With more than seven billion mobile devices worldwide and 1.8 billion smartphones in use (a 25% increase in the past year alone), we can’t over-emphasize the fact that the adoption of mobile devices is still accelerating. We are witnessing a clear shift towards a mobile-first world; this change creates both opportunities and new challenges for brands that are constantly coveting the most effective marketing strategies. Organizations are tasked with finding the right moment to attract, convert, and retain the right customers in a crowded and evolving mobile-first ecosystem. No wonder Google is changing its search algorithms to encourage mobile adoption for marketing purposes. Below is a recap of the latest news and insights from the marketing technology industry.
Mobile marketers are embracing emojis to reach consumers – Business Insider
A new report by Appboy, a marketing automation company, reveals that mobile marketers are using more emojis in their email and push campaigns. Appboy analyzed almost 9,400 marketing campaigns across iOS and Android platforms and discovered that emoji usage within those messages had soared 775% year-over-year in the period ending March 2016. The analysis also revealed that annual emoji usage growth was greater on Android (1,070%) than on iOS (662%).
Google’s latest mobile search algorithm update makes having a mobile-friendly site even more important – TechCrunch
To give publishers even more of an incentive to offer mobile-friendly pages, Google announced recently that, in May, it will increase the importance of having a mobile page, and sites that are not mobile-friendly will rank even lower than before. The search giant wants to focus on mobile friendly real time search results and it has also introduced a mobile friendly Inbox.
In this article, Sharon Goldman, reporter at CIO, explains that while advances in marketing technology can help companies discover, track and engage with customers in new ways, one should not be fooled into thinking that martech is the silver bullet for all marketing needs. Sharon explains that instead of relying heavily on Martech solutions to drive ROI, companies first need to determine specific end goals, then use marketing technologies to help them reach those said goals.
The Hottest Trend in Marketing – Huffington Post
In this contributed article, Joanne Tombrakos, Marketing and Sales Consultant and an adjunct Professor at NYU recaps a presentation by Scott Galloway, founder and chairman of L2 Inc. at the Digital Bok World conference. Scott explains that many companies end up losing their customers because they never listen to what their customers are saying or how they are reacting in real time. Per Joanne, today customer service is a differentiating factor and it’s easier to keep a customer than get a new one.
5 marketing trends surfacing at SXSW 2016 – VentureBeat
SXSW Interactive 2016 wrapped up last week with thousands of marketers descending upon Austin, Texas for food, fun, and a glimpse at new and emerging technologies that will impact how brands connect with consumers. Even in its 23rd year, SXSW Interactive’s influence and role in innovation is not waning. Several trends surfacing this year will greatly impact how brands and consumers interact, including – virtual reality is here to stay, social media is evolving into social messaging, and an era of connected everything is upon us.
Salesforce Launches Field Service Lightning and Salesforce IQ Inbox to Transform Field Service – MarTech Advisor
Salesforce has taken note of the growing demand for tools that connect the on-field workforce with the announcement of Field Service Lightning – a product that promises to connect field service agents with customer data on a single platform. The competition for the field service software market with new entrants such as ServiceMax, as well as rivals Microsoft and Oracle, all competing to build a field service platform.
HP Software Simplifies Digital Experience Management for Marketers – MarTech Advisor
This week, HP Software announced the launch of HP TeamSite 8.1 which aims to help marketers move easily from design to templates, adds push notifications for mobile apps, and delivers integrated analytic insights. According to HP software, the upgrade adds a new way to enhance mobile experiences with push notifications, making it faster and easier to send reminders or announcements to app users, and includes geo-fencing to specific locations or regions.