Top 5 Reasons Why Mobile Marketing Will Increase Your Profits in 2011

Now that I've finally gotten a Smartphone, I feel as though I've joined the 21st century, techologically speaking, at least, and can begin to engage in the mobile marketing sent to me by businesses I patronize. I've seen people all around me become VERY attached to their smartphones like a new toy, seldom putting it down for anything. In fact, having someone text on their while I'm speaking to them has become the newest item in my top 5 list of annoyances, but that's another story.

I see that mobile marketing is in its infancy, going through the same growth pattern that I saw Internet marketing go through in the late 1990s. Rather than resist something new, which is what I did with Internet marketing, I'm embarrassed to admit, I've decided to embrace mobile marketing as a new frontier and fully explore the marketing opportunities for this medium in my business.

Here are the top 5 reasons that you need to use mobile marketing in 2011 to increase your profits:

1. Almost everyone has a cell phone. Currently, 250+ million Americans carry mobile phones, which is over 80% of the nation's population. And, cell phones subscriptions will top 5 billion globally before 2011. There are more cell phones on the planet than automobiles, credit cards, landline phones, computers, and TV sets. With mobile phone users outnumbering computer users 4 to 1, businesses that don't use mobile marketing are missing out on many, many customers.

2. Texting is here to stay. SMS texting seems to be taking over our culture. By 2012, an estimated 10 trillion text messages will be sent and delivered globally. In 2008, Nielsen reported that texting exclipsed voice calls. Over 95% of SMS TEXT messages are viewed, 62% are remembered and 22% of value-add messages are forwarded to friends. Approximately half of mobile subscribers use SMS in the U.S today. I wish my ezine and email marketing had those kinds of open rates!

3. Users access the Internet via their cell phone. Forty-five percent(45%) of cell phone users between the ages of 14-42 accessed the Internet through their cell phones. And the prediction is that in the next few years, 35% of all Internet searches will be mobile-based searches. Moreover, according to the Radicati Group, 139 million people access their email through their mobile handset.

4. Cell phones are essential. Many people never put their cell phone down or turn them off. Cell phones go to work with them, out to dinner or to a movie with them, and to bed with them (they use the alarm feature rather than an alarm clock.) While computer users spend only about 2.5 hours in front of their computers, cell phone users have their phones with them 24/7 and don't turn them off. Fifty-three percent (53%) use their cell phone for up to an hour while shopping. And, four out of five teens carry a wireless device, and the majority (57%) view their cell phone as the key to their social life.

5. Cell phone users are more responsive. There are more than 150 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices, and Facebook reports those who use Facebook on their mobile devices are twice more active on Facebook than non-mobile users. Twenty-four percent (24%) of cell phone users report that they have participated in a mobile marketing campaign, and 25% have opted into marketing messages from a brand. Deloitte Consumer Research reports that 57% of users love to receive mobile coupons. Foot traffic and web traffic is skyrocketing for those entrepreneurs diving into location-based social media.

So, regardless of how good you are at marketing your business online, if you're not embracing mobile marketing, you're writing off 1 out of every 3 searchers. Think about that -- those sure are some busy thumbs. The future of mobile marketing is bright -- very bright!

Note: The statistics quoted in thia article are courtesy of Mobile Marketing Expert Dan Holllings, CTIA Wireless Association, Gartner.com, International Telecommunication Union, Facebook, Nielsen, Kelsey Group, Deloitte Consumer Research, Radicati Group