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Marketing to mobiles has been likened to the old Wild West – it’s the brave new frontier and there is gold aplenty. The trouble is too many prospectors are shooting from the hip and nobody seems to know what they’re aiming at, but, that said...

Marketing to Mobiles is potentially the most important advertising medium of all time

In today’s hugely competitive marketplace wherever there’s an opportunity to connect with the consumer – from the humble sandwich board promoting the latest golf sale to a multimillion pound online campaign – then you can be pretty certain that marketers and advertisers will be stretching their imaginations exploring, exploiting and adapting every possible avenue.

In the last decade or so the most significant promotional exploits have taken place online with particular attention given to social media, email marketing, video, Pay-Per-Click and blogging, etc. This trend is set to continue with mobile marketing as SMS (Short Message Services, or texting) and MMS (Multimedia Services) evolve into a string of other digital platforms to enable greater coverage and to more efficiently target the growing number of consumers who are accessing the web with smart phones and other handheld devices.

And there lies the confusion: although mobile marketing is in its infancy it is already being heralded as one of the most powerful marketing mediums ever.

The financial rewards are potentially huge, the global market astronomic. The business world knows it and everyone wants a piece of the pie. From marketers and salespeople to engineers and programmers, new applications, devices, technology and methodology are being developed at an improbable rate. The trouble is the industry is changing and adapting with such frequency nobody knows for certain what direction to take.

Currently the most popular tried-and-tested mobile marketing method is SMS, with MMS close on its heels, and it is these two methods that we will concentrate on for now. We’ll be keeping a close eye on the industry and will no doubt return to alternative methods when they have proven themselves or become the industry standard, but for the time being let’s get down to basics.

So what is mobile marketing, and why is it such an attractive option for marketers?

According to the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) mobile marketing is:

“A set of practices that enables organisations to communicate and engage with their audience in an interactive and relevant manner through any mobile device or network.”

Basically, it involves the use of mobile phones or smartphones to target advertising to a specific group of consumers who “opt in”, or choose to receive advertisements. That’s an important point. With mobile marketing you are effectively preaching to the converted. These are consumers who have previously expressed an interest in a product or a service and would like you to alert them with additional updates or news of new products. How much easier does that make the marketers job? Not only are they consistently reaching their target demographic groups, their advertisements are invited and generally well received.

However, it wasn’t always like this. Marketing to mobile phones began around five years ago with the introduction of Short Message Service (SMS) – text messaging. At first it was hit-and-miss as messages were sent willy-nilly creating a lot of angry mobile phone users. Realising that mobile marketing had a very limited future if these invasive practices continued, marketers and the mobile networks began looking at alternative opt-in solutions.

Nowadays marketing on mobile phones has become an acceptable method of marketing largely because of the strict guidelines that are in place. Mobile operators insist on a double “opt-in” from the consumer and the ability for the consumer to opt-out at any time by sending the word STOP via SMS. These guidelines are established in the MMA Consumer Best Practices Guidelines (see below for further details).

Anyone planning a mobile marketing campaign needs to familiarise themselves with this document and will need to create their own code of conduct based on the document’s recommendations. Ensure that your code of conduct is written in a concise language that anyone can understand. A code of conduct should typically include:

• A statement of your intent, for example: “Our aim is to engage and interact with our customers using mobile technology. We will only send family safe, friendly messages.”

• A declaration explaining your company’s intention to follow the relevant laws and regulations, and that you will never share any personal data.

• A clear explanation regarding the framework or process in which customers have opted-in and how they can opt-out.

The full report can be downloaded here

Marketing with pinpoint accuracy

A mobile marketing ad is ostensibly a call to action. Because space on a handheld device is limited, the aim is not to sell a product directly but to attract your customer’s attention with a compelling headline and to invite them back to your website or store for additional information and, hopefully, to make the purchase.

If you offer something for free – a loyalty discount or a money-off voucher – there’s a much greater chance your customer will take additional action as they will feel they are getting something for nothing.

So the consumer has already opted-in, which is great, but what makes mobile marketing so effective – and what separates it from every other type of advertising – is the immediacy and intimacy of it. Studies have shown that over 90% of us keep our mobile phone within a couple of feet, and when we receive a text we tend to look at it there and then. There’s no “I’ll check my messages later”, mobile marketing operates on the basis of “act now or miss out”.

Mobile marketing has the ability to focus on your chosen demographic at any time of day. You can specify the gender you want to target, age range, location, mobile network and type of smartphone handset, which all means your campaign can be implemented with pinpoint accuracy and at specific times of day or when you think your customer will be most receptive.

However, before you create a campaign it’s essential to know your target audience and plan accordingly. For example, if you’re offering a deal on designer toddler clothing you wouldn’t text parents during the school run or what you perceive to be bath or bedtime. But you probably will get their attention at say, between 9.30am to 10.30am if the kids are in nursery, the chores are done and they are sitting down with a cup of coffee. Statistically, more mums are with the children during the day than dads. They also tend to make more executive decisions regarding the children, so a mobile marketing campaign of this nature would probably only target women.

