As the mobile phone is becoming the ultimate personal communication device for users, Mobile Marketing can provide the opportunity for true one to one interaction and relationship building with customers and the creative/ sensitive use of SMS marketing can deliver real benefits to companies.

It's the latest sign that the wireless marketing trend that has already hit Europe is beginning to blossom in the South East Asian countries and no doubt India will be next. So far, majors like Nestlé, Sony Pictures and countless record labels have dipped their toes into the wireless waters. Proponents say that if you're marketing entertainment or want to reach young people, SMS is the only way to stand out from the crowd.

"The opportunity is that if big companies want to reach out to people in new ways -- because they are afraid that they're not watching TV or not paying attention -- they are going to where young people are. And they're all talking on their cell phones," said P Raghu Kumar, CEO at Hyderabad based JP Systems India Ltd, a mobile business enabling player.

Sure, we've talked about SMS and wireless advertising for ages, but the last six months have seen consumers and carriers make moves that foreshadow a boom in text messaging in the India. Most progress has been driven by the carriers. They've begun aggressively promoting their text messaging services, and they've struck partnerships so that their subscribers can send messages to people on other carriers.

The first challenge is getting users to sign up for your program. Typically, people register on the Web or respond via SMS to an outdoor or print ad. In most cases, SMS campaigns require double opt-in because of the very personal nature of mobile phones. When a person signs up, a message is sent to her phone to verify she intended to register. Then, she replies via SMS or enters a code on the Web site to confirm her desire to participate.

Initially, marketers will likely see people sign up just because they're curious. Then, it'll take something more -- the promise of fun, interactivity, content, or (better) prizes. "Email is a one-way push and this is why when we talk to clients, they may want to send a push message. We say, 'No, no, don't do it that way,'" Kumar said. "The more you're able to keep that interaction going with the user, the higher the response rate you'll be likely to get," he added.

That's why polls, quizzes, games, and other interactive features have become more popular. They've been helped along by the proliferation of phones capable of two-way SMS. Companies can market by SMS text messaging using both customer and non-customer lists and bulk messaging can be very helpful in marketing and the same can drive the revenue for the operators and very less expensive marketing alternatives for FMCGs, etc. Though, this market is at a nascent stage in India but has a good market potential due to lesser costs for both the sender and receiver.

Once the GPRS enabled networks/phones are available, the usage of SMS will further multiply as fixed charges will lead to airtime charges coupled with picture messaging. The opportunity is very big as marketing can be made very personal- theaters/music vendors/hospitality/discount or festival sales/ and besides messaging can be made more personalized through 'alerts'.

There are a number of online companies who are providing resources for Wireless Marketing for example Customoffers.com, Mantraonline.com and Khojhyderabad.com.

"At the moment, JP Mobile is not working per-se on SMS but our Sure Wave Server technology handles SMS messaging and any product can be built over the platform for SMS based marketing," Kumar informed.

Bulk messaging can be ideal choice for marketing & communication within an enterprise and SMS can be an effective tool as advertising is highly expensive, time consuming & indirect letter/brochure is 35% to 150% costly but a high volume of information is often discarded. Direct Call is 200% to 500% costly but is direct and easy to annoy the recipient. Email is free & cheap but easy to delete without reading. SMS is 2.6% to 5% costly but is concise, direct and timely and it can be saved and read later. Once the location based services are introduced SMS as technology is bound to propel the product marketing in a very big way.

"I understand that the usage of SMS in Mumbai is about 59%, Kolkata 63%, Bangalore 71%, Delhi 73% and Chennai 78%. So an average, about 65% or 13 lakh subscribers of these metropolis are using SMS for communication," Kumar added. Bangalore based WDC Solutions is another company empowering people through innovative software and solutions in wireless technologies. The company has a product MobiPro Reach ideally made for mobile marketing. It has been battle-tested in India and has been in use for a few months now. "We have used this product in national campaigns for some of the big players in India for example we have done it for a national beverage company, an event management company, a consumer services company and an entertainment and recreation company. This product is available as a service in which the customer can license the product for the duration of the campaign and has no further obligation," he added. This license mechanism works well when somebody is evaluating the product, market and efficacy of the tool. The company also licenses the product, which would be desirable for organizations that would use SMS-based marketing frequently. "SMS marketing has a bright future in India. In our interaction with organizations in this space, they are actively integrating SMS marketing into their overall strategy. We are breaking into some large accounts, which is very heartening. The good news for consumers as well as the industry is that organizations seemed to inclined towards permission-based marketing as opposed to spamming," said, Manju S Murthy, CEO at WDC. "There have been inquiries from overseas, including some large regional players (Asia-Pacific). However, our current customers are in India. There are others in this space as well," Murthy informed.

FMCG companies would find the benefits of SMS marketing limited as the cell users in this country are still a very small portion of the country's population. However, niche products or marketing to niche groups will find SMS marketing very effective. The USP of this tool is one-to-one marketing, which has been the Holy Grail of the marketing world. An organization can stretch the marketing rupee as well as get more quantifiable value by using SMS. Industry reports put the number of SMS messages exchanged each day at about 25 million, at an average of about 3 messages / person / day. However, we do not have a demographics break-up of usage patterns. It may be more interactive than email marketing, but SMS shares some of email's positive characteristics, such as real-time response tracking and the ability to segment lists. It has the capability to notify a customer of new products, service or information direct to their phone at the most opportune time. Mobile Interaction can develop an interactive dialogue with the customers via a 2-way SMS platform and build an intelligent understanding of their needs, wishes and behavior. For the moment, SMS is just text (160 characters to be exact), so the cross-platform aspects of email needn't be a concern. So, marketers, think about it. There are a lot of phones out there, and you're the coach. What would you do with an SMS campaign?

Zia Askari,
(CNS)