10 Reasons why you should have a Mobile Marketing Strategy

I can think of more than 100 reasons why any business needs a mobile strategy. Not to make a 100 page long blog post, here are 10 quick reasons to consider the mobile channel as a solid medium for sales, lead generation, customer acquisition, and retention:

1. Mobile is a highly measurable medium and ROI can be calculated accurately
Every aspect of a mobile campaign, online, or offline [sms], can be captured and reported using the right platform and tools

2. Mobile display ads enjoy a 5-6 times higher CTR than online
Fact. Probably because mobile banner ads show one per page due to screen size, giving them a more focused and premium position

3. Mobile phone penetration is upwards 4 out of 5 people in the U.S.
Another fact. According to Nielsen data from Q2, 2009, there are 221million mobile subscribers in the US, 60% (132m) of which do sms text messaging, and 55million can access the internet through their mobile phones. These numbers are higher now in Q1 of 2010

4. Unique to SMS via Short Code is the ability to transform traditional media to interactive measurable real-time media
I’m amazed at the amount of money being spend on TV, Print, and Radio ads without any way to measure their effectiveness. I understand some of those are branding ads, but adding a Keyword / Shortcode combination to a traditional media campaign is a great way to measure ROI while adding a direct response channel. This maybe a bit tricky, and is best done when considering Direct Response best practices like a clear call-to-action and value added incentives

5. Although Mobile Marketing has been saturated with entertainment offerings, it is still uncharted territory for many other verticals
Not testing the mobile channel may cause problems for brands and businesses left behind the curve at the end of this year and next. While some will have the ability to optimize and expand their mobile campaigns, others would be just starting, giving the advantage to those who are early adapters in their vertical

6. SMS is not spam. It is a very strictly regulated business in the U.S. by the carriers
I sometimes hear that SMS is spam. This is not true. Let me ask you a quesiton, have you ever received a spam text message on your phone? Meaning a message from a porgram or party that you have not opted-into or requested? Today’s sms world is virtually spam free thanks to the very strict self imposed US carriers regulations on all players and content providers. A look at the MMA Best Practices document and Carrier Playbooks gives a quick insight into those regulations

7. One in every minute spent on media, is spent on mobile (Nielsen)
Start communicating with your costumers the way they communicate with each other and the world around them

8. Mobile Internet audience is 1/3 of online today and growing fast
Almost 200% growth since January 2008! U.S. Mobile Internet is growing very fast. It’s reach grew 1.75% to 64.1M users in Q3 09 (Nielsen)

9. New mobile ad networks are showing up everyday that are targeted towards certain publishers or technologies
From mobile video ad networks such as Transpera to Google’s self serving network AdMob or Quattro managed network which was recently acquired by Apple. It is now easier than ever to create an on-budget mobile ad campaigns and test it with professional help.

10. Text Messaging exceeds voice calling.
2008 was the first year that sms text messaging exceeded voice calling. This is significant. We are becoming a text nation. OMG.

Tags: mobile strategy

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 at 2:17 pm and is filed under Mobile Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.