Mobile phone marketing, otherwise known as digital marketing, is the newest evolution of direct marketing. Direct marketing has always been supported by businesses as a specialized and focused method of reaching potential customers and, with the advent of mobiles, digital marketing has increased in usage. Mobile marketing is perhaps best defined as the practice of promoting products and services using digital distribution channels to reach consumers in a fast, appropriate, personalized and economic manner.
The most popular example of digital marketing is SMS marketing, which has expanded very quickly in Europe and Asia. It is thought that several hundred million promotional messages are sent via SMS every month in Europe alone. SMS stands for ’short message service’ and is a communication form specific to mobiles where a short message can be directly sent to any mobile user. As well as sending content to consumers, marketers can often encourage consumers to join in promotional and brand exposure campaigns by encouraging consumers to SMS a selected number at an event in order to enter a competition, to receive a prize or to have their text displayed on a multimedia wall at an event. All of these techniques engages the consumer through the medium of SMS and creates brand exposure.
There are many other examples of digital marketing. One variation is sending messages via MMS, which is a multimedia version of SMS, allowing consumers to receive texts with color, pictures and video. There is also mobile web marketing, where brands advertise marketing aims through websites accessed by mobiles. Publicists often make innovative use of digital marketing such as location-based services where consumers are offered tailored marketing and other network-related information and promotional information based on their location. With the multitude of techniques and choices available to promoters, it is unsurprising that a recent marketing survey found that 89% of major brands planned to advertise their products through digital marketing by the end of 2008.
Mobile marketing is an example of what is known within the industry as “push” marketing. The idea behind push marketing is that that the company has to send (push) the information to the consumer in order for the message to be received. This is different to “pull” marketing, a more unobtrusive form of marketing, where it is customers who seek out the content from sources such as websites or blogs.
There are lots of advantages to digital marketing. Primarily, the attraction is that this form of marketing can be tailored to the user. This is the ideal in marketing as it means getting the message specifically to the people it’s aimed at, instead of wasting money on an broad campaign. The specialization allowed by this type of promotions, which results in a more economical campaign, is one reason why a high return on investment is possible with digital marketing. Another advantage of digital marketing is the detailed tracking and reporting of subscribers it permits. Through this form, promoters can track how many users viewed their message and also access specific information about each subscriber such as their name, their age, their demographic and where they’re located. This permits a marketer to build up profiles of their subscribers; information which then guides future marketing campaigns and, ideally, their success.
It is noted in the industry that push marketing, of which digital marketing is a form, can help build new cash flows and brand reinforcement if it is executed correctly and appropriately. This is because it makes users aware of new additions that they may not know to enquire about already and the way the material is phrased, and even the fact that the message is being sent by a innovative, cool medium such as SMS, can say a great deal about a brand and a business.
There are, however, some negatives to digital marketing. By its very nature, it needs a mechanism - the mobile - in order to send information. The company, as well, has to make use of specific equipment and applications in order to send the content to subscribers, which can equal sizeable costs. Another disadvantage is the fact that digital marketing is heavily regulated by the telecommunications industry in response to customer disquiet about what information and marketing they get exposed to. Most Western countries have laws in place that compel companies to receive the consent of subscribers before marketing content is sent to them and must clearly provide them with an ‘opt out’ clause if they wish to stop receiving content. If companies are found to be in contravention of these laws, network providers can block marketing information by companies.
As mobile technology develops, digital marketing will certainly continue to rise in importance.
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