Why Mobile Marketing Is Like The Internet Was In 1997 (and Why It's Not)

The emergence of mobile as a highly integrated consumer device is now similar to what the Internet was in 1997, especially in North America. Early adopters who use mobile and those who use it as a marketing tool are similar to those who jumped on the Internet when it first appeared. However, many people may think the process of going online using their phone is a completely foreign concept. "You can go online on your phone?" Millions of consumers still think of text messaging as something that only young people do and have no intention of doing it themselves. Don't worry, there were also many people who thought the Internet was a fad and that it wouldn't last.

However, the emergence of mobile marketing is different in that the adoption cycle is faster. In fact, more people worldwide were said to have accessed Internet content on phones than from desktop computers in 2007. Mobile use by consumers is growing fast worldwide; users sent 2.8 trillion text messages in 2007, and the short message service (SMS) industry generates $100 billion a year.

Marketing with mobile now is also different from marketing with the internet in 1997 because marketers already have a working knowledge base. Businesses took years to figure out that the Internet was more like direct mail than t.v. We can use that knowledge base to figure out how to market with mobile effectively more quickly than we did with the Internet. In fact, many of the technologies, including mobile search and mobile advertising are similar to their Internet counterparts. Yet, they are distinct services and technologies with an uncluttered landscape.

Mobile as a medium is not like the Internet in other ways. Consumer use of mobile is already inundated. People use mobile already; they just need to begin to interact with businesses via mobile. With the Internet's emergence, people had to learn about the Internet and the World Wide Web to begin using in. Remember when people used to say, "Go to H-T-T-P colon back slash back slash W-W-W dot" and then list the website name? There was a big learning curve for consumers who had to be convinced to use the Internet at all. Now, people already know how to use their cell phones, and they have already been through the internet learning curve. Plus, there is an entire generation of consumers who have grown up with mobile as an integrated part of their lives and don't need any lessons at all; they just need to be presented with the right offer at the right time. Mobile marketing is weaving it's way into society more quickly than the Internet did.

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