone users check their phones within 15 minutes of waking up in the morning and that 87% always have their smartphone at their side — even while they sleep — as evidence of how mobile devices are "transforming our lives, whether we actively notice it or not."...

As we’ve said before, those customers who take the time to download your mobile app and actually shop with it are your best customers. What do you know about them? What should you know about them? What do they have in common with mobile shoppers and what’s different about them?

A variety of reports have come out recently that attempt to answer these questions. Here’s a roundup of our favorite surprising stats....

Big retailers such as Nordstrom, Victoria’s Secret and Lowe’s are increasingly bringing physical manifestations of social media into their stores to excite mobile-savvy shoppers and drive sales.

With more shoppers using their phones in-store, often to connect with social media, and throughout the path-to-purchase, it makes sense for retailers to carry over the interest in social media to their window displays and other store marketing efforts. The strategy is an example of the blurring of the lines between marketing, content and advertising as omnichannel marketing matures....

The current mobile retailing facts demonstrate just how viral this shopping trend has become. With smartphones getting more and more capable each year, it’s easier than ever to make a purchase in just a few clicks using an app or a mobile browser combined with the security and convenience of a digital wallet.

An Entire Population Accesses The Web From A PhoneWith over 1.2 billion people accessing the internet from a smartphone, according to Trinity Digital Marketing, mobile retailing is on its way to becoming the next mainstay in ecommerce.

U.S. consumers represent the most saturated smartphone market, with comScore saying that 58% of people here own a smartphone. Considering that the population of China is roughly 1.3 billion people, there’s an entire digital population using smartphones during the present day....