Robert J. Shimonski | Entrepreneur.com October 31, 2008
As more people connect to global networks via their mobile phones, the ability to reach potential customers at almost any time grows exponentially.
Since its release in 1978, the mobile phone has become more of a dependency than a convenience. With its wild growth, new techniques to market and advertise replace the older archaic methods, while the underlying needs of advertising remain the same. Here's how entrepreneurs can adapt to this new environment and some of the trends emerging within it.
--Tapping the Mobile Market--
Mobile marketing and mobile advertising mean sending spam-free, personalized marketing messages to receptive consumers through their mobile phones or handheld devices.
Direct-mail marketing is now seen as a marketing alternative, used mainly for targeted campaigns. Recording devices like TIVO can now remove advertisements from view. Newspapers are becoming a thing of the past. Websites that were leveraged in the past five years now require mobile capability. It's clear that things have changed and are continuing to change.
"Advertising trends seem to stagnate behind technology as mobile devices become increasingly sophisticated," says Shane Norman, head of interactive sales and marketing at Fox Television. "Marketers . . . must be as vigilant as software developers and create or discover compelling and creative ways to embrace [customers]."