It’s been made very clear that mobile advertising is a subject that deserves a lot of focus in today’s digital marketing world. Since it started being such a huge commodity for marketers, people have started recognizing the various forms of mobile marketing that are available for advertising. Alongside mobile display banners and mobile social media advertising, there is SMS advertisement. Mobile messaging has been used since the invention of the cellular phone, but people did not start using it for marketing reasons until recently, with the invention of more technologically advanced devices. Juniper Research, known worldwide for their insightful studies, says that by 2017, so many marketers will have started using SMS advertising that mobile messaging adspend will reach $7.4 billion.
Juniper believes that, “This growth will be driven by a dramatic upsurge in the use of location-based SMS to deliver relevant ads to consumers.” In their press release regarding their predictions, Juniper writes,
The idea of location-based SMS is something that is likely to raise questions of privacy amongst consumers. However, operators are extremely sensitive to this and the schemes which already exist, such as O2 More, are opt-in and the consumer can choose which types of offer they would like to receive. These types of schemes will become more common as operators attempt to look for revenue streams beyond voice and data but it is unlikely that schemes will become opt-out or compulsory.
Mobile messaging ads have not proven yet to be as successful as other forms of mobile advertising, but Juniper’s predictions come from the fact that location-based messaging is becoming more popular now. With that popularity comes a chance for marketers to target specific consumers based on location. Not to mention, SMS advertising is one of the more cost effective forms of mobile advertising out there today, making the choice to start a mobile messaging campaign a bit easier on the wallet.
On the benefits of SMS advertisements, Juniper states,
SMS ads have significant benefits for marketers. While they may lack the rich media content of other advertising formats, they are very familiar to consumers and have a much higher chance of being opened, even if unsolicited. SMS ads are also a low cost option for those seeking large reach; in the UK, for example, a bundle of 1,000 text messages costs around £0.05 (8¢) per message, falling to around £0.03 (5¢) for larger bundles.
There are many advertisers out there that have already seized the opportunity that mobile messaging ads provide, and they have already started feeling the benefits. Juniper is predicting some pretty high results by 2017, but with the way messaging popularity looks they probably aren’t far off the mark. That is, of course, if something doesn’t come around in those years that stands in the way of SMS ad success. Regardless of the success of mobile messaging ads, however, Juniper provides some advice for marketers looking into mobile;
Brands need to have a joined up mobile strategy, ensuring that mobile adverts direct consumers to mobile optimised sites or content, particularly given the highly promising mCommerce opportunity.
