Below is my recent presentation to the Minnesota Funeral Directors Association annual conference. I’ve laid out 7 digital trends that are pertinent to the funeral industry and have given some helpful hints on some digital tools funeral directors can use to improve their digital footprint.
While larger companies see mobile as a top marketing priority for 2014, SMBs are still behind in seeing its significance for marketing. eMarketer estimates that more than 45% of the US population will use the mobile internet at least monthly this year and that will rise to 66% by 2017.
A quick look at any company’s web analytics account will most likely show mobile visits significantly increasing from the last few years as its visits from PCs goes down. Even with this ever evolving trend SMBs are still slow to establish even a basic mobile-optimized website.
The result of not optimizing for mobile is significant as I’ve seen recently transformations in lead generation and sales due to incorporating mobile strategies. When going from a non-mobile optimized site to one with responsive design, you’d be amazed at the spike in website conversions.
With the huge proliferation of mobile and tablet use a responsive designed website is a necessity, not a luxury. If you do anything in 2014, a website that is mobile optimized should be 1st priority. Don’t worry about building an app. Your website is more important.
Here are some resources to get you started:
http://onlinecrowd.com.au/5-tips-help-small-business-mobile-marketing/Just a year ago everyone was clamoring to build for the iPhone and had scant interest in building an Android app. Oh what a difference a year makes. Google’s operating system is now blowing everyone out of the water in the smartphone market; with a 38.1% share. Apple is now a distant second with a 26.6% share. What about Blackberry’s RIM platform?..forget about it. They’re toast, as they’ve now dropped 14.5% to 24.7% market share. See chart:
Samsung , LG and Motorola are leading the way in smartphones sales with iPhone at #4. All use Google’s operating system and all have equivalent if not better phones than Apple. The cool factor of the iPhone is starting to wear off and its competition is getting better and better. So if you’re a marketer, you better plan on creating that Android app first.
It used to be iPhone users would look down on me and scoff at the thought of using any other device; in spite of the fact that 80% of their calls were dropped. Well, look who’s scoffing now. Me and my Samsung feel vindicated. Now start building me some apps.
At a recent Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association (MIMA) event, Michael Becker, EVP Business Development iLoop Mobile spoke about the ever increasing importance of mobile marketing.
The value of mobile is found in the convergence of a wide variety of media such as web, television, radio, social, and cinema, and it’s being increasingly used for such things as online banking, digital couponing, rewards programs, sweepstakes, point of sale promotions, customer service, geo location, CRM, mobile enabled advertising and a lot more.
Companies are beginning to realize significant return of investment through mobile marketing and Mr. Becker recommends companies start now in determining how mobile marketing will play a role in their overall business objectives.
Here are some interesting mobile tidbits from the presentation:
MIMA 1.20.2010 – EMBRACING MOBILE MARKETING from Ech03 on Vimeo.
Further Mobile Marketing Resources:
mobile marketing associa
direct marketing association
college of mobile marketing
