Kris Jones on Mobile Search
There’s no doubt about it, mobile search is one of the next big forms of marketing.
While not quite internet marketing as we know it (Internet + PC + User), mobile search (Internet + Handheld + User) offers marketers the ability to deliver advertisements (messages) in the form of search (think Google Mobile Search), as well as text. For instance, Pepperjam’s VP of Business Development, Brock Siegel, recently contacted (by cell phone) a nightclub in NYC (The Town Tavern) to see if he had left his wallet there – interestingly enough, Brock was added to the nightclub’s list, but the list wasn’t in the form of e-mail or direct mail. Instead, the club took Brock’s cell phone number and added it to their weekly text message newsletter. Interesting, huh? This stuff works – Brock is not offended by the weekly text message and he insists that if he lived in NYC that the message would actually work. In other words, the text message (weekly specials, entertainment, etc.) would likely get him to the bar.
What are my thoughts on mobile marketing? Where is it going? Why does it hold such opportunity for internet marketers like you and me?
Joe Whyte recently interviewed me on the issue of Mobile Marketing and posted it to his blog at HybridSEM.com – CHECK IT OUT!
You have thoughts on mobile marketing? Let me know your thoughts…
May 29th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
Kris,
I think there’s definitely a future in mobile marketing, however, it would likely require a fundamental change of the pricing model of most major cell carriers in the US, at least. Some companies, if not all, depending on your plan still charge for INCOMING text messages.
I think that marketing like you described the nightclub doing is great promotion, but it might anger some people if they were paying .05 or .10 everytime they were “marketed to”, which in turn would likely make them avoid the marketer’s place of business and/or products. If it didn’t cost anyone anything to receive, I’m sure people wouldn’t mind it, it’s got to be loss obtrusive than telemarketing, which people have generally accepted as a fact of life at this point.
Like anything else, I think there should be guidelines set as far as receiving them though. I, for one, would give my cell phone number to local bars, etc. that were offering this service, as long as I was made aware I would be receiving them.
May 29th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
Kris,
I think your comments are especially poingant in light of the iPhone’s release in the next few days. I have spoken to some smart individuals who have developed entire business models around the emergence of text message marketing. I know that the large fashion retailers like the GAP and others are investing large sums in promoting through these channels.
Any serious agency should either develop an expertise in this form of marketing or find a partner that does.
Michael
May 29th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Mike,
I agree with you RE: pricing.
Mobile marketing will not work for all businesses and I believe businesses with a more geo-targeted model will fair best.
Just got a text promo:
Come tonight to Fuse Martini Bar – Free Drinks til 7:00pm by showing this text message to the bartender.
Cool stuff!
May 29th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
That’s exactly the place I thought of when I read your post.
May 29th, 2007 at 4:30 pm
I agree with your view on the opportunity marketers now have with mobile search. What are your thoughts on mobile SEO? With the design limitations of mobile web pages and the overall nature of the mobile market and its users, do you feel there is an immediate demand for firms who specialize in mobile SEO?
May 29th, 2007 at 10:03 pm
Trevor,
Interesting.
I think Google will serve results via handheld the same way they do for PC users, via their existing algorithm.
It’s relatively late at night so I might be a bit drowsy, but I’m curious how you think that mobile SEO and traditional SEO might be different?
Anyone else?
May 30th, 2007 at 12:08 am
Kris,
Although mobile and traditional SEO doesn’t seem to be all that different, there are certainly different factors that come into play when measuring the success of mobile vs PC campaigns. One such factor in my opinion being download speeds. Say for instance if the SERP for a mobile user in a rush takes 3 or 4 times longer to get to the second page on a mobile device than it does on a PC, would the need for a client’s site to be placed on the first results page not now be greater for the mobile campaign vs the traditional pc campaign?
Another factor to be considered is site design and layout, not unlike traditional SEO. However what may be successful for a client’s PC site may not be appropriate for a mobile device. In fact, as I’m sure most mobile users have experienced…it might be a mess.
Even though smartphones allow most standard pages to be viewed without changes to their programming language, a site specifically designed to fit the dimensions of a mobile device is far cleaner and easier to navigate, thus seeing the most return customers, thus being the most successful.
My point being that with all of the standard factors a client must consider to produce a successful traditional SEO campaign, there are now new mobile mountains to climb in order to dominate the mobile market. I feel the need for the services of professional SEO firms to optimize all of these factors is now greater than ever if clients are serious about competing in mobile marketing.
To touch on your post as well as Michael’s regarding text message marketing, do you feel that the sheer cost of bulk text messaging and inability to target a potential customer EXACTLY when they are looking for a particular product or service (unlike a Paid Search/SEO program) may ultimately limit this type of marketing to corporations with deeper pockets than most local business have? Just throwing that out there.
By the way since Pepperjam is now in the business of inventing acronyms should we start calling text message marketing TMM for this thread? Or how about SMSM for SMS Marketing?
Anyway I’m also pretty drowsy, but still interested to hear any other thoughts on Mobile SEO and text marketing.
May 30th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
The .mobi TLD was supposedly created to address many of the design/usability issues that you mention. Funny though, I heard a lot about .mobi when the domains went on sale, but haven’t heard a peep since. I think bmw.mobi is the only “live” mobi that I’ve ever stumbled upon.
Should be interesting to watch this space though…good post.