| Mobile Marketing Mysteries Revealed |
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You are not the only one to feel confusion towards mobile marketing. That’s why, six industry experts will answer your questions by divulging the truth hidden behind some of the most widespread misinterpretations. Every now and then, an industry thinks it has found an answer for an important question. When this answer is found, even if not the right one, the decision makers inside the industry decide to carry on with their painful search because, in general, it will result in great profit. But in the first steps of the ride, many legends appeared unexpectedly. While they scarcely convince key players to leave the tiger’s tail, they create a sort of disorientation leading to lost opportunities or simple losses for the careless. At the moment, this is the case with wireless. Revenue growth and popularity of the device have been incredibly increasing. Also, market penetration has been extraordinary. A big change has been witnessed thanks to the constant rush in technological inventions and resultant new capacities. Nevertheless, many people have a wrong opinion about the wireless domain. They believe, with or without knowing, in one or more of the following obviously fake legends, just as it will be clearly exposed by our industry specialists. Legend 1: Mobile web aims at teens and young people only.TruthIn fact, active users of wireless devices direct the scale of age groups, from pre-teens to seniors. Dynamic Logic and InsightExpress conducted demographic surveys showing that an important number of wireless users are in their 30’s. Intelligent marketers realize the existence of wide and varied audiences than can be reached on mobile devices. Legend 2: Advertisers should accept to pay extra for wireless’s higher value, compared to other media, because it’s a means people use when they are in a hurry.TruthAt certain times, wireless benefit from an important value for some brands. However, this is not the case for other brands and other times. Most of the times, advertisers are asked for higher CPMs on wireless. However, when they agree, they discover that this extra cost has no justifications. Intelligent advertisers have both high and low CPM opportunities offered by mobile devices as well as by other media. When a consumer is confused about which product to choose in a supermarket for instance, advertisers must grasp this high value opportunity. What must be understood is that there is a chance to offer an ad than can make one or more of the brands the consumer’s thinking about win. John Hadl is managing partner and founder of BrandinHand, a mobile advertising agency with clients that include P&G and American Express. Legend 3: Most people rebuff advertising on their mobile devices because they are too personal.TruthAccording to the recent web survey conducted by QuickPlay on more than hundred people, 54% of US users are willing to accept ads on their mobile devices, especially if the ads allow them to access subsidized services. This number is mainly considerable because it shows people’s real and actual behavior towards accepting ads without exposing theoretical statements. According to Hyland, pricing for wireless services is still a hindrance to their growth and mobile users’ interest in advertising means a positive step towards a bright future. Legend 4: Because advertising campaign tools are still not developed and advanced enough, published information about wireless advertising efficiency is somewhat imprecise.TruthDetails about wireless campaigns, including tolerance of a definite subscriber has for a definite pre-roll or post-roll ad, are universally correct and accurate. A survey conducted by AdInfuse showed that wireless advertisers have a holistic view of success standards, together with clickthrough rates, brand effectiveness studies and interaction metrics and conversion data. Very detailed and accurate data can be reported in terms of wireless ads especially on how much the individual on the phone view a certain ad. Advertisers can easily actually detect the number of impressions and unique visitors associated with any mobile ad or campaign. Currently, about two-thirds of wireless campaigns use the pre-roll model ad. Many other models are used like overlays which are being tested and experimented for efficiency. Mark Hyland is VP of marketing at QuickPlay, a leading provider of media-on-demand for mobile devices, including the Blackberry edition of XM Satellite Radio. Legend 5: There is no difference between mobile and the web except that the latter is bigger.TruthAdvertising banners dedicated to WAP (mobile web) have a lot in common with web ads. However, web banners are not that efficient compared to the influence of the web. So, treating mobile as a miniature of the web pushes advertisers far away from the real mobile effectiveness. If mobile advertisers seek success, they try to discover the way clients use their phones and provide unpredictably satisfying results for brand advertisers. Legend 6: You just have to go with the technology flow to get successful mobile advertising.TruthWhen it comes to Bluetooth campaigns, ad agencies are proud to declare their leadership. There are many examples of a Bluetooth campaign with more than 10,000 participants. However, technology that wakes a consumer up when he walks past a billboard does not immediately give the expected results. Thus, advertisers must go with the consumer-behavior flow rather than taking advantage of smart technology. Rob Lawson is one of the early pioneers behind Enpocket, which developed technology for delivering rich and relevant mobile advertising, and more recently was one of the founders of Limbo Mobile, the world's largest mobile entertainment community. Legend 7: Sending SMS does not interest adults.TruthThe average age of texters is 38 and the growing texters are between 45 and 65. When