Business Marketing Monday: Mobile Marketing
July 14, 2008 by Bridget Wright
Filed under Business
[Image Source: sxc.hu]
Have you ever happily been driving along only to be beeped and buzzed by your cell phone? You thought, “Oh, I just got a message from someone!” You excitedly (or at least I do) fish your cell phone out of your bag deftly with one hand while keeping the car steady with the other hand. You avoid a couple of pedestrian’s, a few near misses and voila! You have found your cell phone. Now, what was the message?
“Refer a friend a win one month tanning free.” Courtesy of World Gym.
Welcome to the world of Mobile Marketing.
What IS Mobile Marketing?
Mobile marketing is not a new concept, but is a rapidly growing idea that allow retailers of products and services to enable them to easily communicate with their customers via opt-in text messages. Features can include message personalization, campaign maintenance and delivery statistics.
Although mobile marketing can also refer to billboard marketing, its most popular and well-known usage of it is through cell phone marketing. This type of marketing is especially useful for customers who opt-in for certain services or products for which they already have a desire. For instance…
I LOVE Starbuck’s coffee. I go there sometimes three to four times a week. If I have an out-of-the-office meeting and I get to pick the location, I almost always pick Starbuck’s for the meeting. They have GREAT coffee, GREAT atmosphere and it’s convenient to my home (office). It’s also quite conducive to short and low-attended meetings where quick decisions have to be made. They also offer Wi-Fi and LOTS of space to spread out your notes. So while this is not a plug blog post about how wonderful Starbuck’s is (!), I said all of that to say that companies like say Starbuck’s (who offer premium services and products) can attract customers by touting the benefits of its products. In this case it would be the place itself; the ambiance, the atmosphere, space, great for meetings, etc. Not every company could benefit from this type of marketing, but if you have a product or service that is global, it certainly would.
Mobile Marketing Potential
The potential for mobile marketing is, in my opinion only, limitless. Seeing as that this technology has the potential to reach masses of people, your sales could soar. But of course, I may be starry-eyed in my thinking since I can’t say that I have any experience in this area. But I know that the times that I have received cell phone marketing messages, I have been intrigued, albeit somehwat annoyed…which leads me to my final point:
Mobile Marketing Annoyances
Make sure you have a product or message that people want so as to avoid annoying them or alienating your target niche. If there are options to market to certain demograhics for your target audience, then by all means take advantage of it. It is far better to have your message reach a few interested parties than thousands of hit-or-miss folks.
Is it Right For You?
Is mobile marketing something that is conducive to your product or service? Can your commpany benefit from the technology of mobile marketing? Is there a way to use this technology without it becoming an annoyance for your business?
Any mobile marketers out there? Tell us what your experience is in this area.
While I’m waiting for your comments and feedback, I think I’ll go have a cup of coffee at Starbuck’s. I don’t know where I could’ve gotten that idea from. Go figure.
Copyright © 2008 by Bridget Wright
Although I agree that this type of marketing could be beneficial ‘numbers wise’… How can you narrow your markets with such a diverse range of people you are reaching?
I am interested in any feedback or advice as well in this area-
I actually cancelled my text services on my phone because I started receiving so many advertisements and felt it not fair to have to pay Verizon for these calls….
Of course, if you could narrow your target audience…..
Bridget-
First off, your blog was a dead-on high level view of mobile marketing. I own a company that specializes in providing mobile platforms and creative mobile ideation to businesses both big and small. If you will allow me expand upon your blog, I might be able to lend additional clarity as to the capabilities, applications and benefits of incorporating a mobile component into an advertising and marketing strategy.
Mobile marketing works regardless of ad size spend to make all advertsing efforts an effective and trackable call-to-action initiative capable of driving sales with virtual immediacy- translating into a quantifiable ROI.
The issue most marketers have is not knowing which of their media partners (TV, Radio, Print, etc) are the most effective and efficient. The 1-800 numbers are passe, TV and Radio ratings are unreliable, Print distribribution doesn’t equal readers and pay-per-click doesn’t give you the customers information; mobile marketing fills the gap.
Only those consumers most receptive to the offer will chose to text in and receive the coupon, alert, info or other mobile communication. This is inherently valuable as once a consumer texts in, they can be continually marketed to until the point at which they opt-out. Different codes (keywords) can be used to represent the different ad mediums/offers, allowing a marketer to better understand which advertising vehicle or offer is best aligned with its core customer.
Mobile platforms differ substantially, not only in price, but with capabilities, so its essential to find a company that has a robust suite of services and can scale with your size. To maximize the potential of a mobile initiative, the platform should be intelligent; able to request variable data fields (email, age, zip, gender, etc), process them and integrate into a CRM system if necessary for additional 360 marketing efforts. Furthermore, a good mobile platform will provide for pictures, video, click to call, click to email, mapping, directions, fax and email PDF launch, mobile coupon redemption systems, web interface, instant ‘hot lead’ alert, voice, additional links for WAP phones and a host of other customized and automated solutions. The more sophisticated platform attributes address Joy’s question of targeting the audience more narrowly, because as the system builds a better customer profile, the on-going messaging can become infinitely more segmented and targeted.
These are a two examples to see the range of capabilities from simple couponing to more robust mobile communication:
Text ATP1 to 30364
Text SAMS to 30364
In the end there are a few simple rules to remember.
Mobile marketing is only as good as its promoted
Mobile marketing should have a compelling offer and be used with discretion, as its an opt-in platform where an overload of offers will cause consumers to opt-out.
Mobile marketing is not SPAM and very highly regulated, if are receiving unsolicited messages simply reply STOP and it should cease immediately.
I could go on for ever, but this is your blog, not mine, so if you or your readers have additional concerns, questions or comments, I’d gladly try to help.
Kind regards and once again, nice blog.
Thanks Eric! That was a fantastic answer!
Love this blog as well – thanks Bridget!
Hi Joy!
Thanks so much for visiting the blog and commenting. I’m glad you were able to get some insight into mobile marketing from Eric.
What type of business are you in? Can you forsee mobile marketing fitting into what you do? Will you keep me posted on anything you do that’s related to that type of marketing?
Eric, you covered that topic well in your comment post. No, you did not infringe at all, as I wanted someone with expertise to chime right in and give us some insight. You did just that. I’d love to talk to you some more about posting more information on that type of marketing, targeting a niche in women-owned businesses.
Bridget-
Thanks. I would definitely love to be more involved with your efforts. I can be reached at 312.203.4039 and will gladly discuss possible means by which I could assist you and your readers. Appreciate the consideration.
Kind Regards,
E
Hello Bridget and Eric : )
I am the Marketing Manager for an Office Coffee/Refreshments company. Currently, I use mainly ‘guerilla marketing’, pay-per-click, and SEO.
My industry ‘challenge’ is finding the right target market – ie. companies that have 50 employees or more… and specifically, getting in touch with
the decision makers without much missed opportunity.
I will let you know if I do try mobile marketing in the future. Anything is possible…. but really the key for me is getting right to the decision maker.
Love this blog…..sorry to say it again – but I think I found a place I can learn and chat with likeminded people. I will keep in touch and read the other entries as I go – thank you and take care, Joy