The slide show Mobile Marketing Trends 2010 states that we’re moving away from the era of impressions into a time of engagement. This is a meaningful statement, with many implications for business owners.

Lets first look at the traditional practice of gaining impressions: Radio, Print, TV, and Traditional Internet are all vehicles that are able to deliver a given number of consumer impressions (determined by station, market size, audience demo, etc.). This has been a mainstay in any marketing or advertising campaign.

With the proliferation of mobile marketing, things are changing. Before we go into detail, here are a few interesting stats to consider:

*Cell Phones have now surpassed web access, cable television, and at-home PCs

*More than 95% of cell phones sold today are internet ready- and 70 Million consumers use them regularly

*Over 20% of households in the US are wireless only- No home phones/home PCs

*Smart phones are now becoming “second wallets”- 38% of mobile users consider mobile to be more important than wallet

It is crucial that companies understand how to reach out to consumers via mobile device and how to turn these “impressions” into meaningful engagement.

There are mobile marketing practices that can help you communicate with your customers in a manner that builds lasting relationships.

SMS/Text Message Marketing- You can drive mobile traffic by prompting your audience to text for coupons, sweepstakes, special sales events, etc. SMS is great to use as part of your marketing mix because it is relatively easy to integrate into your existing plan. For instance, you could have texting as part of your call to action in a print ad. You could prompt listeners to text via radio ad. You can use text as part of your television campaign. No matter what, with SMS as part of your mobile marketing mix, you are getting consumers to not only view your message, but take an active part in it.

Mobile Social Media- In 2009, Facebook reported that 65 million worldwide visits came via mobile device. Social media has gone mobile. You should interact with your consumers on sites like Facebook and Twitter as part of your mobile marketing plan. An important aspect of using social media for mobile marketing is that the information in your updates needs to be timely and relevant for mobile users. For example, on a Saturday at noon, a local record store might tweet their Buy 1/Get 1 offer that is only happening from 1-3pm the same day. That information is extremely timely, and is of particular interest to mobile users who are likely to be out and about. Mowbi is an excellent tool for conducting all of your mobile social media marketing because it puts all of your social networking sites in one place- so updating your content is fast and easy. Call 800-985-9277 or e-mail bill@mowbi.com or jordan@mowbi.com for more info and a FREE DEMO of Mowbi.

Direct Response & Mobile Marketing- The opportunities are boundless for DR via mobile phone because marketers have a chance to create strong, permission based customer lists. One DR mobile marketing initiative your should definitely give consideration to are customer loyalty programs.  Mobile Customer Loyalty programs can be much like the card based rewards programs used now by most major retailers, accept offers, coupons, news, and discounts are giving via e-mail and text instead of paper coupons, plastic cards or direct mail. Mobile Coupons are 5-8 times more likely to be redeemed.

No matter which methods you apply, engaging your customers is going to be a major part of the marketing of the future- particularly mobile marketing. This is exciting news for any business owner or marketer because instead of gaining views/impressions, with mobile marketing, you have a chance to engage your customers and build quality consumer relationships that last.