Mobile Marketing

Is this the smart of something big?

Our analytic reports, from our predominately B2B client websites, show an escalating increase in mobile device visits, with this change being fairly consistent across the diverse industry sectors of our clients. Although still a small percentage of the overall visits, smart phones et al are beginning to become an important factor in website design and functionality.

The chart below shows the type of devices recently used for viewing just one of our client’s websites.

You don’t need to be a genius to see how the iPhone is rapidly evolving the internet marketing landscape. With phone tariffs now offering unlimited, low-cost, 3G usage and nearly universal internet accessibility, the smart phone is providing instant gratification for those 24 hour business people in a hurry… checking e-mail, researching products and staying ahead of the game.

Research by Gartner sees mobile devices overtaking PCs as the most common internet access device by 2013. That’s some motoring!

And what the iPhone has started Google’s Android is likely to take to another level. With its renowned OS and low-pricing structure, Android phones are starting to make massive strides in replacing the more expensive iPhone, as the smart phone for the masses.

Just look at this quote: “Android's share of the UK mobile contract market has grown from 3% in Q1 2010 to reach 13.2% in Q2 2010, GfK Retail and Technology's latest figures have revealed. During this period, while contract market sales grew by less than 1%, sales of Android phones increased by a staggering 350%.”

If your online marketing campaigns do not already incorporate mobile strategies you could be missing out. Major retailers and many other consumer organisations have already got their ‘mobile’ websites (.mobi) structured for a better smart phone experience. And it seems logical that B2B business should follow suit as this phenomenal growth is set to continue across all sectors.

Unfortunately, there could be an issue with .mobi domain names as there has been a lot of speculative investment (mainly in the Far East) in the .mobi domains for years and you might find your .mobi address has been taken. We have found this an issue for a few of our clients. In fact, someone in China has been cyber squatting on one of our client’s .mobi URLs since these domains were launched in 2006. I wish I could get my hands on their fortune cookies!

Good luck.