Smartphones have become ubiquitous, giving businesses more opportunities to communicate with customers and connect with prospects. Amid a fiercely competitive climate, mobile marketing is becoming an essential element of any business marketing plan, along with email marketing and social media marketing.
Mobile marketing can take many forms, including text message marketing, push notifications, video messaging, in-app advertisements and location-based marketing. No matter which mobile marketing format you use, it’s crucial to connect with customers at optimal times, without annoying them.
We’ll highlight six mobile marketing solutions that can streamline your efforts to engage customers and prospects and reap the benefits of mobile marketing for your business.
Mobile marketing solutions for small businesses
Smartphones give marketers and businesses around-the-clock access to customers. According to Statista, there were 307 million smartphone users in the US as of 2022. By 2025, retail mobile commerce sales in the United States are forecast to grow to approximately $710 billion. Mobile marketing is exploding as more users shop, browse and research purchases on their mobile devices.
The following six platforms can help your business get involved in mobile marketing.
1. Vibes
Vibes is a mobile engagement platform that offers text message marketing, CRM features and analytics tools. The platform offers several dashboards to manage campaigns, understand mobile wallet analytics, monitor messaging volume and track customer engagement. Other location-based marketing services are also included in this platform.
You can scale Vibes to fit your business’s mobile marketing needs, regardless of your company’s size. If you have a business mobile app, Vibes will integrate with it so you can quickly implement features such as push or wallet notifications.
Visit the Vibes website to get started with this company’s mobile engagement tools.
2. Thumbvista
Thumbvista is a mobile marketing solution specializing in geofencing, location-based advertising, and advanced mobile marketing. You can use Thumbvista to create mobile website landing pages, issue coupons and discount codes, and analyze mobile campaigns.
The geofencing service is a platform highlight. You set up designated areas around your business, and mobile banner ads are triggered when customers enter those areas. Geofences can be established anywhere, including at a company event, near a store or close to competitors.=
Visit the Thumbvista website to learn more about geofencing and other mobile marketing methods.
Location-based services such as mobile ad targeting use a smartphone’s GPS technology to track someone’s location — if the user has allowed access.
3. Mozeo
Mozeo is another text-message marketing platform that provides analytics and an easy-to-use integrated dashboard for managing and viewing marketing campaigns. Easily store and manage contacts and phone numbers, with mobile keywords dividing campaigns and contact lists.
You can send predetermined responses or personalized messages using Mozeo. It also integrates with other programs and applications through application programming interfaces (APIs). Users have access to a free trial to test the service.
Visit the Mozeo website to get started with this easy-to-use platform.
4. Instagram for Business
Instagram’s business tools help you place creative mobile ads on the bustling social media platform. Instagram and Facebook are the original social media marketing platforms, helping businesses expand their reach, sell their offerings, and advertise to their target audiences.
Instagram is a very mobile-oriented social site, so mobile ads for Instagram can be effective. Instagram lets you select your ad’s objective, designate your audience, set an ad budget, and choose how long your campaign will run. The Facebook Ads manager is integrated into Instagram’s ad system, offering more options for configuration, ad formatting and demographics.
Aside from ads, Instagram offers community-building tools, a shopping platform, Reels for longer-form videos and more. With more than 2 billion active worldwide accounts, Instagram is a vital mobile marketing platform.
Visit Instagram’s business information page to learn more.
5. Leanplum
Leanplum is a mobile marketing solution that promises to drive app engagement rates while growing your customer base. Like some other services, Leanplum manages SMS, push notifications, email messaging and location-based advertising. It supports an omnichannel experience and can track a customer’s behavior across multiple platforms.
However, what sets this service apart is its ability to promote continuous app engagement. Leanplum helps businesses connect their messaging across multiple channels and manage engagement. You can also A/B test campaign variations in Leanplum to determine the best way to engage with customers. The service encourages relationship building through customer interactions on multiple channels.
While several large corporations use this service, it can also be tailored to fit your business’s specific size and needs.
Visit the Leanplum website to learn more about driving app engagement.
A/B testing lets you try out marketing campaign variations. For example, you can test various email subject lines to improve your email open rate.
6. Square
You may already know that Square offers small businesses a way to accept credit card payments on mobile devices. Additionally, the Square Marketing platform lets you send email, text and social promotions to your contact directory.
Square makes it easy to start a customer loyalty program (for a small fee). It also includes free customer relationship management (CRM) tools that help you personalize interactions, such as sending your customers a special offer on their birthdays.
Visit the Square Marketing website to learn more.
If your small business needs a credit card processor, consider Square for this purpose as well. The company uses flat-rate pricing, doesn’t charge monthly or annual fees, and provides free point-of-sale software. Read our Square review to learn more.