There are a lot of new and exciting marketing strategies formulated every day in an attempt to penetrate into the public’s interests. One of the most effective, cutting-edge marketing methods being used today is mobile marketing. Thanks to the overwhelmingly popular cell phone, businesses can no longer ignore the importance of a mobile-friendly presence if they really want to reach their target audiences.

Mobile marketing encompasses many different types of marketing techniques and strategies that help businesses increase profits and ROI. The most popular forms of mobile marketing today are: mobile-friendly websites, SMS text message marketing, and QR (Quick Response) codes.

You may be wondering why everyone is hopping on the mobile marketing bandwagon…
This should help clear it up:

1. Consumers are using their mobile devices to access the Internet more than ever before – and it’s expected to grow at astonishing rates over the next few years. If your business is not using mobile methods to attract customers, you are simply missing out on business.
2. There are approximately 4 BILLION mobile subscribers across the world. This means that you can target pretty much anyone using mobile methods.
3. Most mobile device users keep their phones within arm’s reach over 90 percent of the time. So if you use SMS Text Message Marketing, most of your messages will be opened and read by your recipients. This leads to higher promotional redemption rates, which leads to more sales, which leads to more profits.
4. Americans today are spending an average of three hours per day on the Internet from their mobile devices. Your business should have the proper mobile presence if you want to get a piece of this action.
5. In 2009, approximately half a BILLION people went online using their mobile device. This number is expected to double within the next 5 years. It’s not too late to implement mobile marketing techniques in your business. This technology is still in its infancy and if you jump onboard now, your chance of success will be much greater.
6. By 2014, mobile Internet usage is expected to exceed desktop Internet usage. This means that reaching your audience via mobile methods will be even more crucial if you want to beat your competition.

7. According to Facebook official statistics from January 2011, more than 200 million users (out of over 600 million Facebook users) access Facebook using their mobile devices; also, mobile Facebook users are twice as active as non-mobile users. Facebook has over 600 million active users, so that means that 1/3 of them are using their mobile devices to access Facebook!

These facts indicate the serious impact that mobilizing your business will have on your sales, profits, and ROI over the coming months and years.

Small business owners: did you know that webinars, or sometimes known as online seminars are great way for local businesses to get new clients?

It’s called Education Marketing. In a nutshell, it means educating your potential client first, then offering your services second. It’s a fantastic way to soft sell your way into a new client.

How to do a webinar? One way is a live event from any computer in the world with a microphone, and the second is pre-recorded. Using pre-recorded or auto play webinars in your business are great ways to “duplicate” or automate yourself. You can record a live webinar once, then put it on a 24/7 auto replay schedule to attract new clients while you are doing other things;  like servicing other clients, being with family, or even being on vacation!

Auto replay webinars are quite advanced and are almost identical- or sometimes even better- than live events.

If you want to learn more about how to use webinars in your business, feel free to attend one of our weekly free webinars on using webinars in your local business.

REGISTER HERE

A seasoned Real Estate investor- in need of a website makeover and product creation to sell to students and other real estate investors. Local Business Coach designed a whole new website look and layout- optimized for customer lead generation.

Matt and Clarisa Willis wanted a real web presence- and Local Business Coach was happy to oblige.

Options included new website copy,  welcome video and frequently asked question videos, email signup, and direct response phone number. A highlight was helping Willis Builders contribute to ABC-TV’s “Extreme Home Makeover”, where they were featured in the program. The video LBC produced in conjunction with Changing Productions is on their website below:

http://www.willisbuilders.com

Anacostia, Washington DC’s Award Winning African-American Soap Opera Web Series, finished its first season with an international audience and closely ranked behind BET’s Buppies in web viewership.

Having no web presence to speak of, the shows producer approached Local Business Coach to design a video heavy website- complete with social media support.

Local Business Coach in partnership with Changing Productions produced the walk on video for this website. The purpose of the video: to introduce and grab the attention of visitors to the site for special turn key real estate investment opportunities.

http://www.memphisdirtcheapdeals.com/

A website in Persian? Right to Left fonts? Oh- and you want video too?

Before the days of full blown wordpress, Drupal and Joomla were the go-to platforms for content rich websites. Now averaging 8000 visitors each and every month, this non-profit website was created in Joomla with custom SEO capability- all helping increase the monthly viewership.

http://www.bahaiview.org

“I need a website Boyd!” was the cry over the phone from Martie Weatherly, a personal and business coach in the Washington DC area. Although Martie wasn’t quite sure what she wanted, she new she wanted the website to feel “clean and professional.”

Local Business Coach designed a website for Martie that included a Newsletter signup page, a welcome video, and a signup page for an upcoming “women in business” workshop.

So you are wondering whether to use video on your website.

The question: Does it really make a difference?

Here are some common sense answers to that:

1) Which of the following are you more likely to respond to:

a) a letter with a sales message
b) a living, breathing person who you can see and hear

* I am willing to bet that seeing a real person is going to grab and keep you attention more in this day and age.

2) How often do you:

a) watch tv
b) read a magazine or newspaper

* My guess: you probably watch television alot more than read in general.

The bottom line is: when you present yourself on video, customers are more likely to listen to your message. They will get a better “feel” of who you are.  They will decide whether they like you or not. They will remember you better.

And don’t take my word for it. Here are what the current statistics are around using video on the internet:

* 178 million U.S. Internet users watched video during the month of April 2010
* That’s 83.5% of all U.S. Internet users
* The average YouTube viewer watched 96 videos
* The average Hulu viewer watched 24.7 videos…at an average of 2.5 hours per viewer
* The average duration of videos watched was 4.4 minutes.

So what’s your video plan?