• by Ross Fadner , January 14, 2004

In the United States, mobile phone marketing is still a fledgling industry. In Europe and Asia, where the mobile phone industry is still a few years ahead, it has developed into a relatively established industry. However, despite its infancy, many marketers, advertisers, and consultants agree on its potential for the future, according to a survey conducted by the publishers of online marketing business-to-business magazine, Reveries.

Forty-seven percent of those polled believe that the viability of mobile marketing will attain very good-to-excellent status over the next five years, but far fewer rate its current viability quite so high. Only 23 percent of those surveyed believe that mobile marketing is a very good-to-excellent marketing vehicle today; conversely, 31 percent rated its current viability as fair to poor.

While the majority believe that five years from now mobile marketing will evolve into a legitimate channel for reaching consumers, 34 percent still rated its future prospects skeptically, at fair to poor. Sixty-four percent of respondents rated its five-year prospects between good and excellent.

Wes Bray, CEO of Mynamics USA, which sponsored the survey, remains upbeat about its majority findings: "This level of support and optimism is somewhat surprising when you consider the various obstacles that hinder mobile phone marketing in the U.S. currently, such as different carrier technologies, varying price structures, and underdeveloped Simple Message Service (SMS) or text messaging capabilities."

Despite Bray's optimism, he concedes that in the verbatim response section of the report, many pointedly referred to mobile marketing as an intrusive nuisance that differs from spam only because the recipient pays for it. "This sentiment reflects a huge misunderstanding," he counters, citing that mobile phone marketing is inherently permission-based.

Respondents were slightly more impressed with the creative marketing potential of mobile phones; sixty-four percent rated this as good to excellent.

"Given that most marketers in the U.S. have limited experience with marketing across mobile phones, even with SMS, this finding is also quite encouraging," Bray observes. "The emergence of better handsets, faster broadband speeds, improved carrier and network technologies, and more consistent standards will combine to dramatically improve mobile phone marketing capabilities in this country in the next few years."

Despite variances in respondents' attitudes about the status of mobile phone marketing, most cited its immediacy, accessibility, targeting features, and appeal to teens as the medium's greatest opportunities for marketing growth.