Smartphones may not be a threat to the human race like an army of genetically evolved apes, but they are certainly taking over the world just as quickly. With a growing global presence of 1.75 billion smartphones (eMarketer report, January 2014), it is impossible to ignore the opportunity that this growing mobile audience provides to the marketer.
Don’t Fight It
Embrace the change that comes with the surge of smartphones. 24.4% of the world’s population uses a smartphone at least once a month, but it is predicted that by 2017 this number will rise to 33.8% (eMarketer report, January 2014). As a marketer, this explosion of smartphone usage is something that you should immediately start using to your advantage. This smartphone phenomenon has created many new channels to voice your company’s message and even more channels will emerge as adoption rates continue to increase.
Know the Facts
One channel that this global takeover of smartphones has played a large role in helping to grow is phone calls.It is a common misconception that the growth of the Internet has all but eliminated phone calls from modern society; in fact, it could not be more wrong. According to analyst firm BIA/Kelsey, 30 billion calls were made to U.S. businesses in 2013, and that number is predicted to reach 65 billion by 2016. So the calls keep rolling in and a considerable number of those are originating from a smartphone.Google also reports that 65% of mobile searches result in a phone call. People may be using their smartphones to get online, but a majority of that mobile web browsing results in a phone call.
The rise of mobile has created an infinite number of opportunities for getting customers into your business. According to Pew Research, 74% of adult smartphone owners ages 18 and older say they use their phone to get directions or other information based on their current location. The ability to turn that location-based search into a shopper in your store may prove to be incredibly valuable to your business.
Revolutionize Your Mobile Marketing
Adding click to call numbers to your mobile search ads give people the much-desired option of simply calling your business instead of navigating through your website. That clickable phone number will draw more customers to your ad and quickly turns them into a quality lead.
There are a lot of places online and on mobile devices that you can promote your company. With so many options, it has become increasingly important to be able to determine which marketing channels have the best ROI. Web analytics do a great job for online conversions, but tracking where calls originate is a valuable segment of data that most marketers don’t capture. Call tracking for mobile means your company will know where their inbound calls are coming from. No matter where your phone number is on the web, you will know which marketing channel it originated from.
Routing callers to the right destination is more important than ever with the growing, mobile population of smartphone users. Geolocation services let you advertise with a single number and then routecallers based on their location to your closest store or office location. This Geolocation service makes it easier for your customers by eliminating the need to tell you where they are located or having to search for your nearest location.
There is a growing mobile army of smartphones and you definitely want this army on your side of the battle. They have already given rise to a number of effective marketing channels, and with the rapidly advancing industry of mobile technology, the future opportunities are limitless. Revamp your use of these mobile channels with the technologies that exist to optimize mobile marketing and customer phone interactions.
Smartphones are taking over the world one call at a time. Learn more about how to survive the takeover with our on-demand webinar: Riding the Impending Wave of Smartphone-Driven Calls.
