Weblog
Nice article on mobile web best practices
10 May 2008
In 1-to-1 Magazine. The article properly points out that there are now at least 4 different types of mobile marketing opportunities available with Mobio providing the technology to build downloadable applications and extend those applications to the mobile web, to extend your companies reach for those of your customers who do not carry the type of phones we support.
Mobile Web
The Mobile Web offers users the ability to play games and trivia, search for information, and look up telephone numbers and addresses, as well shop and bank from their wireless phone, among other things. According to Nielsen, 87 million mobile phone users in the U.S. subscribe to services provided on the mobile Web and 14 percent of those users actively use the mobile Web each month.
The best advertising opportunities here are banner or text ads on mobile websites, or creating branded mobile websites, as well as driving users to a specific mobile website, lead generation, direct sales, and branding.
Downloadable Applications
This is software or content that consumers download to their mobile phones, which then resides on the phone. Examples include games and lifestyle tools such as calculators or calendars. Downloads are accessible to consumers with appropriate mobile phones and data plans. Branded applications and ad placement within applications are the best advertising opportunities.
Mobile Messaging
This category includes SMS and multimedia messaging service (MMS). SMS is available to virtually all mobile phone users and does not typically require a data plan or mobile Web access, making it ideal for reaching most mobile users. While SMS is limited to text, MMS can contain images, audio, and video content. Most mobile phones sold over the past few years support MMS, making it an effective way to reach many mobile users. Interactive applications frequently use SMS with common short codes (CSC), which are four- to six-digit phone numbers to/from which messages can be sent or received. Message advertising such as coupons or promotions are best used to drive users to a mobile website, or marketers can create an interactive dialogue with voting or polling options.
Mobile Video
This consists of video delivered over a mobile network to the mobile phone’s embedded media player. Videos may be downloaded or streamed and are usually accessed from a mobile website or contained in an MMS message. Mobile video is accessible to consumers with Web-enabled mobile phones and data plans. Ads can be placed before or after the video. This is a smaller customer group, so the MMA recommends companies use this mobile platform primarily as a branding opportunity.
Source
1 to 1 Media, a division of the Peppers and Rogers group