Mobile marketing is the newest way for businesses to reach their customers and potential customers, and it’s a diverse method that’s rife with opportunity. All forms of marketing aren’t right for all businesses, however, and mobile marketing is no different. For all businesses, there are potential disadvantages to even the most successful mobile marketing campaign. Before you launch your mobile marketing efforts, be sure to consider and prepare for these disadvantages.
Diversity of Devices
One of the biggest concerns for mobile marketing is the size of the device that is used to carry your message. Anything that you create for users to interact with or view, such as a mobile website or app, needs to be sized so that it is easy to view and navigate on the small screen of a smartphone. Not only that, but mobile devices come in many different sizes and shapes. You need to consider that some people might be viewing your content on a tablet, for example, or on a screen that’s more of a square than a rectangle. As long as users can see and interact with your content the way you intended, that’s usually all that matters, but the design and esthetics should also be considered.
Unchartered Territory
Since mobile marketing is one of the newest forms of marketing out there, there is relatively little research and experience with the platform. Yes, there is a lot of information about mobile marketing, it is also a fairly unchartered territory, and we’re only beginning to unlock its potential. Some businesses may feel – maybe correctly – that there just isn’t enough stability or security in mobile marketing. It’s a platform that is continually changing and developing, and the ground is a little bit shaky. If you don’t have much room in your budget to take any marketing risks, you might shy away from mobile for now.
Privacy and Permissions
If one thing is for sure, it’s that smartphones are very personal to their users. A person’s smartphone isn’t like, say, their email inbox, in which it’s easier to sift through messages at any time. Lots of mobile marketing, particularly SMS campaigns and apps that use push notifications, can be relatively intrusive. While this is also what can make mobile marketing so effective when it works, it’s also what has the biggest potential to annoy and turn off potential customers. The biggest concern regarding privacy is making sure that you have a user’s permission before sending texts or push notifications to them.
Difficulty of Development
Depending on your mobile marketing strategy, it can be difficult and expensive to develop. In particular, building a smartphone app isn’t the same as building a website, and it will likely require you to hire a professional app developer, which could be a big expense. Not to mention, it’s also very difficult to develop an app that will be so valuable to your customers that it succeeds in earning you a lot more business. Mobile marketing development, and app development in particular, has the potential to consume a great deal of your time and resources.
This article on the disadvantages of mobile marketing was prepared for you by Caleb Grant for SEOMap – the keyword strategy experts.