“How do we not make the same mistakes that Internet guys made” is the question which comes to my mind when I think of Mobile Advertising. Online advertising industry arose from $ 6 billion to $17 billion between 2001 and 2006. It is clear that success was not easily won. That’s hindsight of course for the online ad spending, but it is opportunity for mobile advertising. No one wants to make same mistake and everyone wants to get there.
By Mobile advertising we mean any way to message a person while they are mobile through any mobile device, so as to influence their behavior. Mobiles are large in volume, fashion statement, are always carried and are always on unlike computers. Equally important is that mobile has unique attributes versus other media choices including the locality or geographic specificity it can attain and the potential personalization of medium because each consumer has a handset. Both factors are major differentiators and of are major value to many marketers, thereby giving the mobile the opportunity to capture some of nearly $500 billion spent worldwide in advertising annually.
As mobile phones outnumber TV sets by over 3 to 1, and PC based internet users by over 4 to 1, and the total laptop and desktop PC population by nearly 5 to 1, advertisers in many markets have recently rushed to this media. In Spain 75%, France 62% and in Japan 54% of mobile phone owners receive ads. In Japan today, 44% of mobile phone owners click on ads they receive on their phones. D2 the biggest mobile advertising agency of Japan announced in November 2009 at the Mobile Asia Congress, that mobile advertising was worth 900 million dollars in Japan alone.
According to the research firm Berg Insight the global mobile advertising market that was estimated to € 1 billion in 2008. Furthermore, Berg Insight forecasts the global mobile advertising market to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 43 percent and is expected to become € 8.7 billion in 2014.
The good news is that like internet, mobile already is mass medium. While over 1 billion handsets are sold worldwide and mobile network infrastructure that can transmit those ad’s, mobile at basic level is ready for prime time advertising.
Mobile devices aim to outgrow the domain of voice-intensive cell phones and to enter a new world of multimedia mobile devices, like laptops, PDA phones and smartphones. Unlike the conventional one-way media like TV, radio and newspaper, web media has enabled two-way traffic, thereby introducing a new phase of interactive advertising, regardless of whether static or mobile. This user-centric approach was noted at the 96th annual conference of Association of National Advertisers in 2006, which described”a need to replace decades worth of top-down marketing tactics with bottom-up, grass-roots approaches”. Many use 2d bar codes such as Tag to make offline print material more interactive with their mobile device. This has been proven to be successful in Japan, UK, Philippines and has been catching on in Northern America.
Types of Mobile Advertisement:-
- The most commonly used type of mobile advertising are Mobile Web Banner (top of page) or Mobile Web Poster (bottom of page banner). Other type of advertising is dominated by SMS advertising (which has been estimated at over 90% of mobile marketing revenue worldwide).
- Other forms include MMS advertising, advertising within mobile games and mobile videos, during mobile TV receipt, full-screen interstices, which appear while a requested item of mobile content or mobile web page is loading up, and audio advertisements that can take the form of a jingle before a voicemail recording, or an audio recording played while interacting with a telephone-based service such as movie ticketing or directory assistance.
- In India the biggest traction of mobile advertisement could be Ad Ring back tone. The benefit of ad RBT is that it can bombard consumer’s ears with advertisement you want consumer to listen.
- Viral Marketing could also be one of the best ways to communicate the brand attitude. A recipient of an advertisement on his/her mobile, can forward that advertisement to a friend. This allows users to become part of the advertising experience. At the bare, minimum mobile ads with viral abilities can become powerful interactive campaigns. At the extreme, they can be involved in marketing practices. A key element of mobile marketing campaigns is the most influential member of any target audience or community, which is called the Alpha User.
- Brands have also started fan club communities and sponsoring sections of mobile Internet portals. In-game advertising is increasing. Pre–call ad inserts, ad caller ring-back tones (CRBT) as well as video ads on the mobile phone are gaining traction
Benefits of Mobile Advertisement
Do you think Mobile marketing is not easy to do then think again ?? because Mobile marketing is easy to set up and manage even without any technical knowledge. It provides a casual and interactive platform for communication between businesses and their customers. Delivery of messages are fast and controllable. Promotional efforts can be launched in as little as 24 hours. Response times are equally fast and are typically within 24 hours. Mobile marketing is cost effective, convenient to use, and reaches out to a large, growing market segment. It provides a means to set up profile groups and target specific groups. Mobile marketing allows full tracking of delivery as well as tracking of response and sales conversion rates. Mobile marketing can be easily incorporated with current promotion strategies. Immediate delivery is possible in case of any urgent announcements. Subscribers have control over which messages they want to receive and which they do not want to, making them more receptive to the idea of mobile marketing. Subscribers can choose to store messages and read them later. They can also forward messages easily, boosting viral promotion. Thus we can say that innovative features of mobile marketing make it possible for businesses to reach even those clients that do not have access to the internet.
I am listing down few benefits of Mobile advertisement which I personally feel will encourage any advertiser to go with mobile Advertisement.
- The ability to create outstanding and cost-effective promotion campaigns even on short notice
- The ability to reach a wider audience and expand market share tremendously without any additional effort or cost
- The ability to build better and longer-lasting customer relationships
- The ability to retain existing customers while enticing new customers
- The ability to penetrate the cell phone market and build brand awareness without having to spend a fortune on huge ad campaigns
- The ability to reach out to customers on the go and create a highly effective two-way communication
- The ability to integrate new, innovative forms of advertising and promotion with existing strategies without the need for large capital expenditures.
Future of mobile advertising:-
‘ The upcoming advent of 3G will bring about better video quality and faster Internet access that will also enable the easy viewing of advertisements, short ad clippings and jingles all three of which have till now been restricted to television and the Internet ’
Dr. Vasudevan, CEO, Flytxt, said, “There are at least 20 million 3G-enabled phones in India, which means that India already has five times Singapore's population as a potential 3G market. India is tipped to have a 3G subscriber base of over 100 million by 2012-2013. It will bring in new value added products with higher visual impact to drive new revenue streams for operators from different customer segments like the youth. The improved user experience of 3G will also make the mobile Internet more popular, thereby increasing the potential for mobile advertising.”
The global mobile marketing industry is expected to grow to $24 billion by 2013. According to industry reports, mobile advertising in India currently stands at around $25 million and growing.
A recent study by Nokia and TNS India put forth some startling facts as to why mobile advertising is destined to flourish in India. The report states that 18% of subscribers view mobile banner ads and, of those, 56% seek more information on the ads viewed. Further, 49% people opined that they did not mind viewing ads on their mobile phones. The 3G roll out in India will drive the use of content-rich applications, which will further drive the growth of mobile advertising.
