The Future of Mobile Marketing
Technology in the last few years has led to the development of smart phones, which have become an integral part of our lives. Mobile marketing has allowed for a complete overhaul in the rules of marketing as it provides a two-way conversation on the go.
Consumers and companies now have a whole new platform to utilize in communication and interactive engagement. Mobile app development has broadened the mobile marketing scope even more, enabling today’s marketers to narrow their target to distinct consumer groups with specific messages.
Currently, we can see the creation of the very beginning stages of mobile commerce. Nearly 85% of consumers use mobile apps to enhance their shopping, according to mobilemarketingwatch.com. Soon this will graduate from its early stages, to a deeper, integrated system across the mobile platform. The increased popularity of micro-payments such as Pay-Pal and We Pay has paved the road for mainstream intermingling between e-commerce online and mobile commerce. In mobile marketing, companies can use location based services, buying habits, and entertainment apps to specifically target the right consumers for their products. Taking it a step further, with Mobile Commerce, the user will not only be targeted, but be allowed the opportunity to purchase that item, service, etc., within just a few steps from the initial view of the ad.
Jumping ahead a few years, mobile marketing will allow for new ways to interact with the consumer. Sophisticated analytics will continue to aid in discovering user buying habits, as well as geographical information to fine tune the message even more, as shown in the coffee shop example in the article Going Direct with Mobile Marketing by Barry McCarthy.
Along with these great advances in mobile marketing, there will likely be negative repercussions. The mobile consumers will most likely be inundated with texts, and push notifications to the point of complacency, and even deactivation. Even though we tend to feel connected now while engaging in a two-way conversation, there still lies the underlying feeling of being disconnected via technology rather than face to face interaction.
Having said this, I believe the challenge will be for mobile technology to advance in connectivity, making the overall connection more personal rather than digital could enhance the user experience, while making them more open to digital conversations, rather than face to face.
References:
http://www.firstdata.com
http://www.mobilemarketingwatch.com
http://gigaom.com/mobile/5-trends-that-will-shape-the-future-of-mobile-advertising/
About the Author
Natalie Natalie is a Florida native and grew up on Merritt Island. She graduated from Merritt Island High School in 1985. Natalie has over fifteen years of web design and development and twenty years of graphic design experience, impacting several Central Florida business’ with her natural talent in art and graphic design. Natalie received her A.A. degree in Graphic Design from Brevard Community College and is currently set to graduate with Honors from Full Sail University in the Fall 2012. To date, she has been awarded 3 Course Director’s Awards in Website Advertising and Design Principles, Social Media Optimization and Mobile Advertising.
