PRx Inc - A Leading Silicon Valley Public Relations Agency

Mobile Marketing Comes Into Its Own

Mobile marketing has been running under the radar, taking a back seat to the popularity of social media, but there’s something in me that says this is going to change very soon. One of the main reasons for this is that mobile phone penetration is much higher in the US and abroad than the Internet. An April 2009 survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project shows 63 percent of adult Americans now have broadband internet connections versus more than 80 percent of Americans who have cell phones—and nearly 99 percent have access to at least one cell phone. Here’s something else to think about: 47 percent of teenagers say they can text with their eyes closed. In fact, the disparity between Internet access and cell phone use abroad is much higher.

Gen Ys and Gen Xers tend to text more than they actually make voice calls on their phone. It’s second nature to them, and so mobile marketing via SMS texting as a direct communication channel to customers shouldn’t be ignored. Already, big brand names are jumping on board. Organizations as diverse as Dolce & Gabbana, UNICEF, Virgin Airlines, Ford, Citi, the American Heart Association and Jack Daniels are finding ways of using mobile marketing to better reach their audience.

These  brand names can have large budgets for communications, but don’t think that you can’t do a mobile marketing campaign if you’re a medium to small business, local nonprofit or regional hospital. In the last two years, several mobile ASPs have developed robust backend management systems that allow you to create, distribute, track and measure the success of your mobile campaign. The key to finding a cost-effective way of trying this new channel is to partner with an agency that understands mobile technology. It’s best if the agency has an established relationship or partnership with a mobile ASP — you’ll benefit from their guidance and you only have to pay a portion of the upfront costs. Here’s an example of a test we just ran for the foundation that raises money for Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, just this week.

Of course, a larger budget means you could create your own account, with dedicated “short codes” (the six-digit numbers that people text to) that are specific to your company.

Whether going it alone or working with an agency, marketers are waking up to the power of mobile marketing and are putting this new channel at top-of-mind as a powerful, new way of reaching out to the Gen X and Gen Y demographics as well as to lower income populations. For public entities, mobile marketing offers an excellent way to do public outreach to lower-income demographics, who may not always have access to the internet and broadband, but who do have a mobile phone. Check back next week where we’ll talk more about how public health groups, hospitals and schools are using mobile SMS communications to deliver important public health information, reach out to patients and connect parents and teachers.