• Text messaging is the most widely used data service on the planet, with 72% of all mobile phone users worldwide or 1.9 billion out of 2.7 billion phone subscribers at the end of 2006 being active users of text messaging. In Europe over 85% of the population use text messaging.
• The US is quickly catching up to Europe–in the US 68% of the population use text, and 44% use it daily/weekly.1
• US carrier Verizon set an all time monthly record in June 2007 when 10 billion text messages were sent and received on its network alone.2
• 1 in 3 mobile subscribers between the age of 18-34 have participated in a TV or radio text poll.3
• The rising adoption of accessing mobile Internet sites (WAP) in the US has taken hold where nearly 1 in 3 mobile phone users are accessing Internet sites on their phones.4
• 1 in 3 mobile phones in the market are mobile video capable.5
• 40% of major brands have already deployed mobile marketing campaigns. 89% of major brands are planning to market via mobile phones by 2008, and more than half of the brands in the next five years are planning to spend between 5 and up to 25% of their total marketing budget on mobile marketing.6

1 MMA Nov.2006
2 Verizon Press Release 2006
3 M:Metrics, Inc.
4 Mobile Herald Dec. 2006
5 NPD Group April 2006
6 Airwide Feb. 21 2006

Mobile Marketing Myths & Mistakes

Marketing in the mobile channel is often misunderstood, and there are many misconceptions regarding the strategies and tactics employed in leveraging the mobile channel. Here’s a few of them with responses to set them straight.

• The mobile channel is not effective for marketing.
  Mobile phone penetration in the US is over 90%. 87 million people were text messaging users in May 2007, and another 20 million were browsing information on their phones. Over 75% of mobile subscribers 18-34 use messaging, and 1 in 3 surf the Internet on their phones. 20% of users OVER 65 use mobile messaging. These numbers are growing by the month. The mobile phone is quickly becoming a significant channel for communications and content consumption.
• Mobile is exclusively a youth marketing channel.
  True, mobile data use skews heavy in 13-24 demo, but the average age for text messaging is over 30 and most mobile technologies like mobile Internet and content consumption are moving upwards extremely rapidly to where the primed demographic for mobile marketing can be defined as 13-34.
• Mobile marketing is intrusive and unwanted.
  Mobile marketing is anything but intrusive. Protected by mobile operator regulations and industry best practices, mobile marketing is by definition permission based marketing to receptive consumers. Unlike the online world, spam is not permitted and only requested messaging can be sent to a mobile consumer.
• You need an opt-in database for mobile.
  Mobile marketing is not forced advertising, but opt-in experiential marketing and brand interactivity. Unlike traditional advertising, it offers something to the consumer that is compelling and win/win for the consumer and brand alike.
• Mobile’s about cutting edge, sexy technology.
  No. Mobile marketing is about applying the right strategies and tactics to achieve the planned marketing objectives. Certain sexy but bleeding edge mobile technologies are not ready for mass marketing, where others like text messaging enjoy mass adoption. Just because you can do it doesn’t mean you should do it. Choose the right tool for the right job.