Top 5 Ways Mobile Content Marketing Will Evolve in 2015

The Mobile Content Marketing Revolution

 It’s Unanimous – Content Marketing was the marketing buzzword phrase of 2014 and mobile content marketing will lead in 2015. According to the latest research from Content Marketing Institute,  77% of B2C and 86% of B2B organizations are using content marketing and 69% of B2C and 70% of B2B marketers are creating more content than they did one year ago. Companies overwhelmingly made content marketing a priority in 2014 – and the research proves that content marketing isn’t going away any time soon.

With everyone doing it, how does a business stand out from the crowd? The key will be how effectively they plan their content marketing strategy in 2015. Over the past month, marketing experts have revealed the biggest marketing trends they expect to see in 2015, from digital, social media, and content marketing.  Out of these predictions, the two biggest takeaways we found are:

Content marketing will continue to be a huge initiative in 2015, and

Marketers need to make mobile marketing a priority

As businesses focus on creating a more effective content plan for 2015, we believe that the most important part of this strategy will be how to optimize content marketing for the growing mobile world. We are eager see what mobile trends will emerge in 2015 and how marketers will continue to adapt and grow to take advantage of them.

Mobile + Content Marketing = The Future

While you may have avoided the Black Friday shopping madness this year, odds are you found yourself shopping online at some point on Cyber Monday. And why not? You were hit with great deals in your email inbox and from ads on the websites and social media pages that you visit every day. What came out of the Black Friday/Cyber Monday craziness (besides the awesome deals of course) was the prevalence of mobile use, as data from IBM revealed that 41% of Cyber Monday online retail traffic in the US came from smartphones and tablets. Even Black Friday online sales grew dramatically, with smartphones driving 34.7 percent of all the day’s online traffic. As researchers predict that mobile online shopping this holiday season will be at an all time high, how are businesses adapting to this shift to a mobile world?

Let’s look at the facts. According to Exact Target’s Mobile Behavior Report of 2014, consumers consider mobile an essential component of their every day lives and the average person spends around 3 hours a day on their smartphones and tablets. Furthermore, the top three activities on mobile devices are email, texting and online search. Since consumers are becoming more dependent on mobile, it’s now up to businesses to take advantage of mobile marketing. As companies start to plan their 2015 marketing strategy, they need to understand that mobile comes first. Thus, we think that the future of marketing in 2015 is to optimize mobile content marketing. Here are our predictions on how mobile content marketing will evolve in 2015.

Top 5 Ways Mobile Content Marketing Will Evolve in 2015

1. Personalized and Targeted Mobile Email Marketing

When thinking of marketing for the mobile world, most marketers’ first thoughts will go straight to email marketing. And why wouldn’t they, when research states that consumers still prefer to engage with brands via email. In a recent study from Strongview, 61% of the marketers surveyed plan to increase their email marketing budgets for 2015. Consumer and B2B customers now have high expectations that the emails they receive will contain relevant and useful content. This is forcing businesses to evolve by deploying more advanced marketing automation systems that focus on targeting and segmentation as well as an increased focus on user experience.  Since 72% of adults are sending or receiving personal emails via smartphone each week, it’s crucial that brands optimize their marketing emails for mobile use. Email marketing will continue to be one of the strongest campaign channels for B2B and B2C businesses in 2015 and it’s up to marketers to create more targeted and personalized mobile email campaigns.

2. Rise of SMS Marketing

While SMS marketing has had a slow adoption curve, this year there was a greater need to communicate with consumers via the SMS channel. Recent data from eMarketer states there will be over 1.91 billion smartphone users worldwide next year and 2 billion by 2016, and marketers are beginning to understand the best way to reach the consumer is through mobile marketing. The success of SMS marketing speaks for itself, as 91% of consumers that opted-in to a brand’s SMS texting in 2014 found the communication helpful and useful. Users can receive deals, loyalty rewards and alerts right in their hands while they are on the go or even while shopping in that brand’s store. Communication with the customer is no longer a single channel experience and brands are eager to increase customer reach across a variety of mobile channels. As more advanced SMS marketing evolves in 2015, marketers will take advantage of the SMS channel as a way to deliver thoughtful content straight to the consumer.

3. Prioritizing Mobile Responsive Design

Marketers can all agree – a customer’s overall brand experience is undeniably intertwined with its digital marketing. Consumers today have high expectations for how they interact and communicate with brands. With this in mind, companies in 2014 that focused on how consumers were engaging with their brand successfully implemented responsive websites and email campaigns optimized for the mobile user. Plus, since mobile friendly websites increase Google search results, responsive design was crucial for both B2C and B2B companies in 2014. Looking ahead to next year, businesses will need to understand that mobile responsive design is a key component of the overall user experience, as 83% of consumers expect a seamless experience across all their devices. But responsive design goes beyond just a mobile friendly website. Businesses must deliver responsive emails and landing pages with relevant content in order to keep consumers engaged with their product across all channels. In 2015 mobile responsive design will become an even more crucial tool in the marketing toolkit.

4. Optimize Social Media For Mobile

As marketers everywhere know, it is essential for businesses to communicate with potential leads and existing customers across a wide variety of marketing channels. Social media stands out as a unique platform where B2B and B2C marketing teams can distribute content and immediately track engagement, view results and engage in conversation with customers. According to research from Jeff Bullas, 71% of social media users are accessing this content on a tablet or smartphone. Businesses and brands must put mobile first and should expect that their content will have a mobile viewership. Social media marketing is only on the rise, as companies in 2015 will focus on integrating all aspects of the marketing funnel, from social, mobile to web. Content marketing and social media will only become more intertwined in 2015, and optimizing this content for mobile is mandatory for success.

5. Use of Integrated Cross Channel Automation

Consumers want to be in control. From researching a product online all the way through to the final purchase, customers are driving how they engage with brands. Today, 84% of consumers rely on mobile devices in stores to compare prices, search for discounts and read product reviews. But with effective mobile content marketing, businesses can provide consumers with the right information at the right time to keep their business, all while making them satisfied customers. The key to successful mobile marketing is the use of integrated cross channel automation. Today’s marketing campaigns live across a variety of channels, from email, direct mail and mobile. Automation helps target prospective customers during every stage of the marketing funnel and across all of their preferred channels. As more people will rely on mobile in 2015, it’s imperative that automation platforms work across channels to make mobile a priority and deliver personalized and relevant content straight to the consumer.

How Mobile Content Marketing Works with Boingnet

Heading into 2015, marketers will need to think mobile first. Mobile content marketing is evolving, and now is the time for businesses to develop an effective content strategy to reach consumers in the mobile world. That’s where Boingnet comes in. Our lightweight marketing automation platform provides agencies and small businesses with the tools to build successful cross-channel mobile marketing campaigns. Boingnet helps marketers create integrated campaigns with drip marketing and lead nurturing capabilities that run across email, direct mail and SMS. With responsive landing pages, microsites and QR codes, every Boingnet campaign is optimized for mobile. Our campaigns are lightweight, meaning they are fast to set up, easy to use and affordable for SMBs and Agencies that support them. Sign up for our 60 day no-risk free trial to see how mobile content marketing works with Boingnet.

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