It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
For mobile marketing, a tale of two cities has emerged. And it’s a story with which many mobile marketers are already familiar. Although mobile marketing is growing by leaps and bounds as an industry, issues remain with the consistency of consumer engagement among various demographics.
A new study from BIGresearch suggests that while a vast, wide open sea of opportunity exists for the mobile marketing industry as a whole, choppy waters thrive in the short term for consumers who continue to express reluctance or outright disdain for many of mobile marketing’s most common practices.
Among the findings most unsettling to some mobile marketers is that “since June of 2008, the percentage of people who don’t like mobile marketing has increased.” That unwelcome reality is partially due to the growing number of mobile customers who have become resistant to the appeal of text ads (67% now find them unfavorable as opposed to 64% last year). Higher disapproval is also being logged for voicemail ads and video ads.
Although such findings are disturbing to those who once expected mobile marketing to become universally beloved, mobile advertising remains advertising nonetheless. And at times, mobile ads will reach those who simply have no desire or interest in the products and services being pushed.
Of course, all is not gloom and doom for mobile marketing. BIGresearch’s findings, for example, reveal that mobile marketing’s audience possesses an accelerated tendency to purchase a broad variety of consumer electronics – televisions, computers, cameras, etc. If the ultimate objective of mobile marketing is to sell a product or service to a targeted consumer group, it’s evident that mobile marketing continues to help drive consumer electronic purchases.
Taking the good with the bad is a way of life in advertising, and for that reason, its important to reject the temptation to think that any consumer resistance to mobile marketing is a deathblow to the industry as a whole. So while the tale of mobile marketing remains a tale of two cities, it may still prove a tale that ultimately yields a happy ending for all.