The use of Mobile Phones in Marketing Coursework

The use of Mobile Phones in Marketing - Coursework Example A majority of these text messages are personal. However, businesses – particularly small businesses – can use SMS to their advantage. However, the mobile is increasingly more versatile and afros diverse ways in which it can be used by business enterprises 2. Using SMS to Advertise If you have a new product, service, offer, announcement, etc, you can effectively target your customers by sending them a SMS. Most of the latest mobile phones allow you to send a single text message to multiple recipients. The only disadvantage is that many of these phones have a maximum recipient number of around 10 (at the very most). However, in older mobile phones sets, the message has to be sent to multiple customers by choosing and sending them one by one, which takes much time. However, messages can also be sent using the personal computer just as it can be done using a handy mobile phone. The messages can be sent simultaneously to multiple recipients by using software that is availabl e freely n the internet. In this respect, this is similar to sending email messages by accounts like Yahoo or Google. This is particularly useful in case the mailing list is large. Essentially, the software acts similar to an email account allowing recipients to reply to you (this can even be delivered in the style of an email if required). 3. Mobile marketing Mobile marketing is a term used to refer to any one of two distinct categories of ways of adopting marketing suing mobile technology. Thus, one is the relatively new, yet common utility of mobile phones for marketing purposes. Here, there is a so called horizontal telecommunication convergence where the mobile phone plays a key role in garnering clientele or business for the enterprise. Another way that the term mobile marketing is used is actually as a more traditional utility and in this case, marketing is affected in a moving fashion; for example, technology road shows or moving billboards. However, although there are vario us definitions for mobile marketing, no commonly accepted definition exists. Mobile marketing is broadly defined as "the use of the mobile medium as a means of marketing communication" or "distribution of any kind of promotional or advertising messages to customers through wireless networks" (http://www.a1vm.com). A more specific definition would be the definition of mobile marketing as the use of interactive and wireless media so as to provide customers with time and location sensitive, as well as personalized information that can promotes goods and services or even ideas, for creating value for all stakeholders of the business (Blackett, 2011). As recently as in November 2009, the Mobile Marketing Association  updated its definition of Mobile Marketing as follows: Mobile Marketing is a set of practices that enables organizations to communicate and engage with their audience in an interactive and relevant manner through any mobile device or network (Mobile Marketing Association, 2009). Commonly, mobile marketing is also known as wireless marketing. However the term does not imply that it is necessarily mobile. For instance, a consumer’s communications with a website from a desktop computer at home, with signals carried over a wireless local area network (WLAN) or over a satellite network would qualify as wireless but would not be termed as mobile communications. Again, the increase in use of smart