The term “mobile marketing” has been around for awhile, but it’s taken some time for many of us to understand what exactly it is and how it really works. However, several big strides brought mobile marketing into the mainstream in 2008.

Brands are beginning to leverage mobile marketing to engage consumers with offerings ranging from mobile coupons to product information. Military institutions are beginning to experiment with mobile to reach new recruits. A political candidate used it to build and engage a community of voters that helped lead to his election as President of the United States. Mobile is reaching a tipping point as a major marketing channel, and large brands are paving the way with an investment and commitment to fully explore the potential of mobile marketing.

So, why the trend? Well, because there are a lot of people using mobile phones these days. The size of the mobile subscriber market has exploded in recent years. Increasing to more than 3 billion (yes, that’s billion) mobile subscribers globally in 2008, Nielsen has declared critical mass for mobile in the US. Let’s take a look at the numbers:

• 254 million US mobile subscribers in Q1 2008 (source: CTIA - wireless industry trade group)
• 144 million (57%) of US mobile subscribers were data users in Q1 2008
• 95 million (37%) of US mobile subscribers paid for access to the mobile Internet
• 40 million (15.6% in May 2008) were active users of mobile Internet services

Aside from the sheer number of people using mobile phones, there are several other factors that make mobile really interesting from a marketing perspective:

1. Convenience and proximity: unlike a computer or laptop, people almost always have their mobile phones with them. Whether they are shopping, at the movies, at work, in meetings or traveling - mobile phones have evolved quie a bit since the original “brick” from Motorola. In 1983, Motorola introduced the DynaTac 8000x weighing in at nearly 2 pounds and a price tag of $4,000! Twenty-five years later, mobile devices are slim enough to slide into a pocket and cost a fraction of the price. People carry their mobile devices with them everywhere.
2. Voice and data: in the US, mobile phones have been primarily used for typical voice calls throughout the years. However, the majority of mobile devices today are capable of other applications, often referred to as “data applications.” These applications include SMS (short message service, aka “text”), MMS (multimedia message service) mobi (mobile web), LBS (location based services), ring tones and various other applications. Adoption has been relatively slow for these applications in the US compared to the rest of the world - until recently. In fact, Wired recently reported last quarter that the use of SMS (text messaging) has finally surpassed the number of calls received by users in the US.
3. Social and viral: mobile devices and the applications I’ve mentioned above have opened up new ways for people to communicate. Text messaging enables users to send quick snippets of information to each other without having to facilitate a phone call. The easy and quick dissemination of information is not new - we’ve seen it in the online world with email, websites, blogs, etc. However, mobile devices offer something unique and that’s what I refer to as “time and place relevancy.” People are able to share their thoughts and experiences when and where they happen. In the online world, thoughts and experiences are mostly shared at some point after the fact - once the individual is in front of a computer.

The mobile device has come along way since the brick debuted in 1983. Consumers are finding new ways to use their mobile devices and marketers are investing in programs to reach their audience on those devices. In our next series of posts, we’ll take a look at some of the more successful mobile marketing programs and begin talking about how to get mobile in recruiting mix.

Filed under: Advertising, SMS, mobi, mobile marketing, recruiting