Why I Hate & Love Mobile Marketing
Why I Hate & Love Mobile Marketing
By Dave Lavinsky
Mobile marketing is here, and it’s here to stay.
Interestingly, I both hate and love mobile marketing.
Here’s what I hate about it, and particularly, my frustrations with mobile phones:
- I’ve seen families out to dinner together where 2 or more of the family members are on their mobile phones (come on, it’s family time)
- I’ve seen kids spending too much time texting and playing games on mobile phones, when they should be reading, playing sports, doing school work, etc.
- Texting and driving has gotten out of control, and has made driving much more dangerous (According to AAA, 46% percent of all teenage drivers admit to text messaging while driving).
- I’ve seen too many cases of mobile phones being used to entertain children so their parents can converse amongst themselves. It just concerns me that kids brought up with constant entertainment and less inter-personal communications are going to have issues later.
So, as you can see, my frustration with mobile phones is largely when they are abused. I clearly thing there’s a time for them. But we (kids AND adults) need limits.
Ok, I’ll get off my soapbox now, and talk about the positives of mobile phones, and specifically mobile marketing.
The fact is this: mobile marketing is highly effective and it’s growing like crazy.
In fact, earlier this month, Facebook announced in its second-quarter earnings. In it, Facebook disclosed that a whopping 41 percent of its advertising revenue was generated by mobile users. This was up 11 percent from just one quarter earlier.
What this means to all marketers is that smartphones and tablets are becoming more and more prevalent over desktop computers as a means of accessing information (and time spent).
Here are some of the benefits I see of mobile marketing:
- Mobile marketing is where your customers are. 80% of Americans have their mobile phones with them virtually all the time. Since your customers and prospective customers are on their mobile devices, you have a better chance reaching them there versus most other channels (e.g., telemarketing, print ads, etc.).
- Mobile marketing incurs a very low cost. Mobile advertising is relatively inexpensive. And mobile marketing activities like sending text messages only costs pennies.
- Some forms of mobile marketing are very intrusive and thus get seen. Text messages are highly effective. In fact, according to the CTIA Wireless Association, while it takes 90 minutes for the average person to respond to an email, it takes just 90 seconds for someone on average to respond to a text message. Likewise, most mobile ads are more intrusive, and thus more seen by customers, than ads in other media like print and web.
- High response rates: Response rates to mobile marketing are nearly 5 times higher than response rates to print advertisements.
These benefits mean that mobile marketing should be part of every company’s marketing plan. Mobile marketing allows you to reach customers quickly. Customers will get more and more used to paying you and other companies via their mobile device.
And mobile applications will continue to grow like wildfire, and are not only a way for you to stay in front of customers, but they could be a huge revenue source for your company. Note that in the first quarter of 2013 alone there was an 11 percent increase in mobile app downloads versus the entire year of 2012.
So, personally, I ask that you don’t abuse mobile phones per my frustrations above. But do embrace mobile marketing as it’s a must-have in your marketing plan.