Mobile Marketing
Edited: June 22, 2007
By: Lonnie Amirault
Mobile marketing can be classified into two types based on
the technology involved. The more traditional form involves
marketing on the move like moving billboards and road shows.
The second type refers to marketing on a mobile phone like cell
phone.
Since the onset of millennium, mobile marketing though cell
phone has become very popular.
Short message service popularly known as SMS has made
marketing by this method a lot easier.
There were some problems in the beginning as unwanted
information was being sent to the people. Most of the SMS that
were passed around was spam and it received negative media
response in all parts of the world. This was because a sector
of the advertisers bought list of mobile users and began
sending them unsolicited messages.
They were later stopped due to strict security measures and
laws passed. Marketing industry recognized the potential of
mobile marketing and utilized it to the full extent. The mobile
service providers coded guidelines and laws.
It then became a legal advertising channel. The Mobile
Marketing Association and Interactive Advertising Bureau also
have laid down guidelines for the proper functioning of mobile
marketing.
Mobile marketing has become popular in Asia and Europe as it
is a novel idea and in Europe alone hundreds of millions of
pounds have been investing in SMS advertising.
Now SMS has become the most famous part of mobile marketing.
Because of the popularity of short codes, SMSing has become a
lot easier.
This has created a new approach to reach out to potential
customers. Now mobile short codes are looked upon as mobile
domain name, by many of the brands around the world, when the
customers message the brand at any occasion.
In America, the first SMS short code campaign was started in
2002. SMS containing short codes are easier to send a message
with complete information. Short codes are usually numbers that
are assigned to mobile operators of a particular location,
which they use for brand campaigning and other purposes.
They are very small, like they contain only four to five
words. These numbers are always under scrutiny by the service
provider and each and every message is monitored to see that
they do not go against the original service description.
Like opt-in emails, customers have to opt for SMSes. This is
the biggest criterion, which the advertiser has to follow in
order to send a promotional SMS. Some of the mobile operators
ask for double opt-in form from the receiver. At the same time
opting out is made easy for the customer.
When the customer wishes to terminate receiving messages,
they have to send STOP word by SMS. All these guidelines have
been laid by the Mobile Marketing Association consumer best
practice guidelines and it’s a compulsion to follow those by
all the marketers who wish to do mobile marketing in
America.
Now, service providers have started to provide the option of
sending SMS to email addresses. Other than this, other services
provided are mobile games, mobile tones etc., which are used
for promotional purposes.
This has lead to the invention of MMS or Multi-media Message
Service, through which short promotional videos and animations
can be send.
Bluetooth is another good technology. It started in 2003,
and many companies in Europe have found it useful. When a
message is send via Bluetooth, the receiver should accept
request from the sender.
So, sending messages by this method is legitimate. The
message transfer speed is high and is also a free service as it
is a radio-based technology.
The method of sending SMS advertisement to mobile phone
users based on their geographical location is known as Location
based service. The customer is tracked via a GPS chip which is
built-in the phone. Radiolocation signals from the nearest cell
phone towers are used for this purpose.
Mobile marketing follows a very safe marketing strategy, as
it is customer opted. The short message sent through this
method is known as mobile originated or MO message.
If the advertisement is done through a call, the call is
known as mobile terminated or MT message. As there is a
phenomenal increase in the number of mobile phone users, this
kind of marketing is a sure hit.
==========================
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