Mobile Websites and Mobile (SMS/MMS) Marketing
Smartphones today have more processing power than all of the computers on the original Mercury spacecraft.
Only 31% of emails are opened and read.
95% of all text messages are opened and read.
On average, emails are read within 48 hours.
On average, text messages are read within 4 minutes.
Mobile marketing is marketing on or with a mobile device.
In November 2009, the Mobile Marketing Association updated its definition of Mobile Marketing:
Mobile Marketing is a set of practices that enables organizations to communicate and engage with their audience in an interactive and relevant manner through any mobile device or network.
Mobile marketing via SMS
SMS (Short Message Service) has become a legitimate advertising channel in North America. Mobile short codes have been increasingly popular as a new channel to communicate to the mobile consumer. Short codes are 5 or 6 digit numbers that have been assigned by all the mobile operators. Brands have begun to treat the mobile short code as a mobile domain name allowing the consumer to text message the brand at an event, in store and off any traditional media.
Sending text messages to an email address is another methodology.
Another alternative to sending messages by short code or email is to do so through one’s own dedicated phone number.
Mobile marketing via MMS
Multimedia Messaging Service, or MMS, is a standard way to send messages that include multimedia content to and from mobile phones. It extends the core SMS capability that allowed exchange of text messages only up to 160 characters in length. The most popular use is to send photographs from camera-equipped handsets, although it is also popular as a method of delivering news and entertainment content including videos, pictures, text pages, advertisements and ringtones.
Mobile Penetration
Mobile penetration in the U.S. is estimated at nearly 80% in 2010 and with the increasing sophistication of handsets,users are becoming increasingly receptive to marketing.
The ability to consume, create and share more content than ever before will result in increased engagement on mobile devices.
It also provides for greater opportunities for businesses to engage with potential clients via mobile devices.
The most significant factor to this marketing opportunity is the popularity of the smartphone. The percentage of users considering a smartphone has doubled since 2008. Nielsen expects smartphones to be in the hands of half of U.S. Mobile users by the end of the third quarter of 2011.
Voice is becoming less relevant and businesses are focusing more on sending advertisements via data.
Social networks are becoming mobile users primary means of exchanging information. According to Comscore, the use of social networking applications increased by 240% between April 2009 and April 2010.
For more information on our Mobile Marketing Strategy Kit and to find out how to best utilize Mobile Marketing in your business contact your local Internet Marketing Consultant to arrange your very own social media consultation.
