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Friday May 20, 2011

Topic: Marketing Management

Reference: “Kazi, Shaheen.(May 19, 2011). “Why marketing programs should begin with mobile.” Mobile Marketer, http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/columns/9980.print. Retrieved May 19, 2011.

I have been working with mobile applications over the past several weeks and it seems clear that mobile marketing has matured and is now a force in U.S. commerce. No marketing campaign is complete without a mobile distribution component built-in. The reasons are premised off of the relationship between consumers and their mobile devices. Consumers generally find the devices indispensible, relevant and critical to their daily lives. They also have the power to customize what information, how much, and how often information is pushed to them. This control is empowering to consumers and vital to marketers. That is why the scale and scope of mobile campaigns have been expanding and growing in importance.  Support for this expansion comes from the growth in Smartphones, the affordability of data plans, location and couponing features, and the data driven feedback that mobile applications deliver on far and above that of traditional media. The cognoscenti are not asking whether the circle is now complete and whether or not mobile should be the centerpiece of marketing campaigns? In the referenced article, the commentator makes the case that it should.  “The result was mobile advertising and marketing spend more than doubling and nearing the $1 billion mark in the United States alone, according to multiple sources. Each time that mobile was tried for marketing programs, it proved itself with better results, than traditional online in terms of target response.” The commentator looks to factors such as unmatched market penetration, data-driven metrics on consumer preferences, and the guidance that mobile provides to marketers on message, testing and offers as invaluable.  This has led to the development of a new eco system in which mobile is key. “The idea of ecosystems built around the person is an interesting one. Mobile will be key to it, as the primary provider of the context-affinity and proximity amongst others.” In many ways this new ecosystem approach sees a different environment in which the television is not the key, but rather the mobile device is. In fact mobile may be better positioned to push television than the other way around.  This is a real powerful concept and can change everything that we know and believe about mobile channels and their relationship to other methods of message distribution. As a result, It may be time to significantly reorient your thinking on the importance of mobile distribution.