Mobile Marketing: A Consumer-controlled Market Mechanism

Often, our mobile phones declare the arrival of messages that read: 'Company X is offering flat 50 per cent discount on its products or Bank Y is open with loans at a surprisingly low interest.' We often feel disturbed but there is no way that we can deny that technology has given the brands an easy license to enter our bedrooms.

The unprecedented growth in technology today has armed various companies with new and more sophisticated means to market their products and one of such means is mobile marketing. Mobile marketing is a practice by which companies can afford to reach out to probable consumers even when the latter is on the move. Mobile marketing can be of two types: a traditional one whereby flashy billboards or advertisements are being displayed on a moving vehicle and the other, a sharper and modern means, is the use of cell phones as a means for mobile marketing. It is the second type that has emerged the real eye-catcher in today's world.

Marketing through mobile phones can be done in several ways. First, the use of SMS or short message services. Often, our cell phones get bombarded with SMSs declaring the launch of new products or discount offers made available by a certain company. Mobile marketing through SMS has evolved as a popular channel of mobile marketing since the turn of this century. However, one mustn't forget that there have been issues concerned with this mobile 'Spam' messages often causing discomfort to a subscriber and his privacy.

Mobile gaming has shaped out into another major way of mobile marketing. Companies often attach promotional messages with games (advergaming) or even sponsor the entire game that users download through their sophisticated cellular devices. This leads to a situation where both parties gain: the user gets the game of his choice while the brand succeeds in promoting its value.

A third means of mobile marketing is mobile web marketing. It means advertising on Internet web pages that are accessible through mobile phones. Several search engines have already engaged in advertising their products through mobile phones on a large scale.

Perhaps the most popular and sophisticated means of mobile marketing is through Blue tooth. A lot of companies have brought out hotspot mechanisms that comprise content-management system equipped with a Blue tooth distribution system. Mobile marketing through Blue tooth has already started to make its impact felt in India.

Multimedia Message Service (MMS) is another procedure of mobile marketing. This form of marketing is a process whereby a timed slideshow of images, video, audio or text is delivered to a mobile (that which is equipped with the facility) via MMS.

The oldest means of mobile marketing is, however, Infrared waves, which were brought into practice by various European countries back in the 1990s.

Mobile marketing, however, has a major difference from the traditional means of marketing methods. Here, the consumer will ultimately decide on whether the marketing campaign would continue or be terminated thus validating the conclusion that marketing through cell phone is largely a consumer-controlled marketing communication mechanism.