The Sexy Medium
You eat out with it, you play with it and you sleep with it ☺. Get your mind out of the gutter. I am talking about mobile phones. Well, they ARE intimate. Everyone has one and no one goes anywhere without one. The mobile is a second shadow. You can say that you and your mobile are connected at the hip, literally!
The Mobile Intimacy
-It is the 1st thing you check when you wake up.
-The last thing you check when you go to bed.
-It’s within arm’s reach 80% of your day.
-It identifies you – determines who you are.
-Its addiction is insatiable (talk, text-send pics/videos, mobile social networks, mobile web, music, email,etc.) May I say more? Are you an addict?
The Mobile Evolution
So what do you think, gold mine for marketers?
Perhaps….
To Marketers the Mobile is a Dream Medium
PERSONAL – always attributable to one single person
UBIQUITOUS – one screen to unite them all
IMMEDIATE – target is reached instantly
LOCALIZED – more segmented targeting based on location (GPS, LBS, Geo-targeting, etc)
The Mobile is a Great Direct Marketing Tool
As you can see from the following marketing campaigns below, the mobile can be a very effective tool when implemented correctly. Mobile Marketing is not heaven yet and thus it will fail if carried out as a standalone. The key is to INTEGRATE Mobile Marketing with other campaigns.
McDonald’s did a great job by incorporating SMS messages within one of their many “Buy McDonald’s & WIN Prizes” contests.
Coldplay used bluetooth and location based marketing to beam album information and songs to passers-by from their billboard.
Google puts more emphasis on their mobile search engine and mobile versions of Google’s products (Youtube, Gmail, Google Talk, Calendar, etc) become more prevalent.
Mobile Marketing has Several Challenges!
For the user Mobile Marketing has been anticipated to be very irritating as other advertisements.
90% of US users are not all interested in mobile marketing.
79% of consumers are annoyed by the idea of mobile marketing.
Mobile web is costly for users:
For marketers, Mobile Marketing is also expensive.
It has a higher CPM than other traditional media.
Some marketers are not considerate of users’ privacy on mobile.
Marketers make the mistake of using push strategy marketing campaigns.
The Solution
As mentioned above, so far Mobile Marketing is NOT a standalone campaign. It is a very effective strategic campaign that complements other digital or traditional media. It is best to incorporate Mobile Marketing within a 360 (blended) marketing campaign. Mobile Marketing falls under the Digital Marketing umbrella which means PUSH STRATEGY is a big NO NO! Because the mobile is such an intimate device, marketers must be cognizant of users’ feelings towards privacy. For this, marketers must abide by the 3 Golden Rules to lower the pain of advertising.
3 Golden Rules (Pull Strategy)
- Choice – Opt-IN User should have the choice to accept advertising on their mobile phones.
- Control – Opt-OUT User (prosumer) is in control and should be able to cease the process of receiving mobile advertising.
- Consideration – Entertainment, Information, Interactivity – Keep it interesting and relevant!
