Mobile Marketing Trends & Tips for 2024

The average American looks at their smartphone 144 times a day! That’s an incredible amount of attention just waiting for your business. And if you know what mobile marketing trends are coming in 2024, you’ll be in the perfect position to capture it.

In this post, we’ll share the current state of mobile marketing, expose the upcoming trends you need to know, and give you some tips that’ll turn those insights into profitable action.

What is mobile marketing?
Why is mobile marketing important?
Mobile marketing trends to know in 2024
Tips for your 2024 mobile marketing strategy

What is mobile marketing?

Mobile marketing is any marketing or promotional activity on a mobile device. It can be devices like a smartphone, tablet, or smart accessories.

Mobile marketing themes include proximity marketing, apps, quick engagement, and user-friendly interfaces.

Digital marketing vs. mobile marketing

Digital marketing is when companies target customers through digital channels. It includes mediums like websites, email, and search engines (with SEO).

Mobile marketing is a subset of digital marketing that focuses on how businesses attract and engage with customers on mobile devices. It emphasizes tactics that improve the customer experience on devices that often have smaller touch screens, like making mobile-friendly website.

🛑 Local SEO will continue to be critical to small business growth in 2024. Download this guide to learn how to make your website more visible on Google.

Why is mobile marketing important?

Think about your own life. You probably have a phone in your pocket or purse, or you’re holding it right now. If you’re like most people, the second you feel or hear a notification, you reach for it on instinct.

Unsurprisingly, the world continues to move towards mobile internet use. According to Pew Research, 77% of adults in the U.S. own smartphones, while 53% own tablets. 15% of Americans only use the Internet on a smartphone.

As more users worldwide adopt mobile devices for their internet and mobile commerce needs, businesses need to meet them where they are through effective strategies.

Mobile marketing trends to know in 2024

Advancing technology and new consumer preferences are changing how businesses need to think about mobile marketing. These mobile marketing trends will help you stay ahead of this evolution.

1. There will be more social video

Video continues to grow as a content and marketing medium. More users want interactive and engaging video experiences. It’s why platforms like Instagram continue to push videos for their algorithms. Companies like Meta learned from their first-party data and trends and saw it as the future of the Internet.

According to Wyzowl, 91% of companies use video marketing (a record high). 92% of marketers reported to HubSpot that they receive a good ROI on video marketing.

Companies have many options to use videos in mobile marketing.

They can use tools like Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, and other platforms. Short-form videos are very popular now, thanks to Stories, Reels, and TikTok videos. Companies can jump into seasonal trends like Ray-Ban’s TikTok trend.

Mobile marketing trend - mobile ad from Rayban

Source

Ray-Ban released its smart glasses in partnership with Meta. The brand is leading the future for smart glass technology. It is lighting the way for future technologies to head towards augmented reality.

New buyers started a trend by showing their POV glasses footage alongside regular footage for comparison. It brought awareness to the new product. Ray-Ban jumped in on the trend and produced its own video.

This is an excellent example of video and community-driven marketing focused on user-generated content. As more users choose mobile devices, brands can be part of the conversation through social platforms and video.

2. Community and user-generated content takes a bigger role

If Ray-Ban’s video didn’t give it away, here it is: consumers value user-generated content. User-generated content is community engagement focused on a brand.

For example, if you’re selling shoes, you can invite customers to send videos and pictures of wearing them for the first time (like a reaction video). When you share it, consumers enjoy the content and connect with your brand.

This type of content is a lot like digital word-of-mouth. It’s about inviting customers into the conversation, encouraging and empowering them to express themselves.

Brands can start this mobile marketing strategy by creating a community. They can do it through Facebook or LinkedIn groups or chat apps like Slack, Discord, or Telegram.

3. Expect greater adoption of mobile shopping and social commerce

Users are shopping online and through their preferred social media apps. It started with influencer marketing, where people promoted products they admired on social media. But now, direct social shopping has become preferred by many consumers.

Brands can post and promote products, and users can click a link to purchase them. Some platforms allow you to embed a link to the post so users can quickly swipe to purchase. This marketing trend is a great way to sell your products directly to consumers on the platforms they spend most of their time on.

Mobile marketing trend - mobile ad from Oro boots

Source

In the image above, users see a pair of boots. They can find the link in the photo description. The post is full of comments, with users appreciating the design. ORO has promoted its boots during the holidays when users actively look for gift ideas on social media.

4. AR (augmented reality) for marketing will make shopping easier

Augmented reality might be an early trend, but it’s worth paying attention to in 2024. AR inserts the digital world into your physical real-time experience.

For example, one day, you might be waiting in the car for curbside pickup at the local grocery store.

You can shop for tonight’s wine bottle using your smart glasses, phone, or headset.

Using AR, you can see (and virtually pick up a bottle for more information) to find the perfect pairing for your dish.

After you find the right fit, you digitally grab the bottle and check out. Five minutes later, someone brings it to your car.

Customers get a “physical” experience with the convenience of digital technology.

This might seem far into the future if you’re a small business. But that can’t be further from the truth. The technology is early. But things are moving fast thanks to the growth of 5G.

The more users get faster data, the more they expect companies to evolve with their needs. And that means new technologies like AR.

This consumer shift will happen gradually within the next five years. But it’ll also happen “overnight” when companies in your industry go all-in one day. So what can you do now? Businesses can identify precursors and begin to market for an AR future.

For example, you may not have AR capabilities yet, but you can provide virtual marketing experiences. You can promote virtual walkthroughs for homes, storefronts, DTC products, and more. As you invest in virtual experiences, you pave the way for AR when the time is right.

