1. What local businesses in your community are using online, social media, and/or mobile marketing? Interview the owner or manager of one of the businesses to learn how the business uses these marketing activities and discuss their satisfaction with them.
2. Mobile marketing can be confusing for a small business owner. Develop a presentation to present to small business owners that describes mobile marketing, its advantages and disadvantages, and examples of how small businesses are using mobile marketing.
Mobile marketing is the place to be for small businesses. When rain pounded New Orleans right before its famous Jazz & Heritage Festival, the owner of a local shoe store saw an opportunity. She tweeted about rain boots available at her store, Feet First, and sold out in two hours. Feet First is no stranger to online marketing, as it has a Web site, online shopping cart, and a Facebook page; however, mobile is where the action is. Employees update the store's Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, and Snapette-a local fashion app-accounts frequently. Consumers are increasingly turning to mobile devices to find information and purchase products. The Polkadot Alley, an online store, found that 90 percent of orders come from mobile phones. Even though Yelp's app traffic is a fraction of the overall Web site's traffic, 45 percent of all Yelp searches come from its mobile app. Local retailers see the advantages of mobile marketing. As a result, Google changed its ad platform to accommodate the growth in mobile ad campaigns. Advertisers not only bid for search words, but also on the searcher's device used to search, their location, and time of day. If it's Saturday before Mother's Day and you use your phone to search for a florist, Emily's Flower Shop a half mile away probably bid 30 percent higher to get its ad at the top of your results list.