Our Mobile Marketing Future

Hi everyone

For a long time mobile phones have been both the great hope, and the great disappointment, of digital marketing.

But with the launch of the iPhone, and development of smart phones like the Blackberry & Pre, things are getting really interesting for marketers. For the first time our phones are becoming a primary source for many to access the web and communicate with each other.

And this is driving a huge growth in mobile marketing opportunities in Asia, beyond just the usual mobile 'hot spots' of Japan and Korea.

Thailand in particular has a fast growing smart phone uptake, and one of the highest uses of mobile phones in Asia, so the possibilities here are tremendous.

But before we can realize these opportunities, it's worth highlighting the top mobile marketing mistakes . Too often in the past, marketers have done a poor job at adapting digital to mobile environments. The main points are:

- Design for mobile not PC: Customers want fast access to relevant information. So they need services that recognize they are on the move. They also want location-aware, activity-specific experiences. So thousands of words, massive images, slow downloads, and lots of clicks are NOT the answer.
- Don't ignore mobile's limitations: The phone can't replicate the PC experience. Remember that the screen is smaller, there’s no mouse, no printer, the keyboard is limited, bandwidth may be restricted, and megabytes cost money. But creative marketers can still overcome all of these to deliver fast, fun, fantastic experiences designed just for mobile handsets.
- Do exploit mobile's capabilities: The best mobile experiences take advantage of mobile's strengths. Remember It’s a phone, a camera, a video camera, it sends text messages, It’s location-aware, it’s a micro-payment device, it sends email, has a music player, a video player, a calendar & a browser . If all this doesn’t inspire you and your campaigns, nothing will.

Okay then, so what are our options? Below is a list of mobile marketing tools, and recent best practice examples, that show the beginning of the new mobile marketing revolution:

1. Mobile Web (WAP) Sites: These are great for everything from online retail utilities, to campaign supported sites. But the best sites don't try and do everything, but keep it simple to serve the specific needs of its users. The Bank of America mobile site is often given as an example of a site that does a great job. Find other great WAP sites here.

2. SMS/MMS Campaigns: It's perhaps been around the longest of all mobile marketing desciplines, and is still the most powerful tool for mass interactivity, and continues to evolve. Great SMS campaigns now are about opt-in, two-way involvement and immediate reward. Here's a good example of a campaign to launch an album from the popular Gorilaz band.

3. Mobile applications: With nearly 100,000 iPhone applications now developed, this is now a massive growth area which some people think could rival mobile web access for mobile marketing budgets. Mobile apps range from the fun, to the useful, to the silly. But if done right they can really provide a new way to interact with your audience and drive sales. My favourite branded apps at the moment are Barclays Card app, Grolsch beer fun and Pizza Hut ordering!

4. Mobile Advertising: One marketing tool which has promised much but rarely delivered has meen mobile advertising. The nature of the media and user reluctance to engage rarely makes this a compelling experience. Even advertising supported-mobile models such as Blyk have failed to really catch on. Having said that there is a place for mobile advertising with the right audience and as part of a more integrated mobile approach, as this campaign from K-Mart shows.

5. Mobile Video: As I discussed last week, video is exploding on the web, including on your mobile phone. Consumer generated mobile content, video sharing sites and even specialised video channels for mobiles - such as this mobile TV show from Sony Ericcson - are taking off.

6. Mobile Retail: It's not just marketing, our mobile phones are allowing us to search/shop/buy online like never before. Anything you can do on the web you can do more conveninetly - and often more simply - on your mobile. As this article shows, there are so many ways that creating shopping opportunities via mobile can be used effectively by brands.

7. QR/Short Codes: These so-called 'URL Killers', that allow you to scan a code on your mobile and get immediately connected to a mobile (WAP) site, have been around for a while in Japan and Korea - but not much elsewhere. All that is changing with smart phones and WAP access becoming popular, and you can see here that brands such Green Day, Firefox and Louis Vuitton are just some of the companies getting in on the act.

8. Location Based Services: The best thing about mobile is it's always with you - which means doing something out and about where you are is so relevant when done well. I've always loved this Hong Kong Airport campaign from Motorolla, but what really caught my imagination is how location marketing and social networking are combing to create some really interesting possibilities, such as this service from Four Square. Compelling stuff.

9. Future Mobile: I'll discuss more on this next week, but the integration of digital technologies to 'augment (add to) reality', such as giving you information overlayed on the real world when seen through your mobile, will be a really exciting area for marketers in future. To see what may be possible with this concept of augmented reality , check out here how we could use it to enhance our social networks!

But more on augmented reality vs virtual reality next week...

Cheers, Rob

Feel free to add comments below, or for further questions or advice contact me at rob.h@th.arcww.com