Mobile marketing refers to any marketing strategy that is aimed at targeting specific devices—smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices—across multiple platforms. These include mobile-optimized websites, digital banner ads, emails, SMS/MMS, social media, native advertising, and sponsored apps. A lot of the growing interest in mobile marketing is driven by social media; however, each outreach method has its own unique benefits depending on your company, your audience, and your goals.

If you haven’t developed a comprehensive mobile marketing strategy, there’s no better time than the present. As forecaster Magna Global noted in its 2017 report on digital advertising, mobile advertising now accounts for over 50% of all digital ad revenue. Bringing in a whopping $110 billion in the past year alone, mobile will undoubtedly continue to occupy a lion’s share of digital ad growth in coming years. In fact, by 2021, it’s projected to account for half of all advertising revenue in general.

How can I take advantage?

Hopefully, you have a comprehensive mobile marketing strategy. Since mobile platforms now account for over half of all internet traffic, it’s not enough to consider mobile marketing as a footnote to your already-existing digital marketing strategy. A successful mobile marketing strategy will be built from the bottom up.

1. Identify your mobile audience. The more information the better. General inquiries into demography (age, location, income, interests, preferred content) are useful, but more more importantly, you want to know their mobile habits. Google Analytics will allow you understand the browsing habits of your audience down to a granular level. This allows you to answer questions such as: Do they make purchases from their device? Which platforms do they prefer to buy on? Instagram? Email? MMS? Which apps do they spend the most time on?
2. Set your goal. The nature of your goal will change according to your existing digital marketing strategy, your audience’s profile, and your available budget. Your goal could be to increase conversions from text messages, increase traffic to your landing page, or appeal to a new, higher profile target audience.
3. Google Analytics is an invaluable tool to boost your understanding of your audience. By adding the Device Category option to your Site Content dashboard, you’ll be able to identify what is accessed from mobile. You’ll also be able to track impressions, engagements, click-thrus, and purchases so that you can understand what’s working and what’s not.

Once you understand your audience, goals, and employ the tools to test your success, it’s time to implement across platforms. Which platforms you use and how you use them will largely depend on your individual goals and budget, but there are some tips that apply across the board.

1. Make sure you have a mobile-friendly website. This means all your content is fully responsive, it loads quickly even when using a sub-optimal signal, and important information is displayed near the top of the page. Mobile users are fickle—they’ll abandon your page in under 10 seconds if it’s not loading. Use existing frameworks like Bootstrap combined with Google Developer Tools. This makes designing for mobile much easier than before.
2. For a more personal touch, consider SMS marketing. Text messaging is a great way to immediately reach your audience especially if they’re in the 18–44 year-old range. Messages feel personal and spur high engagement.
3. If your goal is to drive long-term engagement or facilitate the development of a mobile e-commerce platform, it might be worth investing in a mobile app for your company. If done right, apps will create a lasting relationship with your audience, and you’ll be able to continue to update them on new sales and promotional efforts through push and in-app notifications.

With the trajectory that digital advertising is on, a mobile marketing strategy will be a huge part of all your future campaigns. There’s a lot to consider in developing your strategy—optimizing for various platforms, working with SEO, and understanding Google Analytics are all complex topics that are constantly changing. By following these steps, you’ll be able to begin to develop a holistic mobile marketing strategy as well as a vocabulary for mobile marketing that will stay consistent even as digital advertising technologies continue to evolve.