Mobile Marketing!?

Every day we are seeing more and more company's delve into the world of mobile marketing and I am thrilled to see the transition taking place.

I am however concerned at the number of companies out there that are pushing their value proposition as mobile marketers, when in fact the the truth is they're not!

The use of various elements of mobile media must be viewed in line with an entire strategy and should not neccessarily be used independently - that is not Mobile marketing!

What is Mobile Marketing?

Is it the use of SMS/Text,
Is it the use of MMS,
Is it the use of a Mobi-site,
Is it the use of Banner Ad Placements,
Is it the use of Applications,
Is it the use of Social media.

Running an SMS based campaign works exceptionally well if utilised to inform or solicit participation in competitions. As advertising - it pales into insignificance by comparison to an MMS based campaign - where you have the ability to engage with a user in a very rich, and entertaining basis.
Setting up a Mobi-site gives you a mobile presence however how are you engaging with customers in this space? This is important! This is where your level of engagement needs to tie in with what is transpiring in the social media space. This should form a part of your online strategy. Your Mobi-site is crucial to the success of your Mobile marketing campaign - make sure you think this one through carefully in order to meet your objectives.
Using Content and Applications can form a crucial part of the delivery mechanism but should by no means be the core of your Mobile Campaign. They are an extension to achieve your Reach.
If you review the statistics about social media and understand what social media is all about - you'll understand that there is an inexorable link between the 2 mediums.
People are choosing where they spend their time online and the clutter associated with branding/advertising is filtered out by what they choose to engage in.
The mobile phone is literally the access point to this world of social networking and as a brand, one needs to ensure that you have your strategy geared and optimised to extract and deliver VALUE!
There is a direct correlation between social networking and mobile marketing and there is a huge requirement to facilitate incorporating the mix of mechanisms above to deliver that.

So What is Mobile Marketing?
It is in fact the strategy around engaging a brand with consumers in a mobile environment, to deliver and achieve the desired objectives. Use the medium effectively and you will discover the most powerful media platform - ever!