Steve’s Corner – Small Businesses: Are You Mobile?

Your customers are, are you?

In an era where there are more and more ways to reach and communicate with your customers and prospects, every day challenges us in how to connect and have meaningful dialogue. How do I capture their attention? What is it about my brand and my promotions that they care about? How do I best engage customers for meaningful feedback or to reward them with special incentives that are relevant?

Smart devices provide a new and unique way to communicate with your customers. Smart phones are projected to hold a 50% market share in the US by the end of 2011 and a 75% market share by the end of 2013. This new medium provides incredible new opportunities to reach your customers in ways never before imagined. Are you able to take advantage of these opportunities?

As a local retailer, you know it is all about location, location, location. Well location now has a completely new meaning. It is not about the location of the store, but the location of your customers and prospects to your store. Mobile consumers are willing to share their location in exchange for real-time offers. 66% are willing to share their information in exchange for coupons, 55% for loyalty rewards and 37% for exclusive sales.

The exponential growth in use of smartphones, iPhone/iPads, and tablets (we’ll group all of these into “smart device” for this article’s purposes) attests to our preference for portability. Unlike the PC or laptop counterparts, we typically keep these devices within 3 feet, 24x7x365(“Will 2010 Be the Real Year of Mobile?” (December 10, 2009), Jason Steinberg”) indicating our strong preference for smart devices as the communication device of choice.

Just as social networking changed the way companies communicate with their customers, so too will the adoption of smart devices. While any business should consider how to take advantage of this trend, consumer driven companies in particular MUST start incorporating smart phone and device communications as an important part of their overall communications plan.