Mobile Marketing: The Time Has Arrived

From the latest branded application for the iPad to proven SMS campaigns, mobile marketing‘s time has arrived. In a reversal of roles, consumers actually want to hear from marketers—a recent survey Hipcricket conducted showed that 83 percent of consumers have yet to be marketed to on their mobile phones by their favorite brands, and nearly 40 percent of them would join a mobile loyalty club from a brand they trust.

Certainly, the most successful mobile campaigns are those that are part of a multichannel approach—mobile marketing should happen in concert with other online and offline customer touchpoints in order to maximize its effectiveness. But mobile marketing is very different from other channels:

Mobile Marketing

It is entirely opt-in. At some point, consumers agreed to communicate with a brand or broadcaster on their cell phones.

The intimacy and immediacy of engaging with a consumer on a device that’s always within arm’s length is unparalleled.

But it is very easy to go from favorite brand to dreaded annoyance—or worse. Here are five tips to conducting mobile marketing:

1. Be Respectful of the Relationship

• You’re a guest on your customers’ mobile devices—don’t overstay your welcome, and don’t show up at 3 a.m. unless they ask you to. Consumers accept spam and junk mail as an unfortunate byproduct of the modern age. They will not have such patience with being harassed on their cell phones with ill-advised or poorly timed messages.

2. Keep the Relationship Fair

• Consumers are trading their private details—providing marketers the ability to link their mobile numbers with customer data gathered at other touchpoints—for the ability to engage with them. Ensure that they are getting a fair deal.

3. Ensure Consent and Choice

• According to the Mobile Marketing Association, marketers should “respect the right of the user to control which mobile messages they receive.” While the MMA calls for an explicit opt-in process, responsible marketers should take it a step further with a double opt-in, a quick note that confirms that the consumer wishes to receive mobile content, and provide explicit choices for them related to the types of content they wish to receive.

4. Give Them Useful Content That They Want

• Consumers want the mobile engagement to be useful: information on special offers, links to premium rich content or other information that makes them feel like “insiders.” The limitations of SMS can be an asset. With limited space, marketers need to get right to the point.

5. If They Want To Leave, Don’t Just Let Them, Help Them

• Make the unsubscribe process clear, painless and immediate. For SMS campaigns, allow them to opt out simply by replying with “STOP.”

Hope these mobile marketing tips are helpful in growing your business.