I LOVE My Phone, And So Do You
The love affair that we share with our mobile devices can be summed up with a goofy Jerry McGuire line: "You complete me." Marketing professionals understand the intimate connection that exists, and work every day to capitalize on the marketing potential of mobile. The statistics that get tossed around when discussing mobile marketing and mobile applications are startling. Covalent Media shared Chris Hershberger with LevelTen last week to help decipher some of the numbers, and explore how businesses can harness the power of mobile marketing in the future.
Mobile statistics
There are more than 4.3 billion mobile subscribers worldwide, and that number is expected to grow to 5.8 billion over the next three years. During that time, revenue from mobile data will overtake fixed voice revenue. 2009 was the first year that mobile shopping eclipsed the $1 billion mark, and the growth pattern is such that revenues could double and eclipse $2 billion in 2010. Beyond simple statistics, there is the aforementioned personal attachment that Americans have developed for their mobile phones. We spend about 2.7 hours per day, on average, on the mobile internet. 91% of mobile internet users go there to socialize (According to Ovum and ABI Research).
Location Based Applications
Foursquare, Yelp, Gowalla: these and others should become more mainstream platforms by 2012, when users of location based apps are estimated to exceed 500 million. People want to know and be known, and there is no better food to satisfy that craving than these tools. The sales potential of this mobile marketing field is astronomical, with immediate gratification for customers as a driving force. With 66% of location based application consumers falling between 25-54 years of age, the immense buying power of this industry is just starting to be tapped (data collected from techcrunchies.com).
Harnessing Mobile’s Potential
Companies like Covalent are navigating just how to take hold of the data above and achieve mobile marketing results based on the information. Covalent has identified eight types of mobile marketing:
- Advanced Mobile Marketing
- Branded Content Delivery
- Mobile Content Sites
- Mobile Internet Advertising
- Mobile Internet Sites
- Mobile Voice Channel Marketing
- Text Message Advertising
- Text Message Content Delivery
- Text Message Marketing.
With all of these channels open for development, mobile advertising has moved from an experimental field to an essential one for businesses of all types and sizes. Industry leaders that understand the mobile revolution and act to excel in the marketing niche will eventually spurt another famous line from Jerry Mac: "Show me the money!"
