Friday, May 11, 2007
Mobile Marketing Conundrum
byHere are 4.5 billion reasons marketers get excited about the future of mobile marketing.
Here is one reason they should still be cautious.
Most people grew up with the expectation that it was “fair” to trade free TV, free radio programming, and more recently, free content on the Internet, for exposure to advertising messages. On the contrary, just about everyone thought of their phone as a private communication device, and there was no expectation that advertisers (phone marketers) could usurp this more personal channel. Thus, was born the Do Not Call list.
The future of mobile marketing is difficult to assess because a cell phone is really a hybrid device. It will also be an email reader, IM reader, web browser, an alternative TV device, mini-computer, music player, GPS navigation device, an electronic credit card and a lot more. Chances are the cell phone voice component will still be inaccessible to marketers, but the rest of the options will probably need advertiser support and that presents a great deal of potential for marketers to reach buyers.
