Are You Hurting Your Business By Ignoring the Move to Mobile?

You’d have to live under a rock not to be aware of the sheer numbers of smart phones and tablets out there.  So why is it that so few businesses are revamping their websites and marketing strategies to match? I’m literally floored by the number of folks I speak to about websites and services that are totally unconcerned about optimizing their website and offerings for mobile devices.  They shrug off the importance of things like social media accounts and engaging and responsive websites.  They say things like “I’m doing fine with what I’ve got” and “My demographic isn’t that into the web”.  Thinking like that is putting an expiration date on your business, and that date isn’t far off.

I don’t care who your demographic is, they are actively using the internet.  Consider the following from Pew Research in January of 2014:

• 87 % of all adults use the Internet
• Even when broken down into male, female or race/ethnicity the numbers are still above 80%
• The highest usage demographic is 97% of adults aged 18 to 29 use the internet
• Even the lowest demographic, adults 65 years and older is at 57% usage.  That means even if you’re marketing to the senior citizen demographic more than half of them are internet users.
• Education level, household income and community types don’t really make much of a difference either, with all levels coming in above 75%.

What about mobile access?

• 58% of all adults own a smartphone
• While smartphone usage by the 65+ set is low at 19% the 65 and under demographic is between 49 and 83%.
• 60% of those smartphone users access the internet from their phones, that’s a higher percentage than those that sent or received e-mail on their device (52%)

Social media? Let’s take a look:

• 74% of all internet users also use social media
• If you think the 65+ crowd doesn’t do social media you’re wrong. Almost 50% of 65+ internet users also use social networking.  And the 50 to 64 age range comes in at 65%.

And you can bet those numbers are just going to continue to rise.

The truth is that once upon a time it worked to have a simple website hanging out on the web doing nothing.  Some businesses could even get away with no website at all.  Those days are over. Unless you embrace the fact that you must have a presence online, a website that’s not static and is easy to read on multiple devices and some sort of presence on social media you’re hurting your business.  And it could just be a fatal wound.

[icon type=”glyphicon glyphicon-arrow-left” color=”#ad0a0a” fontsize=”40″] Click for full sized infographic.