In the world of marketing, ‘professionals’ are always worked up about how the latest technology is changing ‘everything’. Nothing could be further from the truth, and yet, today a few entrepreneurs, and many marketers, are anxiously watching the shift to mobile advertising and marketing and wondering how they will make it.
If those are their concerns, they have good reason to worry. However, the technological shift is nothing more than a transition to yet another platform for reaching the consumer. Just as the development of the web, email and texting opened up more avenues to identify and target prospects, so too does the full range of mobile applications and devices.
We understand that behind all these applications and devices are the same prospects who were opening direct mail 30 years ago (and usually still do). They are the same prospects who we’ve targeted by phone, radio and TV ads for the last generation. They have the same hopes, fears and desires as they have always had. Only now, we have more ways than ever to reach them, and more importantly, more information about them.
If there is a concern I have about mobile marketing, it is a philosophical one. We’re so connected and so well monitored, the potentials for abuse by big business (or more likely, government), is enormous. The data managers know more about the consumer than he knows about himself, and can predict with reasonable accuracy what his next decision will be. (This is why metadata is more important than a recording of actual calls because there are more data points to consider, and the analysis of patterns lends itself better to predictive work).
We encourage our clients to embrace the move to mobile just as we did with contextual ads, display ads before that, email advertising, and all the rest. It all works, when done well. It all works, when measured, tracked and tested. Each means of reaching the consumer is one more opportunity to explain how you can change their life for the better.
