What is mobile marketing?
It has never been easier for companies to stay in touch with their customers whenever and wherever they want. Smartphones, for example, are becoming more common: 52% of Australians own one, a figure that is expected to rise by another 10 million by 2015.
Mobile marketing takes advantage of the ubiquitous nature of mobile phones to stay in touch with consumers wherever they go. It’s a great opportunity for advertisers and brands, who can reach their customers in more ways than ever before. These are just some examples:
text message marketing– communicate brand messages, special offers or announcements via SMS.
multimedia messaging services – the ability to send images and videos via MMS.
mobile search marketing – targeted search results based on the user’s location.
mobile display advertising – the ability to display banner ads and rich media on a mobile phone.
mobile video advertising – interactive videos and animations that can be displayed on a small screen.
mobile apps – From electronic commerce to information services, mobile applications simplify the execution of a task through the mobile phone.
mobile barcodes – Also known as QR or 2D codes, mobile barcodes embedded in a magazine or bulletin board can be scanned on a mobile phone to take the user directly to specific, trackable online content.
How Mobile Marketing has increased.
Mobile barcodes (or QR codes) are already in use in 136 countries around the world and the mobile web is expected to reach almost 2 billion users by 2015. This is a growing industry that is already seeing results. : Already, a third of consumers shop online via mobile rather than on a computer or in person.
QR codes are an increasingly popular way to provide information on the spot about products, brands or promotions. In some countries, 50% of Smartphone users have an application capable of reading QR codes. It is this ability to provide immediate information that can encourage consumers to convert, making it easier to make a purchase, inquire about a promotion, or sign up for an event.
The impacts for small and medium-sized companies
Many companies successfully use mobile marketing to launch, manage, and evaluate their advertising campaigns. But is this new form of marketing limited to companies with a large team of in-house marketing experts, or can it be adopted by smaller companies as well?
For small businesses that operate locally, mobile marketing can be great for securing business from customers in the local area, thanks to location-based searches.
How much does mobile marketing cost?
Compared to over-the-line advertising channels, such as television and radio, or print marketing in magazines and newspapers, mobile marketing is inexpensive. That’s not to say that certain campaigns won’t cost: building a mobile-ready website or developing an augmented reality app, for example, won’t be cheap.
However, it is possible to set up a QR code or SMS campaign with a relatively small budget, and with marketing as flexible and multifaceted as mobile marketing, there will always be options to suit lower budgets.
It’s typically possible to run multiple mobile channels, either as a fixed cost, regular, or pay-per-service, depending on the reach, timescale, and size of your campaign.