Mobile Marketing (‘MM’), though one of the newest areas of interactive direct marketing; offers significant opportunities.

Today’s consumers are on the go 24/7 and have many more media options. Thus it is becoming increasingly difficult to reach them through traditional media channels. Adding to the challenge, the existence of multiple TV sets broadcasting multiple channels in each household and the existence of internet, videogames, or in some cases, the technology to skip over ads (Tivo) etc., defines a major difficulty to reach people and capture their attention.

Consumers are changing the way they interact with media and also the way they spend their money. They’re constantly on the go and locating or reaching them through traditional channels is not feasible anymore.

The advent of the mobile phone and the launch of 3G & 4G mobile technologies have revolutionized the marketing landscape and the way people interact with each other.

People rely more and more heavily on their mobile phones as their main communication and entertainment device. Mobile phones accompany their users wherever they are and have become to a certain extent an addiction since owners cannot get through a typical day without it.

Based on a recent survey it was determined that the number of worldwide mobile phone users has reached a staggering 2.5 billion compared with 1.5 billion TV households and 1.2 billion PC users. This fact reinforces the importance of mobile phones as a new marketing communication tool.

Marketing through the medium of mobile phones has the ability to reach customers anytime and anywhere.

However mobile marketing can only be efficient and effective when it is permission-based; when it allows customers to individually pull or OPT-IN to receive information or marketing messages from a specific company, with the option to opt-out at the same time.