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| A Technophobe's Guide To Mobile Marketing |
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| Written by Emma Rose Smith |
| Saturday, 16 April 2011 04:44 |
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If mobile marketing is new territory for you, it can seem a little confusing. But when it is explained using no jargon or technical terms, mobile marketing is actually very simple. So what is it? Mobile marketing is any marketing which operates on, or uses, a mobile device. This mobile device is usually a mobile phone, but the iPad and other electronic tablets will probably feature more mobile marketing soon. The first type of mobile marketing (and still the most popular now) is SMS mobile marketing. This encourages customers to respond to advertisements via text message. You've seen SMS mobile marketing advertisements before, featuring a call-to-action something like "text CAR to 19 33 33 for a free test drive or more information." Other types of mobile marketing include MMS (just like SMS but with multimedia messages instead of just text messages); and QR codes (square, barcode-like images, which can be scanned into mobile phones). Mobile marketing also includes Web sites and Web advertisements created for mobile Internet browsing, and sponsored mobile applications (like Red Bull's car rally app). Mobile marketing is most beneficial when it is integrated well into a quality advertising campaign. Typically, mobile marketing increases the response to traditional advertising; links advertisements to social media; and allows the marketer to measure the audience response for a particular ad. Using no technical terms, here are the key points of mobile marketing explained: Mobile Marketing Tip 1: Increase the Response to Your Advertising. In the past it might have been OK to have mass, generic, impersonal advertising. But today, customers need personalised, quality interactions. Mobile marketing makes this possible by sending information and discounts directly to the mobile phone of the customer. Mobile marketing is often personalised according to the customer, and because of its interactivity, it typically increases ad response. Increased ad response was recently achieved in a mobile marketing campaign for Australian computer retailer Leading Edge Computers. Leading Edge ran a giveaway, which customers could enter into via SMS. Using SMS mobile marketing, they received triple the number of entries they usually get for competitions. American auto insurance company GEICO achieved a similar result in mobile marketing with branded content. They created web storefronts to promote free downloads of branded ringtones and sound bites. In the first 60 days of the mobile marketing campaign, over 350,000 downloads were recorded. Mobile marketing makes advertising more accessible and therefore more effective. This is because mobile marketing engages personally with customers, giving them more. Mobile Marketing Tip 2: Bring Measurability to Your Advertising Advertisers and marketers have been trying for years to get exact figures on advertising response, without having to rely on guesswork. In the past, response mechanisms such as 1800/1300 numbers and Web site URLs have been included in advertising. Mobile marketing works on the same premise at these response mechanisms, to clock the exact number of engagements with a particular advertisement. Mobile marketing was a success for Australian shade manufacturers The Shade Guys. TXT2GET introduced SMS mobile marketing to let listeners text in to receive more information. When it was first broadcast, the advertisement received only a moderate number of responses. However, after a redesign, the advertisement received a much higher response from customers. Using mobile marketing made The Shade Guys realise that their existing advertising was not working. "Having the ability to monitor the ad, and know what's working and what's not, made it possible to make the relevant changes that were necessary for a better result," said Alfred Russon of The Shade Guys. Mobile Marketing Tip 3: Link Your Ad to Social Media. The initial trial period for social media is over: its importance has been effectively demonstrated. Social media should be linked to advertising, and mobile marketing provides a way to do this. At the moment, one in 3 American and British consumers access the Internet from their mobile phones at least once a week (source: 2011 Mobile Internet Attitudes Report, Antenna Volantis). In 2010, 23% of American mobile phone users accessed social media Web sites from their mobile phones (source: Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project). These figures are sure to be higher by now, and they mean that mobile marketing can (and should) be the link between traditional and social media. Mobile marketing can be the link between traditional advertising and social media (such as Twitter or Facebook). It can do so through QR codes, SMS mobile marketing, or another mobile connection. This connection is the basis of a personalised customer interaction, which is a key focus of mobile marketing. Using mobile marketing and social media together is a relatively new concept, so what the future will bring is anyone's guess. However mobile marketing is used, the result is simple: social media, linked with advertising, deepens your market appeal. That is definitely something to tweet about. About the Author: This article was written by Emma Rose Smith of TXT2GET, a leading SMS mobile marketing company operating in the US, Australia and New Zealand. TXT2GET are passionate about offering quality SMS mobile marketing for SMEs. For free industry tips and case studies, visit their blog, Mobilize Your Marketing. 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