In mainland China, there are over 800 million mobile phone users up till 2010 with around 500 million people surfing the internet via their mobile devices. This is a very impressive figure when comparing with just more than 450 million internet surfers.

In addition, mobile phones are no longer for voice communication only. It can be used to send text messages and browse the internet, making it one of the most ideal marketing tools. The question is: how can we fully utilize this channel to send our messages across to our target customers?

The Rise of Mobile Marketing

In as early as 2005, some mainland Chinese companies have already started to promote their products by sending text messages. From then on, the concept of “mobile marketing” became another new trend after “internet marketing”.

Simply speaking, “mobile marketing” makes use of mobile devices as its major communication tools to send messages directly to target customers. As such, mobile phone is also known as “the Fifth Media”, alongside with print media, voice media, video media and online media.

It soon becomes the latest marketing tool which represents new hopes for many companies and marketing professionals. More importantly, with the coming of intelligent phones and 3G communication network, mobile phone may eventually become a more powerful and effective tool than online media.

Comparing with traditional media, mobile marketing possesses the following competitive edges:

1. High penetration: all businessmen in China carry with them at least one mobile phone which is on 24 hours a day;

2. High readership: no matter they are text, flash or multimedia messages, people tend to read incoming messages on their mobile phones;

3. Exact location: the messages can be targeted to reach people in a certain province, certain city or even certain neighbourhood;

4. Tailor-made: different messages can be tailored for different types of customers;

5. Timeliness: the messages can reach target audience anytime, anywhere;

6. Retrievable: receivers can store the messages onto their mobile phones which can be retrieved later;

7. Viral marketing: receivers are likely to send interesting or relevant messages to their friends; and

8. Low cost: the same budget can generate much bigger impact

Means of Mobile Marketing

Now, how can we employ mobile marketing? At present, there are quite a number of means available, including text messages, dotMobi names, ringing tones, multimedia messages, interactive voice response messages, streaming media, WAP sites, as well as the latest intelligent phone applications.

At present, the most commonly used way of conducting mobile marketing is via “mass text messaging”. I am sure most of the readers receive text messages from unknown sources everyday. This is similar to direct mailing in the old days or electronic direct mailing nowadays which can only generate minimal feedback.

However, if we target existing and potential customers who have contacted your company, the result will be totally different. For example, many equipment suppliers would like to create an opportunity to meet customers face-to-face to fully understand their needs. To this end, equipment suppliers attend trade shows, arrange technology seminars and even webinars in order to communicate with their customers.

Under such circumstances, equipment suppliers can send their invitation by “mass text messaging” directly onto the mobile phones of your customers. Comparing with sending through emails, fax, or mailing, it is much faster and more direct. It would be even more user-friendly if your client can register for your seminars right away via mobile handsets.

Registering for a DotMobi Domain Name

If you want to disseminate more information to your target customers via mobile phones, you can try registering for a dotMobi domain name. Like its counterpart in the internet world, dotMobi is the domain name of a mobile website. When you look for the website of a certain company, you input the name of the company into search engines leading you to the appropriate links.

By the same token, you can register your company name in the mobile internet world. In other words, you are building a WAP site in which you can post information about your company, your products and contact details in the mobile world.

When your customers send your company name in the form of a text message to 12114, they will receive an auto reply with the WAP address of your mobile site (e.g. wap.google.com), or an invitation to your seminars. Your client can then read the invitation on his/her mobile phone and decide whether to register or not.

In addition, you can also send a reminder via text messages to your customers one day before the event. This would save much of your customers’ troubles in memorizing time and location of your event. After the event, a tailor-made thank you note can be sent to your customers reminding them of their appropriate next step.

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