Mobile Marketing for the Rest of Us By Greg Hoffman Greg Hoffman
Waffle House, the historic Southern late night eatery, used to have a saying, “Who’s looking out for the poor old cash customer.” For 50 years, they only accepted cash. But they started accepting credit cards a few years ago. They had to evolve to survive. The same can be said for traditional affiliates in 2011. The demand for mobile sites is here and it’s time for affiliates with sales based on SEO, coupons, datafeeds and blogs to add another layer to their efforts. Many affiliates are currently testing mobile CPA offers, mobile pay per click and SMS list building, but for those who are not, they need to answer the following questions about their future strategy: • Are your sites mobile friendly? • Have you viewed your sites through a mobile device? • Have you seen your mobile search rankings? • Are your competitor’s sites mobile friendly? • How can you capitalize on mobile traffic in your niches? Kim Dushinski, author of “The Mobile Marketing Handbook,” says the emergence of
8 | OCTOBER 2010 | FEEDFRONT MAGAZINE
mobile shopping today is similar to how the Internet was in the mid-1990’s. It may seem like the wild west out there, but many early adopters have started to blaze the trails. They have already published best practices for mobile marketing and it’s all waiting for you to find in books, downloadable courses and white papers. Affiliates should not assume what works on their existing site will work to convert mobile traffic, she said. They will have to educate themselves and test their landing pages regularly to find the right formula. One essential service to research is transcoding, according to Dushinski. “This is essentially a tool that strips a website to its basics and integrates the important items in a mobile friendly format whenever it is accessed via a mobile phone.” Webmasters can do this themselves or outsource to mobile programming experts. For a WordPress site, Michael Martin, Owner of Mobile Martin, suggests the WP-Touch plugin as the best solution to render a blog on mobile devices. Martin is an affiliate with his hand on the pulse of the emerging industry. He says one opportunity for affiliates is to begin building mobile coupon aggregator
sites tailored to mobile search and targeting the current demographic for mobile use: men under 30. According to InsightExpress, Get Ready for the Mobile Shopper, July 2010, “males 25-34 are using their mobile phones to confirm/ justify purchases of products (getting reviews, checking for better prices, looking for coupons, using coupons they have already received).” MillennialMedia’s July 2010 S.M.A.R.T. Highlights shows in its findings that “28% of survey respondents requested wanting to find mobile coupons on their own using an App - reinforcing the mobile consumers’ demand for a richer mobile experience.” The opportunities for mobile marketing are endless for affiliate marketers. Just as affiliates did in the last 10-15 years, it’s time for them to be innovative and ahead of their competitors. Think mobile!
Greg Hoffman is a blogger and outsourced program manager (greghoffmanconsulting.com).