Mobile marketing's acceptance and effectiveness has steadily increased and during the upcoming holidays both retailers and consumers will generate and encounter more mobile marketing initiatives than ever before, according to SmartReply.
Mobile marketing is a billion dollar per-year industry and growing. A recent report from Gartner projects that spending for mobile advertising worldwide will grow 74 percent this year to $913.5 million. More than five in six households have a mobile phone, led by young families at 93 percent, according to Forrester.
Eric Holmen, president of SmartReply, has compiled a list of the seven deadly sins of mobile for businesses that are interested in trying mobile for the first time:
1. Garbage in, garbage out
As with any marketing approach, sending inappropriate, irrelevant or poorly targeted content buys you a ticket to one place — the sin bin.
Do not be tempted to send trashy content.
SMS marketing works exactly the same way as other ad mediums in turning customers off.
Sixty-four percent of consumers find mobile ads irritating if they aren’t delivering valuable or relevant content, while three out of 10 mobile users in the United States recall relevant mobile ads.
So if you don’t fancy being blacklisted from your customer’s phone, understand their preferences and dislikes before sending content, even if it’s a simple text message.
2. The road to nowhere
Spam ‘em? Don’t even think about it. The mobile phone is a high-ranking highly-personal possession and should be treated with respect.
It is one of the three things people do not leave home without — the other two being keys and wallet. Call it sacrosanct.
Spam has no place on mobile phones (as start-up HeyCosmo found out last year when it sent phone spam to certain bloggers).
Opt-in is the only road forward for mobile marketing, with Federal Trade Commission regulations firmly in place to weed out any maverick marketers around.
3. Pick a time, any time
Some marketers might be mistaken in thinking that any time is a good time to send a text message.
Just like telemarketers calling up during dinnertime, the text message delivered at the wrong time will appear obtrusive, unwelcome and potentially annoying to the customer.
So what is the right time to text? Ask the customer when they sign up to receive your messaging.
4. Gimmicks, gadgets, gizmos and junks
As a guest on consumers’ mobile phones, sending gimmicks to enter competitions (that are not relevant), links to irrelevant banners or scrolling through multiple screens will get you blacklisted faster that you can say TXT2LOSE.
If a consumer has signed up to receive price alerts, notifications of new arrivals or discounts on favorite items – send those only. Leave the gimmicks and silly banner links for someone else.
5. Don’t dish up seconds and thirds
An honest marketer will tell you that campaigns do not always translate successfully into other mediums.
Just because an online campaign yielded great results with low cost per thousand, it is no guarantee of similar success with mobile.
A strategy for mobile should have its own identity, but be able to integrate with others. And with a small screen and size limitation of 160 characters, you need to get2the!
6. Safe data, smart operator
Security breaches happen because someone somewhere wasn’t smart enough, while someone somewhere else was much smarter.
If you value your customers, then you’ll value keeping their data safe and well protected especially as mobile commerce and banking grows.
Brand erosion and the damage from loss of customer trust caused by security breaches can end up costing a company millions.
7. You’re dumped
The point to all this advice is about developing and feeding your relationship with consumers.
Marketing — mobile or otherwise —does not drive most transactions. Relationships and trust do.
So if relationships drive transactions and business, marketers must treat their mobile relationships with respect and without aggression.
Most of all, marketers have to show consumers their raison d’être in order to become a valued and trusted part of that mobile phone carrier’s life.
Otherwise, you are dumped.