For the past few years, mobile marketing has increased in popularity along with other venues of non-traditional advertising. With companies and small businesses looking for ways to cut cost and still advertise their products or services effectively, the Internet and mobile communications have become viable platforms for advertising. Marketing through mobile media costs way less than traditional advertising platforms, require less manpower and effort, and is still fresh, providing a lot of room for development and expansion. Moreover, mobile connectivity for a business enables business to connect to their customer base through mobile devices and consolidates various channels of communication in a medium that is both simple and effective.
Simply put, marketing through mobile means involves communicating with consumers through mobile devices for the following purposes:
- * Send a marketing message similar to traditional media strategies (e.g. , advertising a product or service)
- * Introduce them to a campaign wherein they can participate (e.g., send pictures, make jingles or slogans)
- * Lead them to visit another website (whether it be the main product/service website, a social media page, or a promotional one specific for a particular campaign).
Mobile connectivity as a means for marketing has been proven effective for a number of reasons:
- * Marketing through mobile means reaches a wider audience, from the moneyed generation of baby boomers, to the more connected generation X audience, and the current group of teenagers who have been exposed to the Internet and mobile communications their entire lives.
- * Mobile devices are personal, always close to their owners, always on, always accessible, has built-in systems for payment (for consumers) and audience measurement (for businesses), and accurately encapsulates the social framework of how media is being consumed in today’s society.
The effectiveness of mobile marketing as pointed above makes its advantages known:
- * Since mobile devices are always on and can be easily accessed by their owners, advertising material can be sent and received at any time during the day. Moreover, they can be acted upon immediately.
- * Mobile apps installed on smartphones and other devices, which are marketing devices as well, can bill users automatically, either through the mobile network of the user or the account information he or she has with the apps market.
- * Campaigns through mobile devices can be highly interactive, and therefore encourage user participation. Content generated from consumers increase the virality of the campaign, which gives the campaign additional mileage. As seen these days, a lot of viral mobile advertising campaigns include user participation.
- * Data aggregated from mobile campaigns provide businesses with sufficient segmenting and profiling information so they could target particular audiences. With the accurate measurement of the effectiveness of these campaigns, marketers can also accurately measure and track how they contribute to the business’ bottom line, ROI.
- * Lastly, mobile marketing presents opportunities for marketers to obtain fresh information about their audience all the time regarding trends and preferences, which they can use to make and conceive new products or services. In turn, they could market these new products or services through mobile means anew.