Mobile Phones, PDAs and Mobile Marketing

The mobile phone market is such a fertile ground for advertising that it is only just beginning to be really exploited to its full potential, and this is partly due to the ever increasing complexity of mobile technology. There are several key strategies currently employed to penetrate the mobile market, and all use the cutting edge technology that mobile users are accustomed to using.

Mobile Marketing through Social Networking

The boom in the use and membership of social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook over the last year or so has of course been funded primarily by advertising, and with the implementation of 3G networking and HSDPA on mobile platforms, enabling super fast mobile internet connection, these social networking sites have been modifying their platforms and converting their content so that it is viewable on mobile handsets.

This is good news for advertisers too as marketing to the mobile audience can also be achieved through mobile social networking sites just as easily as on the internet, but with the market specifically geared to the particular audience who are using the mobile services.

Mobile Marketing through Applications and Mobile Gaming

The implementation of application stores by companies like Apple with the iPhone and RIM with the Blackberry Storm allows third parties to get their own applications installed on mobile users handsets, either for a small fee, or in the case of the most intelligent mobile marketing, for free but with the intent of promoting a product.

The most noteworthy current example of this would be Carling’s iBeer, which fills the iPhone’s screen with a virtual pint of Carling which can then be virtually drunk or spilled using the built in accelerometer within the iPhone.

Certain brands are also sponsoring their own casual mobile games or applications in order to have their brand image spread across the new medium and seen by new and existing consumer customers.

Mobile Marketing via Bluetooth

Most mobile devices and PDAs support Bluetooth connectivity, which allows data to be sent and received wirelessly between compatible devices, and this can be used in marketing. For example, in large places of business which experience a high volume of customer throughput, like a cinema or a shopping complex, having Bluetooth transmitters which will send information on deals, opening times, promotions and any other marketing information to your customers when they are in your place of business can be a great way of advertising, and they can choose to reject your Bluetooth data so it’s an optional service.

Mobile Market through Messaging

The oldest form of mobile marketing was and is performed through SMS messages, with purely text based information sent as part of a requested or unwanted service to the customer. Nowadays the use of MMS messaging, which can contain images and video as well as text, is more commonly used to promote a product or a service, and many companies offer ‘free’ information regarding their campaign by giving a text number in a television, print or online advert. This has been notably utilised in the promotion of films, as well as for the advertising of cars and even recruitment to the armed forces.

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Copyright Gadget Heaven™ 2008

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