Is your marketing program adapting to new technology? If you are using Web video, e-mail marketing and social networks, you deserve congratulations because you are able to talk with the 1 billion personal computer users worldwide.
But what about the other 2.4 billion people who are mobile subscribers?
Yes, 3.4 billion people worldwide are using mobile communication devices (if you call them cell phones, your age is showing). In the U.S., the number is more than 40 million, according to Nielson.
And with increasing bandwidth, technology improvements in equipment, special applications and lower cost service packages, the move to hand-held devices will only continue to grow.
Today, mobile marketing is, according to the Mobile Marketing Association, concentrating on:
• Couponing: Consumers are increasingly opting-in for mobile coupon delivery. Geo-targeted systems can even deliver bar-coded coupons that tie back to retailers' customer relationship programs.
• Content: Offers of free or discounted content provide the incentive for consumers to participate in campaigns.
• Social networking: Viral marketing allows companies to earn media through the sharing of cool applications and programs.
Mobile advertising today is still in its infancy. Three formats dominate — mobile message advertising or primarily text messaging; mobile display advertising, which includes display banners, links or icons placed on mobile sites or embedded in applications such as maps or games; and mobile search advertising — display ads or text links that appear alongside mobile search results.
A report last year from eMarketer projected that more than $4.5 billion will be spent on mobile advertising worldwide this year. By 2012, studies project $19.1 billion in mobile advertising spending.
The Mobile Marketing Association recently recognized some of the best
programs worldwide. Here are some of the great examples of innovation that it saluted.
• Paramount Pictures: To help promote releases of Iron Man, Indiana Jones and The Incredible Hulk in Australia, Paramount partnered with major shopping centers and Hoyt Cinemas to place interactive touch screens equipped with Bluetooth hotspots so mobile device users could download free video previews, screensavers or coupons for a theater's snack bar.
• Wal-Mart: Partnering with Kraft, Wal-Mart introduced #MEALS via e-mail, online and in-store point of sale. Customers could call #MEALS and receive Kraft recipes or sign up for free daily text messages or e-mails.
• Kroger: Working with eight major packaged goods manufacturers, Kroger issued manufacturers' coupons via mobile devices. Customers selected the coupons they wanted and seamlessly downloaded them to their Kroger Plus Cards.
• Absolut Vodka: Absolut launched a mobile drink application based on its highly successful absolutdrinks.com Web site. This free download included more than 1,000 recipes and a search function that allowed users to generate a list of drinks that could be blended based on the user's available ingredients.
Marketers big and small are learning that it's time to get on board with mobile marketing. It's not just Dick Tracy who's packing a smart device these days.
