Regional sites:
Specialized sites:
Mobile marketing works because it offers the end-user something they want: convenience. “People get the information when they need it,” says Colin McCaffery, Director of Products at global mobile communications organization 2ergo. For example, in England, 2ergo’s client ESPN has the mobile broadcasting rights to all Premier League soccer games. Most fans will want to see a roundup of that day’s goals while they’re away from their home, probably when they’re on the way back from attending a game themselves. So, at 5:15 every Saturday afternoon, any soccer fan subscribing to the service can view all the best footage of that day’s action on their handset, at a time when they want to see it.
The great advantage of mobile for end-users is that it gives them the route of least resistance to buying, according to Peter Simpson. They don’t need to turn on a computer and sit at a desk: they have the means of purchasing in their hands and it’s permanently switched on. “People start using something when it’s the easiest way of getting something done,” he says.
The fact that the phone is always on, always with us and easy to use makes
this a great impulse marketing tool – in 2009, Amazon made US$1 billion in
revenue from purchases on mobile phones. However, any company that abuses the
privileges of this intimate mobile relationship may fi nd that the reaction is
equally hostile. “Hell hath no fury like a Jonathan MacDonald, founder of
communications consultancy Human Dialogue.
This is why permission marketing (also known as engagement marketing) is one of
the most important areas right now. Consumers are happy to receive mobile
marketing messages if they are relevant, personalized, transparent and offer
some kind of benefi t or reward. But they want to be asked for their permission
to receive such messages, so companies that operate in the mobile advertising
market need to implement best practice around permission marketing. This means
creating large and qualifi ed opt-in databases, targeting the right ads at the
right users, making response mechanisms transparent and easy to use, and
creating attractive reward schemes. Only then will they gain the trust of the
end-user.
Companies (such as Gemalto) that provide mobile marketing solutions to mobile
operators have developed expertise in these areas, helping those operators to
develop a long-term added-value dialogue with consumers and increase the ROI of
mobile campaigns. When they’re done well, such campaigns can produce response
rates as high as 30%.
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