Mobile phone marketing, otherwise known as digital marketing, is the present evolution of direct promotion. Direct promotion has always been favored by businesses as a personalized and focused way of reaching potential consumers and, with the popularity of cells, SMS marketing has risen in support. SMS marketing is perhaps best defined as the practice of advertising products and services using digital distribution channels to reach consumers in a quick, relevant, personalized and cost-effective manner.
The most well-known form of mobile 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 cells where a short message can be directly sent to any mobile phone user. As well as sending material to consumers, promoters can often encourage consumers to join in promotional and brand exposure promotions by encouraging consumers to SMS a specific number at an event in order to enter a competition, to receive a gift or to have their SMS displayed on a multimedia wall at an event. All of these techniques engages the customer through the medium of SMS and creates brand awareness.
There are a variety of other examples of mobile marketing. One example is sending texts 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 goals through websites accessed by cells. Publicists often make innovative use of SMS marketing such as location-based services where consumers are offered specific marketing and other network-related information and promotional information based on their location. With the range of techniques and choices available to companies, it is to be expected that a recent marketing survey found that 89% of major brands planned to advertise their products through mobile marketing by the end of 2008.
SMS marketing is an example of what is known within the industry as “push” marketing. The concept behind push marketing is that that the business has to send (push) the material to the subscriber in order for the material to be received. This is different to “pull” marketing, a passive form of promotion, where it is users who seek out the material from sources such as websites or blogs.
There are numerous advantages to SMS marketing. Primarily, the attraction is that this mode of promotion can be tailored to the customer. This is the ideal in marketing as it means getting the message specifically to the audience it’s aimed at, instead of wasting dollars on an broad campaign. The personalization allowed by this type of marketing, which results in a more cost-effective campaign, is one example why a high return on investment is possible with SMS marketing. Another advantage of SMS marketing is the detailed tracking and reporting of recipients it allows. Through this form, marketers can track how many people viewed their material and also access detailed information about each user such as their name, their age, their demographic and where they’re located. This allows a promoter to develop 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 SMS marketing is a form, can help drive new cash flows and brand reinforcement if it is used correctly and appropriately. This is because it makes consumers aware of recent changes that they may not think to find already and the way a message is written, and even the fact that the material is being delivered by a contemporary, hip medium such as SMS, can say a great deal about a brand and a business.
There are, however, some negatives to SMS marketing. By its very nature, it needs a mechanism – the mobile phone – to be able to deliver content. The business, as well, must make use of specialized hardware and applications in order to send the message to subscribers, which can mean sizeable outgoings. Another negative is the fact that SMS marketing is heavily regulated by the telecommunications industry in response to customer disquiet about what information and marketing they get shown. Most Western nations have laws in place that require businesses to get the consent of subscribers before marketing content is sent to them and must clearly provide them with an ‘opt out’ option if they request to stop receiving material. If marketers are discovered to be in breach of these laws, network providers can block marketing information by businesses.
As mobile technology improves, SMS marketing will surely continue to gather in importance.
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