Mobile media marketing achieved worldwide fame in the early 2000s, the time when the SMS or short message service system began to flourish in countries across Europe, North America and Asia. Since then, many companies have used the same marketing tactic that they had used in successful email marketing campaigns. They collected mobile phone numbers as if they were email addresses and then sent different SMS advertisements to numerous recipients.
In 2005, just five years after SMS became an essential mobile communication tool, advertising of products and services through text messages became a legitimate form of marketing in the United States and Canada and in many countries of the world. Organizations were immediately founded that could regulate mobile marketing practices and set rules and guidelines for businesses. These same organizations would also launch and continue to launch various campaigns with the aim of evangelizing businesses to use the power of mobile communications.
If you’re a business owner planning to channel a portion of your marketing budget into mobile advertising and promotions, don’t be afraid to jump on the bandwagon as SMS marketing continues to expand unstoppably. As you read this article, different businesses are sending hundreds or perhaps thousands of text messages to their potential consumers, facilitating direct, personal, and interactive communication between brands and shoppers.
One problem that needs to be addressed in mobile media marketing is the misconception that sending promotional text messages is simply spam. This may be true a few years ago, but not anymore. In the early years of mobile marketing, there were still no rules as to how, when, and to whom to send promotional messages. However, today, given the presence of national and international agencies that monitor mobile commercial communications, people who receive promotional messages from companies may do so because they are willing to accept such messages. Mobile phone service companies are now also punishable by law if they are shown to sell their subscribers’ personal and contact information to third-party companies.
Phone service companies are also working hard to develop programs that can help small and medium-sized business owners use different mobile marketing techniques. Short codes, the four- to six-digit numbers that many businesses use to represent their official mobile phone number, are getting cheaper so they can be more accessible to small business owners. These short codes are rented every month for a certain fee and can be freely used to create innovative mobile campaigns and provide consumer services.
As mentioned, there are also mobile media marketing organizations and associations that regularly provide free seminars, training sessions, and conferences to boost the development of the mobile marketing and advertising industry. These groups can provide business owners with an overview of the local, national and international state of mobile marketing and consultation on how to get started with mobile advertising and promotions in certain types of businesses. Because this type of marketing practice is still expanding, companies basically have a huge uncharted terrain in which they can discover and create creative and innovative practices and techniques to engage with their target consumers more efficiently.