Mobile search, why?
We’ve put together a fresh take on the Monkie blog and from now on, will be posting our thoughts, comments and general observations, regarding design, marketing, branding and creativity in general – all with the aim of cutting out any complicated explanations and getting to the point, as we see it.
To kick off, we asked ourselves the question: “how many businesses are addressing mobile search?”
If you’re now wondering, what is mobile search? – well in short, it’s the ability to browse for mobile-specific content. Whether it’s an area of your search marketing that you should be addressing, comes down to whether you have an offer that customers would want to access via their smartphone.
Mobile search is largely based on location. It’s a fair assumption that if your audience are searching for content using a smartphone, they are likely to want to consume a product or service like yours, with a degree of immediacy. If you can offer information that is created with that understanding, you are much more likely to convince them to buy from you.
Sound simple? Well, it is. But lots of things are simple – it doesn’t mean we routinely do them.
Amongst our clients, we have an independent tyre retailer, Elmbridge Tyres. In their case, mobile search could focus on what they term, the ‘distress-purchase’. Driver has either had a puncture or come to get into their car to go to work/shops/school run and realised they have a flat tyre. What do they do? They grab their smartphone and quickly search for local tyre companies. They need a quick fix: a no-nonsense process by which they can identify whether the retailer has the tyre they need, at the price they want to pay and can offer mobile fitting.
See how the elements needed to capitalize on mobile search are starting present themselves?
The mobile search-friendly offer then, could centre around location-related terms; the promise of a GPS-enabled app that allows you to take a snap of your tyre’s sidewall and upload it to identify and specify your tyre; an online booking service to quickly secure a mobile fitting; and an at-a-glance comparison of local prices.
The principle applies to any similar business – mobile search is understanding that you must present key information that is location-aware and presents the opportunity for immediate consumption – in the above scenario, a decision to buy might take place just minutes later.