Mobile phone marketing, otherwise known as digital marketing, is the modern evolution of direct advertising. Direct advertising has always been favored by companies as a personalized and focused way of reaching potential customers and, with the advent of cells, SMS marketing has risen in popularity. SMS marketing is perhaps best defined as the practice of marketing products and services using digital distribution channels to reach consumers in a quick, appropriate, personal and cost-effective way.
The most well-known example of digital marketing is SMS marketing, which has expanded very quickly in Europe and Asia. It is estimated that several hundred million promotional messages are sent through SMS every month in Europe alone. SMS stands for ’short message service’ and is a communication form specific to cells where a short message can be easily sent to any mobile holder. As well as sending material to consumers, advertisers can often encourage consumers to participate in promotional and brand exposure campaigns by encouraging consumers to SMS a specific number at an event in order to enter a competition, to receive a prize or to have their SMS displayed on a multimedia wall at an event. All of these techniques involves the customer through the medium of SMS and creates brand awareness.
There are a range of other methods of digital marketing. One method is sending messages via MMS, which is a multimedia version of SMS, allowing consumers to receive texts with color, pictures and video. There is also mobile web marketing, where businesses advertise marketing goals through websites accessed by cells. Promoters often make innovative use of SMS marketing such as location-based services where consumers are offered tailored marketing and other network-related information and promotional material based on their whereabouts. With the multitude of techniques and options available to businesses, it is no wonder that a recent marketing survey found that 89% of major brands planned to advertise their products through digital marketing by the end of 2008.
SMS marketing is an example of what is known within the industry as “push” marketing. The thought behind push marketing is that that the marketer has to send (push) the material to the consumer in order for the material to be received. This is opposite to “pull” marketing, a passive form of advertising, where it is consumers who seek out the material from sources such as websites or blogs.
There are several positives to SMS marketing. Primarily, the attraction is that this mode of advertising can be personalized to the subscriber. This is the ideal in marketing as it means getting the material specifically to the people it’s aimed at, rather than wasting dollars on an broad campaign. The specificity allowed by this mode of promotions, which results in a more economical campaign, is one example why a high return on investment is possible with SMS marketing. Another advantage of SMS marketing is the detailed tracking and reporting of subscribers it permits. Through this form, promoters can track how many people viewed their material and also access detailed data about each consumer such as their name, their age, their demographic and where they’re located. This permits a company to raise profiles of their users; data which then guides future promotional campaigns and, ideally, their success.
It is noted in the industry that push marketing, of which SMS marketing is a type, can help build new revenue and brand reinforcement if it is implemented correctly and appropriately. This is because it makes consumers aware of recent additions that they may not think to seek out already and the way the material is written, and even the fact that the material is being sent by a innovative, hip medium such as SMS, can say a lot about a brand and a business.
There are, however, some negatives to SMS marketing. By its very nature, it must have a mechanism – the mobile – to be able to deliver content. The business, as well, has to make use of specialized hardware and applications in order to send the content to subscribers, which can mean considerable costs. Another disadvantage is the fact that SMS marketing is heavily regulated by the telecommunications industry in response to consumer worries about what data and advertising they get shown. Most Western countries have laws in place that request companies to receive the consent of subscribers before promotional content is received by them and must clearly provide them with an ‘opt out’ choice if they request to stop receiving information. If marketers are discovered to be in contravention of these laws, network providers can block marketing information by companies.
As mobile technology improves, SMS marketing will surely continue to increase in relevance.
