Emilia Akulenko’s Weblog

Today mobile marketing (MM) is a growing sector in the global advertising world. Mobile marketing first appeared in 2001 but will soon represent a fundamental part of marketing strategies. With the technology for ad delivery becoming more effective, MM could replace some traditional forms of advertising by providing immediate and intimate access to consumers. Predictions are that mobile phones will turn out to be the technology of preference for accessing the internet within a few years. The mobile phone is becoming a primary means of communication not only for traditional calls but for digital services as well, including navigation, email and digital photos. In 2006, 15% of a worldwide 350 billion messages were classified as marketing messages.

The main advantage of mobile marketing is the possibility of creating an individual interaction with a specific target audience. The data available to operators will make personalized targeted campaigns possible. The ability to view information about how the user responded to a marketing message and the feedback that the message has been delivered makes mobile marketing very attractive to advertising brands.

Advertising brands spend between 5% and 25% of their total marketing budget on mobile marketing and 90% of 50 major brand names have indicated that by 2008, they will be willing to advertise their products through mobile messaging. Mobile marketing is expected to be more valuable than direct mail and the special offers made via mobile phone are considered to be highly effective methods of advertising.

Statistics have shown the enormous growth of mobile users. In 2006 there were 1 billion mobile phones sold and in many countries there is more than 1 mobile telephone per person. There were more than 2.8 billion Mobile internet users in 2007 (20% of mobile users are now regularly using WAP capability on their phones) and the number of mobile subscribers is expected to reach nearly 4 billion in 2011.

Mobile marketing offers a competitive advantage over other traditional advertising methods such as TV, radio, paper or even the Internet, because consumers can be targeted at any time, anywhere.

Another important advantage is the possibility to target people via operating systems and applications, behaviour and personal data stored by operators and geolocalisation by Network Operations. For products and brands, mobile campaigns represent an efficient way to increase brand awareness and revenues, attendance to events or visits to a store and to increase customer loyalty.