What is mobile advertising? It is connecting brands with people on the one device they always carry with them. But what does that mean?
For retailers, the potential is enormous. Everyone is familiar with the concept of customers being "pinged" with, say, a Starbucks ad just as they pass a Starbucks store. But this isn't mobile advertising. In fact, it might actually be stalking -- and mobile advertising like this just doesn't exist.
The edge that mobile offers
Mobile advertising is the opportunity to serve potential customers with a relevant, appealing offer on which they can easily act. For instance, a consumer is browsing mobile content or viewing a mobile map when an opportunity is presented to click through a banner ad to receive a mobile coupon that can easily be redeemed at a store, or to schedule a test drive of a new vehicle model or to find the nearest retailer of a certain product, with useful directions to the nearest point of sale.
Mobile advertising is also a way for retailers to create permission-based, personal relationships with their customers in a modern world where relationships are hard to forge. Retailers face a crushingly competitive environment. Big Box stores dominate the mass media share of voice; online e-retailers diffuse the need for point-of-sale locations, and with lightning fast fads replacing fashion cycles, media buyers have a hard time planning and optimizing buying.
Consumers are inundated with ads on television, the internet, magazines and billboards -- so much so that a retailer's message gets lost in the noise. But what if a retailer could cut through all this noise and reach its audience on a personalized, exciting and targeted medium -- with that audience's permission? With mobile, that can be a reality.
Imagine being able to engage a teenage girl with a mobile-style quiz from her favorite store. Imagine a holiday shopper being able to download her son's wish list to her handset before heading out to the mall. Imagine sending a text message to a loyalty card holder letting him know that his 20-percent-off coupon is about to expire.
Mobile provides retailers with a complete and cost-effective channel to build customer relationships and drive sales. Retailers can "mobilize" and build upon existing customer acquisition and retention programs through a variety of mobile mechanics:
- Mobile alerts update customers of sales, new products and shipments or extended hours.
- Mobile coupons drive customers to the store with special deals they don't need to worry about clipping from the newspaper and remembering at a later date.
- Mobile coupons sent on a card member's birthday enhance loyalty.
- Text notifications of coupon expiration dates drive store visits.
- Mechanics like birthday reminders, mobile access to wish lists, recipes or shopping lists stored on or sent to the phone encourage in-store shopping.
The very nature of the mobile phone makes it a powerful advertising medium. It is always there and always on. This means that mobile is also a brilliant way of engaging customers from other offline channels: billboards, press and direct mail, for example. In any of these, a simple five-digit short code can be used to aid response. Users simply text in a key word for further information, the nearest point of sale location, or a coupon. Indeed, mobile can make other channels a great deal more effective.
For many people, mobile is a communication device, messaging tool, remote email, and alarm clock -- a true lifeblood. With the mobile advertising industry expected to boom to $14 billion in 2011, it's only a matter of time before banner ads on mobile websites are as common as commercials on sitcoms. Mobile affords the savvy retailer the opportunity to provide not only advertising, but also valuable services on and through their most personal device -- services that will instill loyalty, improve the consumer experience and drive store traffic.
Nothing capitalizes on the capabilities of mobile like retail. Shoppers are mobile. The shopping process is often spontaneous. The mobile phone is always on and always available. The mobile phone is an ideal platform for retailers to capture the moment and provide utility, value and even fun, while driving foot traffic and drive sales.
Mike Baker is VP and head of Nokia Ad Business. Read full bio.
