Communications and Technology Industry Research

Motricity (News - Alert) Announces Results of Mobile Marketing Survey

 

Motricity, a provider of mobile content infrastructure and services, today announced the results of a survey of mobile marketing executives attending the first day of the Mobile Marketing Association (News - Alert) Mobile Marketing Forum.

The survey polled representatives from advertising agencies, content providers, aggregators, technology providers and wireless operators. The survey determined that while there is significant interest in mobile marketing, the channel will not realize its potential for growth until there is greater collaboration across the mobile ecosystem, according to Motricity officials.

“The investment in mobile marketing and advertising may be low today, but the results of our survey make it clear that there is tremendous potential for growth in this category,” said Steve Leonard, a general manager for Motricity. “The challenges that we’re facing as an industry are very similar to what occurred back in the early days of the Internet.”

He continued: “Advertisers and marketers were slow to enter the new, unknown online world as were consumers, especially around premium services. When collaboration increased across the ecosystem we saw the elimination of technology silos, the adoption of consistent standards and guidelines, an increase in advertising penetration and return on investment for advertisers.

“The same thing will happen with mobile as the market matures and the players work in a more collaborative way. But we have to work together as an industry to make that happen.”

Officials say the survey, which includes responses from a broad spectrum of executives in the mobile marketing industry, indicates that the mobile marketing channel will more than likely grow when there is a greater collaboration across the mobile ecosystem.

In the survey, 40 percent of mobile marketing agency representatives said their agencies currently spend less than two percent on mobile marketing initiatives. One third of the same group expects to increase spend by more than 25 percent next year.

Another 71 percent of content providers and 58 percent of technology providers participating in the survey revealed that they are not using mobile marketing and advertising because the mobile marketing channel has not developed enough, according to the survey.

Of those wireless operators polled, 31 percent said that they are looking for more clarity form the mobile ecosystem on the strategies and tactics used to execute mobile marketing campaigns.

Greater visibility and transparency needs were also highlighted in the study. In fact, 49 percent of content provider respondents and 36 percent of integrators or aggregators noted that targeting and demographics are most critical to effective mobile marketing campaign management, according to the survey.

Content customization and personalization were considered to be key drivers to increase mobile marketing by 23 percent of wireless operators.

Another 48 percent of agency respondents noted that opt-ins or registrations are most important in demonstrating the return-on-investment of mobile marketing campaigns, the survey said, and 43 percent are clearly focused on technology that provides visibility and performance of the effectiveness of mobile marketing campaigns.