Mass Media has been
a common form of marketing
for decades, starting
with newspapers,
magazines, and radio, escalating
to television, and
finally the internet. The
next frontier for mass advertising
is clearly the
smartphone. As the number
of people who own a
smartphone (mainly iPhones,
Androids, and
Samsungs) grows, so does
the potential for accessing
those consumers
through their mobile devices.
Similar to the internet,
the lower cost and
easy access to these
applications makes it
a viable marketing
option for both large and
small businesses, leveling
the playing field in
many industries.
One approach for companies is to simply use the
same internet marketing strategies that they are using to
reach customers on their laptops and transfer them to users
browsing the internet on their hand-held devices.
So businesses that are already reaching customers
using social networking mediums such as Facebook
can use the same mediums to market to consumers on
their smartphones. Almost every application, including
Skype, LinkedIn, and Twitter can be downloaded and
accessed on phones so that users can receive notifications
and messages when they are accessing the internet
on their devices.
However, smartphone marketing goes well beyond
just internet marketing on cell phones. Services like Google
AdMob use apps to market directly to consumers. Using
this service, marketers can place their advertisements on
popular apps in addition to internet search engines and
social media sites. Other marketing services such as
Shopkick operate as apps
on smartphones to give
reward points to consumers
when they enter specific
stores or purchase
certain products. The
consumer can redeem
those reward points with
participating stores in
return for discounts or
special prizes.
The greatest advancement
in smartphone
marketing, though, has
been the introduction of
QR (Quick Response)
codes. QR codes and their
successors, Microsoft Tag
codes, Near Field Communications
(NFCs), are
squares consisting of black
dots on a white background.
Consumers can
use the camera on their
smartphones to scan QR
codes, which then relay the contained information to
the consumer in the form of a webpage. Savvy companies
are now including QR codes in all their traditional
forms of advertising including print, television and
internet ads, reaching the mobile consumer on their
smartphone. One of the biggest advantages of using
QR codes is the ability to target the content that is being
provided to customers. QR codes can relay anything
from a simple phone number or a link to a website to
videos and customer-specific offers. This flexibility
ows marketers to customize their marketing pitch
based on demographics, customer preferences, and
location. For example, if a business knows that readers of
a certain magazine are regular customers and respond
well to special offers, it can tailor its QR codes in the
magazine to convey loyalty points and special offers to
the reader. Similarly, a customer attending a concert or a
festival can receive a promotion specifically targeted to
products or services being sold at that event.
QR codes provide an additional dynamic to traditional print and electronic marketing without adding much to the advertising budget. Services like Microsoft Tags allow advertisers to make their own tags for free. They also provide free reports on how many times your tag has been scanned and at which locations.
The relatively low cost of using QR codes is only one of the many advantages of marketing on smartphones. Smartphone marketing gives businesses the ability to target particular demographics based on location and the kind of smartphone used. It also allows marketers to tap into a growing market of young, technology-savvy consumers, who are increasingly basing their consumption patterns on smartphone usage. Smartphone marketing provides marketers a more vibrant platform with attractive ad formats for reaching consumers.
There are certainly downsides of smartphone
marketing as well. Primarily, this marketing strategy
will usually be an additional cost for most companies, since businesses will not be ready to replace their existing
forms of advertising yet. Additionally, the technology
used to reach consumers with web-based and
app-based advertisements is still in a fledgling state.
Advertisers understand that unlike television and
computer screens, smartphones have exponentially
fewer pixels and advertisements that would otherwise stand out on larger screens might not work as well on a smaller screen. Finally, the return on investment of
smartphone marketing is yet to be tested on a large
and long-term scale. Consequently, many advertisers are still skeptical about recouping the money and efforts
they will need to spend on smartphone marketing;
however like the internet, this tide will just continue to grow and smart businesses should sign on sooner rather than waiting to catch up.
[Business Insights is hosted by the Law Firm of Kumar, Prabhu,
Patel & Banerjee, LLC. Sonjui L. Kumar is a corporate, transactional
attorney and a founding partner of KPPB Law. She primarily focuses on serving as general counsel to privately held companies assisting them with all legal matters, including corporate governance, contracts, shareholder matters, mergers, and acquisitions.
Disclaimer: This article is for general information purposes only, and does not constitute legal, tax, or other professional advice.]