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A recent report says that SMS (short message service) usage in India, particularly in the urban areas, has grown significantly in the past few years. Given below are some of the interesting points made in the report.
• According to TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India), an average Indian sends 29 text messages a month.
• Text messages in India are not just used for personal communication. People check their bank balances, book tickets for movies, check air ticket and train ticket status, pay their bills, and do lots more.
• The response rate for text message marketing in India is very impressive. One in every three urban Indians has responded to such marketing campaigns either by forwarding the messages to his friends or by calling the sender to get more details.
• A large number of people opt for SMS based value added services. The most popular value added services include business/finance news, stock market tips, astrological advice, spiritual quotes, news alerts, job alerts, and sports updates.
• More than 40% of urban Indians have received promotional offers via SMS. Nearly 12% of people who got such text messages have made a purchase based on the information given in the message.
• 30 to 45 year olds – people with a significant disposable income – are more likely to respond to text message marketing and make a purchase.
• Nearly 30% of urban Indians have participated in some kind of SMS based contests. As you can guess, males are more likely to take part in such contests than females.
While this report does not have any groundbreaking information, it does confirm the fact that mobile advertising, as an advertising medium, has a bright future in India. There are a few important reasons why I think so.
1. Data plans in India are quite cheap. Most operators charge only a very small amount for text messages. Incoming messages are never charged. So, it allows people to respond to promotional offers and other such stuff without worrying about a huge mobile bill at the end of the month.
2. In the past ten years or so, Indian economy has improved considerably and the purchasing power of the middle class – comprising nearly 300 million Indians - has increased as well. Hundreds of millions of people with disposable income – now that’s a dream for any marketer.
3. A number of mobile operators in India are beginning to focus on not just the urban areas, but the rural areas as well. This will increase the number of mobile users in India by an unbelievably huge extent. In other words, in a few years from now, there will be close to 700 million mobile users in India. It is going to be the dreamland of every mobile marketer in the world.
What do you think? I’m interested to hear your viewpoints.
For further reading, check out these posts.
Indian Mobile Advertising Market on a Roll
Is India the Fastest Growing Market for Mobile Advertising?
Mobile Advertising in India - A Closer Look
Tags: marketing campaigns, mobile advertising, SMS, stock market tips, telecom regulatory authority, telecom regulatory authority of india, text message marketing, text messages, urban indians, value added services
Technorati Tags: marketing campaigns, mobile advertising, SMS, stock market tips, telecom regulatory authority, telecom regulatory authority of india, text message marketing, text messages, urban indians, value added services
Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.
Chasing The Storm has a good interview of Rohit Dadwal from MMA (Mobile Marketing Association). To my surprise, most of the things Rohit mentioned in the interview are things that I am already familiar with. In fact, anyone who has been following the mobile marketing industry closely could easily relate to what Rohit says in his interview. Some of the most important points he made include
1. SMS (short messaging service) marketing or text message marketing will continue to grow steadily in 2009.
2. Bad economy will make businesses and brands think twice before spending their money on traditional advertising. So, they are more likely to spend their advertising dollars only in mediums like mobile phone marketing that guarantee quantifiable returns and successes.
3. Mobile social networking will continue to grow steadily.
4. Mobile search marketing will become big.
5. Location based services will be a huge success and it will continue to play a major role in mobile marketing.
6. Mobile coupons and mobile alerts will become a lot more popular with people.
7. In the next five years, a lot of brands around the world will have a strong mobile presence. In fact, it will become so common that it will be unusual for a big brand to not have a strong mobile presence.
8. Mobile marketing is meant for businesses of all sizes. No matter how small or how big a business empire you have, all you need is the ability to reach the end users. So, businesses can benefit from mobile marketing irrespective of their size and popularity.
As you can see, none of the points made above is new. If you have been following the industry closely, you can see that it is growing steadily and moving in a direction exactly as predicted by experts a few years back. If it continues to grow the same way, it will be a multibillion dollar industry just as predicted. Don’t you think?
Tags: chasing the storm, end users, location based services, mobile alerts, mobile coupons, mobile phone marketing, mobile presence, mobile social networking, mobile marketing, mobile search, Rohit Dadwal, short messaging service, social networking, text message marketing, text message, traditional advertising
Technorati Tags: chasing the storm, end users, location based services, mobile alerts, mobile coupons, mobile phone marketing, mobile presence, mobile social networking, mobile marketing, mobile search, Rohit Dadwal, short messaging service, social networking, text message marketing, text message, traditional advertising
Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones, Mobile Marketing Association.
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