“Mobile is the future”. We have been hearing it for years and waiting for it to happen, but little do we know the shift has already occurred. Beginning in January 2014, smartphones now contribute up to 20% of all Internet traffic. That is a huge number! And according to Google, over 35% of those visitors have made a purchase on their mobile device.

How to Prepare Yourself for the Mobile Future

(Photo Cred: securedgenetworks)

The best way to prepare yourself for the growing use of mobile devices is to market with customers in mind from the beginning. Make sure any plan includes mobile functionality.  Anytime you are releasing new features or content on your website, one of your first steps should always be to check and see how that information displays to your mobile visitors. I know it sounds insanely simple, but do a check on a few different phone types throughout your office to see if all the new content you created is being displayed correctly, buttons and forms are in the right place, and users are able to navigate throughout the site with ease.

The last thing you want to do to a mobile customer is frustrate them; think back to all the times you have encountered a sub-optimal process on your phone before and the frustration it caused. Frustrating potential customers is not a great way to make a first impression. Are you using responsive web design on your website? This helps with easy navigation on any device.

Now that you have put yourself in the shoes of a potential mobile customer interacting with your website, you also need to think about the other marketing channels you use to interact with your customers, such as email. The fact is that nearly half of American’s are now checking their emails on their mobile devices. If you haven’t begun optimizing your email marketing efforts in order to be viewed by mobile users, it’s time to start. Take the same steps of evaluation you did for your website. Try out all the links yourself on your phone and tablet to see where a potential customer might get hung up.

Social Media

(Photo Cred: Business Insider)

Another aspect of mobile marketing is creating a social media presence. Developing a marketing strategy for your brand on social media can help you stay on top of current trends.

Business Insider released a report where they found that nearly 60% of social media traffic is now being consumed through smartphones and tablets.

It may sound silly, but if you have not begun to approach marketing your business through both mobile and social media outlets, now is the time to do so. When it comes to social media, using your resources wisely is of utmost importance. One of the first things we always suggest to small business owners is to create and manage a Google Places page. Google Places is where Google grabs information about your business when listing results through their search engine. By updating this profile with relevant information to your company, you have more control over the information that is provided to customers searching for your brand.

Interested in other social media outlets? You can create and try to manage profiles across all of the popular applications (Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Google+, Facebook) but taking the time to be active through all of those tools can become time-consuming. If you don’t have a Facebook account for your location, this should be your starting point.

Want to learn more about using social media to promote your facility? Read the article by Social Media Director Toni Jones on Using Social Media to Promote Your Facility Here.

Joseph Carter is a Web Analyst for U-Haul International. Carter is a graduate
from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University with a major
in Computer Information Systems.