At LeadsMob our API lets you incorporate our text and mobile email service into your existing platforms or create custom solutions for your marketing needs.
It’s a growing trend and APIs can be very versatile, as you can see from the results below based on the “tags” used in mobile APIs from various sources. Telephony was tops with 124, followed by SMS at 69, and messaging next at 59. Shopping – important for mobile marketers – made the list too. It came in at 13.
Do you have a mobile API?
The quick adoption of mobile devices has meant that over just the last couple of years, the use of mobile applications and services has skyrocketed. And the latest stats show plenty of opportunity.
Of the people surveyed in Oct. 2010, only about 38% had ever been on the mobile web. Just a year later that number had jumped 10%. Mobile email usage experienced a similar jump, from 28% to 39%. SMS usage was pretty level, but as a mature channel, that’s to be expected.
These are incredible increases – further proof that mobile marketing is steadily growing strength.
Ever since the first smartphones were introduced and started gaining ground in the marketplace – first the BlackBerry, then the iPhone and Android phones – they’ve slowly been gaining market share from feature phones, which have limited web access if they have it at all.
But new data from Nielsen shows that the switch has finally occurred at the beginning of this year. There are actually more smartphone users now in the United States than regular cell phones. As a result of this continuing trend, mobile marketing can’t help but grow along with it. Expect to make mobile an ever-larger part of your marketing efforts – at least if you want to keep up with your competitors.
Mobile marketing’s success is driven by, well, devices. Without smartphones or tablets, prospects wouldn’t be able to see your mobile ads and other marketing efforts. That’s why it’s important to understand who owns a mobile device and what importance it has in their life.
So let’s take a look at which consumer electronics are owned by which age groups. Is your target market found here? Let’s first look at smartphones – 64% of 18-34 year olds own one, compared to just 45% of 35-55 year olds. Guess who should be targeted by mobile email campaigns? But more of the older generation own regular cell phones – which means you can still hit them with SMS marketing.
Given the low incomes throughout Africa, it’s no surprise that SMS, available on low-cost feature phones, is the preferred mobile messaging method. And the number of regular texters is growing, from 300 million in 2009 to an estimated 750 million by 2014.
If you’re target market includes the continent make sure that text message marketing is part of your campaigns. Also note that in recent years other forms of mobile communication have taken off as well. So keep an eye on trends in mobile email and MMS for future marketing efforts.
How much money does the average smartphone user make a year? The answer might surprise you. And the following report by Nielsen will show you why your marketing can’t assume that all mobile users are relatively wealthy or fall into certain income categories.
For the age groups most likely to have a smartphone, 18- 24 year olds and 25-34 year olds, the penetration rate was above 50% for all income levels. Even for those making less than $15,000 a year, 56% of 18-24 year olds still had a smartphone. That’s a huge chunk of their annual income spent on a smartphone.
For older users the penetration for super low-income folks goes down steadily the older they get. For wealthy users ($100,000+) over 75% have smartphones from ages 18-44, which is the main demographic you should be targeting with your smartphone campaigns.
The Q3 2011 numbers are in from Nielsen… and the results seem to be following the same trend as previous studies when it comes to frequency of SMS. Women out-text men on a monthly basis, 802 versus 604.
When it comes to age groups, 13-17 year olds texted an astounding 3,417 times in one month. Eighteen-24 year olds were next with 1,914. You can see that the number of texts steadily diminishes after that.
We’ve seen this pattern before. And it reinforces the marketing strategies for SMS you’ve set as this trend continues.
The Internet has become key to businesses of every size and shape in every industry. That’s been known for years. Even small local businesses need to use Internet-based marketing if they hope to survive. Consumers go online to find info about their industry and company – and they better find something or they’ll take their business elsewhere.
So what about business owners themselves? Are they embracing the technology that’ll make them Internet-friendly…and, even more important, mobile-friendly?
A recent survey from eMarketer found that small business owners did consider mobile communications like smartphones to be important, with 91% citing that as being important to their business. Tablet devices were less important, at 64%.
Understanding these devices, knowing how they work, is key to using them in your marketing campaigns.
Smartphones allow you to stay in touch with everyone in your life while on the go. And they’re very useful tools for other everyday situations as well. And it’s in the behavior of these mobile users, your prospects, that we’re interested in today. The Pew Research Center recently conducted a survey of smartphone owners (feature phone owners as well, but let’s ignore those results for now) about their use of mobile to access real-time information.
Study these results – it should spark some ideas for your mobile marketing campaigns as you now know what your prospects are using their smartphones for. Fifty percent had coordinated a gathering. This is interesting: 47% had solved a problem. This is important to you small businesses out there: 49% had used a smartphone to figure out whether or not to visit a business, such as a restaurant.
Are your customers on iPhone, Androids, BlackBerries, or “other”?
New numbers give a definitive answer but the message is clear: even though Android is more widespread, with its OS on almost 50% of mobile devices, you can’t ignore the others. Your mobile campaigns must be formatted for all devices or you will lose sales.
Here’s how the other devices breakdown. Apple represents 32% of the market. BlackBerry is next with 11.6%, followed by Windows Mobile with 4.1%. BlackBerry continues its downward slide. And although Windows puts out a good mobile OS, it’s devices just haven’t captured the imagination.
