The future of mobile marketing in China lies in pull-based marketing.
When most consumers hear the words mobile advertising, the first association in their minds is "SPAM SMS." While SPAM SMS isn't the greatest thing to have associated with our industry, the unfortunate truth is that over in 2007 alone 70 percent of mobile ad spending has been in the form of "Push-based" advertising. That's where subscribers receive SMS or MMS or WAP Push ads without permission, and for the most part, with little to no relevance. But all is not lost…
Starting 2008, the market situation has changed dramatically in China. In March of this year, the Chinese government and the mobile carriers have put extra focus on the matter of SPAM messages and have shut down several major offenders and adjusted systems and policies to limit all wireless Service Providers (SPs). This included the government-owned push-advertising firm, Focus Wireless, who was allegedly sending out over 100 million unsolicited messages a day.
This development may seem like a negative for the mobile advertising industry, but when looking at the big picture, it's actually very good news. With all the "noise" of unsolicited SPAM messages taken away, mobile subscribers will now finally pay more attention to the legitimate marketing messages they do receive. Additionally, with the easy "push-marketing" vehicle removed from the available list of marketing tools, advertiser and agencies are now forced to get more creative about how to attract attention of users, get their permissions to start a dialog, and create long-term relationships with them. Isn't that fundamentally what consumer marketing is all about? This is in fact the basis behind "Pull-based" marketing.
Pull-based marketing is THE future of where the mobile media is headed and is the most effective means of using this highly personal medium to reach and keep customers. In the pull-based model of mobile marketing, the initiation of communication with the advertiser or brand starts with the user. The conversation can start with something as simple as an SMS response to a print ad or using a mobile search service. Potential communication vehicles include, SMS, MMS, WAP-to-mobile, WEB, 2D barcode, voice or even by filling out a paper form. Search is of course a very natural pull vehicle. It's all about letting the consumer take charge and letting them choose what interests them and letting them give the permission for a one-to-one dialog. Below is a table comparing the effectiveness of various mobile media types. It seems to point to the conclusion that "Pull-based" mobile marketing is more cost effective than alternative solutions.
Mobile marketing done right is truly the Holy Grail of advertising. Gartner forecasts that mobile ads will capture over $12 billion of global marketing budgets by 2011. Mobile is the only medium that can let marketers uniquely target individuals and deliver customized messages to them at their time of decision making. The other great characteristic of mobile advertising is that it's not trying to replace traditional media, it works with them and makes traditional media better. It can help turn any traditional media campaign into an interactive campaign just by adding a mobile call to action. By adding an SMS short-code or a WAP address or 2-D barcode to a traditional ads, marketers can allow customers to instantly respond to the call for action. This allows users to react to ads anytime, anywhere and provides the much needed measurability that traditional ads have been missing. And by the way…it's all completely legal and doesn't create consumer privacy concerns or annoyance. Mobile media is here and now…use it well and it can given you access to one-to-one dialogs with three billion people worldwide.
Alvin Wang Graylin is the CEO and co-founder of mInfo Inc.