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MMUH Related... SWOT analysis of mobile marketing for 2009By Mickey Alam Khan

December 15, 2008

Mickey Alam Khan is editor in chief of Mobile Marketer
Mobile marketing will hold its own in 2009. But the industry will have to shout simply to be heard as marketers and advertising agencies navigate a dark economy by feeling the walls.

Several conditions apply if mobile marketing is to side with the winning team -- Internet marketing -- and avoid the fate of television and print advertising -- guillotined budgets.

In short, mobile service providers must not hibernate, ad agencies must open their minds, carriers must collaborate, publishers must make their inventory mobile, retailers must launch mobile commerce sites and advertisers must not throw baby out with the bathwater. Here is a quick analysis of mobile marketing's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for 2009.

Strengths
Most personal marketing channel available on the market
Measurable for ROI purposes
Completely permission-based, with opt-in required for marketing text messages
Ubiquity of channel -- 260 million mobile subscribers nationwide, 3.5 billion worldwide
Many consumers giving up landlines for mobile
Sales of smartphones with Internet capability booming
Many marketers, retailers and publishers recognizing need for mobile presence
Most powerful loyalty marketing tool
Ideal comparison-shopping tool for shopping and buying decisions
Mobile applications market growing by leaps and bounds
The future of couponing
The future of search marketing. Google and Yahoo know that

Weaknesses
Perception problem -- always the bridesmaid, never the bride
User experience with the Internet on mobile not ideal -- screen size, keypad and slow network speeds
Why not regular HTML browsers like the Safari on the Apple iPhone?
Wireless carriers not innovating at faster pace
Lack of standards across platforms and carriers
Many mobile marketing service providers not sophisticated in marketing outreach -- don't tell, won't sell
Fate depends on four major carriers -- AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile and Sprint Nextel
Inadequate outreach to advertising agencies and media buyers

Opportunities
Gives legs to other channels -- store, online, television, radio, print and billboards
Mobile is the future -- no, the present -- of database marketing. Marketers must have mobile loyalty program to complement online and offline
Benefit from marketing dollars pulled from television, print and radio toward more measurable, ROI-driven media, a.k.a., the Internet and mobile
Mobile advertising subsidizes content and services for consumers who understand the tradeoff
More SMS text marketing for marketers and retailers targeting offers and alerts to opted-in consumers in database. Make the short code common
More quality content on mobile as publishers launch mobile editions. More room for targeted ads
Mobile coupons -- killer app for mobile, along with mobile database marketing
Mobile marketing jumpstarts mobile commerce sales

Threats
Mobile is treated as experimental budget -- and cut
Mobile marketing service providers hibernate, cut marketing outreach to world -- and then complain why they are ignored in media-buying decisions
Associations representing mobile marketers' interests remain on bended knee to carriers. Not good
Carriers increase commercial SMS delivery fees to opted-in subscribers. Will kill legitimate SMS marketing
Funding for mobile service providers and mobile marketing firms dries up
A carrier goes belly-up
Legislation to enforce consumer protection on privacy, security, unsolicited messages, location-based ads, misleading advertising and children
Ad agencies think mobile marketing is too complicated, thus delaying inclusion in multichannel marketing campaigns
Sales of smartphones with Internet capability stall
Upgrades to higher-price data plans slow down
Barack Obama really gives up his BlackBerry

Editor in Chief Mickey Alam Khan covers advertising agencies, associations, research, and column submissions. Reach him at [e-mail].

http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/editorials/2291.html