But pinpoint marketing is only part of the process. As impressive as it is the aim of mobile marketing – like any marketing campaign for that matter – is to capture the customer’s curiosity, incentivize them sufficiently so that they interact with the ad and, ideally, continue to make a purchase.

Our love affair with the mobile phone

It’s estimated that there are over 70 million mobile phones in the UK – that’s more phones than people – and the relationship we have with our phones is, well, kind of special.

A recent study undertaken by global IT specialists Unisys revealed that it takes on average 26 hours to report a lost wallet. Yet, it takes just 68 minutes to report a lost mobile phone. As they pointed out our wallet may have pictures of our loved ones, personal effects, contain our credit cards, driver’s licence, cash, etc – and yet, we have a relatively indifferent relationship with it in that we only use it a couple of times a day and plonk it on the table when we’re not using it. On the other hand, we take our mobile phones everywhere – even the bathroom – and over 60% of us actually take our mobile phones to bed with us to surf, send messages or use as an alarm clock.

Our extremely intimate relationship with the mobile phone is an important factor when considering mobile phone marketing. The approach has to correspond with the consumer’s attitude for what they expect on their mobile device. They don’t want to open a text that annoys them, is obviously selling them something or is inappropriate. They want a text that is personable, honest, will improve their lives, save them money and, above all, is relevant to them.

So mobile devices are generally an arm’s length away, which means that information, accessibility and action can take place almost immediately – especially among younger demographic groups who are more receptive to digital marketing and, more importantly, likely to make a transaction. Older groups – the so- called silver surfers – are less likely to be accessing the web with smartphones. They are generally more cynical to advertising, are unlikely to act impulsively and need more coercion. That’s why a low-key call to action approach works so well as it helps to establish trust and credibility.

Short codes

Until fairly recently the most common method advertisers got in touch was via SMS, a relatively inexpensive and a very powerful marketing tool when used correctly.

SMS services generally operate using short codes. Short codes are five-digit numbers that have been assigned by all the mobile operators for the use of consumer services. They can be zero-rated costing the user their standard text rate, a free-text – like an 0800 phone number, or they can be set to reverse charge the user (25 pence to £5.00) for receiving the message. These are premium-rate phone lines which encourage micro payment on purchases or participation in events and competitions where there are cash prizes. Premium- rate SMS is regularly used in TV talent and quiz shows.

Platform providers

To create an SMS campaign you will need to use a text messaging application that manages the interactive process. The easiest way to do this is through an online provider such as:

http://www.e-txt.com

http://www.messagemedia.co.uk

http://www.textmagic.co.uk

http://www.mediaburst.co.uk

http://www.clicksms.co.uk

Mobile marketing networks such as these provide the relevant software and support necessary to deliver your campaign. You still need to create, set up and manage your own campaign, but using their online platforms is relatively simple and generally intuitive. Alternatively, you can contract the provider to manage your campaign for you.

Typically there are no set-up fees or on-going costs – you simply pay for a bundle of texts that start at around £7 for 200 sent messages and top up as and when you need them. And you’ll need to rent a short code too which can be either dedicated or shared. A shared short code requires the use of one or more keywords to differentiate you from other companies using the same code. A dedicated short code is a code that is unique to your business, so keywords are not necessarily needed. There are pros and cons for each but short codes are very much more cheaper as you can see by this typical tariff.

Shared Short Codes

• Three character keyword (EG: “WIN” 54321) £60 per quarter. £200.00 per year.

• Four character keyword (EG: “HERO” 54321) £150.00 per quarter. £200.00 per year.

Dedicated short codes

• £3,000.00 per quarter.

• £11,500.00 per year.

SMS Credits

Bundle Quantity	Per Credit	Per Bundle
200	£0.038	£7.60
500	£0.038	£19.00
1000	£0.038	£38.00
2000	£0.038	£76.00
5000	£0.038	£190.00
10,000	£0.036	£360.00
25,000	£0.036	£900.00
50,000	£0.036	£1,800.00
100,000	£0.036	£3,600.00

Alternatively, if you have the time, money, inclination and technical know-how you could develop your own mobile marketing platform. The downside of this – aside from it being complicated, expensive and potentially problematic – is that in an ever-changing industry the technology you use today could very well be obsolete tomorrow.

Another option is approaching a mobile marketing agency which will handle every aspect of the campaign for you from writing and creating the content, developing a strategy and implementing the campaign. Naturally this is more costly than initiating your own campaign but if you have the budget it is worth considering.

Here’s how a typical SMS campaign works

To reiterate, mobile marketing is opt-in only and phone numbers have to be voluntarily offered. That means that you can’t simply buy a list or exchange phone numbers and start sending bulk messages out to all and sundry. That’s spam. Customer details have to be collected honestly and transparently.