Mobile marketing trend - image from Meta VR

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5. Gamification on mobile devices will boost engagement

Gamification is also a trending mobile marketing tool. Gamification is creating a gaming system connected to your product or service. For example, many small businesses use loyalty points to win discounts or free products.

Businesses can hold contests or point systems through apps, platforms, and email. Morning Brew, the email newsletter, creates a gamified experience for referrals. When someone refers a friend to the newsletter, they can win a product.

Mobile marketing trend - contest email from Morning Brew

Morning Brew referral email example

I’m a subscriber. I have 12 successful referrals, meaning I can win a shirt after three more.

All businesses can take advantage of these experiences. Many apps and solutions offer gamified opportunities for mobile customers. But they don’t have to use third-party solutions to participate in the trend. Businesses can creatively make gamified experiences through social media and email contests.

6. Location-based marketing gets more accessible for small businesses

As consumers use their phones in their communities, local businesses can connect with them and offer great products and services.

Whether that’s investing in local SEO, online ads, or apps like Groupon, you can connect with customers on their mobile devices.

An interesting version of location-based marketing involves sending customers relevant messages depending on their physical location. It’s called geofencing and it relies on the GPS capability of a user’s phone.

Mobile marketing trend - map with cell phone showing location targeting

Say you’re strolling near your favorite pizza place around noon. If you’ve approved location services for that restaurant’s app, it can send you a coupon just in time for you to grab lunch.

7. Personalization continues to expand

Consumers want more personalization. Mobile marketing can pave the way for brands. However, it requires a solid customer relationship strategy and the ability to collect some customer data. Once you get the information right, you can provide highly relevant interactions on mobile.

Small and medium-sized businesses can start immediately with SMS marketing. SMS marketing (aka text marketing) is a great way to connect with customers who always have their phones with them.

It’s a delicate balance, though.he wrong message can be a big turn-off. But it can create a memorable customer experience when it’s done right.

For example, imagine a first-time customer goes to a spa and has a great time. You want to increase sales during the middle of the week—your slow time. You can send a personalized message incorporating notes from the team member who served them:

“Hi Sandra,

This is Rebecca from Spa Time. We hope you had a great first visit with us.

You mentioned how much work you’ve had to do lately and how relaxing your spa was.

We want to help. Come by any Wednesday after work this month for 40% off.

You deserve it! See you soon.”

Personalized messages add a massive plus to your marketing efforts. They can intimately connect with customers and your target audience.

8. AI integrations and innovations make marketing more efficient

Thanks to tools like Zapier, you can integrate the various apps you use to run your marketing. That will lead to a more relevant, creative mobile marketing experience.

For example, if you’re holding mobile contests focused on emails and social media, you can develop a marketing stack to power your campaign.

When someone enters the contest, AI can automatically add those users to a Google Sheet. Users then get a meeting link on Calendly to schedule an in-person meeting on Zoom or an exclusive webinar with Loom. You can use AI to put everything together for an optimal mobile experience.

With the rise of AI technologies like AI writing with ChatGPT, you can get creative and jump in on the conversation. For example, if everyone is talking about robots creating content, play around with it and share it with customers.

Here’s an example from Fresh Market, the grocery store. Their team emailed me “AI-powered shopping events” that included AI-inspired ideas and content.

Mobile marketing trend - AI-powered email from WholeFoods

AI’s ability to quickly make conclusions from data to create personalized experiences like this can be a huge help to growing businesses.

Tips for your 2024 mobile marketing strategy

Mobile marketing is about communicating with people. It shouldn’t be complicated. These tips will help you apply the trends we’ve listed and create better mobile experiences for your customers.

Go where they are

The best thing we can do is meet people where they are. Mobile marketing became a focus when marketers realized people used devices outside their homes to learn about brands.

The need was discovered, and marketers found a solution. And that’s the way we should treat mobile marketing with our strategy. We need to identify where our target audience is and serve them there.

For you, mobile marketing might mean creating more campaigns on social media, running email campaigns, SMS text messaging, or other various mobile communications. Find out how your customers prefer to engage and meet them there.

Position your brand for new trends

Some mobile marketing trends, like AR, may not be attainable for all companies depending on their size, resources, available technologies, and target audience. But one day, it’ll become a consumer expectation. So, how do you grab hold of trends but identify longer-lasting shifts and balance resources?

As mentioned earlier, you need to know your customers. Find out their interests and needs—more important than trends. And when there is a popular trend, ask yourself if your target audience is interacting with it now or if they would if you introduced it.

Once you’ve picked trends to invest in, start small. Grow with your customers and see how they adapt to your changes. If it’s successful, continue to build on it. The importance is that each marketing trend is relevant to your customers and that you don’t get left behind by market changes.

Start with the resources you have

Everyone can do mobile marketing. It might be SMS text messaging or advertising on social media. Find out what resources you have and what you can do right now to effectively reach your target audience on mobile.

👋 If you’re already placing ads on social media, use this Facebook Ads Benchmark report to see how your results compare to others in your industry.

Put these mobile marketing trends to work in 2024

It’s an exciting time for technology. You can lead the way, reach more customers, and grow your business by adopting innovative mobile marketing methods.

As you make your marketing plan for 2024, keep these mobile marketing trends in mind:

There will be more social video
Community and user-generated content takes a bigger role
Expect greater adoption of mobile shopping and social commerce
AR (augmented reality) for marketing will make shopping easier
Gamification on mobile devices will boost engagement
Location-based marketing gets more accessible for small businesses
Personalization continues to expand
AI integrations and innovations make marketing more efficient

Want more 2024 marketing trends? We’ve got you covered:

John Paul Hernandez

John Paul Hernandez writes B2B content that engages customers and moves them to action. He builds authoritative digital assets designed to connect with audiences. You can find out more about John Paul at johnpaulhernandez.com.