Mobile users are ready to buy

Pop quiz: What’s better for your bottom line, online clicks or a phone that rings? For most small-business owners, a ringing phone trumps digital clicks or the far more amorphous measure of online “impressions” from, say, a website banner ad.
In fact, according to small-business research firm BIA Kelsey, 66 percent of business owners consider phone calls the most valuable type of incoming leads. Clicks and impressions might seem sexier, but calls are more reliable for generating actual sales and bigger profits.
In fact, BIA Kelsey’s research shows a shift toward more tangible forms of leads such as phone calls and actual foot traffic. That’s especially pronounced for businesses such as professional services, home services and any other endeavor that typically closes sales over the phone.
So if you buy the notion that “calls are currency” you should definitely be tuned into another trend: Mobile. The still-expanding smartphone era has fused online search with a phone. The result has been a revival of ringing phones for many businesses, sparked by consumers who are pre-disposed to make the call if they find you via a search on their phone. It makes perfect sense.
If you’re looking for a killer source of leads, the bottom line is this: Small businesses that put themselves in front of consumers via mobile with the right messages and calls to action (such as mobile click-to-call) can drive high-quality leads and ROI on ad spending.
Here are some tips for mobile marketing:
• Make a mobile plan. What do you want to accomplish with mobile? Attract customers? Generate calls? Build your brand? Promote special offers?
• Make your website mobile-friendly. Visit your own site on a mobile device. If it doesn’t look good and isn’t mobile-user friendly, it’s probably not optimized for mobile. There are many affordable tools and services that can help. See the resources section below for some suggestions. • See the bigger picture. Think about what your customers want in relation to your other marketing efforts as well, and not just mobile. In other words, put mobile in perspective as part of your bigger plan. Email and mobile, for example, can work together.
• Prepare to deliver. Remember that generating more inbound calls also means you need to manage them. If you drop the ball on your end, all of the effort will go for naught. •


Daniel Kehrer can be reached at editor@bizbest.com.

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