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User Distaste For Mobile Marketing Is Growing

Posted by Justin on Nov 13, 2009 in In The News, Marketing Strategy, Mobile Advertising, Mobile Marketing, Mobile News, Privacy

Every now and then the truth spills out in regards to how the general public as a whole views mobile marketing from an engagement standpoint.  It’s easy to get caught up in the idea that mobile marketing can do no wrong, but when it comes down to those who actually interact with the medium, it sometimes tells a different story.

A recent study put out by BIGresearch took a look at the current composition of mobile marketing’s audience, and the results may surprise you.  A key finding, and one that may seem ominous to any mobile marketer, is that since June of 2008, the percentage of people who don’t like mobile marketing has increased.  More specifically, 67 percent don’t like text ads (vs. 64 percent last year), 60 percent don’t like voicemail ads (up from 57 percent) and 60 percent don’t like video ads (up from 56 percent).

Likewise, there’s also been an increase in the number of people saying that mobile marketing is an invasion of privacy — 52 percent of respondents, up from 50 percent in 2008 — as well as an increase in those saying marketers must get permission for such advertising- 58 percent as opposed to 56 percent a year ago.  This proves once again how important proper targeting and privacy are when constructing mobile campaigns.

Other interesting tidbits from the study include the results of overall demographic research in regards to mobile marketing’s primary audience.  The audience of mobile advertising is primarily male, with 58 percent of the total audience, with an overall median age of 39.2 – a stat I found particularly surprising.  You’d think the average age for those interacting with mobile media would be much lower.

With the fact that over half of all consumers who interact with mobile marketing see it as either a breach of privacy or downright intrusive, it may seem like mobile marketing is going down the wrong path.  In reality, it just means that marketers must change their gameplan and put more emphasis on creativity, extreme targeting and other aspects to improve overall end-user engagement.

Digital Marketing Guide: Mobile

How Marketers Can Use Location-Based Devices

By Rita Chang

Published: March 30, 2009

All right, we know you’ve heard that one before, but the truth is mobile is still experimental in some quarters, and even brands that are big believers in the channel still allocate comparatively small pieces of their digital budgets to it.

In a nutshell, mobile is difficult. Even the most versed practitioner will tell you it’s a convoluted ecosystem to navigate. Some of the technology that has made the internet easier to use for marketing, such as cookies, which track users’ surfing behavior, hasn’t arrived in mobile yet. Others say the reach is still not quite there and that there haven’t been any great case studies that prove it is.

Still, mobile businesses are getting venture-funded, and it’s not a channel to write off: There are more phones in the world than personal computers, and the opportunity presented by a highly personal, one-to-one, always-on communications device can’t be ignored.

There’s been considerable buzz around location-based services. What’s the deal?

Location-based services locate people or objects using GPS, Wi-Fi or triangulation, which calculates location based on cell-tower signals. Marketers can use LBS to serve location-relevant promotions, such as latté coupons for consumers on their way to a certain coffeehouse. (You’ve probably heard that one before, too.)

Some mobile social networks, such as Loopt, Limbo and Google’s Latitude, use location-based services to let people make their location visible to their friends.

There’s also the concept of “proximity marketing” — when advertisers transmit promotional content wirelessly within a particular place or venue (e.g., a concert taking place at a stadium) to the cellphones of nearby consumers. This is also opt-in and widely used in parts of Europe. It’s often based on Bluetooth technology, which has just started to gain distribution in the U.S., hence its slower takeoff on this side of the pond.

Being privy to someone’s location — isn’t that a privacy invasion?

Getting users to opt in is rule No. 1 for anything LBS-related. There’s a fine line between using location-based data to be helpful and scaring the bejesus out of people — and global mobile-industry body CTIA has set guidelines for such situations.

A Jupiter Research study last year found that nearly one in five marketers bemoans a lack of inventory and worries about how intrusive location-specific messages might come across. Twenty-three percent say there aren’t enough eyeballs to make it worth their while.

What about mobile apps? Clients, my boss, everybody’s asking about them. Should I be doing one or is this a case of GMOOT, or Get Me One of Those, Syndrome?

Yes, it does seem like everyone’s rushing to apps — those services and utilities that consumers can download on their carrier networks or via some sort of handset storefront. And for that you can thank Apple, which introduced the App Store for the iPhone and iPod Touch over the summer. Apple announced in March that the App Store has more than 25,000 applications and has logged more than 800 million downloads.

A branded application, the thinking goes, facilitates an ongoing dialogue between a consumer and the brand. Marketers also say apps are a useful way to keep the consumer engaged with the brand even after a campaign has ended.

OK, so I’m sold … right?

Hold up. Before you go out and start signing up developers, you should know that it’s a really crowded marketplace. Mark Lowenstein, an analyst with Wireless Ecosystem, recently told a conference that the most downloaded apps in the iPhone App Store reach 20% of iPhone users, which he equates to 1% of the market where the iPhone is available.

Moreover, if you really want to reach a broad base of mobile users, you need to develop for more than just the iPhone platform. It’s one of eight major mobile operating systems out there, and once an app is developed, it is not merely a simple matter of tweaking it to run on these platforms. So ask yourself: Why do I want an application? Would a mobile website work just as well? Is it worth the time and development to create a downloadable tool? You might find you’re warding off the GMOOT symptoms already.

The creative challenge

The screens are too small, some online creatives say. And offline creatives don’t want to sully up their beautiful outdoor or magazine ads with text-messaging short codes or other mobile calls to action.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that users engage more deeply with the brand when the ad unit is rich and interactive. And even though marketers may be limited in what they can do creatively, they have been resourceful in crafting work-arounds.

For instance, though the iPhone does not fully support Adobe Flash, the software that enables many rich, interactive websites, advertisers have found other ways to simulate the Flash experience. (Adobe said it’s working with Apple to bring Flash to the iPhone. Flash versions for Google’s Android, Nokia’s Symbian and Windows Mobile are also in the works.)

“The biggest challenge from the creative standpoint is in showing advertisers there’s a valuable creative environment,” said Jon Kaiser, a former ad executive turned independent consultant. He said automakers and entertainment marketers need to reach audiences that are hard to find in other media. “They’re going to push it because they need to … and they’ll figure out their creative from that standpoint.”

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