Why Small Businesses Need a Mobile Presence
A whopping 90% of media interactions occur via one of four screens: smartphone, laptop, tablet, television. Meanwhile, just 10% of people access media through traditional channels like radio, newspaper, and magazines.
Most mobile device owners use their smartphones or tablets as their primary tool for conducting local, online searches. A look at the numbers makes clear why this is so: 62% of the U.S. mobile population owns a smartphone and 34% of people own a tablet, including 49% of college grads and 56% of those making more than $75,000.
These numbers will continue to climb as mobile plays an increasingly large role in the lives of consumers.
What lessons can small business owners take from these findings?
1. Local search is undergoing dramatic change: Mobile devices are becoming more important for impulse based decisions like where to eat or where to shop.
2. Tracking Customer Behavior is becoming more difficult: As they move between different devices, the customer identification and segmentation process is becoming more difficult.
3. Small and mid-sized businesses should work with partners: Working with specialists in web technology, like Ocoos, as well as various distribution partners, such as Yelp and Foursquare, is very important.
4. Mobile is the primary use case for some classes of customers: For example, 50% of Yellowpages.com's traffic comes from mobile.
