In the world of advertising, the decks are stacked against the little guy. But there is a window of opportunity to beat the David and Goliath mentality that a majority of small business owners are not capitalizing on. Mobile Advertising.
Mike Brooks, president and CEO of Nuclear Chowder Marketing tells BlackEnterprise.com, “Mobile advertising demands the advertiser be flexible, fragmented and fast. Where TV is a set it and forget it predictable advertising method for big brands like AT&T, mobile demands a much more labor-intensive approach”
It’s no secret that mobile should soon pass TV as screen of choice – you’ve got to put your money where your eyes are. People sleep with their phones, the time is now. Take a look at some of these numbers from business2community.com.
Seventy-two percent of smartphone owners use their devices while consuming other media. Ninety-three percent of smartphone owners use their phones at home. Eighty-one percent browse the internet. Sixty-eight percent use apps and 48% watch videos on their phones.
Here’s why mobile apps the best solution for small biz advertising:
Cost.
For big brands and big corps, it can cost hundreds of thousands to build an effective mobile app. That’s expensive even for big businesses and a pipe dream for small biz owners. But here’s why it’s great news for a small biz owner. It’s cheaper for you. Big corporations always have to spend more money to accomplish similar things.
Brooks cites Starbucks as an example,”You download their app and upload your credit card number. Inside Starbucks you open the app, hold up a bar-code they scan your phone and you pay for your coffee without having to reach for your wallet.”
He says, “It costs more money for Starbucks to create this app because they’ve got a sophisticated order system in their facility tied into their purchasing system. The level of expectation is higher than a regular mom and pop cafe. A small business can spend just a thousand dollars to create their app because they don’t need to crack into their payment system, they don’t need the same functionality as a Starbucks”.
Flexibility
Brooks says, “Big businesses tend to move slower with technology. On the internet, search engine optimization was a huge boon for small business that big business wasn’t taking advantage of at the time. So was Facebook for small businesses that jumped into it early. Small businesses always have opportunities that crop up throughout modern history with technology. Big corps just don’t have their type of flexibility.”
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