Josh Sadler

About 40 percent of SMS users are adults who are 35 or older. About 70 percent of mobile news subscribers are over 25. What does this say about all of the advertisers only focusing on teens with phones? They are missing out on a huge amount of the mobile community.

It’s easy to assume that a 65 year old man may not have the required knowledge to operate a touch screen mobile device, let alone that tricky desktop computer thingy-majig. But adults, young adults especially, are using their phones all the time to organize their lives and advertisers are missing some great opportunities to reach them.

A recent survey indicates that 17 percent of adults in the US use mobile banking, and that number is expected to rise to 22 percent in the next year. Mobile commerce is growing rapidly as users can now shop on the go using mobile web. SMS and mobile apps are two other ways to access mobile banking but aren’t as popular as mobile web. SMS is expected to not increase in usage while apps and mobile web are.

In late 2007, Mazda launched a mobile ad campaign to showcase their new Mazda2 car using video. They targeted adults 25-34 as those who would be able to afford the car and would be interested in the stylish and bold look. Their results were very good and they were able to deliver 350,000 video ad impressions to the adults in the specified range with no wastage. Car companies, banks, sports teams, and news portals are among the groups that adults will be interested in on their mobile devices.

Adults are looking for information about the weather, news, health, business, and tech news. According to a report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, only 38 percent of Americans rely solely on offline sources for their daily news and only 2 percent of adults get their news from online sources only.

References:

http://www.mobilemarketingwatch.com/survey-finds-17-of-us-adults-use-mobile-banking-mobile-web-sms-leading-methods-5232/

http://mmaglobal.com/studies/mazda-2-–-mobile-ad-funded-video-–case-study

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/pew_report_2_percent_of_us_adults_rely_exclusively_on_internet_for_news.php

Habits develop differently in different cultures. Mobile phone usage is no exception. In some villages in Africa you will find no house number, but rather their phone number as a way to reach them. If you think about it, it makes sense and it works for them. It is vital for marketers to be aware of the cultures of their targets and to be sensitive to them. Marketers should always be aware of their target demographic and build customer bios to represent their audience. Marketing to different cultures is no different, marketers need to put in the research to identity and build what their target customer looks like and go from there.

Not all cultures use the same mobile features. For example, a underdeveloped company may not have the proper infrastructure for internet so mobile web may be a better answer for them. In the same way, SMS marketing may better suit some cultures if their mobile web isn’t a popular service. The variety of channels in mobile advertising provides advertisers with more to work with to get their message out there. Voice messaging, SMS and MMS, mobile web and streaming downloads are among the services that marketers can choose from. All these options allow marketers to create a unique and targeted message for their users.

YellowPepper is a service that allows users to make financial transactions on the mobile platform in Latin America. Services like this allow people who live far away from banks to make financial transactions from anywhere. Since 78% of Latin American residents have mobile devices, this type of service is a great development idea for banks in those countries. The moral of the story is that any marketing endeavor requires research on that target audience and their culture.

References:

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/yellowpepper-targets-unbanked-for-mobile-services-in-latin-america/

http://ezinearticles.com/?Different-Consumer-Habits-in-Different-Cultures—Multicultural-Marketing&id=981810

http://www.mobiadnews.com/?p=3007

The United States is catching up to Europe and Asia in terms of mobile technology, which makes it the perfect time for marketers to pull out all the stops and connect with customers. It seems that location based mobile marketing is the perfect fit for today’s consumers. Delivering answers or products based on the devices location is extremely helpful to users and predicted to skyrocket in the coming years. Mobile applications are being developed by big names such as Subaru and Burger King to provide useful services to consumers and increase their brand exposure.

SMS marketing is also becoming increasingly popular in the U.S. Sending text messages is a simple way to inform consumers of upcoming promotions and deals among other things. However, unsolicited messages can be an annoyance and can hurt a company’s brand. MMS is more expensive but can provide more of your company’s brand than just a text message. Using these two messaging types in conjunction with the user’s location makes them even more viable.

Integrating your company’s brand with content is key to balance usefulness and relevance with your company’s image. Mobile Web is growing at a staggering rate as users find the need to get their news fix on the go. This again becomes a much more powerful tool when used with the users location. Are we seeing a trend here?

The mobile market increases with the development of devices with larger screens, faster networks and personalized features. The Droid phone is a prime example of how easy it is to find information on the go. The search function on the main screen allows users to find what they need with integrated advertisements.

References:

(2010, February 24). Location Based Mobile Marketing Poised for Expansion. Retrieved March 14, 2010, from http://www.mobilestorm.com/resources/digital-marketing-blog/location-based-mobile-marketing-poised-for-expansion/

Mobile Marketing Best Practices | How to use Text Messaging in United States. Retrieved March 14, 2010, from http://www.punchkickinteractive.com/mobile/resources/sms-best-practices.php

(2009, November 3) Initial Best Practices When Starting Successful Mobile Coupon Campaigns. Retrieved March 14, 2010, from http://www.mobilestorm.com/resources/digital-marketing-blog/initial-best-practices-when-starting-mobile-coupon-campaigns/

Given the current economic crisis, people are looking for ways to pinch pennies that they weren’t doing in the past few years. Coupons (like from ads placed in your local newspaper) seem to be clipped and collected from retailers much more often in recessions, and with the advances in technology “clipping coupons” is as easy and pressing “Print.”

So who’s winning from clipping coupons, retailers, consumers, or both? In short, the answer is both.

Consumers are winners simply because they get the discounted price, mostly at large chains and not their local businesses and restaurants, but discounts nonetheless. According to Jessica Dolcourt of CNET, one of the largest frustrations of consumers is not receiving coupons from their local businesses.

Retailers are winners too, because they capture a larger buyer base than they normally would with the coupons. These new consumers may not be loyal in the future, but they are paying customers and can be added to a mailing list or other type of campaign for future marketing. Big companies are more likely to provide these coupons because they have generally are able to provide lower prices without destroying their profit margin, unlike small businesses, which struggle to compete with these giants.

ABI research has shown that 63 percent of consumers find coupons as the most valuable form of mobile marketing, most likely because it’s the kind of message that saves them money, and doesn’t just want to take it. Starbucks Mexico recently deployed a coupon campaign with 2D barcodes. Consumers were encouraged to text a certain phrase to a Starbucks short code to receive a download of the coupon. About 60% of all distributed coupons were redeemed.

Even though coupons decrease a businesses profit margin for new and existing customers, they are still developing brand awareness and attracting additional business that can make up for the lost profit and develop additional loyal customers.

References:
Butcher, D. (2009, April 22). Starbucks runs mobile coupon loyalty program. Retrieved March 7, 2010, from http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/database-crm/3085.html

Dolcourt, J. (2009, November 24). Google mobile coupons save a buck or two. Retrieved March 7, 2010, from http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-10404508-233.html

Moselli, D. Print to Mobile Coupons: Why Sunday’s Newspaper Coupons Will Soon Be Obsolete. Retrieved March 7, 2010, from http://mmaglobal.com/articles/print-mobile-coupons-why-sunday’s-newspaper-coupons-will-soon-be-obsolete