The potential for mobile marketing is enormous. There are approximately 23 million mobile phone subscribers in Australia, according to a recent Budde Comm report. Yes, this means that there are more mobile phones in Australia then there are people because for some of us, one mobile just isn’t enough!
Our mobile phones have become a way of life. We conduct business, trade stocks, stay connected with peers, surf the net, store memories, share content and much more via our mobiles. No wonder why we virtually carry them with us round the clock. Indeed, as someone told me the other week, Australians take on average 24 hours to report their wallets missing, alarming compared with the mere 30 minutes it takes us on average to report our mobile phones missing.

Because of this, we have an interesting relationship with our mobile phones. The type of phone you have, your ring tone, the mobile apps you use, the mobile carrier you choose and even the accessories you buy for it says a lot about who you are. Mobiles have become an extension of our personalities and social connections, giving instant access to our daily lives anytime, anywhere, and as such is a very personal and intimate communication channel.

Yet despite the potential, mobile marketing is still in its infancy in Australia, waiting to be fully realised by the backbone of our economy, the small and medium business community.

Today’s blog will look at the fundamentals behind mobile marketing, beginning with some common questions you’ve asked me:

1. What is mobile marketing?
Mobile marketing involves the use of mobile phone technology to communicate, promote and sell including SMS (Short Message Service – ie. text), MMS (Multimedia Message Service – ie. a slideshow of text, images, video and sound), Bluetooth, applications and mobile websites.

Mobile marketing easily enables the right message to be sent to the right person at the right time by taking into consideration what, where, when and why the consumer might be using their mobile.

Some of the advantages of mobile marketing include the ability to personalise messages, targeting based on location and interest as well as instant access to customers.

Mobile is also the best way to get a response. I recently read that 96% of us respond to SMS’ within 20 minutes, whereas average response time to emails is a few hours.

2. Is it only Generations Y and Z who use mobile phones?

From tweens right through to senior citizens, mobile phones are widely used across the board. However, the types and levels of usage will vary depending on the audience you are trying to appeal to.

3. Is mobile marketing expensive?

The short answer is it’s a lot cheaper than you think.

I talk a lot about average cost per sales lead (basically the cost of your marketing campaign divided by how many leads you got out of it) and return on investment and am constantly astounded by how many people seem to enjoy clinging to marketing activities that deliver poorly on both these fronts.

From personal experience, on average you could expect to spend around 18c per SMS and 35c per MMS (prices will vary across providers depending on any setup costs, volume, size of message and destination). So, as you can see, there is a relatively low average cost per lead.

But more importantly, there is a significantly higher response rate to mobile marketing than many other types of marketing. Around the traps you will hear that direct mail has approximately a 2% response rate and advertising has approximately a 1% response rate. Mobile marketing on the other hand has up to a 98% open rate with a 9% response rate, giving you greater potential for a higher return on investment.

4. Do people see it as an invasion of their personal space?

The answer to this depends on your marketing permissions, frequency of marketing, the relationship you have with your target audience and the rule of value exchange.

If you have permission to use someone’s mobile contact details, then you are more likely to get a warmer reception. Permission based marketing revolves around getting permission to use people’s contact details so that you abide by the Privacy Act, SPAM Act and the Do Not Call Register for all your marketing activities. I will talk about this in more detail in the next question below.
Frequency of mobile marketing becomes an important factor as it’s never a good idea to pester people to the point of annoyance with any marketing, let alone through mobile which is seen as more personal.

The relationship you have with the person you are marketing to will also play a key role in the success of your mobile marketing activity. People will generally be more receptive to communications from a company they already engage with.

Finally, I also talk a lot about the rule of value exchange. That is, when we are marketing to people, we are interrupting their time and we expect them to pay attention, so we should give them something of value in exchange. Don’t just waste their time with a communication that is pointless or irrelevant. Given that mobile phones are perceived as a personal and intimidate communication channel, its important that you strongly abide by the rule of value exchange.
This is when quality of content becomes critical. Your content needs to consider the way people use their mobiles, at what time of the day and where they may be located to create a message or offer that will appeal.

5. What about the Privacy Act, SPAM Act and Do Not Call Register?
Yes you need to abide by these! The legal ramifications can be serious and the fines can be BIG, so this is not something to be taken lightly.
Privacy and permissions can seem confusing. My advice is to cover your backside with best practice principles. These include getting permission to use people’s contact details upfront at the point where you collect their information, include a privacy policy statement so that people know who you are (the sender) and what you intend to use their details for and always include an easy way for them to stop receiving communications from you such as an “unsubscribe link”.