It has been predicted that the number of global smartphone users will surpass two billion in 2016. This means that marketing departments are still scrambling to tweak their campaigns, messages, strategies and budgets to better reflect the importance of mobile advertising.

The glut of information available on the web makes it difficult to tell valuable advice from what is outdated or misinformed. Everyone seems to be an expert these days on being “mobile-friendly,” and jargon like infinite scroll, responsive design, interstitials and bounce rate can make your life even more difficult. Below are the three keys to successful mobile marketing to help ensure that your budget doesn’t go to waste.

Deliver personalized experiences

The sheer amount of information available to you about every customer opens up doors that were once not possible, and customers expect you to use it. Nearly 75% of consumers in a national poll said they were frustrated when businesses didn’t adapt to them, according to Hubspot. On top of that, personalized calls to action were 42% more effective during a year-long study from the same company. A few options include:

  • Personalizing emails – these get click-through rates 14% higher than non-personalized ones.
  • SMS – text messages are usually opened and read within the first 90 seconds. A personalized text is a great way to capitalize on user connectivity.
  • Personalized content – businesses now have the ability to personalize what is shown to customers, and this has brought amazing results to e-commerce companies that can show preferred items, or websites that can display preferred content. 40% of consumers buy more from retailers who personalize shopping experiences.

Be aware of your keywords

As the search engine results page becomes more saturated and keywords more competitive, businesses are becoming more attracted to long-tail keywords, and even very long-tail keywords (think “vegetarian comfort foods in the Plateau, Montreal”). But remember that when dealing with mobile, the majority of your customers aren’t going be able to type quickly or accurately. Many businesses make the mistake of not trying to go simpler. Using our last example, “vegetarian food Montreal” is a much better keyword to target.

Tip: remember that people search differently on mobile. They are often in the moment and the go. Go to Google and type in the word restaurants, and the first suggestion is “restaurants near me.” Adding this mobile phrase or other ones such as quick, mobile, or on-the-go are a great idea for driving pinpointed traffic.

Keep it simple

Modern website design is dominated by simplified displays that maximize white space, make great use of colours, and keep pages and buttons to a minimum. This is because navigating a complex website or landing page is nearly impossible on mobile. Not only are they much easier to navigate, simplified pages also decrease load times. A majority of users said they would wait a maximum of 6-10 seconds for a page to load and most said they would wait no more than 15 seconds. However, studies reveal that as each second ticks by, the bounce rate increased drastically.

Online marketing is the key to a successful company in the modern economy, and with the number of smartphone users growing by the day, mobile marketing is fast becoming the most important function of every marketing department. With the sheer volume of marketing advice out there, we want you to know that sometimes keeping it simple is the best advice. These three keys to successful online marketing are sure to take your business to the next level.