Introduction

In Ireland today, the Commission for Communication Regulation estimates mobile phone penetration at 121.5% with over 5.2 million mobile subscribers. In today’s business world, companies scramble at every given opportunity to find ways of effectively communicating with their consumers.

Mobile marketing is being increasingly used by companies in order to communicate and engage with their consumers. It is a given that most people carry their mobile phones around with them everywhere they go. In fact most people who have a mobile phone are within an arm’s reach of it over 90% of the time. So in effect, a mobile device is quite literally an essential part of the person almost!

Using the mobile phone as a marketing device to both existing and new customers is the most logical way to go if your company wants to market products or services. Given that mobile phone penetration levels in Ireland are extremely high, it would be foolhardy of companies not to consider mobile marketing as part of a viable advertising and communication strategy. This blog article will outline key reasons why you should implement mobile advertising now.

So what is mobile marketing?

According to Wikipedia mobile marketing is broadly defined as “the use of the mobile medium as a means of marketing communication” or “distribution of any kind of promotional or advertising messages to customer through wireless networks”.

Most Popular Activities: Irish Mobile Phone Users

The most popular usage of Smart phones in Ireland today are in descending order as follows:

1. Search Online: 46% of users search online on a daily basis

2. Emails: 39% of people check their emails

3. Social Networking: 39% check Facebook/Twitter etc.

4. Consumption of News: 36% check news via their mobile phones

All of the above activities mainly occur between six and ten in the evening, and in conjunction with other forms of media consumption like watching television.

Some More Interesting Facts

• 87% of mobiles can connect to the internet

• 46% of mobile owners use the internet on their mobile

• 20% listen to the radio on their mobile every day

• 18% of smart phone owners watch videos on their mobiles every day

• 16% of mobile owners clicked a mobile advert recently

Demographics

In Ireland, it is known that young men between the ages of 18 to 34 years of age are twice as likely to use their smart phones in comparison to their counterparts. Social networking is most popular on smart phones for women who are aged between 18 to 34 years of age. Email is most popular for those aged over 50 years. This information is key to getting a mobile marketing campaign right. Knowing your target demographic group and knowledge of how they interact with mobile technology is vital for success.

Benefits of Mobile Marketing

• Opt-In:  Mobile marketing requires an opt-in from users. This is great as once they accept your marketing messages,  consumers are more than likely to read what you send them.

• Measureability of Mobile marketing: SMS messages can be tracked. Text messages can reach anyone, any time, anywhere. So mobile marketing campaigns can be assessed in real time.

• Cost Effective:Mobile marketing delivers a high return on investment and has a low capital outlay, making it a very cost effective advertising method.

• Easy Reach of your Target Market: Customers can nearly always be reached and they can almost always be interrupted unlike other marketing or advertising channels.

• Location Awareness: Knowledge of your consumers geographic location can be critical to engaging in a relevant conversation with them. Location-awareness can be via broadcast services such as Blue tooth, or embedded within other transactions, that is QRS codes. QR codes stand for quick response.

• Improved time relevance: Timely Communication: A mobile phone is practically always-on thereby delivering more timely  communications than any other marketing channel. Improved time relevancy is likely to enhance the quality of marketing conversations. SMS Messages: Average response time is dramatically less than that of email or postal mail.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is fair to say that mobile marketing is clearly a very effective marketing channel. Given the above statistics on mobile usage in Ireland and the various ways users engage with mobile devices, it is fair to say that mobile marketing will be one of the key tools used in a marketing campaign going forward. For further information on mobile marketing services please get in touch with us at Superior Internet Marketing, we will be only happy to help you.

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