Mobile phones are the largest form of media in the world, with over 5 billion of the world’s population currently possessing one and this number is increasing exponentially. Phones have come a long way in the last decade, where 10 years ago there was a lot less choice and I assume most people would have had a Nokia 3310, a true classic of a phone. Nowadays there are a huge variety of phones and it seems as if the most popular phones are the ones that provide the most applications and interactivity options. These are currently classed as smartphones, with the likes of Samsung, I-phone and HTC being the trend setters.
These phones offer all sorts of downloadable applications from games and weather updates to health and fitness guides, there have now been over 10 billion apps downloaded from I-tunes (only applicable for Apples devices) alone. The new modern ways of the consumer embrace these apps by making micro-payments which can be as little as 50p for a simple game, a stark contrast to previous trends when consumers would never have adopted such a concept. This shows just one new way that companies market their product or elements of it through this new "app era". A prime example is one that I use a lot in my blogs because I see them as a very successful example of marketing strategies and I am talking of course about comparethemarket.com. They have released a downloadable app, which provide the various catchphrases of Alex the Meerkat in a fun manner, as well as increasing the awareness of the brand.
Mobile phones allow all sorts of communications forms; MMS, SMS, Phone calls, Video messaging and emails. Furthermore due to the ever increasing popularity of social media, such as Facebook and twitter, mobile phone companies are making them readily available at the touch of a button via your mobile phone, which Apple see (below) as a strong selling point.
With the previously mentioned methods of communication combined with the increasing availability of mobile internet via 3G networks, which supplements the availability of said social media, I believe that efficiency of communication is improving. Mobile phones are almost another appendage for some, perhaps even most of us. Therefore we are almost always in contact with our phones and with these various methods of communication all instantaneously available, I believe we will all expect regular, speedy replies to our messages, independent of the avenue used, which could provide a more efficient society.
This is one reason why mobile marketing is on the rise and it is only a matter of time till the use of QR codes, which blackberry currently utilise, are part of our everyday lives. Essentially they are codes that can be decoded at high speeds by cameras or bar codes and Blackberry use it as a way for one phone user to scan another phone into their memory by simply scanning the appropriate QR code. Companies are starting to implement this by providing said codes in magazines for example, which when scanned provide a direct URL through the phones internet. This cuts out time and hassle of actually inputting the data manually and is more likely to generate a response from a consumer.
Mobile phone advertising can be very beneficial for a company because it allows them to completely personalize to a consumer based on a customers behavioural beliefs (Xu, 2006). This method of marketing is even more effective when considering the reduction of faith in mass marketing and increase in the belief that development of stronger relationships with consumers will increase repeat purchases. Interactivity of phone marketing allows a participant to instantly reply to, or act on it immediately, (Haghirian & Madlberger, 2005.) A further feature is the ubiquitous nature of mobile marketing in that advertisers can contact their potential customers anytime and anywhere (Bauer et al., 2005).
So in a nut shell, mobile marketing is an effective way to put across personalized targeted messages that are specific to the consumer. They also have a particularly useful element to them as the message can be traced to measure effectiveness and responsiveness; this is not to say however, that there aren't drawbacks.
Ironically, one of the strengths of mobile marketing can be one of its biggest weaknesses in that a mobile phone is a very personal item, which makes users sensitive to receiving messages from unknown persons (Vatanparast & Asil, 2007). Privacy concerns are one of the biggest concerns for mobile marketing, as they require personal information to be truly effective. The best way to deal with these concerns would be to provide customers with an opt-in system that they indicate whether they are happy to receive messages or not.
The most recent form of mobile phone advertising is present in Japan whereby a virtual message can be displayed when a consumer walks around looking through their mobile phones camera. This is a non-intrusive, technologically fascinating way of marketing that could hopefully provide a platform for future marketing campaigns.
References:
Bauer, H. H., Barnes, S. J., Reichardt, T., & Newmann, M. M., 2005. Driving consumer acceptance of mobile marketing: A theoretical framework and empirical study. Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, 6(3), 181-192.
Haghirian, P., & Madlberger, M., 2005. Consumer attitude toward advertising via mobile devices–an empirical investigation among Austrian users. Proceedings of ECIS (European Conference on Information Systems), Regensburg, Germany, 1 – 12
Vatanparast, R., & Asil, M., 2007. Factors affecting the use of mobile advertising.
International Journal of Mobile Marketing, 2(2) 21-34
Xu, D. J., 2006. The Influence of personalization in affecting consumer attitudes toward mobile advertising in China. Journal of Computer Information Systems 47(2), 9-19
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