If you aren’t already optimizing your mobile marketing strategy, get on it… because your competitors probably are. While mobile devices are nothing new, today’s consumers are using them to inform their purchasing decisions more than ever. We’re not joking: 4 out of 5 consumers use their smartphones to shop. It’s well past time for medical practices to hop a ride on the mobile marketing train.
Come On, Get App-y
Everyone and their dog likes apps. Mobile apps now account for half of total digital time spent on smartphones, although people still use mobile versions of websites, depending on a range of different factors.
While we’ve already gone over the pros and cons of developing an app just for your practice, the importance of how people use apps must be taken into consideration. Do you have content on RealSelf.com? If so, RealSelf app users will see it. Got lots of fantastic Yelp reviews? Great! All the easier for Yelp app users to find your practice in the research stages. You can’t forget about the audience segment that’s more likely to find you through an app.
Coupons Are Not Just for Grocery Stores
These days, online marketers are focusing on mobile-based loyalty campaigns for a brand or business. One of the oldest tricks in the “creating loyal customers” book is to offer incentives. This might mean exclusive members-only offers for people who subscribe to your email list or offering up coupons via text code. And speaking of coupons, people are around 10 times more likely to redeem a mobile coupon than an old-fashioned ink-and-paper one.
Don’t rule out coupons as a valuable form of mobile marketing.
Hello, Is It Me You’re Looking for?
When people want to find someone online—say, a plastic surgeon—they overwhelmingly use a mobile device to do so. Nearly 60 percent of searches are now done via mobile, and 30 percent of those mobile searches are local searches. This means that people in your area are searching for exactly what you offer while they’re out and about, right there in your neighborhood.
Making sure your digital marketing strategy doesn’t suffer from a desktop bias could not be more important, especially since mobile internet usage now officially outnumbers computer-based online access.
Speaking of Your Website…
If your site sucks for mobile users, they’ll probably never end up setting foot in your practice. Why? Well to start, 61 percent of mobile users say they wouldn’t bother coming back to a website that was crappy the first time around. Maybe they’ll hop over to the competition’s site instead, or maybe they’ll ride off into the internet sunset never to return. Either way, it’s your loss.
We’ve said it before, but your site absolutely needs to be mobile-friendly. This is not 2007, people. So get out your mobile device and use it to contact your marketing team to make sure you’re all set to compete in this brave new mobile world.
