• by Angela Steele , March 16, 2007

It's time for mobile marketing to live up to all its hype. Any astute marketing professional who keeps up with industry news can cite at least a handful of different reasons why the U.S. isn't living up to the international promise our peers in Asia and Europe enjoy in this area.

We could blame the publishers for lack of content. We could blame our technology for being slow and cumbersome. We could blame advertisers themselves for rarely moving past the "test". Or we could continue our favorite gripe -- bastardization of the carriers. The reality is that the future success of the mobile channel hinges on one factor: the consumer.

While estimates vary, the numbers tell a consistent story. Although mobile devices have penetrated nearly 80% of U.S. households and SMS has penetrated over one-third of all users, data services drastically lag behind. Only a fraction of consumers report using data services and the mobile Internet. It seems that in the rush to advance the mobile market, the consumer is the holdup.

If we truly want to maximize the marketing potential of mobile channels, we all need to rally around the consumer and encourage their mobile behaviors. Here's how.

IN THE BEGINNING, Marketers Created Messages and Media

Everyone reading this article is a savvy enough marketer to know that a good consumer-centric marketing plan commences with media and message closely linked together at the advent of the process. However, we've all heard the phrase, "We need a mobile idea" thrown in the mix long after the creative is already on the boards, the flowcharts are brilliantly colored and clients have all but signed on the dotted line.

The challenge is that mobile marketing cannot be successful as an added-on silo, but should be an integral component at the heart of the marketing plan. In the earliest stages of the planning process, smart marketers must ask, "What are the objectives of the campaign and how will mobile deliver on those objectives?" then decide early on which mobile strategies will enhance the broader campaign idea."

VALUE the Avoiders

Seventy-nine percent of online consumers find the idea of ads on their mobile devices annoying, according to the recent Forrester report, "Is the U.S. Ready for Mobile Marketing?" So, what makes us think people are going to welcome our messages with open arms in their most personal space?

Consider the value exchange. We as marketers must offer value to be welcomed in consumers' beloved, personal devices -- or in any medium for that matter. Whether we're informing, entertaining, or enhancing existing mobile experiences, brand interactions need to offer something of relevance and value.

Value lives at the intersection of brand benefits and consumer need. Therefore, marketers need improved consumer understanding of how and why they use mobile devices. Qualitative and quantitative research combined with aggregate carrier knowledge will drastically improve marketers' knowledge and ability to provide value.

Voicing the Need for SCALE

If only all mobile services had the same consumer scale as voice services, the masses would be ripe for mobile marketing. It's no secret marketers seek scalable opportunities; however U.S. consumers are notoriously reluctant to use non-voice features. Three hurdles must be overcome in order to build scale among non-voice services: education, fear and price.

To that point, the vast majority of U.S. consumers don't even know how to access service beyond numeric digits and the "send" button. Those consumers who do navigate a mobile menu are fearful of where the next click will take them and are equally frightened their next cellular bill will be thicker than War and Peace . In order to overcome these challenges, carriers must continue driving education and usage of non-voice services and further the progress of non-threatening pricing models.

DON'T HATE THE CARRIER, Hate the Game

Keeping the consumer central, don't forget the pivotal dual role carriers play. Carriers provide both access and protection to the consumer. Without carriers, we cannot understand more about mobile consumers (they house all the data, remember?) and therefore cannot offer the relevance and value consumers demand.

Yet, we need the carriers to remain protective of their customers. After all, their customers are our customers. If carriers allow marketer abuse of their valuable audiences, the value of the medium will steeply decline and our ability to effectively impact consumers would be severely limited in this channel. As marketers, we must befriend the carriers and cooperatively develop solutions to add non-intrusive, welcome value for the consumer.

ACCOUNTABILITY Reigns Supreme

What ultimately matters most is the ability to impact consumers and then prove that impact. Clients pay their agencies and wireless companies to impact consumers. Marketers have fixed budgets and therefore need to make choices among media channels.

Expected return is the driver of those choices, and without standardized, third-party metrics, mobile return is difficult to quantify and compare to widely accepted media options such as TV, print and online. In order to vie for fair share of the marketing pie, mobile needs to offer accountability standards comparable to other contact points in marketers' arsenals. The future success of the mobile channel depends upon standardized accountability.

Angela Steele (angela.steele@starcomworldwide.com) is an activation director at Starcom USA, charged with assessing the mobile media landscape, its evolving technologies and the way they affect consumers' interactions with brands.