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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Pay per call - The next step in mobile advertising?

With mobile advertising gaining momentum by the day, marketers and advertisers are thinking hard to come up with mobile advertising campaigns that will catch the attention of mobile users. One such idea is pay per call.

Pay per call is the concept of sending adverts to mobile users with a little twist. The ads will have a phone number which the user can call to get more information on the product or service advertised. This form of advertising is sure to get you a lead, as a person will call you only when he is interested in your product/service. So, if you can impress him with your sales talk, you are sure to get a sale.

However, pay per call costs more than traditional pay per click advertising in the internet. But it has better conversion rates and it’s been proven that people are willing to call the number immediately if they like what they see in the ads they get. This is especially good for retailers and small business owners who want to reach out to people in the local area more effectively. If you are a retailer and you’ve introduced a new product/service, the best way to inform people is to send mobile ads with your number on which they can get back to you. Since you target the local customers, they will definitely give it a try if it’s useful to them. So, this form of advertising is more effective, more targeted, and more likely to get better results.

So far, pay per call hasn’t clicked big time with local mobile marketers but experts predict that it could become a big deal in the coming days.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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The impact of mobile advertising in shopping

We’ve been discussing the moves made by biggies like Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft in mobile advertising and marketing for quite some time now. But the point I want to make is, mobile advertising and marketing can have an equally big impact, if not bigger, on small retailers just as it does on biggies. Surprised? Read on.

National Retail Federation usually has an annual conference in which retailers all over the country congregate and discuss various issues. In its last conference, the most important issue discussed was the role of mobile phone in retailing. Small shop owners and retailers agreed on the fact that they need to catch up with the technology of mobile phone and adapt themselves to mobile marketing.

The reasons, as always, are not hard to find. Let’s take a look at the impact of mobile phone in day-to-day shopping.

In Japan, you can use your mobile phone to scan the barcode of a product to check its freshness.

In South Korea, you can order a meal over mobile phone in McDonalds and you will be sent a mobile alert when the meal is ready.

A lot of companies use Bluetooth technology to send ads to customers’ mobile phones while they are in shopping malls or retail stores. You go to Starbucks and wait for your friend. You get an ad in your mobile phone which has a discount coupon for your favorite latte. Nine out of ten times, such an ad will result in a sale for the company.

With this being the case, retailers and small business owners are gearing up to enter their customers’ mobile space. Mind you, this is just the beginning, as mobile advertising is only going to get bigger. When it does, it will bring about a sweeping change in the way we shop.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

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