kids text their parents, parents mainly respond. Moreover, largely spread texting face no technological obstacles since most mobile phones in the US are presently capable of sending and receiving text messages. In fact, more than 150 million people send and receive information through wireless text messages in a regular way. When advertisers look at the mobile space, they may consider making their usual media interactive by adding a call-to-action via wireless. For instance, most people find it easy to send a definite word by sms to a short-code destination. It is also easy to give an interested client a mobile coupon he can cash in at a local retailer. Legend 8: Mobile is still under a trial phase and not supplying advertisers with considerable ROI.TruthWhen there is a will, there is a way. If you seek to have ROI, you will. 81% of respondents declare they are willing to run a mobile campaign in the near future, according to a survey conducted by AdInfuse. In the mean time, the major advertisers take advantage of the omnipresence of mobile to be able to drive revenue. For example, a radio station in Cleveland is encouraging its advertisers to make mobile marketing a part of every pitch. After eight months, they benefited from $1 million as additional revenue. In Salt Lake City, advertisements for country music artist Brad Paisley were broadcasted. In these ads, a ticket contest sponsored by DaisyMaids, a housecleaning service, was mentioned. Each one who entered the contest by sending the word "brad" as text message to a short code was asked if they wanted to have more information about the services offered by DaisyMaids. Jeff Hasen is CMO of HipCricket, a mobile marketing partner that is currently generating revenue for more than 100 broadcast stations in markets of all size. Legend 9: TV on mobile phone is the next big thing.TruthThis technology is still in its first stages and many obstacles will be hindering its development. One major difficulty is that no one has discovered the best kind of cell phones programming yet. Mobile device video has to be shot in a different way so that the picture looks clear on the small screen. That’s why, shrinking the content to five minutes at most did not result in rebellious reactions. All three elements of the mobile TV advertising must be connected together so the system works. The client’s device must have the ability to support the application or the information you are sending. Also, the wireless device must have the capacity to send and receive the suitable message. Moreover, the wireless network must have the bandwidth to transfer the sent information in an acceptable period of time. Some performances have not been very satisfying, but this is not a sufficient fact to prove the ineffectiveness of mobile marketing. However, these performances simply show that the ones who designed the campaigns had faced a lot of boundaries. They did not realize the crucial steps towards being successful in this new technology. Mobile TV must offer supplementary content you cannot have access to anywhere else. Incremental value must be added to current programs. It must also be suitable for mobile. For this reason, advertisers must support unique programs especially created for mobile, just like Tide is a sponsor of "Crescent Heights," a mobile TV program, with the sponsor's product cautiously included in the storyline (for example, characters chat a lot in the laundry room). Legend 10: Advertising on mobile will allow you to geographically locate your customers in an easier way.TruthAbsolutely not. First and foremost, people have the capacity to protect or reveal their identity as well as their location. The individual makes the decision whether to interact with the offer or not. That’s why mobile marketing should be understood as an opt-in opportunity. No one wants for the mobile marketing to be seen as spam. The major mission is to inspire clients to interact with your brand. Legend 11: Mobile marketing is not worthy of being significant.TruthIn 2008, Mobile marketing will cost around $1 billion in the U.S and about $4 billion in 2010 and about $10 billion worldwide. As for other channel, advertising incomes are decreasing. However, in the case of mobile, revenues are rising quickly. Legend 12: Individuals are not really interested in mobile marketing.TruthEffective performances will always give more value. Mobile marketing have a very high potential: clients always carry their wallets, keys, and cell phones. In order to cause interaction with new mobile capabilities, offers to clients must be exciting and important. For instance, UPS has started using mobile to track packages. Isn’t it the most banal purpose ever? Nevertheless, people are now being more interested in UPS. Jen O'Connell is president and CEO of Voice of Wireless. She is a 14-year veteran in the industry -- having worked for Cingular and Verizon -- an author and an expert on wireless for Wall Street and the media. Legend 13: It is hard to buy mobile advertising and integrate it in an advertising plan because of the complexity seen in the carriers and publishers' diverse networks.TruthIn the US and elsewhere in the world, several brands have successfully launched integrated and separate campaigns in the mobile domain. Mobile is more than a simple marketing channel. It is a prospect for all other channel like TV, radio, print, movies, and internet, etc… to be used in a single device. Legend 14: The US is way behind the rest of the world in mobile marketing and internet usage.Truth ConclusionWireless advertising is still in its first stages, with around 83% of consumers never having seen an ad on their mobile phone. "The acceptable norms still have to be worked out," QuickPlay's Mark Hyland says. "But advertising is starting to become an expected or even welcome part of the mobile landscape, particularly when it brings something for free or at a lower cost." |
By Marc Dfouni