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Mobile Marketing
Mobile marketing can be classified into
two types based on the technology involved. The more
traditional form involves marketing on the move like moving
billboards and road shows. The second type refers to marketing
on a mobile phone like cell phone. Since the onset of
millennium, mobile marketing though cell phone has become very
popular. Short message service popularly known as SMS has made
marketing by this method a lot easier.
There were some problems in the beginning
as unwanted information was being sent to the people. Most of
the SMS that were passed around was spam and it received
negative media response in all parts of the world. This was
because a sector of the advertisers bought list of mobile
users and began sending them unsolicited messages. They were
later stopped due to strict security measures and laws passed.
Marketing industry recognized the potential of mobile
marketing and utilized it to the full extent. The mobile
service providers coded guidelines and laws. It then became a
legal advertising channel. The Mobile Marketing Association
and Interactive Advertising Bureau also have laid down
guidelines for the proper functioning of mobile marketing.
Mobile marketing has become popular in
Asia and Europe as it is a novel idea and in Europe alone
hundreds of millions of pounds have been investing in SMS
advertising. Now SMS has become the most famous part of mobile
marketing. Because of the popularity of short codes, SMSing
has become a lot easier. This has created a new approach to
reach out to potential customers. Now mobile short codes are
looked upon as mobile domain name, by many of the brands
around the world, when the customers message the brand at any
occasion.
In America, the first SMS short code
campaign was started in 2002. SMS containing short codes are
easier to send a message with complete information. Short
codes are usually numbers that are assigned to mobile
operators of a particular location, which they use for brand
campaigning and other purposes. They are very small, like they
contain only four to five words. These numbers are always
under scrutiny by the service provider and each and every
message is monitored to see that they do not go against the
original service description.
Like opt-in emails, customers have to opt
for SMSes. This is the biggest criterion, which the advertiser
has to follow in order to send a promotional SMS. Some of the
mobile operators ask for double opt-in form from the receiver.
At the same time opting out is made easy for the customer.
When the customer wishes to terminate receiving messages, they
have to send STOP word by SMS. All these guidelines have been
laid by the Mobile Marketing Association consumer best
practice guidelines and it’s a compulsion to follow those by
all the marketers who wish to do mobile marketing in
America.
Now, service providers have started to
provide the option of sending SMS to email addresses. Other
than this, other services provided are mobile games, mobile
tones etc., which are used for promotional purposes. This has
lead to the invention of MMS or Multi-media Message Service,
through which short promotional videos and animations can be
send. Bluetooth is another good technology. It started in
2003, and many companies in Europe have found it useful. When
a message is send via Bluetooth, the receiver should accept
request from the sender. So, sending messages by this method
is legitimate. The message transfer speed is high and is also
a free service as it is a radio-based technology.
The method of sending SMS advertisement
to mobile phone users based on their geographical location is
known as Location based service. The customer is tracked via a
GPS chip which is built-in the phone. Radiolocation signals
from the nearest cell phone towers are used for this
purpose.
Mobile marketing follows a very safe
marketing strategy, as it is customer opted. The short message
sent through this method is known as mobile originated or MO
message. If the advertisement is done through a call, the call
is known as mobile terminated or MT message. As there is a
phenomenal increase in the number of mobile phone users, this
kind of marketing is a sure
hit.
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