The US financial meltdown has greatly affected the economic ecosystem and no one can say for sure when this will be over. To avoid layoffs and closures, most companies have resorted to cut down on company expenses. Marketing budgets are usually the first one to experience such adjustments. Although this is not proven to be an effective approach, this area is easily targeted because it has the biggest fund allocation and can be adjusted easily without immediate effect on business revenue. Mobile marketing is a smart alternative, cost- saving solutionfor businesses in times of economic mayhem. To maximize the remaining advertising budget, companies should look into the benefits and key attributes of SMS advertising. Apart from Mobile marketing being an economical option, this can even be a more effective medium than using traditional media which tends to be very expensive.Here are more reasons why Mobile Marketing is greatly considered by businesses in tough economic times:
Convenient and Cost effective- a very timely marketing solution for businesses of all sizes, SMS advertising lets you promote your brand even if you have a small marketing budget, perfect for small and mid-sized business
Establish interaction and develop a one on one relationship with consumers that establishes consumer trust and loyalty
Permission based - Ability of consumer to opt in and opt out
Increase number of consumers realizing the value of Mobile Marketing during hard times , eg. Mobile Coupons
Can easily reach target audience anywhere anytime
Can easily be integrated to any existing marketing efforts, add SMS Marketing in your media mix and maximize the results
Turnkey solution in creating campaigns. Deploy SMS campaigns with ease.
Viral marketing, a plus to your business since most phones are capable of forwarding messages, it is most likely that your messages will be passed on to your clients’ contacts.
Track results of your campaign in real time, know which campaigns are successful . Learn from the unsuccessful ones
Enables you to run multiple text messaging campaigns at the same time
Be in control in creating, launching and managing your own campaigns, it is simple and easy to deploy, it doesn’t require any technical know how.
Mobile marketing is an innovative new dimension in the marketing mix. SMEs are catching up and are now heading towards the same direction as the big companies when it comes to promoting their business. Now with the financial conditions, large companies and SMEs share basic and equal opportunities in using SMS Marketing as an economical promotional medium to still carry out their advertising efforts despite budget cut-offs.
With all the promotional tools provided, Its up to the marketers to decide on how they will translate existing marketing plans into mobile campaigns. There are bunch of platforms, standard programs for different types of SMS promotion, you just have to look around, study your options and choose which works best for you.
SinceMobile Marketing is the youngest among the media channels, marketers are still cautious in using mobile marketing as an advertising medium. Guidelines and metrics are being set to provide consumers protection and for Industry players to strictly comply to.Although there are organizations that look after the regulation of mobile marketing activities, ie Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), the industry has yet to gain the trust of consumers above everything else. In this day and age, technology is easier to access, inexperienced sales people are using it in invasive ways to sell their products and services - think spam e-mails, you didn’t request for it, yet they keep sending you information you don’t need. Mobile devices are considered to be very personal trusted device that, nowadays, we can’t do without. Text messages can sometimes be intrusive, and people do not welcome unsolicited messages sent to their handsets.
As marketers, we already have an idea why people are becoming more and skeptic about using mobile marketing, its time for us to turn this around and make consumers realize that engaging in Mobile Advertising can be of value to them. The consumers are the most valuable segment of the whole Mobile Marketing ecosystem, its high time that we focus on efforts on how we’ll earn consumer trust.
Providing sufficient information that allows consumers to make an informed decision on whether to receive a marketing programme is the first step on the road towards consumer trust.
Respecting the consumer’s preferences and privacy is also key. Giving them the control to Opt in and Opt out of any campaign.
Marketers must also always ensure that the information being provided to the consumer is always relevant to the recipient.
She also stressed that planning and execution of mobile marketing campaignsis also a key indicator of consumer experience. In compliance to the ideology of the Opt in rule, marketers should only send messages to those who opted in and marketers should closely monitor the number of times they will have contact with the consumer who opted in for each program.
Having the right information will equip marketers to plan and implement well targeted campaigns. Ultimately, the goal here is for consumers to have a positive experience. If this is achieved, consumers will then have a positive reception towards mobile marketing, leading to acceptance and continuous use of different mobile marketing services.
