The era of mobile devices is on the rise. Proof of this is not only the proliferation of portable devices that customers carry with them from morning to night but also the way people use smartphones and tablet PC. They communicate, buy, search for information, travel, play, read and explore. They live in the mobile world. Studies show that mass-marketing campaigns targeted literally at all, which have been used for the past dozens of years (advertising on TV, on radio and in newspapers), are losing their effectiveness. Now mobile marketing works instead of all these instruments. Now consumers want to independently manage the interaction with the brand. Thanks to technologies and appropriate mobile marketing tools users can rewind, delete or customize advertising.
What Is Mobile Marketing
This is the way of the customer from the idea of buying to paying for the product/ product/service created for mobile platforms. Thanks to modern developers, entrepreneurs get a ton of opportunities for building such funnels. And using all the chips of mobile marketing and comprehensive mobile marketing strategy, the company can potentially make it the main channel for attracting customers. Mobile marketing has led to important smartphone apps, including which of these which form the basis of interaction with customers and give almost 100 percent of sales.
History of Mobile Marketing
Mobile marketing is a very young business tool. Accordingly, the history of mobile marketing is not too long. It appeared at the dawn of the new millennium thanks to technological progress and allowed advertising to move to a new level.
The possibility of the existence of this type of advertising appeared after the daily use of instant text messaging services. Only when the number of SMS users has become thousands, such advertising has become meaningful. The regions where SMS mailings were tested for the first time are some countries in Europe and Asia. But, although the history of mobile marketing originates in these places, this type of advertising really manifested itself in the USA, where the first mailing, including the use of a short (four-digit) number, was made by Labatt Brewing in 2002. However, in 100% of cases, such mailings were not coordinated with the addressees, since the situation itself was unprecedented because no one used SMS with advertising purposes.
Naturally, such accessibility had the opposite side. As the history of mobile marketing has evolved, starting in 2009, the quality of such advertising began to decline, and the number to increase. Then it became difficult to distinguish between illegal and legal SMS mailing, for which the client gave his consent. This was a turning point when laws limiting SMS messages were being introduced everywhere. This only benefited those who legally distributed notifications. Competition has been reduced due to unscrupulous companies, and, most importantly, the discontent of cell phone users has decreased since the amount of unnecessary information coming into their devices has dramatically decreased.
Also, the history of mobile marketing has shown that there is always a need to improve the reliability of the programs used because progress does not stand still and hackers "do not doze". There were many cases when the database numbers fell to third parties, which means that confidentiality of personal data was violated.
In order to prevent and avoid such situations, programs have been created that have been enhanced with protection against hacking, and personally identifiable data has been encrypted, thus avoiding "accidental" losses when an attacker accesses the computer with the program.
At the moment, companies and their managers have a unique opportunity to use SMS-mailings as a sufficiently developed, powerful and reliable element of mobile marketing strategy.
Mobile Marketing Strategy
People use their mobile phones to not only stay in touch, but also to read the products review, and, of course, online shopping. That is why the development of comprehensive mobile marketing strategy is important for business. Before start developing a mobile marketing strategy, a company needs to figure out how it will fit other marketing plans. This will help to find out what's important for business. Regardless of what it is, the company must synergize the marketing strategy with current priorities.
Types of Mobile Marketing Strategies
- Advantages of SMS when communicating with customers. To receive messages, the client does not need to be an iPhone owner. The advantage of mobile marketing is that SMS will be read by even those users who have outdated phone models. Thus, text advertising affects almost 100% of mobile device users. Therefore, it is very effective for notifying customers about some important events.
- Themed applications for smartphones. Such a technical solution will give a huge advantage over competitors.
- Activity in social networks. Social networks can attract a lot of new customers. They are convenient because they can be accessed from modern mobile phones.
- Site adaptability. The developed interface of the site for viewing from mobile devices will help to significantly increase the audience.
- Detailed Product Information. Many customers, before buying a particular product, carefully compare its characteristics and cost on several sites. The more detailed information the site provides, the higher is the level of trust of visitors to the company.
How Mobile Marketing Works on the Practice
There are a lot of spheres suitable for mobile marketing implementation. Here are some of them.
FMCG market. This market represents companies that sell goods of everyday demand. Such organizations were the first to evaluate and start using mobile marketing tools. They used almost all the technologies and methods available to date and supported by mobile operators. The choice of mobile marketing tools should be dictated by the marketing objectives of the company. In the FMCG sector, the most effective formats are SMS-lottery and quiz, which stimulate the buyer to send an answer to the question of the quiz or code from the packaging of the promotional product to receive bonuses and gifts, as well as a program for accumulating bonus points for receiving a prize or gift.
Retail. Mobile marketing in retail has been used for a long time. Here, a whole complex of tasks is solved by informing about discounts and sales before increasing the amount per unit of purchased goods. In this industry SMS works. Other retail marketing tools such as SMS quizzes and prizes, mobile flyers, banners, coupons are also used in retail.
HoReCa. This is the segment of the market, which includes the hospitality industry in general and the hotel business in particular. Representatives of this business over time began to include mobile marketing tools in their arsenal. They can use both traditional SMS-messages, and specific solutions that are specific only for this type of activity. They often organize SMS contests and quizzes in which participants should guess the answers to simple and entertaining assignments. As a prize, the winner gets the opportunity to visit the restaurant for free and a valuable gift, a coupon to visit the institution and a corporate jingle on the mobile phone. The key to the success and popularity of such actions in mobile marketing is, above all, the interest of adolescents and young people in their conduct. But an important role in them is also played by a good script and competent hit in the target audience.
Auto business. Mobile marketing very quickly entered the everyday life of automobile concerns and their dealers' networks. In this business, companies always try to use innovative technologies in advertising and promotion of goods on the market. To realize their plans in this segment, creative solutions and non-standard marketing communications tools are often used.
Entertainment industry. Mobile marketing is increasingly used in the entertainment industry. With its help, it is convenient to book tickets for movies, cafes, and restaurants, conduct SMS-chats, interactive contests, quizzes, games, photo sessions, carry out Bluetooth marketing, create and brand groups in social networks. Games, contests, all kinds of chats, quizzes, photo sessions become memorable events of any mass event from the club to large concert venues. This channel of mobile marketing for the target audience is the most popular and in demand. Thus, mobile marketing for the entertainment industry is a breakthrough in the development of communication and in an effort to constantly expand the target audience of consumption of all kinds of brands.
Banks. Mobile marketing in the banking sector is, above all, mobile banking, which today acquires the status of an independent branch of traditional additional banking services. Mobile marketing provided an opportunity for financial institutions to establish a technology for remote customer service. Customers of banks have got a wonderful opportunity to control their accounts and cash flows for them, make payments and pay for purchases. Thus, mobile banking is a promising, powerful and at the same time low-cost tool. Mobile banking provides more personalized contact with each customer since mobile phones are always at the owner's fingertips. It provides prompt 24-hour contact. It is thanks to such factors as a mobile marketing tool, mobile banking is favorably different from Internet banking, where must be a personal computer.
Thus, mobile marketing is somewhat similar to the usual one. To get the fruits, it is necessary to invest money, effort and time. Every day more and more people use mobile platforms for work and entertainment, which means that this marketing sphere will always be promising for development.