Are you ready for mobile primetime?
Somewhere in America a small business owner just experienced an anxiety attack that included breaking out in a cold sweat, because he had just discovered two things:
- Half of the prospects and customers in his market cannot find his business.
- Half of the calls his prospects and customers want to make to his business never get through.
Pretty scary, huh?! Glad that’s not your nightmare, right?! Well, hold on to that thought as you digest the following information.
Currently, about 100 million Americans own smartphones and that number is growing exponentially. That’s about half of the U.S. population who are likely to own a smartphone sometime in the near future. Here’s the math: 300 million Americans, minus children and others not likely to own a smartphone equals about 200 million, of which half already own smartphones.
So what are 100 million Americans doing on the tiny screens of these magic wands? Besides making calls, texting and sending emails, they are:
- Shopping online – making decisions about what they want and who to buy it from.
- Navigating to businesses – the one they chose while shopping, or the one previously unknown to them that pops up in their local search.
- Buying stuff – using PayPal, credit card, or internal charge in the case of an established account.
But in order to do all three of these things in such a way that makes it easy-peasy for the smartphone owner, the business has to be mobile-ready. That means having all of your business information and resources compatible with the smartphone form factor and technology in at least two ways:
- Online information is optimized for mobile search, especially local search.
- A mobile website option is available to smartphone users.
By now you get the picture that the anxiety attack of the small business owner mentioned earlier is because his business isn’t ready for mobile primetime. So how dry is your forehead right now?
In the 21st century, where being relevant to customers is trumping being competitive, a big part of relevance is being fully accessible and high-functioning regardless of how a prospect or customer wants to connect with you. And every day, that connection is increasingly being requested from the palm of the hand.
This will be on the test: Not all small businesses need a mobile app, but all need a mobile website.
Write this on a rock... Is your business ready for mobile primetime?
Jim Blasingame is creator and host of the Small Business Advocate Show. Copyright 2012, author retains ownership. All Rights Reserved.
