What is Mobile Marketing?

Mobile marketing is no more than the delivery of your advertising message to phones and other handheld devices. The new capabilities of mobile phones and other mobile devices have made interactive marketing possible.

Today, mobile marketing really means:

Local Search Engine Optimization (SEO).  Local SEO marketing arrived as Google began to configure their search products for mobile.  Google Places search combines results with maps, directions, reviews and click-to-call phone numbers.

SMS Test Messages.  SMS texting now transmits offers, coupons, etc.  Texting is becoming the vehicle of choice, quickly replacing email.  Research shows that 95% of SMS messages are opened, compared with less than 5% of email from unknown senders.  Texts reach potential customers when they are on the move, and most likely to continue to your business.   Many businesses sell “opt-in” text lists, and smart businesses are starting to compile mobile phone numbers from their customers.

Quick Response Codes (QR Codes).   A QR Code, meaning quick response code, is a two-dimensional, box-shape bar code originally designed for manufacturing. In Japan, the codes are common on outdoor, print and other media. Using a mobile phone with a camera and the necessary software, a subscriber can take a photo of the code and be sent directly to a mobile website without the tedious typing of a complicated URL or going through text messages. Some mobile marketing entrepreneurs hope the codes will become part of all U.S. marketing, much like bar codes, and some day will be used even to make purchases, perhaps billed directly to the mobile-phone.

The landscape of mobile marketing is quickly evolving.   The tide, however, is unstoppable.  Consider this; there are almost 4x as many mobile devices as internet connected computers in the world.  While only 1% of those mobile devices are currently “smart” phones, that number is tripling every year.  With a target that large to go after, no doubt the adoption of mobile marketing strategies by businesses will continue to increase, mostly at the expense of old-school media.