Working Mothers - The Target Customer Base for Mobile Advertisers

Here’s a quick question for you – whom do you think is the most important target customer segment for mobile advertising? I bet most of you would not hesitate to say that teens and young adults are the target customer base for mobile advertisers. Well; guess what? You are in for a surprise. Let me tell you why.

Working moms, according to a recent report, are more likely to spend money on mobile content than most other people. The latest report from Scarborough says that married women who have at least one child and a steady job are more likely to download mobile content and respond to mobile advertising campaigns than most other people.

The report says that the mobile bill of a working mother is nearly 20% more than the mobile bill of the average mobile user in the country. This is a significant difference and it just goes to show that married women with jobs do not mind spending a lot on their wireless bills. The report also says that a working mother is 40% more likely to download multimedia content to her mobile phone than the average mobile user. These are important data and they make us look at the mobile user demographic in a slightly different manner.

It is not hard to understand why working moms spend more money than most people on their mobile phones. A married woman who has a full time job and a kid is likely to make important decisions for her family. She gets to choose a lot of things for her husband, kids, and herself. So, when she comes across an offer which is good and could save her some money, she is likely to make a decision immediately. So, when mobile marketers send her targeted ads, she is likely to respond. This is why the working mother demographic is considered important by many.

If you remember, I already talked about people in the 30-50 age bracket who are likely to spend money on mobile related stuff here. Now, with this report, it becomes very clear. People with a considerable amount of disposable income are certainly an important target for mobile advertisers. They have money, they are used to taking quick decisions, and they do not think twice before responding to what they consider good offers. So, it is a good idea for mobile advertisers to widen their approach and target different customer segments to get better results.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

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Cell phone advertisers target teens

What to wear for the prom? What’s hot and what’s not this season? How to say no to alcohol on the prom night? Well; teens can get all this info and more right on their cell phone.

Since teenagers are the ones who spend a lot of time on their cell phone, cell phone advertisers have started target them by offering lots of cool stuff through text messages, WAP links, and more. Now, they can subscribe to ad campaigns and have lots of cool tips, offers, and other things delivered right on their cell phone. They could get fashion tips, news about the latest model jewelry, WAP links to cool mobile sites, discount coupons on famous beauty products, and more. Cell phone advertisers say that teenagers don’t mind getting relevant ads that they find useful and respond to them pretty regularly.

Advertisers find it easier to create a following for their products through cell phone advertising. As these text alerts and ads are delivered only to people who are interested, they are most likely to respond to them. So, the response rate is pretty high in this kind of interactive advertising.

I think it’s a nice arrangement. Teens get what they want and the advertisers get what they want. However, I think advertisers should not send a gazillion ads to their teenage subscribers just because they’re open to it. They could easily get fed up. Also, a lot of teenagers don’t have a regular disposable income and depend on their parents for their cell phone bill. As an advertiser, you sure don’t want to make these parents see red when they come to know how much their son or daughter is spending on text messages. So, a small number of relevant, useful ads at regular intervals could be the perfect recipe to attract a lot of teens.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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No Country for Old Men

A report released by Deloitte Touché, a leading consulting company, had some interesting points about mobile advertising and mobile marketing.

As a rule of thumb, mobile advertisers always connect to the younger ones – teenagers and people in their early 20s. It is widely believed that the young ones make use of mobile phones to the maximum possible extent and hence mobile marketing is generally meant for the young. But aren’t we missing something so obvious here?

Young ones, though largely mobile-savvy, don’t have a regular, disposable income. In other words, they cannot afford to spend as they wish. Most of them are dependent on part-time jobs or their parents for money – which means, no matter how good your mobile advertising campaign is, they can afford only so much.

But the case of boomers is not like this. They have a high disposable income and they are in fact the target customer base for many industries around the world. Also, people in the 30-50 age group are more loyal to carriers and phone makers. In other words, they stick to a particular carrier and a particular mobile maker as they can identify themselves with them. But youngsters, especially teenagers, don’t do that. They change their handsets often and jump from one carrier to another in search of new, cool features. What this means to carriers and advertisers is – you can’t expect something called customer retention.

Duncan Stewart, one of the authors of this report, said that targeting only the youth market may not prove to be a successful strategy in the long run.

I think the important reason behind targeting the youth market is the fact that they are the early adopters of new technologies. So, it becomes easier to appeal to them. But then, the report says it clearly – there is significant potential in the boomer market. Mobile marketers, are you listening?

PS: To those who know me, the title of this post shouldn’t come as a surprise at all.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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