So you must first develop an opt-in list to create a mobile marketing campaign. While this might seem daunting, it’s worth remembering that it’s precisely because of opt-in that mobile marketing works.

The simplest way to create an opt-in database is to offer an interactive mobile marketing product. Usually this will mean encouraging consumers to text a keyword to a short code. When the consumer sends the text message keyword to the short code, they immediately receive a return text message. This text message both returns the information requested and can qualify the consumer as an opt-in member of the database for future mobile marketing. This is a very valuable database indeed.

A mobile “voucher” is generally the easiest and most effective way to secure a name. Here’s how it works:

First off, the marketer – in this case the owner of a coffee shop – needs to get his customers mobile phone numbers. Behind the counter a signs reads:

“Text ‘Beans’ to 46532 to join our Coffee VIP Club and receive special discounts. Standard text rates apply.”

A customer, Mike, reads the sign, likes the sound of the offer and decides to act. A moment later an automated text is sent to him:

“Thanks for joining the Coffee VIP Club. Show this txt for a FREE drink with purchase of sandwich. Reply back YES to receive future exclusive offers.”

Mike decides to opt-in (that’s twice). He purchases a sandwich and gets a free drink. A week later he receives another text: “Introduce a friend and get a free sandwich.” Mike thinks this is too good an opportunity to miss and takes Jane with him. Hopefully, Jane sees the notice behind the counter and opts-in too, and so forth.

The great thing about SMS is that it’s short and to the point while building a relationship between business and customer. Campaigns, whether SMS or MMS, typically comprise alerts to competitions, in- store events, money-off coupons, vouchers or links to a website, etc. The aim, whatever your type of business or customer, is to encourage impulse loyalty and purchasing.

With the rise in popularity of smartphones such as Android and iPhone and other handheld devices capable of surfing the web, MMS is becoming the new standard in mobile messaging. The difference is that MMS can include not only text, but sound, images and video. It is also possible to send MMS messages from a mobile phone to an email address. Formats that can be embedded within MMS include:

• Text (formatted with fonts, colours, etc)

• Images (JPEG, GIF format)

• Audio (MP3, MIDI)

• Video (MPEG)

MMS is an extension of the SMS protocol, making its usage familiar to existing SMS users. One of the main practical differences between MMS and SMS is that whilst SMS messages are limited to just 160 characters, an MMS message has no size limit. MMS requires a third generation (3G) network to enable such large messages to be delivered, that is to say, only phones that can get online can access the Internet.

Although delivered in the same way, MMS is more effective than SMS because what you can achieve is that much greater. In addition to creating audio calls to action and entertaining video and slideshows, embedded links can direct the customer to mobile websites.

To implement an MMS campaign, just like SMS, you will need to use a mobile marketing application provider. MMS campaigns cost, on average, around 30% more than SMS campaigns, but when you consider how much more information and interactivity you can get across it’s a small price to pay.

Although SMS still has the greater reach, around 80% of mobile users in the UK can send and receive MMS messages. If a mobile phone is capable of taking pictures then it is probably MMS-enabled. However, not all phones are alike so when creating campaigns, and to ensure maximum exposure, separate campaigns should to be set up – one for smartphone users and one for WAP users. So what’s the difference between phones? A smartphone has full Internet browser capabilities (just like your computer), whereas a WAP phone, although Internet compatible, has limited browser capabilities, a WAP phone also has a smaller screen limiting what one can present. A campaign for a smartphone will contain standard-size ads, while a WAP campaign will contain mobile ads that are smaller, and will direct users to a mobile website.

We’ll be taking a look at creating and implementing SMS and MSS campaigns in the future. Additionally, we will investigate other ways to deliver your message including mobile Internet sites (a mobile website is basically a copy of your current website that has been rewritten in a mobile mark-up language) and mobile advertising, and of course new platforms and methodology as and when they appear. If you’re still not convinced that mobile marketing is the future, consider this. Just reflect for a moment how much the Internet has changed and shaped our lives. In a relatively short period of time almost every area of business has become utterly dependent upon it yet only a quarter of the world’s population uses the Internet, and less than a sixth own or have direct access to a PC. The mobile phone, on the other hand, has over five billion registered users, and when you consider the world’s population is just shy of seven billion that’s a staggering percentage, and a lot of potential customers.

Mobile marketing may or may not be the new Wild West, but as the dust settles and the technology and methodology stabilises it may well prove to be most powerful advertising medium seen to date. Never has there been a better opportunity to have a one-on-one relationship with your customer: a customer who has actually requested that you market your products and services to them.

by Nick Laight Business Opportunities Expert Nick Laight is the editor of What Really Makes Money and helps ordinary people find simple, workable home business opportunities. You can sign up for his free weekly eletter here: Name Email

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