Mobile phone marketing, otherwise known as SMS marketing, is the present evolution of direct promotion. Direct promotion has always been chosen by businesses as a personalized and focused way of reaching potential customers and, with the rise of mobile phones, digital marketing has risen in favor. Mobile marketing is perhaps best defined as the practice of advertising products and services using digital distribution channels to reach consumers in a timely, appropriate, personalized and cost-effective way.
The most prevalent form of digital marketing is SMS marketing, which has expanded rapidly in Europe and Asia. It is predicted that several hundred million marketing messages are sent via SMS every month in Europe alone. SMS stands for 'short message service' and is a communication form unique to mobiles where a short message can be quickly sent to any mobile user. As well as sending material to consumers, advertisers can often encourage consumers to join in marketing and brand exposure campaigns by encouraging consumers to SMS a selected number at an event in order to enter a competition, to receive a prize or to have their text displayed on a multimedia wall at an event. All of these techniques engages the consumer through the medium of SMS and creates brand exposure.
There are many other types of digital marketing. One variation is sending messages via MMS, which is a multimedia version of SMS, allowing consumers to receive MMS with color, pictures and video. There is also mobile web marketing, where businesses advertise marketing goals through websites accessed by mobile phones. Promoters often make innovative use of digital marketing such as location-based services where consumers are offered tailored promotions and other network-related information and marketing material based on their whereabouts. With the range of methods and options available to promoters, it is no wonder that a recent marketing survey found that 89% of major brands planned to advertise their products through digital marketing by the end of 2008.
Mobile marketing is an example of what is known within the industry as "push" marketing. The concept behind push marketing is that that the business has to send (push) the material to the subscriber in order for the message to be received. This is different to "pull" marketing, a more unobtrusive form of promotion, where it is users who seek out the material from sources such as websites or blogs.
There are lots of positives to digital marketing. Primarily, the attraction is that this method of marketing can be personalized to the consumer. This is the gold standard in marketing as it means getting the message specifically to the audience it's aimed at, instead of wasting dollars on an unfocussed campaign. The specialization allowed by this method of advertising, which results in a more economical campaign, is one reason why a high return on investment is possible with digital marketing. Another advantage of digital marketing is the detailed tracking and reporting of subscribers it allows. Through this medium, promoters can track how many people received their material and also access specific data about each subscriber such as their name, their age, their demographic and where they're located. This allows a business to raise profiles of their users; data which then guides future promotional campaigns and, ideally, their success.
It is noted in the industry that push marketing, of which digital marketing is a type, can help drive new revenue and brand exposure if it is implemented correctly and appropriately. This is because it makes users aware of new changes that they may not know to enquire about already and the way the material is phrased, and even the fact that the message is being sent by a innovative, hip medium such as SMS, can say a lot about a brand and a company.
There are, however, some negatives to mobile marketing. Inherently, it needs a mechanism - the mobile - to be able to send information. The marketer, as well, has to make use of specialized hardware and software in order to send the information to customers, which can involve sizeable costs. Another downside is the fact that mobile marketing is heavily regulated by the telecommunications industry in response to public concerns about what information and advertising they get exposed to. Most Western countries have laws in place that compel companies to receive the approval of customers before marketing information is sent to them and must clearly provide them with an 'opt out' clause if they wish to stop receiving material. If marketers are discovered to be in violation of these laws, network providers can block marketing information by companies.
As mobile technology improves, mobile marketing will surely continue to grow in importance.
About the Author:
The author: Bob Johnson has 20 years mobile marketing skills. For mobile phone marketing for more information visit on sms marketing
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