Mobile marketing

In a recent report published by Informa Telecoms and Media, it predicts that there will be 2.1bn mobile subscribers globally by the end of the year, rising to nearly 4bn in 2011 this offers one of the largest opportunities to leverage technology for marketing.

While not all these devices will be able to accept new media advertising ( such as MMS, video streaming ) it does offer a opportunity for marketeers to engage in a more personal and immediate dialogue than most other channels.

With opportunity there are always risks, for example the screen. Due to the format of the , we are less likely to accept the traditional formats of advertising, simply cutting adverts to a shorter length does not work, they should be formatted and built specifically for mobile.

Ad’s need to include an element of interactive within ( if for example a video ) with the red button playing an important role for time sensitive people, I may not want the entire brand message and am happy to purchase - I need to be given that option.

Topping and tailing , sandwiching , adding bumpers – or whatever terms you with to use by placing short messages before the content seems to be a little on the ‘ basic ‘ side considering the possibilities the technology holds.


Consider - you have the following information

• Who the person actually is
• Their location
• The history of there browsing and any electronic trading they may have done ( once e-money becomes prevalent )
  

Add to this the willingness of people to build online profiles to again narrow their interests it should mean that search should lead to contextual and relevant messages to the individual.

Simply enhancing the engines behind Google and Yahoo will help, but not eradicate irrelevant content being delivered to an already crowded screen.

I do not believe the model of ‘ paying ‘ people with free minutes before they hit the content is also of value - you are simply paying people for something they do not wish to see, therefore they will ignore.

Marketing Technology should make the content relevant in the first place, the fact they are mobile indicates they will have a higher propensity to purchase.

Summary

• It should be relevant both in context and geography
• Offer benefit , some form of redemption or ease of transaction ( the items could be put on hold, paid for through e-money remotely or a simple map to the nearest stockists
• Timing should be correct
• Be of a format that compliments the delivery medium, after all it is the medium that is putting adding additional context of the original message.