The Year of the Smart Phone

According to the Chinese calendar, we’re in the year of the rabbit.  I guess that makes sense, because things sure are hopping right along in the mobile world.

A Nielsen Company report from October 2010 shows that 29.7 percent of mobile subscribers in the United States have a Smartphone.  The two most popular at the time of the report were the iPhone and the Blackberry.  Twenty-two percent of users were running the Android Operating System.  What does this mean?  Not much unless you’re looking into the joining the wave of marketers using Smartphones to sell their wares!

How are people using their Smartphones and what difference does it make in marketing?

Take a look at this poll posted in The New York Times back in September:

A survey of 4000 people determined that most people wouldn’t even THINK about leaving home without their mobile phone.  And what are they doing with their phones?  The majority of them are playing games, checking the weather, and surfing the internet.  More and more are performing daily work tasks, but the majority is still using it socially.  How are they doing this?  They are using applications (or “apps”).  An application downloaded by the user is where your marketing strategy comes in to play.  Sixty-one percent of Smartphone users buy and play games regularly.  People load the game, they see an advertisement, and they are likely to click on it.  Sometimes users click on an advertisement accidentally.  That’s ok. It still puts your business in front of them and that is the ultimate goal.

Think about it using your own usage as an example.  As time passes web surfers (a.k.a. potential consumers), have learned to tune out the advertisements they see on webpages, as they have the commercials on TV.  We’re too used to seeing them.  Insert a new method of advertising here … via games and other apps that are being downloading and used daily on Smartphones.  This method of advertising is still fresh and new!  People are seeing it.

With Smartphones, a whole new set of opportunities has opened up for the marketer.  User location data is more readily available, which means more targetability.  All advertising is “opt-in” because the user has made the first point of contact by downloading the app.  And most users are on their phones every day so it’s more in their face and personal.  It’s a great opportunity!

So get out there!  Get to work on that marketing plan, updating it to include mobile phone application advertising!

Interesting fact:  In a poll taken by the Nielsen Company in September 2010, it was determined that when thinking of getting a new phone, women will likely choose the iPhone, which uses the iOS, whereas men will prefer the Android system.