Mobile Marketing - Is it essential?
What was the longest time that you
have ever been away from your phone? Has it ever reached more than 24 hours?
Most unlikely am I right? Smartphones has significantly impacted our lives in
order to be able to function optimally. This statement can be illustrated
through the following videos where millennials try the "The No Smartphone
Challenge".
After watching these videos, it
had piqued me with a sudden realisation on how we have become so dependent on
such a small gadget and also amazed at how its absence can greatly affect our
lives. Even though we all know at the back of our heads that having high
dependency can cause severe implications as depicted in the videos above, most
of us are just too used to convenience and just take the modernisation of
technology for granted. Hence with high reliance towards our smartphones, it
directly correlates that individuals are much more exposed to mobile contents
more than anything else.
Even the traditional advertising
such as radio and television/video advertising can be accessed through mobile
applications (Apps). Recent start-ups also stems in a form of an app as they
saw profitable potential in that venture. One very successful app business I
would name is Grab, a market leader in the transportation industry where
long-established taxi companies such as ComfortDelGro and SMRT even felt
intimidated when Grab first launched.
With the combination of a solid
business model and strategic utilisation of mobile marketing, Grab was able to
continuously capture a larger market share where they even managed to acquire
their then competitor, Uber. This showcases their amazing strategic
capabilities in how they were able to gain more market share. Grab utilised
various mobile marketing tools such as having promo codes and flash ads in
order to generate awareness when they first launch.
Seeing the benefits that they were able to reap from mobile marketing, it definitely highlights its importance and how it is able to aid in the company's growth. What are your thoughts on this? Should marketers just focus on mobile marketing or other marketing tools such as outdoor and printed advertising marketing are as equally important to generate brand awareness?
Great read. I find that mobile marketing is just one of the forms of digital marketing or marketing as a whole. I feel like if a business were to focus only on mobile marketing, it would be a risk and a gamble as they would missing out on many other forms of marketing and their reach would definitely not be as far as other companies. It would be nice to think that maybe Comfort and SMRT might adopt mobile marketing like Grab in the future so we could possibly get more competitive(cheaper) prices. Wouldnt that just be awesome.
ReplyDeleteHi Jillson! Actually Comfort does have their own taxi app which I personally use and I only know of it through WOM. Seeing how you are unaware of their mobile existence, it actually highlights the importance of marketing in various forms to generate brand awareness.
DeleteHi Lukita! I think there should be an equal mix of mobile ads and other outdoor or printed ads, which would be dependent on target market as well. I think it would be less effective if marketers use mobile advertising to target the older generation who aren’t as savvy compared to the younger generation. Hence, traditional advertising will still be effective in some ways even if it’s more costly.
ReplyDeleteHi Candy! Thanks for your comment. I do agree on your points. There should be a good mix of everything in order for marketers to effectively reach out to their audience in generating brand awareness.
DeleteI think marketers can focus more on mobile marketing such as social media to reach out to those who owns a smartphone -- which means everybody!-- Not everyone will pay attention to the ads on billboards or even in the train because they will be glued to their phones! You can get their attention when they surfing the internet, scrolling through their feeds and even when they are watching videos, just like Youtube ads. Its annoying but its very effective as it reaches out to more target audience and increased brand awareness as a result.
ReplyDeleteHi Chloe! I do agree with you on how such ads can be annoying. But I guess at least it aids in generating awareness, providing lasting impressions to audiences compared to outdoor marketing which might get overlooked at times as most of the times we are glued to our phones.
Delete