Archive for November, 2009

Although almost every adult in the United States has a cell phone, some demographics are better targets for mobile marketing efforts than others.

Mobile advertising best to target young men.

According to a study by BIGresearch, mobile marketing efforts are best suited to target the following groups:

  * Young Men — This group is very cell phone-centered and are likely to be regular users of social media such as Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter.  At the opposite end of the spectrum are older women who are less likely to be centered around their cell phones or to use social media.

  *  Electronics — Mobile advertising is more effective when targeting specific industries or product groups such as electronics.  Those who are regular users of mobile marketing tend to be far more likely to purchase  electronics over the next six months than those who did not like mobile marketing.

  *  Advice — Mobile marketing users are more likely to both give advice and seek advice about products or services they have purchased.

The study confirmed the dominance of males in mobile advertising.  57.8% of those who use mobile marketing are male versus only 46.2% of the American public being male.  The average age of those using mobile advertising is 39.2, slightly younger than the 45.9 year-0ld age of non-users.  37.9% of mobile marketing users utilize Facebook versus only 26% of non-users.

 The good news for legitimate mobile marketers is that more consumers are now understanding that mobile marketing is true opt-in marketing.  58% of people in the study now understand that mobile marketers need permission prior to sending a mobile advertisement.  This is up 3% over last year’s study.

Insisting on permission prior to sending a mobile marketing message is an important factor for all legitimate direct marketers.  It is good news that consumers will insist on permission prior to be marketed to, for that is precisely why mobile marketing is so effective.

Just what is mobile marketing?

Mobile marketing defined

The word can take on a vast array of products and services from mobile promotions, to mobile advertising, to mobile alerts, and even mobile apps.

What better organization to decide just what the definition of mobile marketing is than the Mobile Marketing Association?

“Mobile Marketing is a set of practices that enables organizations to communicate and engage with their audience in an interactive and relevant manner through any mobile device or network.”

The definition of mobile marketing is constantly changing and will continue to change.  Such is the nature of an exciting new industry.

Marketing Profs has published an article by 84444.com’s Bob Bentz about

Read more about mobile coupons at Marketing Profs.

mobile coupons.

Mobile coupons are the second most popular product on Advanced Telecom Services’ 84444.com mobile marketing site. The top category is sweepstakes.

“Mobile coupons have proven to be an extremely effective way for retailers to get the word out about special offerings,” said Bentz. “In fact, some mobile coupons have generated return rates in excess of 8.7 %!”

39-year-old men are typical users of mobile marketing.

Just who is it that is participating in mobile marketing?

While there have been numerous studies touting the growth of the mobile marketing industry, few have centered around the profile of the user of mobile marketing services.  A recent study by BIG Research, however, has changed much of that.

  *  58% of mobile marketing users are male compared to the general populace which is 53.8% female.

  *  The average age of a user of mobile marketing services is not surprisingly younger than average at 39.2  years versus the average of 45.9.  In fact, the average age is perhaps older than many marketers with pre-conceived notions that text messaging remains a bastion of the very young.

  *  17.4 % of mobile marketing users also get on the mobile web from their cell phone versus just 2.4 % of the national average.

  *  Mobile marketing users also tend to be heavier users of Facebook (37.9% vs. 27.8%), My Space (23.2% vs. 9.8%), and Twitter (13.1% vs. 3.5%).

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According to an article in Fierce Wireless, the outlook for mobile

Advertising Agencies plan to use more mobile advertising.

advertising is bright.  There is a significant move by advertising agencies to get involved with mobile marketing.

Mobile spending by advertising agencies will increase in 2010.  31 % of agencies indicated that they will invest $100,000 to $250,000 in 2010.  15% of advertising agencies plan to invest more than $1,000,000 and 2.6% will invest more than $5 million.

Of the 100 leading advertising agencies in the nation, 75 have developed mobile marketing elements to their advertising campaigns for clients.

The best news is that mobile advertising is working for the advertising agency users.  78 % said that their mobile advertising programs met their expectations and 9 % said that mobile advertising was “beyond our wildest expectations.”