User:Jasminevickers/sandbox

The advantages of mobile marketing
In developed economies, mobile phone penetration rates have been on the rise since the mid-1990s and the advertising industry’s interest in using mobiles as a medium of marketing communication has been on the rise ever since. At the end of Q1 2016, Ofcom revealed the proportion of adults who personally own/use a mobile phone in the UK to be 93%. Despite this, in 2016 33% of marketers said they do not use mobile marketing. At a time where mobile devices are obtaining an increased share of the public’s digital time, implementing mobile marketing offers businesses a variety of advantages.

Firstly, marketing messages via mobile can be more personalised than other marketing channels, making them more relevant over the latter, such as TV and radio. Unlike any other channel, mobile marketing allows companies to ‘utilise the unique properties of mobile, such as touch screen, location tracking, and having an in-built camera’. According to Bauer et al., 2005, ‘mobile marketing is considered as a viable means of marketing communication because of the inherent features such as personalisation, localisation, ubiquity and interactivity’. It not only reaches consumers at individual level, but also encourages them to interact through aspects such as mobile apps and QR codes, making two-way communication possible. Secondly, many firms see high business potential in mobile marketing, based on its enablement of a ‘pervasive electronic presence alongside their consumers at anytime and anywhere’. For instance: location-based mobile marketing allows businesses to target consumers when shopping by sending them coupons via Bluetooth upon entering a store. As technology evolves, companies who use mobile marketing are continually offered new and innovative ways to reach out to their target audiences. Keeping track of new technologies and formulating strategies that exploit new technologies is a fundamental part of any effective mobile marketing plan. It allows companies to beat their competitors to fresh marketing techniques.

From a more simplistic perspective, mobile marketing is one of the most affordable ways to advertise a product or service and it yields immediate results, as consumers tend to read their messages and notifications as soon as they receive them. It can also be noted that by informing consumers of company promotions on their individual mobile devices, they are more likely to respond favourably, as it can make consumers feel special and appreciated. Likewise, target consumers are less likely to feel annoyance at advertising on their mobile phones, because in order for the company to have obtained their number, the consumer would have supplied information to the advertising company, or have bought from them before. For instance: Dominos Pizza branches send out deals via SMS to consumers in the local area who have ordered from them recently. In particular, SMS mobile marketing is deemed to have high efficacy, as over 90% of consumers read every text message they receive, creating a higher reach than channels such as email, where the open rate tends to be much lower. Furthermore, if mobile marketing occurs through a mobile app instead, the consumer has downloaded it independently for its marketing strategies to take effect, demonstrating that they have an interest in what the firm can offer.