Optism™

As you might expect, in the past few weeks we’ve been reading lots of opinions and projections for permission mobile marketing in 2011. Building on the considerable progress made last year, we expect this to be a very good year indeed!

ClickZ’s David Brewer has some compelling mobile prophecies. We like the connection Brewer makes between user engagement and relevance for advertisers. Commenting on the limited engagement currently being offered to users of the Foursquare app, Brewer suggests Foursquare will need to do something to increase their levels of engagement with users if they want advertisers to get on board.

We also agree with Brewer’s observation that marketers need to be cautious about how they engage people via their mobiles and pay attention to privacy concerns. We believe all members of the mobile marketing ecosystem should demonstrate their respect for users by giving users control over their information and by ensuring they have users’ permission to engage with them in the first place.

Given the industry’s concern regarding privacy, it is fitting that the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) is launching an initiative focused on the development of a comprehensive set of mobile privacy guidelines to complement its already well-established Global Code of Conduct. The guidelines will address “the growing need for marketers and consumers to have a transparent, accepted understanding as to how consumer information is collected and used for the purposes of relevant value exchange within a mobile marketing context and across market sectors.” According to Greg Stuart, Global CEO of the MMA, “The launch of this initiative shows the MMA’s and Mobile industry’s ongoing commitment to the importance of consumer transparency with regards to privacy issues and data collection.” This is an important initiative that will benefit the entire ecosystem.

The MMA has also outlined top mobile marketing trends for Asia Pacific in 2011. Particularly relevant for us is the MMA’s number 1 observation, “Personalisation and privacy will increase effectiveness and credibility of the mobile media as a marketing channel.” That’s a channel that Rohit Dadwal, Managing Director for the MMA in Asia Pacific, says “is expected to grow to $13 to $14 billion in 2011.” According to the MMA, “the adoption of transparent, permission-based marketing along with the introduction of regulations and applications for blocking unwanted content will help overcome the perception that mobile advertising is nothing but spam.” They go on to note that “mobile will be the only truly conversational and measurable medium that can lead to an actual, real-time increase in business-to-consumer transactions.”

The MMA trends list includes developments in areas such as free SMS/free video/free phone calls, location-based services and augmented reality along with micropayments and electronic wallets.

We’re very happy to see that customer loyalty is an important trend for 2011 according to Love 2 Reward. In a b2cmarketinginsider.com interview with Mark Johnson, chief executive of Loyalty 360, Johnson said “that companies need to concentrate on creating customer engagement and building long-term relationships to improve loyalty.” Johnson also believes it is most important that businesses establish an emotional link with their customers, rather than a rational one. We couldn’t agree more and a key benefit of Optism is that it enables brands to create strong and meaningful relationships with their customers. Mobile campaigns need to build trust through transparency and create a value exchange by putting users in control of their information and asking them what they care about.

We’re also happy to see that at Entrepreneur.com their New Year’s Resolutions for Entrepreneurs include Mobile Marketing. Kim T. Gordon recommends that enterprises “Make mobile marketing a high priority.” Gordon goes on to suggest that enterprises enhance their appeal for mobile shoppers by optimizing their websites so they load quickly with mobile browsers and support interactive Facebook and Twitter engagements. Finally, Gordon says, “Offer competitive pricing and tap into the soaring popularity of coupons by texting them to your customers’ mobile phones.” We hope many marketers will take this advice in 2011!

SmartGorilla’s Heather McLean touches on the challenges, advances and future in her article Mobile marketing comes of age. “Context, immediacy and personalisation are three elements that inherently characterise mobile and give it significant advantage over other advertising media, such as radio, print and television.” McLean quotes R.J. Talyor, director product marketing at ExactTarget: “Mobile marketers realise that mobile marketing holds tremendous potential, however historically budgets for most campaigns have come out of market development funds or emerging technology funds. For mobile advertising to be a success it has to reach upward of 20 million consumers, as well as smaller but highly targeted segments, and requires mainstream campaign budgets.”

McLean has also talked to David Nicholson, EMEA sales director at 2ergo. Nicholson believes “Any mobile marketing strategy must take into account existing channels, such as web, high street or telephone, to reap the advantages of a joined up multi-channel customer strategy.” Nicholson forecasts “a greater adoption of m-site solutions as we enter 2011, given the reach, speed and commercial advantage with mCRM messaging, such as SMS and MMS driving consumer interaction and loyalty with brands.” Now that’s something we want to see more of in the coming year.

Welcome to 2011! We hope you find our news analysis interesting and informative. You can reach us on our Facebook page and on Twitter @Optism or check out our videos on our YouTube channel.