There were times when we dream’t of getting a Mobile phone for our self and we wondered how a cell phone could have a camera some four years ago. Times have changed drastically for the average mobile user and the Indian Mobile user base is growing considerably each day.

Today, mobiles carry those funky features such as WAP, Bluetooth, MP3, Radio, Video Recording, Sound Recording and much more. Mobiles have changed so much that you can start blogging right from your blogs and even read a couple of blogs irrespective of where you are. Mobile phones aren’t just a show piece today like it was a few years ago but it has become a neccessity today. A mobile is a must! Thus, the number of people buying mobile phones is growing at an alarming rate. People from villages have also started buying mobile phones. Even farmers today have mobile phones. Therefore, there is a huge opportunity for companies to connect to their targeted consumer base through various modes of mobile marketing. Let me explain what what mobile marketing is all about.
What is Mobile Marketing?

Mobile Marketing is all about marketing a product/service/brand on a mobile phone. It generally involves marketing through mobile phones or even computer-based technologies to market a brand on many number of mobile phones at one point of time. Mobile phones generally have a lot of features of which Short Messaging Service or SMS is one of the very popular features. SMS is an active mode of marketing for various special offers, ringtones, brands and products. Nowadays, mobile phones are even equipped with video messaging service often known as Multimedia Messaging Service or MMS. With MMS, a mobile user can send text, picture, audio, video and combinations of any of these. This means that mobile phones equipped with MMS facilities are already equipped with SMS facilities.

Though many of you might already be aware about Mobile Marketing through SMS and MMS, there are other ways to do mobile marketing such as mobile marketing through bluetooth and mobile web marketing.

Indian Mobile Marketing Trends for 2008:

 

• India’s population is more 1 billion people with more than 200 million mobile phone users which is growing sharply.

 

• Mobile content is starting to becoming an exciting field to venture in and thus, many startups & individual entrepreneurs are venturing into this field.

 

• Many entrepreneurs are even venturing into offering full-time mobile marketing solutions to companies across the world.

 

• According to the 3rd Annual APAC Mobile Attitude and Usage Study of the Mobile Marketing Association, India and China are rated as the most attractive in terms of mobile marketing solutions. Around 50% of the APAC mobile users were found to be moderately interested in mobile marketing solutions and only 13 % indicated least interests.

 

• Web search giants such as Google have big plans to come out with mobile operating sytems as well as mobile phones with specific features that help them connect the average mobile user to many internet advertising platforms instantly. This year Yahoo! also rolled out its search facilities for BSNL users and we had even blogged about it on WATblog. Mobile Web Marketing is another trend taking speed very fast.

 

• Websites such as Mginger and sms2india are coming up fast on the internet. These websites specifically pay users to receive sms’s on their mobile phones after taking their permission. Somehow, these websites are still struggling to convince eneough advertisers of the potential they hold so as to make substantial revenues. However, these websites can still create strategies that will enable them to make their business model successful and convincing.

 

• Bluetooth marketing has become a new mobile marketing trend which has been successful across bluetooth zones in malls across India.

Mobile marketing is still a nascent market which is still remaining to be tapped to its utmost potential. Though mobile marketing helps brands connect quickly to the targeted consumer base, there is a hindrance to it as there exists a national Do-Not-Call Registry for Indian citizens. Most people term mobile marketing as a hazard to their daily lives and hence register their mobile phone numbers with the Do-Not-Call Registry. Companies will have to get innovative to tap the potential which mobile marketing offers.

Bookmark this post to:

Related Posts

• A Scratch on a Glass to Achieve Faster Internet Speeds
• rhydhun - The Indian Music Jukebox from musicindiaonline.com
• Google Localization: News in Tamil and Tamil Transliteration for Blogger and Orkut Now Live
• Intel Eyes to Power the Web 2.0 Market, Joining Hands with Facebook
• Making Calls from Your Laptop Could be Possible Soon