How are they doing with this goal? That’s what RetailMeNot set out to learn by sending a survey to 200 marketing professionals working at small businesses that sell online and in brick-and-mortar locations. Here’s the gist of RetailMeNot’s resulting report, How Retailers Are Adapting to New and Evolving Mobile Marketing.
Almost All Retailers Want to Improve So They Can Reach More Customers
For the most part, the small business retailers involved in the survey are eager to find ways to improve so they get more business. More specifically, 99 percent said they would like to enhance the shopping experience for their customers, and 90 percent reported they’re doing everything possible to use current technology in their marketing strategy.
For most retailers in this report, the best way to do this is to embrace mobile marketing, as 84 percent said that’s their main priority right now. However, only a little more than half—56 percent—said mobile marketing takes up most of their marketing budget.
What They’re Struggling with Most
Clearly, small business retailers have the desire to improve the shopping experience for customers and are aware of what they need to do to get there. So, what’s stopping them from reaching their goal?
About 47 percent of retailers in this report said their business can’t keep up with the most recent mobile marketing trends, and 54 percent outright admitted it’s because mobile marketing technology moves too fast.
And they’re right. It’s constantly evolving, so who can blame small business retailers for not always being in the know? They’re probably too busy running every other aspect of their business to keep up with marketing technology on a regular basis, as small retailers can’t typically afford to have a whole department for this like larger retailers can.
What Retailers Are Doing to Overcome These Challenges
Despite their struggles keeping up with marketing technology, most of the retailers involved in this report are not ready to give up. They have plans to improve their results throughout 2017, as most said they are preparing to increase the amount they spend on certain marketing channels that customers use.
For example, 92 percent plan to increase their investment in mobile advertising, and 89 percent will increase the amount they spend on social advertising. About 72 percent plan to increase spending on digital advertising that doesn’t involve mobile.
In the meantime, they’re not content to just hang around and hope their future marketing investments pay off. Instead, they’ve been acting in other ways. Around 53 percent have partnered with marketing companies that are adept at mobile marketing, allowing them to increase in-store and online sales through mobile offers.
So, what does that mean? Well, 56 percent of retailers now use mobile marketing apps to share unique promotion codes with their mobile marketing partner’s audience, which increases their reach when marketing. And 90 percent of the retailers answering this survey said they could see the advantages of partnering with mobile marketing companies, with RetailMeNot being just one example of such a company.
For more insight on how small business retailers are handling emerging marketing technology, read the full report called How Retailers Are Adapting to New and Evolving Mobile Marketing. Then let us know if you can relate, or if you have any tips on using technology to engage customers! You can also check out a guide called, How To Use Mobile Marketing to Drive More Prospects to Your Business, to get to know ways to use mobile marketing to your advantage.
This article was first published on The Marketing Scope.
