For 2007 it was quite a ride for our
Mobile Marketing company. We started out very slow in the process of pure education on every single call and webinar. I break 2007 into three major phases:
- Educational - answering the same questions over and over as the US begins to think about Mobile Marketing
- Early Adopters - a few strong minded clients/new businesses are ready to give Mobile Marketing a shot
- We'll Do it in 2008 - finally the last group those who have been waiting, studying, watching and are now planning for 2008 but these will be "Pilots". Q3/Q4 of '08 and 2009 will be the break out years imho.
Granted these three areas are still continuing the difference is we are seeing more falling out of the educational box and into the pilot phases. The following is a break down of the profile of each of the groups:
Educational
These people run the gambit from extremely interested and need to know everything to the executive who just wants to know enough to play buzzword bingo at the next strategy meeting. But here are the main questions asked and answered:
- Does it cost the consumer for every text message they receive/send?
- Is it considered spam to send messages to mobile subscribers?
- Do you have a case study that of someone doing exactly the same thing we want to do and an ROI to prove its viable?
- What the hell are you selling? Mobile Phones? (honestly I had that a few times AND they called me - go figure)
- How much does it cost for a "basic" campaign? It always comes down to how much of course so that's a given.
I would say in my experience for every 1 hour webinar I gave in 2007 (about 60 - 5 a month over the course of 2007) the first 35 minutes at a minimum was spent on basic terms of the industry, how big the industry is and answering the questions above. In terms of content those slides in the deck could last all of 5 minutes for those in the "know" but for those educating themselves it was always at least 35 minutes of questions.
Let me say right now this is not a complaint this is just a demonstration that there is a STRONG interest in
Mobile Marketing from a large number of companies but the amount of knowledge on the subject was/is very low. Therefore, a lot of smart people were asking a lot of basic questions to educate themselves on something they have a strong interest (in most cases).
Early Adopters
Thank God for the Early Adopters! These are the agencies, companies or individuals who see the power and opportunity that
Mobile Marketing offers. I can say for my company in almost all cases the early adopter had a good idea in there head and was looking for some case studies, hard data to demonstrate it would work and be effective. But, we could not find that either in our book of business or through other resources. So, in all cases these early adopters forged ahead and gave it a shot. In some cases it just didn't work - wrong demographics, wrong message, too early ? Many different answers to why it failed but the client and myself consequently now have hard data. For those who took the risk I am so grateful because it allowed us to learn as we tried something new everyday. For those who gambled and it paid off it was beneficial for all - end consumer, client and my company. We found a nice mix that worked for everyone. But it all started with an early adopter mentality of let's give it a try what the hell!!
We'll Do it in 2008
I must say to me this is the catch phrase for me for 2007 - "We'll do it in 2008". I have had discussions with a great number of major corporations that spent a great deal of time and energy analyzing, educating themselves and planning for
Mobile Marketing in 2007 and all ended up saying "W
e'll Do it in 2008". At first it was hard to hear but as it went from just one client to two to many I realized they were not all saying
NO.
They were not saying
YES either they were saying
Mobile Marketing is not ready and/or we are not ready. So, we'll resume this conversation in 2008.
2007 Final Analysis
For me 2007 was a long year of many, many conversations about the potential and opportunities that
Mobile Marketing can bring to an organization and the end consumer. It was many discussions of the infinite number of programs/campaigns that could be deployed. But, finally it was a year of transition from discussing
Mobile Marketing with a few enlightened participants to a much larger group of agencies, companies and individuals who will finally in 2008 (not 2007 as we saw) engage the mobile channel in some form. So, for that 2007 was a good year for
Mobile Marketing not a great year but one that hopefully many seeds of knowledge were planted in fertile minds and 2008 will see them grow into a banner year for
Mobile Marketing.
Tom Walls
Kona Interactive
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