Mobile marketing is marketing that is done on a mobile device, most commonly a cellphone. There are two main types of mobile marketing, one is through text messages and the other is through custom made apps. Companies can design apps which allow customers to view the restaurants menus for example or a company’s products. They would also update their app to inform customers about new products and promotions. Game apps could also be designed to allow customers to further interact with the brand. Text message mobile marketing is simply where, customers can text a certain promotion code to a certain number and get discounts or free products from a company. Text message marketing is also used primarily to take advantage of the increased amount of time that people spend on their cellphones. With all the new smartphones that everyone is talking about, consumers are using cellphones to access the internet and stay active online much more then before. It is very common for consumers to browse the internet on their smart phones while watching television or waiting in line for food. Nowadays with all the noise and clutter, companies who want to be successful have to find methods to get through the noise and differentiate themselves from their competitors. With the raising amount of people on their mobile phones, companies have started to include mobile marketing as part of their overall marketing plan. Earlier this year, Facebook stocks dropped a lot and several companies opted out of Facebook advertising due to the fact that Facebook’s mobile app did not display advertisements to the users. This goes to show that modern day companies care a lot about mobile advertising.
While I was taking the sky train home the other day, I noticed that A&W is doing a text messaging mobile advertising strategy. There were many advertisements at the sky train station about texting the keyword “burger” to a number to receive a free papa burger. The purpose of this marketing campaign was to drive more traffic to specific franchise locations. The campaign was extremely successful and the amount of responses exceeded initial expectations, there were over 36,700 responses in the first month. Amber Hampshire, account supervisor at AFA Krause Advertising, claimed that they were overwhelmed by the success of this mobile campaign.