Despite its love affair with technology, and particularly smart phones, Australia is said to be lagging behind the rest of the world when it comes to mobile marketing. In retail we have seen a slow uptake of e-commerce and digital marketing strategies but as global dynamics have raised the bar and made this platform more successful many local companies have had to start integrating it into their strategies.

While pamphlet and even email marketing can slip past your customers without getting read or even noticed, up to 97% of SMSes get opened within a few minutes of the text being sent. In order to figure out if it is the right marketing platform for you, you have to think about where the customer will be when they open the message. Think about the time of day and what your customer could be doing when the message is sent; is it an appropriate time to speak to them? SMSing a target group that works during the day will require a different approach than trying to get to people who stay at home all day. You also need to think about the cost and whether this is an effective way to target these people.

If the cost is a challenge you can take advantage of smart phone apps that won’t charge you for the SMSes. And, in Australia mobile phones, especially smart phones, are very important to local consumers. Mobile data usage is not yet as high as the other rates of data consumption but it is increasing at an impressive rate and showing signs that it’s an area you want your marketing efforts to successful in.

Location-based technology is one of the methods being used by organisations to reach their target audiences. And if you have your reservations about it just consider that if you do not come up on the global map there’s a good chance your competitors will, so it’s worth being visible.

Last year 2.4 million tablets were sold down under and despite the growth in popularity of these pocket sized pieces of technology most businesses do not have the support structures in place for people to bring their own devices to work. A new survey indicates that people are using their tablets for work-related email at a rate similar to their smart phones. At the end of 2012 there were more than 5-million Aussies using tablets. Sales are projected to double in 2013 and the tablet market is expected to reach the same size as smart phones by 2017. Smaller, cheaper models are driving this growth, as well as the small business which has smaller scale, more compact needs. Business running through virtual offices can have most of their administrative and technology needs taken care of by a tablet.

They are also becoming powerful in terms of their e-commerce capability with more than half of the people surveyed saying they had used their tablet for one service product purchase. Travel and event tickets are proving two popular categories for online purchases through tablets.

And in other news conducive to good business a new centre is to be opened in Adelaide to bring people with business ideas together and help them grow their operations. The South Australian government will be providing $1 million in funding towards the venture.

The facility will enable those with great business ideas to take out memberships so they can use the amenities and interact with other small businesses. There are currently similar centres in Sydney and Melbourne. Each of the centres gives people the opportunity to network and learn within a community. It will also merge age groups and give younger people a chance to learn from others who have more experience.