M Frizzi

Online Marketing and SEO Tips: Mobile Marketing – Is this the year?

A brief look into the history of mobile marketing and how its future is likely to be shaped by the introduction of Apple’s iAds.

2010 is the year of mobile marketing. Indeed so was 2009, 2008 and 2007. It is the long-standing joke in the advertising  and marketing world that we are forever on the cusp of a mobile breakthrough. Recently, however, Apple entered the debate with the announcement that their newest Iphone OS 4.0, due to be released toward the end of the year, will be running iAds in some of their apps. Given that nearly anything Steve Jobs and Co. touch turns to digital gold, this news may finally usher in a wave of advertisers on to the cellular airwaves. Before analyzing the potential of iAds, it is worthwhile to chart the progress of mobile advertising, and understand what has gone wrong thus far.

In the early days of mobile phones, SMS marketing was utilized, and users were text-messaged company information and promotional deals. This format was not well received by consumers, and was initially considered as spamming. MMS advertising followed and was more popular than SMS because the use of multimedia was something everyone could partake in. Campaigns were run by companies that encouraged consumers to send their photos or videos to interactive media boards for public display. This type of marketing was much more engaging than cold, unwanted text messages, but the interaction was mostly a one-way street dictated by consumers. Mobile users were comfortable sending the advertisers material via their phones, but not the other way around. Although any form of interaction with the consumer is positive, advertisers ultimately sought a means where they could display or send content to the consumer.

This need was somewhat satisfied by mobile web marketing, where advertisers bought space on the web; but given the nature of the web space this format was not altogether successful. The size of mobile phones at the start of the 2000s did not lend themselves well to advertisements. Traditional brand logos were awkwardly placed on miniscule mobile screens, which added to the cumbersome nature of scrolling down the page to view all content. Further attempts have been made through mobile gaming, with companies sponsoring games or placing advertisements within the games themselves, but this method still does not allow the advertiser the full freedom to communicate its message to the user.

Such freedom, it would seem, will be enabled by Apple’s iAd concept. The idea allows the advertiser to create their message the way they want and post it in an app, which if clicked on will interact with the user without leaving the app. This point is crucial, as users can carry on what they were doing with the app while maintaining an interest in the advertisement’s message. The technology is also set to facilitate rich-experience media, so the quality of the ads will far exceed a consumer’s expectation for any mobile content. The key element for this medium will be managing the intrusion factor, and making sure that the material thrust upon mobile consumers is in no way overbearing or detrimental to their experience - in short, creating a message that appears natural. If this can be achieved, the year 2010 may just signal the end of a long running joke and the start of something special for marketers.

Article Tags: Mobile Marketing

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