MaryMangold.com

Mobile consumers!  Who are they?  People researching products, services, travel, information on their smartphones, cell phones, tablet devices.

If you have a business, products, services, organization, website … are you paying attention to the explosion of the mobile marketplace?

I read an email news piece this morning that stated

“Last week, Apple blew away Wall Street estimates yet again — thanks in large part to blockbuster sales of its insanely successful iPhone 4. In fact, it sold 18.6 million iPhones in the last three months alone — and, over the past year, it has more than doubled sales in the U.S. while more than tripling sales in China.” [Motley Fool]

Wow, this is significant data folks. Not only are iPhone sales exploding, other popular smartphone and tablet devices such as Blackberry, Android, iPad and others are reaping extraordinary sales volumes as well. Mobile consumption is changing the way we, as consumers and business people, interact with information. Our real worlds exist simultaneously with our virtual worlds, and mobile info at the fingertips is where the action is.

So if the majority of our target markets are consuming information via their smartphones and tablet devices, doesn’t it make sense that as business people, we are capturing market share by putting our products and services in front of the mobile consumer?

Ok, so you’ve got a website. Thats great and all, and its definitely a tool that is accessed by your customers, members or interested consumers. But what about the mobile consumer. Most of them aren’t plastered in front of the desktop. They’re on a train, sitting in a car, walking into a bar, making plans for dinner, traveling to new destinations, researching the family vacation, outdoor adventure opportunities, buying supplies, researching doctors, dentists, physical therapists.

So where are you in the scheme of all things mobile. Can anyone find your products and services through a mobile smartphone or tablet?   At a minimum, your business or organization should have setup a Google Places account that provides additional info, links, photos and details of your business and locations…. AND shows up in Google maps!

As a classic and terminal web junkie, my profession as a custom web designer puts the Mobile Revolution front and center in the realm of my conscious awareness. I’ve designed hundreds of websites since 1999 when I opened my business, Wild Web West. Never having feared change, I am glued to the massive explosion of the mobile landscape and ready to ride the wave of the Mobile Revolution into the mobile sunset.

My personal and business use of Mobile is not unique. I currently use a Samsung Reality mobile phone on the Verizon network, but do not collect emails or research online. My phone is not compatible with QR Code Readers. But, my valued website customers can access me where ever I might be.

But life in the boonies of central Idaho 7 miles from city limits and the Verizon cell towner is slightly unique. My mobile world exists primarily in an extended cellular service area. So I don’t have 4G, or even 3G service unless I’m in town. We still have a land line, for mostly husbands anti-cellular use.

I work in my home office equipped with high speed wireless internet access and 6MG burstable speeds. The vast amount of my mobile experience is applied through my iPad. I use my iPad tablet for reading articles, researching topics of interest, stock market tracking, emails, social media interaction, and other interactive tools for the mobile lifestyle. I play one game, Words For Friends, a virtual scrabble game, and enjoy the interaction with my college roomie from long ago.

My iPad usually sits on my lap as I sip my morning coffee with the news on, volume turned down. I love the practicality of being able to vote in MSNBC surveys, tweet The Kudlow Report and generally remain connected as I conduct my “non-desktop computer free time”. Thus, with the iPad, my current awareness of the Mobile Revolution is well established.

So what about YOUR business and the Mobile Revolution?

Is your business missing out on opportunities for vast exposure to consumers or business customers by shying away from the overwhelming infusion of too much technology and all of the crazy nonsense of people looking down at their smartphones or wearing them on their ear, and carrying these tablet computers everywhere?

Well, hate to burst the non-techy bubble in you, but the answer is YES. You are missing out and competitors that establish a foothold in the mobile landscape will win big. Don’t let it happen to you.   Get competitive and find your footing in the Mobile Revolution with a plan to roll out your own mobile solutions in 2011.

Here are a few statistics to mull over, provided by Christina “CK” Kerley from “The Mobile Revolution & B2B” guide:

Mobile’s Worldwide Growth Tear:

• -60 million U.S. smartphones in 2010. 110 million by 2015 (eMarketer/2011)
• -Tablet sales (like iPad) grow from 21 million units in 2010 to 168 million units in 2014 (Yankee Group/2011)
• -72% of U.S. workforce already mobile, 75% by 2013 (IDC/2010)
• -1 billion reading email on mobile devices by 2013 (Radicati Group/2010)

There are countless other statistics like these that I could produce from a bit more research, but you get the picture, don’t you? Mobile, smartphone, tablet usage is here to stay and its where consumers and business people spend ALOT of their time, on the go, traveling to new places and looking for information to make their decisions on where to stay, where to eat, what to buy, how to get from point A to point B. The Mobile Revolution is a reality you should not ignore if you have products, services that need the attention of consumers and business people, whether in a regional area, across the US, or global.

There is never a time like the present to introduce your products and services to consumers and or businesses via mobile engagement of tools like mobile websites, QR Codes, social media and SMS text messaging. After all, the mobile revolution isn’t slowing down for you or anyone else who scoffs at the idea of yet another platform of marketing.

Jump in now, and get a piece of the Mobile Revolution action.

Start by signing up here at MaryMangold.com (check “My eNews – top right side of this page)  for free how-tos and tips.  Let me help you to weed out the best info – and hand over hot tips about mobile and online tools.  I’m writing about this stuff and I’ll keep it simple, easy to understand, and clear the way for your move in the right direction.

Think of me, Mary Mangold, as your personal mobile and web guru.

Want to get started right away?  Send an email to me@marymangold.com to setup a free telephone consultation.  Put your products and services at the fingertips of mobile consumers. Open the door to explosive opportunities in the Mobile Revolution!