Mobile phone marketing, otherwise known as digital marketing, is the modern evolution of direct promotion. Direct promotion has always been favored by businesses as a specialized and focused method of reaching potential consumers and, with the rise of mobile phones, SMS marketing has risen in popularity. Digital marketing is perhaps best defined as the practice of advertising products and services using digital distribution channels to reach customers in a quick, relevant, personalized and economic manner.

The most popular example of mobile marketing is SMS marketing, which has expanded rapidly in Europe and Asia. It is estimated that several hundred million marketing messages are sent via SMS every month in Europe alone. SMS stands for ’short message service’ and is a communication form unique to mobiles where a short message can be simply sent to any cell phone user. As well as sending material to consumers, advertisers can often encourage consumers to participate in marketing and brand exposure promotions by encouraging consumers to text a specific number at an event in order to enter a competition, to receive a prize or to have their text displayed on a multimedia wall at an event. All of these techniques involves the customer through the medium of SMS and creates brand awareness.

There are a variety of other methods of mobile marketing. One example is sending messages via MMS, which is a multimedia version of SMS, allowing customers to receive messages with color, pictures and video. There is also mobile web marketing, where businesses advertise marketing goals through websites accessed by mobile phones. Promoters often make innovative use of SMS marketing such as location-based services where customers are offered specific advertising and other network-related information and promotional material based on their whereabouts. With the range of techniques and choices available to promoters, it is little surprise that a recent marketing survey found that 89% of major brands planned to advertise their products through mobile marketing by the end of 2008.

SMS marketing is an example of what is known within the industry as “push” marketing. The idea behind push marketing is that that the company has to send (push) the information to the subscriber in order for the information to be received. This is opposite to “pull” marketing, a passive form of advertising, where it is customers who seek out the material from sources such as websites or blogs.

There are numerous advantages to SMS marketing. Primarily, the attraction is that this mode of promotion can be tailored to the customer. This is the ideal in marketing as it means getting the message specifically to the group it’s aimed at, rather than squandering money on an broad campaign. The personalization allowed by this type of marketing, which results in a more economical campaign, is one example why a high return on investment is possible with SMS marketing. Another advantage of SMS marketing is the detailed tracking and reporting of subscribers it allows. Through this medium, businesses can track how many users viewed their material and also access specific data about each subscriber such as their name, their age, their demographic and where they’re located. This allows a promoter to build up profiles of their subscribers; data which then guides future promotional campaigns and, ideally, their success.

It is noted in the industry that push marketing, of which SMS marketing is a type, can help drive new revenue and brand exposure if it is implemented correctly and appropriately. This is because it makes customers aware of recent events that they may not know to inquire about already and the way a message is written, and even the fact that the material is being sent by a modern, hip medium such as SMS, can say a great deal about a brand and a business.

There are, however, some disadvantages to SMS marketing. Inherently, it needs a mechanism - the cell phone - to be able to send information. The marketer, as well, has to make use of specialized hardware and software in order to send the content to consumers, which can equal sizeable costs. Another negative is the fact that SMS marketing is heavily regulated by the telecommunications industry in response to customer concerns about what data and marketing they get shown. Most Western countries have laws in place that compel marketers to receive the consent of consumers before marketing information is received by them and must clearly provide them with an ‘opt out’ option if they request to stop receiving content. If marketers are discovered to be in violation of these laws, network providers can block marketing information by marketers.

As mobile technology grows, SMS marketing will surely continue to gather in relevance.