Mobile marketing is a fairly new way of advertising through digital channels. Businesses use this time and cost-effective method to market their products and services to their customers directly to their mobile devices through SMS, social media, email, apps etc. It has become increasingly popular because it is quick and convenient. At the click of one button, hundreds and thousands of people can receive an advertisement.
Mobile marketing can be a crucial component for the survival of newly established, small businesses that do not have a large marketing budget. Firstly, it proves to be extremely economical compared to any other type of marketing, be it above the line or below the line. Above the line advertisements include billboards and TV advertisements, which cost thousands of dollars, whereas below the line i.e. direct door-to-door selling, phone advertisements etc. are time-consuming and require a lot of human resources. These methods can only be carried out by established businesses that have the manpower and good cash flow to do so. This is why text message marketing is the best solution for small businesses. All it requires is one digital device (be it a desktop computer, laptop or phone) with a good Internet connection to get the message across.
An important thing to note about mobile marketing is that it is permission-based. If a user subscribes into a text to join campaign by texting a mobile keyword to a mobile short code, only then can a business send them text messages. Even then, the customer always has the option to unsubscribe by replying the word stop. A new trend in mobile marketing is paying top social media apps to play ads during videos or while using the app. This has been introduced by many app owners including Facebook, Snapchat, Saavn, YouTube, third party apps and many more. Some of these allow the user to skip ads while others allow the user to buy a paid version of the app to exclude ads, thus promoting their own business. This just goes to show how much the world of advertising revolves around technology.
With the increasing use of smartphones with each passing day, all digital-based advertising is focused on mobile phones. A recent survey by AdWeek found 88% growth year over year in time spent watching videos on a smartphone. Moreover, on average consumers spend at least 5 hours a day on their smartphones. This is why even larger businesses have resorted to mobile advertising by paying apps to advertise their content. Ads that are shown on TV are also featured on Facebook to attract more viewers.
Mobile marketing is taking over the advertisement industry due to its convenience in all aspects, not to mention a quick response rate. From advertisements to promotions to anything related to a company, everything is available and posted online. It’s a good way for any company, whether big or small, to reduce costs and increase revenue. It reaches viewers on a mass scale with minimum to no drawbacks.