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Mobile marketing reaches and communicates with customers based on an opted-in preference on the part of the consumer to have relevant content sent to his/her cell phone. For instance, let’s say a customer has opted to receive coupons from his favorite coffee house. While he is within a one mile radius of that shop, a GPS signal will automatically send an SMS message to his cell phone advising him of a sale or sending him a coupon for a free coffee.

Simply put, mobile marketing capitalizes on “local,” the close proximity of a customer to a retail outlet, by delivering added-value to the customer with the goal of initiating a spontaneous purchase through the retail channel.

There are over 2 billion voice consumers worldwide. This number exceeds the number of PCs by 1 billion, televisions by .5 billion and iPods by 1.7 billion. From a distributed device position, there are simply more mobile communication vehicles to carry a marketer’s message than any other device, and, cell phone popularity continues to rise. Mobile marketing is direct marketing to those consumers via mobile phones, PDAs or laptop computers. Although there is every indication that this channel is on every proactive marketers’ radar, significant domain knowledge is crucial before incorporating it into a mass marketing contact strategy. Experts agree that due to a fragmented market containing multiple network types, hundreds of carriers and thousands of different devices, as well as on and off-deck dilemmas, entering into the mobile marketing channel is not without its challenges.

Good contact strategy is the result of analyzing the ways in which each channel relates to another and leverages that relationship. Mobile marketing should be part of a “networked audience strategy,” which fuses the traditional channels with the digital realm. Although some brands are actively involved in mobile marketing, the realities of today’s market do not allow for most of us to be in the game yet. We should however, be exploring SMS, WAP, basic applications and continue to build on that knowledge. Setting the groundwork for entrée into this channel can be started today.

Among the technology that is being used to distribute commercial or non-commercial content to mobile phones are: Short Message Service (SMS), Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), Bluetooth, WLAN and Infrared (IRDA). To drive consumer engagement, today some brands are sending promotional content via Multimedia Message Service (MMS), such as mobile music and mobile games, and are leveraging the content generated by the consumer. Bluetooth emerged in 2003 in Europe. With radio-based technology, higher transfer speeds, this permission-based technology makes up a content-management system with a Bluetooth distribution function. Infrared is the oldest and most limited form of mobile marketing since it has a very limited range. Some European companies used free infrared waves in the late 1990’s, experimenting with "shopping window marketing," with limited success.

Let’s take a quick look at the history of mobile marketing:

In 1992, SMS messaging was launched. In the early 2000’s in Europe and some parts of Asia, businesses started to collect mobile phone numbers and disseminate wanted (or unwanted) messages. The first mobile marketing campaign in North America was deployed in 2002 by Labatt Breweries. Labatt launched a cross-carrier SMS short-code campaign. In 2004, the number of cell phone users surpassed PC and laptop users, creating a wide-open opportunity for the mobile channel. Mobile marketing in the US became more popular with the use of text for polling and trivia campaigns. In Europe, several hundred million SMS ads are sent every month.

Over the past few years, SMS has become more of a legitimate advertising channel, and has become the most popular method of mobile marketing. Many believe that the reason for this is that SMS is run over a private network governed by private mobile carriers who have imposed guidelines for campaigns and subscriptions to their networks, in addition to those set by associations setting guidelines and best practices for mobile marketing industries. The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) is one, another is the regulatory agency involved with setting guidelines for SMS and mobile browser advertising, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).

Over the past few years, mobile short codes have been increasingly popular as a new channel through which we may communicate to the mobile consumer. Short codes have been treated like mobile domain names in that they allow the consumer to send a text message to the brand.

Here’s how SMS works: All SMS services run off short codes, which are 5 or 6 digit numbers that have been assigned by the mobile operator for the expressed use of the brand’s campaign. The mobile operators evaluate every application before granting the short code and then monitor the service to make sure it keeps within the provisions of the service description. The mobile channel, unlike traditional channels, is opt-in only. Some operators insist that the customer opt-in twice and always has the option to opt-out. A trend in mobile marketing called “push-pull,” describes and makes manifest the opt-in, opt-out consumer philosophy of the mobile marketing domain.

Mobile marketing is a part of the contact strategy which should be investigated and tested as a way of reaching that part of your customer base that sees technology and its iterations as an extension of the way in which they prefer to participate in your brand. This segment of your customer population will not see this as disruptive, but necessary, nor will they see this as intrusive but exclusive.

Does mobile marketing fit into your contact plan? Call and find out how you can leverage this up and coming channel. Contact Monica C. Smith at msmith@marketsmtihinc.com, or call 973.889.0006.