In all of the online marketing articles I read, in all of the most recent magazines, in all of the blogs that so happen to buzz by me, I have noticed an overwhelming amount of attention being focused on "mobile marketing." So much in fact, that I feel like mobile marketing should be THE preferred method of advertising by now. I mean, every time I look down at my phone I should see like eighty billion messages from Starbucks, Nike and NBC. This, however, does not seem to be the case.
The truth of the matter is mobile marketing is new technology, and a lot of the kinks are still being worked out. For example, not everyone who has a phone has the ability to accept multi-media messages let alone the ability to pay for a message from every sporting store trying to get them to pay more money to buy a new pair of shoes. Did I mention you have to opt-in?
Furthermore, I've heard issues with businesses wanting to use this technology to send out coupons to potential customers walking in the vicinity of their store. Several informed articles I've read have questioned that method's viability. The technology isn't advanced enough to differentiate between people walking by the store and those already in it. So when someone is already in line in a store ready to pay full price and they receive a coupon on their phone, the store loses out twice when they pay for sending the message and they lose the difference of the original price. I won't even go into the fact that very few of this country's 300 million citizens live in places where heavy foot traffic occurs.
So aside from these miniscule setbacks, what else does the future of mobile marketing entail? Well the obvious answers lie in the present. What do we use in e-mail marketing to catch attention? Subject lines, effective use of screen real estate and targeted demographics to name a few important items, but most importantly you need to have a large budget to try something like this out. You're really not going to get that big of an ROI sending 100 text messages out (if any), and you need to be able to follow up and continue with similar campaigns in conjunction with your mobile messages. So for now, let's just continue to read all the hype and wait until it becomes a practical vehicle for small to mid-sized businesses before hopping into any untested waters.
The truth of the matter is mobile marketing is new technology, and a lot of the kinks are still being worked out. For example, not everyone who has a phone has the ability to accept multi-media messages let alone the ability to pay for a message from every sporting store trying to get them to pay more money to buy a new pair of shoes. Did I mention you have to opt-in?
Furthermore, I've heard issues with businesses wanting to use this technology to send out coupons to potential customers walking in the vicinity of their store. Several informed articles I've read have questioned that method's viability. The technology isn't advanced enough to differentiate between people walking by the store and those already in it. So when someone is already in line in a store ready to pay full price and they receive a coupon on their phone, the store loses out twice when they pay for sending the message and they lose the difference of the original price. I won't even go into the fact that very few of this country's 300 million citizens live in places where heavy foot traffic occurs.
So aside from these miniscule setbacks, what else does the future of mobile marketing entail? Well the obvious answers lie in the present. What do we use in e-mail marketing to catch attention? Subject lines, effective use of screen real estate and targeted demographics to name a few important items, but most importantly you need to have a large budget to try something like this out. You're really not going to get that big of an ROI sending 100 text messages out (if any), and you need to be able to follow up and continue with similar campaigns in conjunction with your mobile messages. So for now, let's just continue to read all the hype and wait until it becomes a practical vehicle for small to mid-sized businesses before hopping into any untested waters.
The truth is that no one really knows yet what the future of mobile marketing holds. Not even mobile marketers. Earlier this year, the Mobile Marketing Association announced new global guidelines but those guidelines are sure to be changed again soon.
As you mentioned, the biggest problem is that not everyone has a capable mobile device. And the devices out there all have different capabilities and screen sizes.
When will mobile marketing get big? Probably in the next couple of years. Currently about 25% of web browsing is done from mobile devices. When that figure approaches 50% the tide will turn. At that point you will see a prioritization of mobile marketing.
I agree that those new global guidelines are subject to change quite a bit before we see a significant enough market to properly target. As of now the whole idea is a lot like talking about a playoff series before the season begins. There is a lot of potential and we can build on statistics and analysis from the preseason but until we get there most of our talk is only speculation (as fun as it may be). I'm interested to watch closely, however, and see what eventually happens. Thanks for your comment!