By Bill Fletcher
When it comes to mobile marketing, most people automatically think in terms of mobile phones. However, it’s important to 
recognize that smartphones aren’t the only mobile devices people are using to access the Internet. Notebooks, tablets and e-readers represent an increasingly substantial portion of the mobile market. Collectively, mobile media are experiencing tremendous growth – and mobile marketing is growing right along with them.
Preliminary results from a recent Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) survey1 indicate that mobile marketing spending will increase 124% between 2010 and 2011. Survey respondents reported that their companies spent more than $2.3 billion on mobile marketing in 2010, and were planning to allocate $5.5 billion to mobile media in 2011. The Mobile Marketing Association noted that some of the key factors driving mobile advertising growth were the high adoption rates of smartphones like the iPhone and Android (upwards of 75%) as well as the growth of other mobile devices.
The survey forecasted that mobile marketing spend would increase from 2.5% 18.75% for e-readers, from 6.25% to 20% for netbooks and from 22.5% to almost 44% for tablets.
In terms of mobile marketing tactics, the MMA survey projected that mobile websites and SMS will both experience strong growth, but the most popular tactic will be location-based features – which are expected to experience a dramatic 265% increase in mobile marketing spend. A separate MMA and Luth Research survey2 found that nearly 25% of U.S. adults use location-based mobile services, and the largest proportion of them are iPhone owners.
In fact, the survey results showed that 63% of iPhone owners use location-based services at least weekly. In addition, the findings revealed that of all mobile phone users who noticed mobile advertising while using location-based features, almost 50% took some form action.
It’s no wonder that companies are placing a strong emphasis on this form of mobile marketing.*
*Reprint from The University of San Francisco
Email is Dying
“Give us your email address and we’ll give you great deals.” These seductive words charm millions of customers every day eager to get a good deal from their favorite retailer.
Unfortunately, soon after signing up for these deals, the emails often hit the junk mail folder, never to be seen by the intended recipient.
With Millennial preferences changing, perhaps it is time to evaluate our digital marketing strategies. Instead of replicating the wheel by sending the same kinds of email messages to mobile devices, we should get a little smarter about how we are direct marketing.
Goodbye, Email!
Did you know the average consumer receives 416 commercial emails per month? In fact, more than 35% of consumers have admitted that frequency was the deciding factor for unsubscribing from a brand’s email. Consumers are worn out from receiving swarms of daily emails from brands whose programs they’ve opted into just for a one-time deal.
For those still subscribed, the result is an average open rate of 19.7% – right from the start, this limits your opportunity for customer reach and engagement.
With any marketing strategy, it is important to focus on customer habits. Receiving deals via email worked in the past — today, however, people would rather use their mobile phones and search for a favorite retailer’s deal through other means (website, third-party deal sites, social media, etc.) instead of going back through hordes of emails to find a particular coupon.
They are a group that wants to control the engagement they have with a brand as well as have the ability to respond at their leisure. Like a number of other consumers, people view email with a lesser sense of urgency than text messages. Typically, it takes 6.4 hours — sometimes a whole day — for subscribers to check an email. Text messages, on the other hand, boast an open rate within the first 3 minutes.
Hello Rich Media Messaging
As customers appreciate deals, mobile messaging is a more effective solution to deliver value and savings due to its immediate response. Mobile is the most personal touch point in which brands can really establish a worthwhile connection with their attentive audiences, especially customers and business associates.
As the most active group in mobile, people have a 14% higher mobile usage over other demographics. Ninety-five percent of this audience texts regularly, with 18-29 year olds receiving an average of 87.7 text messages a day.
People view their mobile device as an extension of themselves which they can never be without, at the risk of feeling “naked.” It connects them to everything as well as blurs the lines of being online and offline. A number of marketers have already begun to shift their efforts to include mobile as they understand this group will be the “trendsetters” for the future of nearly all marketing communications.
Marketers currently executing email campaigns can easily transition and adapt their content to fit within a mobile messaging campaign. With platforms like Rich Media Messaging (RMM), brands can even deliver branded and personalized experiences to customers as it allows for the delivery of rich content such as video, image and long text to virtually any device. In addition, content is delivered directly within a message eliminating the need of a data plan and web clicks to view content.
The benefits that brands can reap with mobile messaging include: higher open and redemption rates, mobile device penetration, reduced spam potential as well as an easier and more appealing, opt-in process for people who prefer permission-based text messages over emails from brands. All that said, it’s important that marketers be careful to avoid irritating consumers, as their tolerance for unwanted messages is likely to be low or non-existent when it comes on their mobile devices.
The following chart presents a side by side comparison of email and RMM:
The Bottom Line
Mobile messaging has the potential to change our direct marketing communication model. It is a unique technology that has been adopted on a widespread basis for personal use, but marketers have not traditionally embraced text messaging yet, due to its limitations.
With new innovations like Rich Media Messaging being further developed, branded and engaging experiences are now possible, which can garner response rates of 35%. With its ability to reach more customers on a personal level and leverage natural customer mobile behaviors on our handsets, we need to rethink our relationships with evolving customers.
*Thanks to Cezar Kolodzie for this article and images.
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