The Web Is Dead

We aren’t the first to say it (calling Chris Anderson and, er, Prince… well, he said the ‘Internet’ not ‘Web’ but consider the source).
 
While Chris Anderson talks about the increase usage of video and peer-to-peer (aka social media), we think something else is afoot.

That ‘something’ is mobile marketing.

AISI, mobile is where it’s @

Confused?  Us too.

Even though I am one of the many stuck between Gen X and Gen Y, I don’t have a grasp on the text shorthands* used by today’s mobile mavens.  (This coming from someone who religiously uses her phone for texting and tweeting.)
*Not surprisingly, this site includes some rather lewd shorthand options.  Be forewarned.

Shorthand aside, the age of mobile marketing has arrived… and the plethora of mobile-focused articles of late is just one indicator of this trend.

As Judy Shapiro wrote in her 2010-08-23 AdAge article, marketers need to prepare themselves for the future, and the future is in mobile and mobile computing.

The difference between mobile and mobile computing?  3G versus 4G.

The similarity?  By in large, marketing firms and companies across various consumer-facing industries are not ready to tackle the technology of now and certainly not ready to tackle the technology of the future.  That is even truer for business-facing industries.

I’m not here to tell you how to effectively market via mobile devices.  That’s not our specialty.  What I am here to tell you about is the trends in marketing as a call to action.

Sound the trumpets and drums because this is your call to battle!
(summoning Russell Crowe circa “Gladiator”)

Here’s your warrior’s roadmap.
(Okay, it’s just our technology-focused spin-off of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, but we think it’s pretty neat… even if it is skewed toward technology usage in developed nations.)

Don’t believe Ms. Shapiro or think our hierarchy of needs is less than noteworthy?  We have some compelling (and factual) reasons for you to read on…

Mr. Mobile Marketing, please meet Ms. Mobile Research (and why you should care)

What do you think is the most prevalent technology across the world?

Television?  Internet-enabled computers?  Heck, computers without Internet access?  Radios?

Nope.  It’s mobile phones.  (You probably saw that one coming.)

Mobile phones are now nearly ubiquitous in the developed countries and are a dominant force in developing nations.  In America, over 90% of us have mobile phones.  In Hong Kong, it’s a whopping 150%.  Source

Wait a tick… 150%?

Okay, so those percentages are calculated by dividing the number of mobile phones by the population of that country or city, as is the case with Hong Kong.

That means that, on average, everyone in Hong Kong has a mobile phone and about half of the population has more than one mobile phone.  (Disclaimer: this may or may not be “fuzzy math.”)

Hong Kong isn’t the only mobile stronghold.  Here is a list of countries with mobile ownership exceeding 100%:

• Bulgaria;
• Estonia;
• Germany;
• Hungary;
• Israel;
• Italy;
• Jordan;
• Lithuania;
• Netherlands;
• New Zealand;
• Portugal;
• Romania;
• Spain;
• Taiwan;
• Ukraine; and
• United Kingdom.

Moving from URLs to UGC (User-Generated Content)

What does this mean for you?  There is a huge opportunity to engage a massive number of people when and where they are spending their dollars, euros, yen, pesos or pounds.

We’re not talking about having people texting in answers.  We’re not even talking about garnering support or encouraging donations through texting… no matter the subject:

"Oscars - Text "Dolphin" to 44144 (The Cove)"



We’re talking about interacting with users through their mobile devices…

• Location-based advertising and communication;
• Brand-relevant mobile apps that actually engage the user for more than two minutes;
• Mobile-ready videos that are easy to share; and
• Enabling the masses to create user-generated content about your brand that is to upload to mobile phones.

The bottom line: you need to provide relevant content when and where the customer is engaged and most likely to act. 


In our next post, we will discuss how multicultural marketing and mobile marketing have not yet found a synergistic relationship… and how important it will be to bridge that (profitable) gap.  Stay tuned.  Stay engaged!

One final note:  please… please… be judicious when using texting shorthand.  There’s only so much of that we can take.

For the love of research...

EOM   ;)