I’ve been working in the mobile marketing field for approaching a decade; in mobile years, that makes me about 147. Obviously a lot has changed since the turn of the century. And, by a lot, I mean pretty much everything except the amount of hype, mystery and flat-out untruths swirling around the medium.
In honor of CTIA (note: this is the first CTIA I’ve missed since 2002), I thought I’d pen a few thoughts on where we’ve been, and where we’re headed.
Myth #1: With the advent of mobile browsers that display rich media, and render HTML, I don’t need to worry about creating a site for mobile users.
On the surface this seems very true. And, in fact, to some extent it *is* true. After all, more and more mobile browsers DO support traditional HTML, and creating mobile sites is no longer the lofty territory of mobile specific developers. What hasn’t changed, however, is the relative size of mobile devices; chances are that while your site may display on a mobile device, it has a good chance of being far too small to read. The rotten tomato in this category is actually www.apple.com, which, incredibly, is actually awful on the iPhone.
That may seem pretty obvious. What’s less obvious is that people still behave differently on mobile devices. Let’s face it, it is still relatively arduous to do things on a mobile phone versus a computer. Chances are that if you’re taking the time to type out a URL in a mobile browser, you have an exceedingly good idea what you’re after. Starbucks figured as much, which is why if you browse to Starbucks.com on a mobile device, you’re whisked away to their store locator. You can still switch over to a more computer-oriented view of the site, but they figure (correctly, IMO) that if you care enough to visit their site on a mobile device, it’s probably because you’re looking for a cup o’ joe.
Myth #2: People are averse to mobile marketing
Once again, like any good myth, there is an element of truth to this. When consumers are faced with scenarios like receiving unsolicited offers at 3 am for services they’d never use, the backlash is predictable (I’d never do that!!!!). Unfortunately, most of the studies I’ve seen regarding consumer reception to mobile marketing use these banal, thoughtless usage scenarios.
Good marketing rarely looks like marketing.
Yes, mobile devices are more personal than any other digital medium and yes, you have to be careful. No, it’s not impossible.
Myth #3: Mobile is too hard
There are a lot of moving parts with mobile marketing. The carriers are relatively tyrannical in protecting their subscriber bases (with good cause, they’ve invested billions in infrastructure to acquire them), there are undeniable hurdles in device diversity and network disparity, and the reality is the models that work in other digital formats don’t automatically extend into mobile (email marketing, for example). That said, creating a text campaign, which over 95% of phones/plans support, is easy and extremely cost-effective. Also, because HTML is a supported mobile browsing protocol, designing mobile-oriented Internet sites can now be done by existing design staff.
Next up, cutting through the hype-cycle.
Hype 1: You must be building an iPhone presence for your brand
iPhones have been getting all the buzz lately. Before that, Blackberries got all the love. And before that, the Motorola Razr changed everything. And before that, Palms and Pocket PCs were all the rage. Get it? Good. By the way, iPhones account for less than 5% of the US mobile population.
Realistically, there are only a handful of instances where choosing to allocate precious resources to developing super rich content/apps for a specific handset over less glitzy, yet equally functional apps for the rest of ‘em is a good idea. Most of them have been done already. Also, most iPhone apps are really stupid. The #1 app on iTunes was an application that plays fart sounds.
Hype 2: Text messaging is becoming obsolete with the increase in smartphone popularity
No it isn’t.
Nielsen said that in Q2 of 2008, US mobile subscribers were more likely to text than call. Today, CTIA said 1 billion text messages were sent in 2008. T-Mobile’s CEO said that text traffic is almost as big as voice traffic for his network. One of the most fascinating things about mobile, for me anyway, is that rarely does one technology completely usurp, or render obsolete an older technology. SMS has been around for a couple decades now, and it is still wildly popular. Even with the advent of networks that support exceedingly richer applications and user experiences! Twitter anyone?
People still like communicating with other people. Imagine that.
In 2009, there are more opportunities to get mobile right than wrong; I don’t know if I’d have said the same thing in years past. It’s relatively easy to create a mobile Internet site that looks good on A LOT of mobile devices, and easier than ever to create really rich applications that look spectacular on a handful of devices. SMS is still wildly popular, and creating campaigns that resonate with consumers is both not impossible and inexpensive.
What are you doing with mobile in 2009?
Why Mobile Marketing Must be Run by Social Marketers — atomherd @ 5:47 pm
[...] extending traditional digital marketing practices into mobile is not only fraught with peril (see this post about why mobile browsing isn’t the same as computer-based browsing), it’s also the [...]