Viral Marketing Goes Mobile

Mobile devices, mobile phones and PDA's are one2. Make it useful and timely. Think about what
of the last great frontiers of viral advertisementwould be handy and helpful to have on a mobile
opportunities. However, we have become expertsdevice. Last year, for example, Food Network
at filtering everything, our air and water, ourenabled Sprint customers to download shopping
e-mail and pop-ups, and our mobile devices as well.lists for their Thanksgiving dinners. There was a
We are good at filtering.lot of "Sprint-envy" going around among non-sprint
The very idea of unwanted advertising streamingcustomers.
through our Blackberries is abhorrent. Mobile3. Clearly define objectives. Usually, one of two
devices are the ultimate opt-in medium and,business objectives drives successful mobile
therefore, a great way for marketers to connectexperiences: incremental revenue of brand
with users…if that's what the users want.intimacy. On the intimacy factor, a text message
"WANT" is the key word here. How shouldusually takes priority over almost any other form
marketers approach the medium?of communication. Why? Because we haven't yet
There are three main ways to achieve this. Theybeen saturated with mobile spam, and this is what
are:causes us to prioritize wireless messaging over
1. Offer exclusive content. Anyone can offer ringvoice.
tones. It's the unique content, such as exclusiveMobile marketing has been out there for a while
mobile images of new brand concepts, that drivesbut we marketers have new territory to explore.
interest and calls them out in other media likeVideo offers fantastic opportunities for
e-mail campaigns, newsletters, websites, etc. So aengagement. Consumers already bypass their
wireless campaign is most effective when itfilters for highly useful or entertaining content and
offers exclusive content for wireless devices.will do so for rich exclusive, compelling content.