Top Ten Mobile Marketing Myths

Don’t ask me why, but the blogging community seems to LOVE top ten lists.  So to appease the masses, here is one on the top ten myths about mobile marketing.

#10) Mobile Marketing only targets a small percentage of cell phones
Over 80% of the global market use phones that follow the GSM standard.  That is over 3 billion people in 212 different countries.  More than 96% of the phones used in the U.S. are text capable.  I would say that is a pretty healthy percentage.  And with smart phones on the rise (smart phone sales was the only part of the mobile marketplace that grew during the recession) the percentage of consumers who have access to more advanced types of mobile marketing, like mobile applications, is also on the rise.

#9) Mobile is like the web, only smaller
If your marketing agency ever says this to you, run away. Quickly.  Mobile marketing and web based marketing may share some traits and strategies, but they are two very different animals.  You wouldn’t trust a marketing company that runs a web campaign the same way as a traditional print campaign, would you?  Of course not.  Common business sense tells you that they are different mediums with their own unique advantages and disadvantages.  The same applies to mobile marketing.

#8) The U.S. lags behind the rest of world in mobile marketing and internet usage
There was a time when this wasn’t a myth.  Europe was way ahead of the United States in cell usage in the 90’s, as were many developing nations that didn’t have the infrastructure to support land lines.  Since the cell phone usage was higher in these places, mobile marketing naturally got a foothold there first.  But in the past decade, the United States has come into its own regarding mobile usage.  Now, our cell phone usage is as widespread as any European nation.  If anything, the fact that consumers in the U.S. have not been exposed to mobile marketing campaigns for as long is a plus to companies looking to expand in to the mobile world because the consumer market has not been saturated yet.

#7) The mobile web/texting is all about teenagers and twentysomethings
Every age group uses mobile web and texting.  From pre-teens to senior citizens.  The average age of a texter is 38, and the fastest growing group of texters is age 45-64.

#6) Mobile marketing is too hard to measure the ROI
Then you’re doing it wrong.  Having mobile optimized WAP landing pages, using campaigns that flow across multiple marketing mediums, using unique mobile coupons per campaign, etc.  There are many ways to measure the ROI of a mobile marketing campaign, don’t let your marketing agency tell you otherwise.

#5) Mobile marketing is not a proven way to gain business
President Obama might disagree.  Mobile was a key component to his presidential campaign, and it seemed to work out pretty well for him.  In fact, over 2.75 million SMS messages were sent out to subscribers during his campaign.  While mobile marketing is relatively new, it is not unproven.  There are many examples of both good and bad mobile campaigns that can be used when forming your own strategy.  In fact, that might be a good idea for a future blog…

#4) The mobile phone is a stand alone marketing channel
Why it can stand alone, all marketing channels are made more effective when combined with other channels.  This is one of the reasons you shouldn’t settle for a marketing agency that only does mobile, or only does email marketing, etc.

#3) Mobile devices are too personal, leading most people to reject any advertising that appears on them.
The Critical Adviser from iMedia tells us that 54 percent of U.S. users are willing to accept ads on their mobile devices.  But it is important to keep in mind that mobile marketing is more personal, and therefore intrusive or unsolicited marketing can be very damaging to any campaign.

#2) SMS is the only type of mobile advertising
It might be the most popular because it reaches the largest consumer base, but it is by no means the ONLY type.  Web apps, bluetooth marketing, MMS campaigns, etc, there are a lot of other ways to market to the mobile world.  In fact, most industry experts recognize that Mobile SEO is going to become the most important part of mobile marketing in the next 5 years.  Why?  Just pick up and iPhone or Android Phone and look at the incredible array of applications available that take advantage of search engines and the phone’s location aware services to find retail, entertainment or restaurants in the user’s local area…

#1) SMS is yesterday’s news
Nope, it is still going strong.  Yes, those mobile applications are more sexy, and smart phones are on the rise, but they simply do not have the reach that SMS does… yet.