There’s more to creating content for mobile devices than simply putting your website content on a mobile phone or tablet platform. It’s a whole different ballgame.
It’s not unlike what happened when the Internet first emerged as a marketing tool. In the early days of Internet marketing a lot of companies simply took their corporate brochures or sales sheets and converted them to a digital format and put them on the Web. The problem was that people didn’t use the Web the same way that they used a brochure. Websites look—and function—much differently than they did 15 years ago.
The same is true with marketing for mobile devices.
Too many companies simply take their website and “shrink it down” for mobile use. Unfortunately, when they do that, they make it virtually impossible to use. Sure, you can zoom in on a particular part of a web page on your mobile device. You can finally get the type to a size you can read—but then you’ve lost the page. All the thought and design you put into your web page is lost on someone viewing it on a mobile device. Stuff like this drives customers crazy.
What’s the solution? It’s really an old, old marketing concept—one that predates mobile devices and even the Internet. You have to remember to think like a customer. If you’re putting out content for mobile users you need to think about how they like to access that information—and about the devices they’re using to do it.
If your potential customers are looking for you online—and using mobile devices to do it—make sure you don’t lose them by trying to cram your big old website onto their little screen. Get them to the information they’re looking for quickly and make it easy to access.
QR codes can be a great way to let people easily access information on your website. But it doesn’t do any good if you “capture” interested people—only to lead them on a wild goose chase through your website. Make sure your QR code takes readers to a specific landing page that is simple, clean, and makes it easy for them to get what they’re after.
Want to know if your mobile content really works? Test it before you trot it out to the public. The best way to do that is to have somebody you trust from outside your company do a “test drive.” Why? You already know where you’re supposed to end up so you probably know the path to get there. Have them tell you how easy (or hard) it is to access the information you want people to have.
Just because you can use a mobile phone to access information doesn’t make it truly mobile content. Put yourself in your customers’ shoes before you try to put your website on their phone!
Blog Post Written by Spencer Powell
Spencer is the Inbound Marketing Director at TMR Direct. Spencer specializes in helping clients create and execute effective inbound marketing campaigns.