Mobile Marketing

Mobile Marketing

Not only are cell phones or mobile phones used as communication tools these days, they are also being used as a marketing tool and an effective one at that. The phrase mobile marketing, refers to the use of cellular and mobile phones as a marketing and advertising medium.

How is mobile marketing carried out? One way would be by taking advantage of the Short Message Service or SMS feature that modern phones have today. Here, advertisers obtain mobile phone numbers of its customers or potential customers, and send SMS messages that contain information regarding the company or brand’s latest products, services or promotions.   SMS messages are more commonly known as “text messages.”

So popular has mobile marketing via SMS become over the last few years that it is recognized as a legitimate advertising medium by media practitioners. In fact, advertising and marketing bodies have created sets or rules and guidelines to regulate mobile marketing. Some of these bodies are the Interactive Advertising Bureau or the IAB and the Mobile Marketing Association or the MMA.

Mobile marketing is no doubt an inexpensive and quick way to get word around.  Savvy business owners are using it to send out promotions on a daily and weekly basis… Imagine owning a coffee shop and sending out a coupon once a day to your customers alerting them to “Today’s Special” flavored coffee with a 25% coupon attached!

Many customers find the use of mobile marketing very helpful for them because they are actively signing up to get promotional messages from their favorite businesses. Most companies and brands now have a number you can text or message, to get basic information like store locations, promos, and the like. Therefore, it can also be said the advantages of mobile marketing are mutually beneficial to both the company and the customer.

Another form of mobile marketing is through Multimedia Message Service or MMS. Like the Short Message Service or SMS, MMS messages are likewise received by the cell phone user on his mobile in the form of a message. The difference is however, that the content is more exciting, as it contains either photos, videos, music, or a combination or some or all of these media forms.

Apart from Short Message Service and Multimedia Message Service, there is also what is called “in-game mobile marketing”.  Most cellular phone users, especially the males and the young, like to engage in games that can be played on their mobile phones. These games can be interactive 3-D games, social and networking games, or even simple games like word games.

Here, the game developers get advertisers to post their banners on the games, so that a different banner comes out every few minutes or so. This is also a good way to promote a product or a brand. So prolific has this type of marketing become that it is now coined as “advergaming”, meaning advertising through mobile games.

Another way that mobile marketing is affected is when mobile users utilize their phones to access websites, search engines and web applications. Here, the ads, pop-ups and banners that are placed in these sites are seen by the mobile user, similar to how one would see them on an actual PC or laptop.

There is also what is called mobile marketing with the use of Bluetooth. If you will take a look at your cell phone’s network devices, you will notice a Bluetooth option, wherein when turned on, messages, media and other content can be transferred from user to user for free. The difference with Bluetooth marketing is that the receipt of messages or content via Bluetooth requires the permission of the user. However, this is perfect for messages or files that have high memory content.

These are just some of the ways that Miami mobile marketing can be used to your advantage. Find out what works best for you today.  If you would like more information on mobile marketing be sure to sign up for our free “7 Profit Killing Mistakes Small Businesses Make” at the top right of this website.