Isn’t technology great!

Waiting in line to get an oil change, I hear the gentleman in front of me say “I have a coupon”. I instantly realized that I get coupons for this place too, but I usually throw them out. The gentleman in front of me hands the clerk his cell phone and WHAM! – $10 off.

When we think of the technical gadgets, aka “toys”, in our life, we sometimes overlook the obvious. We have cell phones for convenience – remember the old story – Honey, if you need something from the store you can call my cell and I will pick it up on the way home. I NEED a cell phone. Or the other argument, I got you a cell phone. This way if your car ever breaks down you can call for help. My first mobile phone purchase was justified by being able to pickup milk on the way home.

This was the day, things were simple and mobile phones were the size of toasters. I remember that my wife didn’t want a cell phone as she saw no reason for it. Myself, being a gadget guy, just had to have one. This was back in the early 90’s and the start of something that was going to explode!

Fast forward to today and the reason for my post. The convenience factor was only the beginning. Today we have more processing power in our cell phones than was used for many space flights. If we stop, look and listen, we can find many great opportunities. The mobile device segment is getting ready to take over PC sales. Where each house had at least one or two computers, today almost every person has a phone! Estimates are 75 – 80% of the US population have a cell phone and over 51% purchased are smart phones!

Back to my story…

So I am waiting in line to get an oil change done, and I do NOT have their recent offer / coupon.  I take out my cell phone, fire up the web browser (I prefer Dolphin, try it!) and do a search for [business name] coupons and WHAM! – the third result of my search has their recent discounts and offers listed, saving myself $10. I went back right after with Tammy’s car and saved $7 on her oil change. Not too bad for 3 minutes and a smart phone.

So what now?

If you are a consumer, try using your phone and search for “deals”. One that I hit a while back was with Foursquare. A bunch of us were in the M&M store in New York City. When I “checked in” on Foursquare I was given a 15% off my total order as a gift for my first check-in at their store. (Foursquare is another social platform – will write up a blog post about that one soon.) Now I am motivated to find as many deals as I can and put my smart phone to good use.

If you are a business, start offering deals and discounts through location based social media platforms and  your website. This is a great way to advertise your business while getting more traffic to your website and physical store. There are many, many opportunities for using social media and the power of the internet to take advantage of, you will want to make sure your website and media are “mobile responsive”.

Having recently attended a Gartner webinar on mobile strategies, there is a growing trend towards mobile. It is not too late to mobilize your marketing!

How have you used technology to help you?  Have you used your cell phone to save money? Are you a business with a strong mobile strategy? Comment below and let me know!