Make it Mobile

Lots is changing in the world of marketing but lately the emergence of mobile technologies is cause for pause to look at what is happening and how we can engage with these technologies.

Key Trends in Mobile
- Increasing consumer demand for smart phones
- Enhanced wireless service offerings (launch of 4G networks in 2011)
- New devices entering market from different makers (new phones and new tablet devices)
- Users increasingly accessing online content through their mobile devices
- Advertising dollars are shifting into display ads on these devices slowly
- Websites are designing mobile versions of their sites with simpler navigation experiences
- Mobile Apps are being downloaded for these devices from App stores regularly
- Location-based social sites are slowly becoming mainstream (Foursquare vs. Facebook places)
- Free public wireless is becoming a popular offering in public spaces (ie. Starbucks)
- Mobile has increased the level of participation “on-the-go” on Social Media sites
- eBooks are growing in popularity challenging sales of hard cover books
- Increasing popularity and demand for mobile gaming (ie. Angry Birds)
- New jobs are being created for developers as mobile app developers
- QR codes (digital bar codes) are increasingly appearing on Out of Home advertising asking users to scan it to send them to a website for more information
- SMS marketing campaigns are increasingly asking consumers to text message ‘something’ to a specific number for a particular call to action
- Companies are adding mobile apps as part of their service offerings (ie. Zip cars uses a wireless signal from  their mobile app to substitute as a car door key to access their vehicles.
- Augmented reality with smart phones is emerging as a new technology but is not widely being used, yet.

Opportunities
1. Add value to product offerings with how software can be developed for mobile devices that can enhance the user experience and ultimately add equity to the brand.
2. Develop mobile versions of websites in parallel to the design, programming, and deployment of standard desktop versions of websites so that cost synergies could occur.
3. As a result of the increased level of consumer engagement via social networking sites and mobile sites, new insights can be uncovered by observing behaviour in these environments.

Threats
1. The increase in the number of devices from a number of different makers complicates deployments of mobile websites and apps as they all have different interfaces.
2. Funding and investment for mobile content and applications is difficult to secure as other channels still dominate priorities within marketing departments (ie. TV, print, OOH, retails, POS, standard websites).
3. Knowledge gaps amongst marketers about mobile marketing, case studies, appropriate measurement, and benchmarking are barriers to marketing investment.


It is clear that mobile telecommunications are here to stay and the technology is continuing to evolve by the minute. The communications that mobile has enabled has meant that consumers demand content immediately and can share it with their social networks easily. It will be important for marketers to be innovative in their approach to capitalize on their opportunities. Doing so will ultimately add value to their brands. Not doing so could hurt consumer perceptions of a brand over time as they are left behind by competitors who do.