Mobile Marketing

A paradigm shift in the computing industry has recently taken place. Consumers are spending less and less time using traditional PCs and laptops and more time using their smartphones and tablets, and their purchasing habits reflect this, as smartphone sales have been dominating the sales of PCs in recent years.

Advertisers have been quick to catch on to this change, and have adapted their strategies in response to it. Now, there’s an entirely new segment of marketing called mobile marketing that is generating huge amounts of sales and profit for companies that are taking part in it.

What is mobile marketing?
Mobile marketing in its most basic form is advertising that is viewed on mobile, wireless devices. One of the first examples of mobile marketing was “text to win” sweepstakes that were utilized by big companies like Coca-Cola and McDonald’s in the early half of the past decade. Consumers would text a certain code to a specific number, and afterward would receive a coupon or discount code in return.

Eventually, more companies began to catch on, and some began sending SMS advertisements directly to potential customers, alerting them of upcoming deals or offering exclusive discounts. With the advent of smart phones, the game changed again. Now, mobile marketing has taken on a much more visual approach, with many ads incorporating photographs, audio, video, and flashy animations in order to entice consumers to purchase a product or service.

Methods of mobile marketing
Today, businesses utilize mobile marketing as much as they do any other marketing avenue because it can be personalized and direct. Some of the specific methods they employ include:

-          The traditional text and win sweepstakes
-          Voting and viewer participation for TV programs, such as American Idol
-          Direct advertisements
-          Coupon deals including sites like Groupon and Living Social
-          Advertisement deals with mobile video game developers
-          Branded mobile apps for smart phones
-          Targeted advertising based on GPS data
-          Ad-supported movies and television shows designed for mobile devices

These are just a few of the ways advertisers are utilizing the explosive growth of smart phones and tablets as a way to promote products and services. As mobile devices continue to grow in popularity, advertisers will begin concentrating their efforts on reaching people through these formats and less through traditional media like television, print, and radio.