Introduction
Mobile phone technology is synonymous with modern society, and currently, most of the population has access to or owns a mobile phone. The mobile platform has evolved tremendously from sending messages and making calls to accessing the internet and availing real-time information to its users. A mobile phone user can now access a wide range of digital content instantly through their phone’s applications. As a result, people have developed a reliance on their mobiles due to their ability to complement the user’s life. Mobile phones provide a new platform for the delivery of content, services, and products to a wider audience than that which previous media could reach. Therefore, businesses that want to succeed in the 21st century must become adept at marketing their products through the mobile platform.
History of Mobile Marketing
Product marketing has a long history, and it takes on a new form on the mobile platform. Marketers can now relay product information through online advertisements or SMS notifications and reach a large audience due to the proliferation of mobile devices. Ideally, mobile phones are personal devices that contain unique identifiers of the preferences and traits of individual users. Marketers can use this information to narrow their audience down to those whose preferences indicate higher affinities for the company’s products. They can also market their products to people who frequent audience-specific online services since such audiences already display the same preferences. However, the cost of this approach increases according to the size of the audience that these services can reach. Therefore, marketers should carefully analyze their target audience and their preferences to minimize their advertising costs.
Reaching Specific Audiences
Dedicated applications achieve the same goal of reaching specific audiences with the added advantage of customer loyalty and increased security compared to online advertisements. These applications provide direct access to a company’s inventory without it incurring the cost of placing ads on other entities’ websites. Lifestyle applications provide the same advantage, allowing users to add information to the app’s inventory and make it available to other users. This approach is prevalent in location-based applications that provide suggestions based on the user’s location and allow them to add more business locations, personal reviews, and opinions.
Marketers can also take advantage of advertising through printable QR codes that multiple users can scan into their mobile phones. Unlike online advertising, companies do not incur increased advertising costs as the QR code’s audience grows. Dedicated applications thereby provide the same opportunities as online channels, with the added advantage of reduced costs, increased customer loyalty, and additional security.
Popularity of Mobile Devices
The widespread use of mobile devices offers a new platform for marketers to reach their intended audiences. Marketers can reduce advertisement costs by utilizing user preference data to target their intended audiences. They can also utilize audience-specific websites to ease their ability to reach their intended audience. Dedicated applications allow users to access to companies’ products or services directly and securely without the additional costs incurred when companies advertise on external sites. Location-based applications allow users to add information about business locations and their experiences with their products or services. The QR platform offers an additional platform for advertisements without increasing costs as the audience grows. The mobile platform is, therefore, a frontier that marketers should learn to utilize effectively to increase the reach and success of their products and services.