The Main Elements of Mobile Marketing

There have been a few false starts in the Mobile Marketing space. These false starts have only confused marketers, businesses and consumers alike. But with the success of Smartphones, such as the iPhone and others, Mobile Marketing has finally got a seat at the Marketing dinner table, albeit a high-chair for now.

Businesses need to understand the key elements or components that are at our disposal in. The diagram below outlines the primary components that make up Mobile Marketing activity today.

Permission Channels

Permission Channels are all of the channels that are available to a marketer to notify consumers about the businesses Mobile Marketing program.

Businesses can use TV to get consumers to opt-in to their Mobile Marketing program or Print Ads that provide directions on how to opt-in to a campaign. A simple example of a Permission Channel is a Flower Shop or Dry Cleaner with a sign or a board at the point-of-sale asking customers to SMS the word “coupon” to a number to receive discounts or deals.

It is these Permission Channels that are the front line for a businesses Mobile Marketing program. It is the use of these traditional channels that will first educate and build a mobile relationship with consumers.

Mobile Messaging

On average mobile phone users send more Mobile Messages, primarily SMS, than they make phone calls. Text messaging (SMS) and multimedia messaging (MMS) is the highest used functionality on a mobile phone today. Mobile Messaging is the first form of communication that occurs in the majority of Mobile Marketing programs that businesses will run.

This Outbound Mobile Marketing activity will provide either the value directly (i.e. Alert,
Coupon Code) or a link to a mobile website to collect the value. In order to manage the delivery of these campaigns and permission database, businesses will need to utilise the services of a Mobile Messaging Platform provider.

These providers give businesses the ability to build opt-in lists, via mobile short codes, send out Mobile Message campaigns and provide automated mobile response communications.

Mobile Websites

Mobile Web access is rising in all major markets worldwide. It is critical that businesses ensure that they have developed a mobile web presence that takes advantage of the ever-increasing Inbound Mobile Marketing activity.

It is critical that mobile users are viewing a mobile version or mobile friendly version of your businesses website. Your existing website has been developed to be viewed on a computer, it has not been optimised for access via a mobile phone.

A mobile version of your website is not about the experience, it is about efficiency. Businesses must provide the most valuable information up front to a mobile web user. Time is the issue. Mobile web users are information commandos and they need to be able to quickly and easily access the most critical pieces of information relevant to your business.

Below are some of the key design principals and tips when planning your Mobile Website:

1. Keep it Simple (employ the KISS principle to everything)
2. Think about the demographics of your customers.
3. Provide the most important (to your audience) content up front.
4. Very flat structure for the navigation.
5. Only up and down scrolling.
6. Large Clickable buttons or navigation areas.
7. Try to limit images.
8. Test your site using online mobile emulators.

Mobile Advertising

apple iAdIn November 2009 Google purchased Admob for $750 million dollars US. In January of 2010 Apple acquired Quattro Wireless and in April Apple launched its iAd Mobile Advertising Platform. These acquisitions and developments are key moments in the evolution of the Mobile Advertising industry. It signalled that Mobile Advertising had become an important channel in the future of Digital Advertising.

There are essentially 2 types of Mobile Advertising:

1. Mobile Web Display Advertising and;
2. Mobile App Display Advertising

Mobile Web Display Advertising involves Ads that are served on Mobile Websites. Mobile App Display Advertising involves Ads that are served within Mobile Applications.

Mobile Apps

Mobile Applications or Mobile App’s consist of software that runs on a mobile device and performs certain tasks for the user of the mobile phone. The tasks are performed within the application that is downloaded on to the Mobile Phone.

Mobile App’s are common on most phones available in the market place today. But it has been the advent of Smartphones, such as the iPhone, that have seen the rapid development of functionality available and the number of Mobile App’s available.

eBay recently revealed that 6 Million + people have downloaded the eBay iPhone App and buyers and sellers have generated $500 Million of transactions via Mobile during 2009.

Mobile App’s provide businesses with the opportunity to increase brand exposure and corner a market for a certain type of interaction or transaction, provided that the App that they develop and release makes completing the task easier.

If the Mobile App has a strong value proposition and solves a problem that exists in a market then the business has a fantastic opportunity to ensure that their brand is front of mind for consumers and the first brand considered in the purchasing process.

Conclusion

Over the next decade Mobile Marketing will be one of the most influential Marketing channels available to businesses. Functionality and capabilities will continue to advance, as will the usage patterns of Mobile Phone owners.

It is critical for businesses that they start to develop their Mobile Marketing strategies now. Starting with building a Permission based Opt-in Mobile database. To accompany this database, businesses must also build a Mobile specific version of their Website.