Mobile Marketing Takes Over…It’s Personal!

By now, most of us have seen the YouTube videos telling us how fast the internet has grown, how much shorter adoption times have become, and that Facebook has more users than many countries’ populations. Today, the newest trend is mobility. By 2012, at least 80 percent of all internet access will be through a mobile device, phone or tablet.

Here are some other things to know about mobile communication:

•  The average teen texts 3,339 texts per month.
• The number of smart phones shipped globally in Q1 of 2011 was 77 million.
• In 2010, 5 billion apps were downloaded.
• US smart phone users now number over 73.3 million.
• Advertisers have spent more than 1 billion on mobile media spend in 2011 so far.

So what does all this mean to you and me?

Personal is the word that comes to mind. We use our mobile devices for nearly everything we do – e-mail, social networking, and texting. As a result, we have made ourselves available 24/7. Our mobile devices are at our disposal at all times – and we don’t ignore them. Statistics show that we respond to 95 percent of text messages we receive and we read 30 percent of our emails on a mobile device. According to a Deloitte survey, this holiday season, more than one quarter (27 percent) of smart phone owners plan to use their devices for holiday shopping, with 59 percent using mobile apps to compare prices and 46 percent using their devices to check product availability while on the go. Mobility has become, for all intents and purposes, an integrated part of who we are.

Wired phones offered us choices. We had the choice to pick up or not to pick up. But now, our wireless devices compel us to answer all the time via e-mail, text, or phone. Our mobile devices have allowed contact with us to become personal, and that is the key to what is next. We are available 24/7 and so we have become living and breathing marketing targets.

The mobile revolution is here. Digital strategies are leading the way to even more revolutionizing as companies review their marketing plans for 2012 and beyond. Short message service (SMS), quick response codes (QR codes), e-mail and mobile websites are replacing traditional methods of advertising at rates much faster than expected.

This new mobility trend is quickly gaining momentum and will soon become the norm. Take a minute to measure your own reactions to what you are receiving via a mobile device. This is a major opportunity for marketers around the world – accept it and be a part of the mobile revolution!

Tags:  archives, author, business, holiday, information technology, internet, nanotechnology, technology, wireless, youtube

About Houston Technology Center

Named by Forbes' as one of "Ten Technology Incubators Changing the World," the Houston Technology Center is a business accelerator and the largest technology business incubator in Texas, advancing the commercialization of emerging technology companies in the greater Houston area.