Have A Merry Mobile Holiday Season!

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) recently released the October 2010 U.S. Mobile Consumer Briefing, which is their monthly survey of U.S. adult mobile phone users and their mobile marketing behaviors. Interestingly, the survey found that “59 percent of mobile consumers plan to use their mobile phone for holiday shopping and planning holiday celebrations, not including making phone calls”.

What is striking about that number (59%) is that it debunks a common myth that mobile marketing only applies to smartphone users. Since the smartphone market makes up only 25% of the US mobile consumer base, there is some obvious spillover. One of the barriers that marketing managers often run into is the misconception that mobile marketing has a limited target audience. This just isn’t the case. Not only is smart phone usage growing faster than any other marketing channel, but that capabilities of non-smartphones have been increasing as well, bringing them into the mobile marketing fold. Almost every mobile device - smartphone or not - sold now has the ability to browse the mobile web, scan QR codes, download rich content, etc.

Just another example of why mobile should be an essential part of a brand’s overall marketing strategy.