Admittedly, when I first heard the idea of mobile messages being beamed into my cell phone, I impulsively shouted, “NOOOO!” – and followed it up with, “That is a horrible idea.”
“Our network is designed to reach people near the point of sale, while they’re most likely to be responsive to and act on an offer,” said Kevin Thornton, CEO of Intera Bluetooth Proximity Marketing.
A recent online marketing company study revealed that more than 50% of teenagers and one-third of adults said they consumers wouldn’t mind receiving a text ad if it’s relevant and helpful. Deep down, consumers just want the easiest, most hassle-free shopping experience possible. If our refrigerator could automatically order our favorite foods, pay for them with our credit cards and have the items shipped, we would totally love that. (Refrigerator technology is getting close to this, by the way.)
Nielsen Mobile found that 3.5 million mobile users have visited shopping or auction sites in December 2007, spending 10 minutes at a time. Half of those mobile Internet users visited eBay, at an average of eight times per month. The second most popular site was Amazon.com, with 1.6 million mobile Internet users and Target.com, with half a million mobile visitors per month. A savvy online marketing company needs to take a good look at how to use mobile technology to reach buyers who like to shop when, where and how they want.
Skycore is looking to enable retailers and brands to deliver information to cell phones that includes up to eight multimedia slideshow images, audio, video and text. Using wine as an example, Skycore President Rich Eicher explained, “The wine brand could put a simple keyword and the Cellyspace shortcode on a bottle, sign or display. The customer would text the keyword to the Cellyspace shortcode and usually receive a multimedia message within two minutes. There is no need to go to a website to see any of the content…. Ideally the message would include a coupon or other incentive.”
Of course, mobile customers would have to own an MMS-enabled phone (with Eicher says 75% of consumers already do). This mode of advertising is expected to grow with the industry, online marketing company analysts speculate. “It’s hard to tell what the reality will be,” says Patti Freeman Evans of Jupiter Research. “It’s not going to replace email or search engine marketing anytime soon.”