Russell Buckley at Mobhappy.com has a very nice piece on mobile marketing here. Basically, he ponders why mobile hasn’t become more common as a marketing mechanism.
Personally, I am of the opinion that candidates need can get a pretty good jump on the competition by paying attention to mobile in the coming year. Why? Russell makes a pretty good justification here:
It’s hard to argue that mobile isn’t potentially important - two billion people carrying what are essentially Personal Media Players, capable of receiving calls and messages in real time, playing music, watching film, streaming Tv and radio and hosting games. Not only that, but we’re promised that these devices will soon be self-aware enough to know where they are in the world, and in relation to other users - and let interested parties know this information (with the user’s permission).
So it’s not the medium itself that represents the challenge for marketers. It’s bleeding obvious that it’s attractive. At least if you don’t work in a traditional [marketing] agency.
I will be developing a series of posts in the near future about how you (even as a low-budget local candidate) can use mobile in your campaign. For now, here are some good links to get you started:
> Network-centric Advocacy: Google SMS activism
Marty posted this back in 2004, and I must say that I find Google Local indispensable here in NYC. I have used it for driving directions on the fly, finding sushi in different neighborhoods, and other things.
> MobileActive
This was a conference, organized by Marty Kearns (see above) around mobile activism. Lots of good brain food here.
Take a look at these sites and I will be back with some ideas on how you can use Mobile in your campaign after the turkey has digested. In the meantime, you should add a “cell phone” field to your signup forms with maybe a “It is ok to contact me via text message” box.
See you soon.