7 Deadliest Sins of Mobile Marketing

7 deadliest sins of mobile marketing
By Eric Holmen

In April 2007, I contributed to a book released by Stanford University’s Mobile Persuasion Lab called “Mobile Persuasion: Perspectives on the Future of Influence.” It was, I believe, the first book written about the immediate future of mobile marketing and mobile technology, and covered a lot of uncharted territory on this “emerging” trend.

I wrote, as did a number of contributors, about changing consumer needs and demands, and how the way we live our lives is creating an entire new platform for multi-directional conversations with businesses and brands via mobile. I also wrote that mobile would become more than a vehicle for sending and receiving calls and text messages. Mobile technology would change the way people live – affecting everything from healthcare, social networking and activism, to entertainment, commerce and finances.

At that time, my message of mobile’s rise to prominence was met with some resistance. For many people, mobile marketing was just another fad that would pass, and so a lot of developments that we were making in pushing forward the adoption of mobile were ignored.

That was in 2007.

Today, as we approach 2009, the exact opposite is true. There seems to be a media and chief marketing officer frenzy over everything related to mobile marketing and with it, conflicting reports and opinions. In one arena, a Nielsen November report claims that mobile ad recall is up by 81 percent year over year, while the Mobile Marketing Association’s survey by Synovate, also in the same month, states that “consumer interest in mobile marketing has flat-lined in 2008.”

Unlike the analysts or surveys, however, our company is on the very front line of mobile marketing adoption and what I wrote in 2007 is indeed happening right before our very eyes: “Mobile persuasion, mobile marketing and mobile technology are the watchwords that marketers will need to come to terms with rapidly as the world of advertising, media fragmentation and Web 2.0 changes before their very eyes.”

But while mobile’s rapid rise to fame is great for our industry, there is a downside, too. Everyone wants in and a many companies have suddenly become experts on mobile marketing, whether or not they understand the mobile space or have sufficient depth of experience.

Mobile marketing might be a new frontier, but it is not the Wild West.

Absolutely, competition is to be encouraged – this eggs us on to provide even better services and products to customers. But without extensive knowledge and deeper understanding of mobile marketing in all its complexities and extensions, there is also a danger that companies aren’t being told what not to do.

Below are some of the worst sins that brands and marketers can carry out when it comes to mobile marketing. This is my list of not-to-do’s – the seven deadliest sins of mobile marketing.

1. Garbage in, garbage out
As with any marketing approach, sending inappropriate, irrelevant or poorly targeted content buys you a ticket to one place – the sin bin. Do not be tempted to send trashy content. SMS marketing works exactly the same way as other ad mediums in turning customers off. Sixty-four percent of consumers find mobile ads irritating if they aren’t delivering valuable or relevant content, while three out of 10 U.S. mobile users recall relevant mobile ads. So if you don’t fancy being blacklisted from your customer’s phone, understand their preferences and dislikes before sending content, even if it’s a simple text message.

2. The road to nowhere
Spam ‘em? Don’t even think about it. The mobile phone is a high-ranking highly-personal possession and should be treated with respect. It is one of the three things people do not leave home without – the other two being keys and wallet. Call it sacrosanct. Spam has no place on mobile phones, as startup HeyCosmo found out recently when it sent phone spam to certain bloggers. Opt-in is the only road forward for mobile marketing, with Federal Trade Commission regulations firmly in place to weed out any maverick marketers around.

3. Pick a time, any time
Some marketers might be mistaken in thinking that any time is a good time to send a text message. Just like telemarketers calling up during dinnertime, the text message delivered at the wrong time will appear obtrusive, unwelcome and potentially annoying to the customer. So what is the right time to text? Ask the customer when they sign up to receive your messaging.

4. Gimmicks, gadgets, gizmos and junk
As a guest on consumers’ mobile phones, sending irrelevant gimmicks to enter competitions, links to irrelevant banners or scrolling through multiple screens will get you blacklisted faster that you can say TXT2LOSE. If a consumer has signed up to receive price alerts, notifications of new arrivals or discounts on favorite items – send only those. Leave the gimmicks and silly banner links for someone else.

5. Don’t dish up seconds and thirds
An honest marketer will tell you that campaigns do not always translate successfully into other mediums. Just because an online campaign yielded great results with low CPM, it is no guarantee of similar success with mobile.
A strategy for mobile should have its own identity, but be able to integrate with others. And with a small screen and size limitation of 160 characters, you need to get2the!

6. Safe data, smart operator
Security breaches happen because someone somewhere wasn’t smart enough, while someone somewhere else was much smarter. If you value your customers, then you will value keeping their data safe and well protected especially as mobile commerce and banking grows. Brand erosion and the damage from loss of customer trust caused by security breaches can end up costing millions to a company.

7. You are dumped
The point to all this advice is about developing and feeding your relationship with consumers. Marketing, mobile or otherwise, does not drive most transactions. Relationships and trust do. So if relationships drive transactions and business, marketers must treat their mobile relationships with respect and without aggression. Most of all, marketers have to show consumers their raison d’être in order to become a valued and trusted part of that mobile phone carrier’s life. Otherwise, you are dumped.

Yes, mobile marketing has the potential to make the experience truly miserable, but it doesn’t have to be that way. By avoiding some of these marketing sins, mobile marketing can and will continue to flourish.

Eric Holmen is president of SmartReply Inc., a mobile and relationship marketing firm in Irvine, CA. Reach him at eholmen@smartreply.com.