Do you access the internet through your cell phone? Are you receiving marketing messages yet? If not, get ready because mobile marketing is the next wave for reaching consumers. The mobile space is new for mass media, but it promises to be the best way to market a brand in the future. I attended an AMA-organized panel discussion on “Mobile Marketing: Effective Strategies and How-to Implementation” at National Public Radio on September 4. The panel participants included Michael Lieberman, mobile integration director at The Hyperfactory; D.P. Venkatesh, CEO at mPortal, Inc.,; Demian Perry, product manager at National Public Radio; Chris Parandian, founder of Tin Can Communications and Mary Gramaglia, director of sales at Sybase. The discussion was moderated by Limor Schafman, founder and president of KeystoneTech Group.
I learned some interesting information. Smart phone penetration is rising. “Smart phones” are high end phones that cost $200 plus. Also, the mobile audience is very different from the traditional audience. Its attention span is very short. A message that would be 8 minutes online would be shortened to 2 minutes on a mobile phone. Text messaging is most pervasive on mobile phones, and this makes the mobile web “viral,” enabling useres to pass on information to friends and many other connections. This viral aspect makes for great marketing potential.
If a company wants to have successful campaigns through mobile marketing, it will have to make its message very compelling and will need to partner with a carrier. Google and Sprint are currently partnering. In order to reach 70 million people, a company must go through a carrier. Carriers vet the quantity and quality of the marketing messages sent to their users. Many marketing professionals don’t want to share profits with carriers, but the speakers on this panel stressed that there’s no getting around the advantages of partnering with carriers.
There is an organization called the Mobile Marketing Association that offers more information on mobile marketing. For example, mobile marketing guidelines are available at http://www.mmaglobal.com/. Also check the Mobile Marketer.
