Valley PR Blog

Mobile marketing taking off sloooowly

By Angelo Fernando on March 16th, 2007 In Social Media

I recently attended an AMA Phoenix seminar on mobile marketing, and it was an eye opener. When you consider how some companies, and some countries, are using mobile media there seems to be a huge digital divide. Many communicators don’t realize the potential, or immediately think of it as phone spam.

But the more you look at it, it’s direct marketing and more to the point, permission marketing at its best. Or, if you want to replace the word ‘marketing’ with ‘communication,’ that’s fine. The mobile device is a platform that will integrate all other forms of communication we now engage in. The new ‘glue’ as they say. TV was the old glue. Web sites (remember ’sticky’ content?) also tried but they lacked the mobility, and the ability to be there when you needed it.

Here’s something that will concentrate the mind. In 2004, 80 percent of mobile users were ‘talkers.’ By 2006, only 42% of mobile users were talkers, as texting gained popularity.

At the seminar, I ran into Nathan Wagner, from SummitProjects, an Oregon interactive marketing agency. Reason I mention Nathan, is he’s an ASU alum, and his company is looking at social media in a big way. They are doing some amazing web-based work (Nike is one of their client’s -check Nike Golf and Tiger’s swing) but they also have a division that’s into mobile marketing. As Nathan explained, it could be as simple as using a billboard or poster, with a call to action that requires sending a text message to a 5-digit number with an email address in the message area. This then becomes the first step in getting permission to send a message to that person, and invite him to enter a contest, download a chapter of a book, or something you only want to give out to qualified leads.

No doubt, Mobile marketing is a lot more than this. In the Europe, for instance, it a lot of on-demand media, viral marketing, and delivering ‘newspapers’ with bite-sized news stories as ‘mobizines.’ I’m keen on hearing from anyone in the valley who’s working on a mobile communication project. For those interested in talking to Nathan, reach him here.

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