HipCricket launched an SMS campaign for Maybelline; check out the numbers to see just how effective mobile marketing can be.

The world has changed. Consumers want information, entertainment and interactivity when they want it and how they want it.

250 million Americans own a mobile phone, and that number rises every day. Increasingly, consumers are using these devices for more than talking.

Over 136 million use text messaging on a regular basis. According to recent research by Nielsen Mobile, more than 32 million people access the internet on their phones in a month. And 41 percent use their phones to send pictures.

But has the world really changed? Advertisers are still seeking the holy grail -- a measurable, real-time one-to-one relationship with customers and prospects. Therein lies the promise of mobile marketing.

Given our industry's successes in 2007 (somewhere between modest and "touch all the bases" impressive), it's no surprise that companies are increasingly looking to incorporate a mobile component into their traditional marketing efforts. In fact, eMarketer predicts mobile marketing will be a $16 billion industry by 2011.  

Marketing professionals want to foster more direct relationships with their customers, enhance the value of their traditional advertising and expand revenue. But as with any investment, there's a need to see through the hype and identify solutions that will deliver solid results now.

Similarly, brands are gauging effectiveness with real yardsticks.

Here's one example of how mobile marketing achieved this:
 
In June 2005 Maybelline introduced its Wet Shine Fusion Lipstick. In addition to an email push to its existing customers, the company wanted to incorporate an SMS element to further build out its database and more effectively reach and interact with prospective customers for future product releases.

Maybelline selected HipCricket in part because of our ability to track results (we were able to tell them where the entries came from and the age distribution of the respondents). We also worked alongside the company's creative team to create a compelling offer -- free samples.

Customers were able to text in for a chance to win a free Maybelline Wet Shine Fusion Lipstick, enabling Maybelline to capture respondents' mobile phone details in the process. Users learned how to enter via email and the Maybelline website, and once they opted-in they were sent a text invitation to enter and win. The campaign metrics demonstrate its success:

• The effort led to 31,000 total respondents, representing all 50 states and Puerto Rico. 
• The majority of participants came from the 18-34 category (although 399 were over 35, and 25 were over 55).
• 67 percent of the audience replied to the initial invitation.
• 88 percent opted in to receive future messages from the company.

Of these participants, 5,000 total winners were selected and notified in real time.

Maybelline's incorporation of a mobile element demonstrates how interactive mobile marketing can not only create measurable, real time, one-to-one relationships between an advertiser and its customers -- but it can extend the value and ROI of a campaign well beyond a single impression. The 88 percent of respondents who opted-in to future messages from Maybelline opened the door for continued engagements and brand reinforcement down the road.

It's this ability to create an ongoing two-way dialogue with your target audience that demonstrates the power of mobile marketing.

 Jeff Hasen is chief marketing officer at HipCricket. Read full bio.