By Sunny Nagpal, Co-Founder & MD, Httpool India
We’ve come a long way since Martin Cooper invented mobile phone in 1973 as a portable handset, to early 1990s when they were actually available in the markets, or in 1994 when the first SMS was sent in Finland to 2000 when mobile advertising made its debut and still grows strong in the marketing scenario of the world.
We have seen an exponential growth in mobile web and app usership, through the release and distribution of smart phones and open platforms like Android.Mobileis shaping up as an exciting medium for advertising and we have seen that the smart brands have already taken these first green shoots of growth as a sign to start investing in the medium.
Mobile advertising, undoubtedly, has a great future as it begins to prove itself as the most effective digital advertising channel.
Here is why the advertising on cellph”one” will be the most preferred one:
1. One on One: (Personalized, location sensitive)
One of the major reasons why mobile ads are so effective is largely due to mobile phones allowing advertisers to target their audience with messages that are intended just for the user. Users generally pay more careful attention to mobile ads (example: banner on a notification page). You see people adding utility and productivity tools to their phones in a very personalized manner. Advertisers have already started focusing here, creating such tools, applications which work as enhanced sponsorship and works well with mobile because it is such an intimate environment – people are looking to add more content to their phones and personalize them.
Moreover, a mobile phone can provide information about the user’s movement and changing location that can be used for timely offers, such as a discount at a store or at a cafe in the food court as a user enters a mall.
So, the next big thing is location-based marketing. This means the example that is often cited of someone walking past a coffee shop and getting a text telling him to come in and have a cup of coffee is not far off. Advertising for small local businesses can have a much stronger business case.
2. Many to One: (Manifold Messaging)
There are multiple points to deliver your brand messages, unlike other media, mobile advertising has a much richer menu of options to offer advertisers: voice (visual voicemail, ringback tones, missed call notifications), text (SMS), multimedia messaging (MMS), mobile Internet, billing touchpoints, handset clients and more.
This allows an advertiser to create a trail with multiple messages delivered to same user through above means. However, here the attempt should be to deliver them as seamlessly and non-intrusively as possible.
There are ads that can come across as real-time situations such as billing and location triggers, and can be highly effective in meeting immediate real-life needs and maximizing response rates.
3. Two sided one: (Interactive)
The interactive nature of the mobile phone removes barriers to responding and purchasing through direct user response capabilities.
As mentioned, mobile’s targeting technologies make ads more relevant to users, while also delivering successful campaigns for advertisers. With mobile, the ads can become more effective and relevant to the user when they can engage in a conversation with the person with regards to the advertised product or service. Mobile advertising allows for users to click/touch the banner ad and then is prompted to their dial screens with the number already configured into their dialers. This functionality is called Click to call.
There are also possibilities to do campaigns with a click to SMS/Purchase/Download/View Video/Email functions as well, all depending upon the campaign objective. Instant interaction will make the lead more valuable and in result lead to an increase in sales.
4. “That” one: (Targeted)
A mobile phone provides extremely granular details about the user. This allows advertisers to know exactly who the users are in order to target ads effectively. They can thus target by Geography (Country, City), Carrier (Airtel, Vodafone and so on), Channel (category of content – Entertainment, Business Finance, Travel and so on), Device (Nokia, Samsung, Micromax, iPhone and so on) and Operating System (IOS, Android, RIM, Symbian).
Because targeted ads are inherently more relevant, they are more interesting. Users pay more attention to them, and advertisers get a higher response rate. This makes the medium really cost effective and ROI driven.
5. Everyone has one
Well, we all know that by now! Very often, we see people having more than one mobile phone. While volumes are great and will give you that reach, it is the way people use their phones that is of more interest to the advertisers. Mobile phones today are central to many aspects of people’s lives, and are a key access point for most media consumption – information, entertainment, communication, transaction, self expression and socializing.Mobileis a huge part of people’s live already and it continues to evolve its purposes.
Think most developing countries. Think India, where most cities are still fighting to meet their power needs. In such times, mobile phones come up as a vital source of information, utility and entertainment. Broadband is still to cover whole of India, but mobile providers with 3G have changed the scenario of Internet browsing. This will only get better with time.
Historically, it is clear that people don’t like to pay for content. So then, we shall see advertising fund the mobile content as it funds TV, Print and Online.
Mobile advertising in current scenario remains a part of overall digital mix, rather than a standalone platform and therefore advertising spend is largely contingent on, and limited by, overall media budget mix. However, this is slated to change soon, with most advertisers and agencies realizing the effectiveness of the medium both as a standalone and an integrated channel. We see major agencies appointing media planners dedicated to mobile, and it would be an understatement to say mobile advertising has a very bright future globally and in India.
And for the advocates against the perception, here is what Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM in 1943 said: “There is a world market for maybe five computers”.
Sunny Nagpal is co-Founder & MD, Httpool India