Mobile marketing, or marketing via one’s smartphone has become a powerhouse in the marketing campaign field over the past several years. Why is this you ask? Well, look no further to your own phone. You check it every time you hear or see a banner notification pop up, don’t you? You use it on almost every aspect of your life in this day age – for texting, social media, unlocking your front door, turn on your thermostat, record heart rate, travelling and slew of other reasons (maybe sometimes someone actually calls you on it!).
As of the end of the calendar year 2017, 75% of internet use was via smartphone access (Lewis, 2017). Also, 36 percent of Americans now go online using multiple devices (Lewis 2017). Its vital that a company and / or brand becomes comfortable and deeply involved in mobile marketing. The advantages mobile marketing has over other means of marketing are apparent – for example, customers have real time access in the palm of their hands. A new campaign geared towards mobile users can be broadcasted to so many around the world at once. The convenience one has to shop online any time and anywhere they want (maybe even at work, hmm?) exists now. The game changer in the market was when the first Iphone was released in 2007. The screen was larger which allowed users the ability to interact better with the screen, touch, swipe it from left to right even (Garris, 2015). With 48% of smartphone users never even turning off their smartphone that’s a lot of open air time to transmit a company’s new marketing campaign (Garris, 2015). The bottom line is that, since 2007, the reachability to a target demo is nothing short of vast.
Increasing product sales result from mobile marketing, and why wouldn’t it? Let us look at simple search methods people use, such as using Voice command options such as Siri or Alexa. “According to recent research, 49 percent of US respondents use their voice assistants on a weekly basis, compared to 31 percent of global respondents. Interestingly, 57 percent said they would use voice search more if it recognized more complex commands. The good news is that each platform provider continues to increase the number of voice commands by thousands at a time. More than 20 percent of current searches on Android devices are voice searches…”(Lewis, 2017). What this implies is that the customer’s buying journey is a one – stop shop: from start to finish, the customer can search, get recommendations from friends via social media, purchase and even share a review of a product once they’ve used it – this can all now be done within the palm of one’s own hands.
There a few constraints or disadvantages for mobile marketing. First and foremost is privacy. When one does anything on their phone, even with location based services turned off, their financial info can be exposed if the company’s site is not well protected. Hackers can infiltrate a site and seize credit card info from customers. Having the right fraud protection services with one’s financial institution is key. The other disadvantage is that there is no more haggling of costs. The days of negotiating with a salesman are gone and all sales are final. Did I just age myself? Probably. The future of marketing is now with mobile marketing regardless of who is ready for it to come.
References:
Garris, Molly and Mishra, Karen. 2015. A Beginner’s Guide to Mobile Marketing. Business Expert Press.
Lewis, Kent. 18 July 2017. 11 Reasons You Should Care About Mobile Marketing. OnlineMarketingInstitute.org. Retrieved from: https://www.onlinemarketinginstitute.org/blog/2017/07/11-reasons-care-mobile-marketing/
