Could local mobile marketing become the next big thing?

Mobile advertising, especially when targeted at a particular area, can bring in some great results. It can help retailers and local small business owners to a great extent. In fact, I would go to the extent of saying that local mobile marketing will be the next big thing as far as mobile advertising is concerned. I’d back up my claim with a few reasons.

The number of mobile phones is significantly larger than the number of PCs in the U.S. There are two mobile phones for every PC in the U.S., to be precise.

Internet advertising has a response rate of 1% whereas mobile advertising has a response rate of 5%, which is unbelievably good.

People hardly leave their mobile phone home. They carry it everywhere, making it ideal for advertising.

You can target your core customer base very easily. Mobile users will trust you as they know that you mean business and won’t spam them with unnecessary ads.

When someone responds to your ad, he/she will most likely look forward to other such offers in future. For example, if someone buys a makeup product, they won’t mind you send a discount coupon for makeup products as and when you have an offer, as they are most likely to make use of it.

It makes the job of the customers very simple. If there is a new offer in town, they need not go all the way to the shop in person to find it out. They can simply get alerts on their mobile phone and decide whether to shop or not.

However, the potential of local mobile marketing has not been exploited fully by retailers and small business owners. But as I mentioned some time back, retailers all over the country have decided to buck up and make use of the phenomenon that is mobile advertising. So, get ready to shop through your mobile.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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AT&T to repay cellphone users in Florida

Last week, AT&T did something which was truly commendable. It accepted to repay cellphone users in Florida who got charged for apparently ‘free’ services. It joined hands with Attorney General’s Cyber Fraud Task Force which will make sure that customers are not charged unknowingly for services that they thought were completely free.

While advertising in the internet, a lot of companies come up with misleading ads which say things like ‘free ringtones just for you’ and then when the customer signs up, he is charged a subscription fee in his next bill. This is very misleading and Attorney General Bill McCollum has come up with strict regulations for mobile carriers to advertise in the internet or any other medium for that matter. Henceforth, advertisements should be in an explicitly detailed manner to make sure customers understand what they are getting into. If something is a paid service, it needs to be mentioned clearly in the ad, without misleading the consumers. Attorney General says that this will create awareness among cell phone users and help them use such services judiciously.

AT&T has decided pay back the amount charged for Florida users for ‘free services’ and has decided to pay $2.5 Million toward the movement. It will also pay an additional $50,000 to educate customers on safe internet use. The Attorney General has lauded AT&T for its active participation in the movement and has urged other carriers to follow suit.

Now, the important thing to note in this issue is that it can happen anywhere. Even in mobile advertising. You get my point? So, when mobile advertisers dish out mobile ads by the day, they need to be careful enough to provide consumers with the right kind of information without misleading them. Otherwise, there would be a similar backlash against them. Hopefully, mobile advertisers will take note of this issue and make sure their ads are not only of some use to the consumer, but also explicit enough to make him understand what he is getting into.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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Now, a mobile website for fishing enthusiasts

Anglers among you couldn’t be happier. Finally, you’ve got a mobile website which has every detail under the sun about fishing. Sounds great, right? Let me get down to the main news.

First Light Net, an internet advertising company for fishing related activities, has come up with a mobile site called fishingguides.mobi, which has an extensive list of over 900 fishing guides and fishing services in the country and all over the world. And the best part is, the list gets updated every day.

This is great news for fishing enthusiasts. You go on a vacation, you are on the road, and you want to get to the local fishing scene. All you need to do is take out your mobile, go to fishingguides.mobi, and check out the details of the local fishing scene in that area. It’s as simple as 1-2-3. Now, compare this with the days gone by when you had to go to the boat dock and look for a fishing guide to help you out. Gosh; it was such a lengthy process, wasn’t it?

Now, this is what I call technology helping out people in their day-to-day life. Way to go guys.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones, Mobile Web.

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