Why Use Mobile Marketing?

Here’s some stats to bring you up to speed with what’s going on

• 76% of Canadians are mobile phone users (24 million devices)¹
• Consumer awareness of Bluetooth and WiFi technology is 91% & 87% respectively in North America²
• Mobile Location Based Marketing predicted to be the next “Hot” marketing channel, projected to top $2.2 billion this year³
• Expected 26% growth in the Mobile Marketing industry this year, even though overall marketing spending is down 7%⁴
• Mobile advertising is forecast to reach 1.4 billion in 2009, rising to 14.4 billion by 2011⁵
• 89% of major brands plan to use mobile marketing⁶
• The number of Americans seeking local content on their mobile devices increased 51% in the past year⁷

Some of the major brands engaging in mobile marketing

• Kraft – recently started a mobile marketing initiative
• SMS – BMW (Germany), Jaguar, Safeway, Lane Bryant, IKEA
• Adidas & Coca Cola – Beijing Olympics Bluetooth
• Applications – Fanta, Transformers
• Harper Collins – QR codes
• 2012 Olympics – recruitment, mapping ,wayfinding and transactions

In addition, Angus Reid Strategies polled 1,000 mobile phone users over the age of 18 across Canada and asked about their attitudes towards the devices and special people in their lives in advance of Feb. 14. The Virgin Mobile survey found 52 percent saying their phone is with them all day, every day, and if push came to shove, almost 40 percent would rather spend a week without their special partner than be without theirphone for a week.

And here’s the benefits to engaging your clients via mobile

Engaging – branded content, such as movies, coupons, images, mp3’s and custom applications
Easy – shallow learning curve for end user, and no special applications required on devices
Not spam – user opts-in to receive content, and the range of transmission is controllable
Connectivity – with the broadest spectrum of devices, using our 3 media approach
Trackable – all interactions with devices are logged, for MPM and ROI analytics
Green – no paper, no wastage, very low power consumption
Cost Controlled – flat device fee, not per impression

Next up, the basics for mobile campaign development.

¹ IDC consumer survey, Feb 2009 | ² Millword Brown, Wireless brand equity study, 2009 | ³ SIG Kelsey Group (BIA), May 2009 & Gartner Research, July 2009| ⁴ Mobile Marketing Association, Annual Forum, June 2009 | ⁵ Strategy Analytics, 2009 | ⁶ Vanson Bourne Survey, Aug 2007 | ⁷ comScore, June 2009 | * Bluetooth and WiFi are free for the user, email may have a nominal charge depending on data plan