expertSEM

Last week, I had the pleasure of taking a Big Apple business trip to the DMA and OMMA Mobile Conferences. As usual, the speakers were phenomenal and informative and I walked away with more knowledge than I could actually ever quantify. The surroundings weren’t too shabby either.

The DMA had speakers ranging from Yahoo! and CNN Money to iLoop and Medialets. The day was broken down into seven panels with topics such as why mobile must be included as a marketing channel, how to create and execute a mobile campaign, planning and buying, and the legal do’s and don’ts with mobile. OMMA Mobile also had an impressive lineup with speakers ranging from NBC and ESPN to Edelman and Myspace. A mulitude of topics spanned several panels and keynotes – finding mobiles proper place, mobile’s position in social media marketing, mobile metrics, and why to even consider mobile in your marketing plan.

I thought there were several key points to take away from these conferences.

1- Mobile is here to stay. While penetration rates of mobile may not be as strong as Internet marketing, mobile is growing rapidly. More and more businesses are recognizing that a unique set of customers are readily available and they are moving quickly to tap that market.

2- Mobile is just one piece of the advertising pie. Think of mobile as a catalyst to all your other media. Your mobile advertising should complement your traditional media while creating valuable interaction between you and your consumer.

3- Mobile reaches a different kind of consumer. When using SMS options, you have engaged with a consumer that is ready, willing, and able to listen to what you have to say. As long as you provide accurate, engaging, thoughtful content, you will have a repeat customer.

4- Treat mobile as both a push and pull medium. Use mobile to find your consumers, build awareness, and engage with those consumers on a regular basis. Push your information to those consumers, because as stated before, these consumers are already interested. Use mobile as a pull medium to engage with your consumers and create a conversation around your brand and products.

5- By nature we are a social, mobile society. (Just look at the number of Facebook apps that have been downloaded to mobile devices.) Having a consumer at your fingertips anywhere at any time is a marketing dream. I don’t think any additional elaboration is needed here.

Conclusion

With more and more user-generated content springing up all over the web, devoted consumers are going to be a great resource. Use mobile to not only reach those consumers but interact with them to build your brand and improve your services and products. We are in the beginning stages of a major shift in marketing and it is going to be exciting to see where it heads.

We Do Mobile!

Take advantage now. Don’t wait until the market is saturated and you have to work two or three times as hard to get noticed. If you are interested in seeing what we can offer you in terms of mobile services, contact us. We would be happy to create a custom proposal for your business.