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Nine Mobile Marketing Trends for 2011

Relevance will be the key revenue driver for new mobile-based services in 2011 and beyond, according to Flytxt (News - Alert), a provider of mobile marketing and advertising technology to operators around the world.

In 2011, we will see advertisers combining the demographical, behavioral, geographical and contextual attributes, which are unique to a consumer to transform campaigns from an “ad” to a personalized brand experience, Flytxt argues.  

Innovative mobile operators will become an integral part of the mobile advertising eco system, as well, at least in part because they have to. Mobile operators will face obstacles such as sustaining average revenue per user levels, managing customer churn, and combating threats from over-the-top service and app providers.

Flytxt believes mobile operators will gradually shift their focus to advertising as a huge opportunity, and slowly their role will evolve from that of a dumb pipe provider to a media owner. 

Consumers will drive regulatory initiatives in the privacy area, as well. Mobile marketing will be driven to a great extent by initiatives adopted by industry and regulatory bodies to protect consumer privacy and control spam. 

Operators with innovative business models also will challenge existing ad network models, Flytxt believes. "We are already seeing partnerships between the advertising media firms, technology companies and mobile operators," Flytxt says. Such partnerships will directly compete with the existing ad network business models such as Admob, InMobi and Millenial Media, by providing advertisers better reach, better targeting and touch points which are much more personal. 

Mobile also will feature more campaigns using coupons, loyalty programs and deals. Also, mobile video advertising will be available and used in emerging markets. According to ABI Research (News - Alert), mobile video will attract the most attention from mobile marketers, This will be especially true for emerging markets where there is a huge uptake for mobile Internet due to launch of 3G. 

In India, for instance, mobile Internet makes more than 50 percent of total internet usage and the number of mobile phone users is more than seven times higher than the number of people accessing the Internet. 

Incentives-based opt-in and ad sponsored content will become more popular in emerging markets as well.

Models that failed in developed markets will prove to be successful in emerging markets like India, where the youth makes up 55 percent of total population. 

Mobile social media on mobile also will see a steep growth curve as well. Mobile will evolve as the most effective channel for viral advertising. 

Finally, there will be an increase in adoption of QR codes by advertisers. Flytxt believes that QR Codes will be integrated in ad formats across channels, be it print, outdoor, Internet or mobile, making mobile phone (QR code reader) a critical communication channel for brands (advertisers).

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Gary Kim (News - Alert) is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Gary’s articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Tammy Wolf