Daryna Kulya

Always by your side, most probably in your bag, pocket or hands right now – many of us are practically inseparable with our mobile phones. Think about it – you are never too far away from it, which makes it easy for marketers to target you with relevant and not so relevant ads. It is no surprise that advertisers recognized this channel long time ago, but with a rapid technological change and emergence of much ‘smarter’ devices these days, our phones can deliver advertising content in many new ways.

Mobile Monday Detroit Meetup group gets together monthly to discuss mobile trends in the industry and one of the recent meetups was dedicated to the topic of Mobile Marketing.

So what’s Mobile Marketing and what’s the value-add?

The Mobile Marketing Association defines Mobile Marketing as a set of practices that enables organizations to communicate and engage with their audience in an interactive and relevant manner through any mobile device or network.

What makes Mobile Marketing so valuable?

• Immediacy (distribution)
• Affordability (costs)
• Quantifiable results (campaign analytics)
• Interactive (value proposition)

Also, 38% of users took an action based on a mobile ad and this number has a potential to grow significantly.

What are some mobile channels that could work for a marketing campaign?

1) Bluetooth (Proximity) Marketing

Bluetooth (Proximity) Marketing Software will recognize customers as they are appearing in the business area and deliver relevant ad content to their mobile devices.

Why use it?

• relevantly low cost
• proximity aspect is great considering that this way prospective customers could be easily turned into actual customers

What to keep in mind?

• some customers turn-off/disable Bluetooth on their devices
• the software has to ask for the customer‘s permission before delivering any content, otherwise it would be treated like spam

2) Quick Response (QR) Codes

Sometimes best online marketing can be done offline. QR bar codes are connecting both worlds in a very meaningful way.

Why use them?

• gain traction for online content
• foster action
• appealing and still rather new

What to keep in mind?

• the site you are directing the user to after they scan the code should be mobile-friendly to enable effective content delivery

3) Text/SMS Marketing

Generate a database of telephone numbers and send your customers mass text messages with relevant ad content.

Why use it?

• everyone checks their text messages

What to keep in mind?

• there should be an easy opt-out option

4) Location – based advertising

Location is becoming a key component in marketing. Check-ins to services such as Loopt and foursquare are substantially growing.

Why use it?

• 53% of users would be willing to share their location to receive a relevant ad

What to keep in mind?

• adding a competitive edge (e.g. badges in foursquare) works as a great incentive

5) Mobile Site (instead of a set of mobile apps for different platforms)

Developing applications for all mobile platforms can be rather costly. Sometimes having a great mobile site works as well as providing custom mobile applications.

Why use it?

• cost-effective while reaching a wide audience

What to keep in mind?

• users won’t be getting the same experience as they would by using an app

Overall, Mobile Marketing is gaining more leverage as the smartphone market is growing and there are new ways of sharing ad content. If you are using Mobile Marketing channels in your organization and have best practices to share, please share some tips and suggestions in the comments.