Mobile phone users are beginning to outstrip the users of most other technological devices. Consider your daily routine. While you might log onto the Internet several times in a day from your laptop, and briefly skim news channels and the morning newspaper, you are connected to your mobile phone at the hip, all through the day. Which is why, the youngest and latest kid on the block is becoming a favorite of businesses big and small and mobile marketing is quickly becoming a hot trend among marketers. A In a survey by a research company among marketing and IT directors from financial services, manufacturing, and retail industries, almost 60% have said they prefer mobile marketing because it allows users to be targeted individually. And, around 85% of them believe that mobile marketing, since it is so personal, has 85% greater chances of conversion compared to traditional marketing methods.

The best part about mobile marketing is that it involves so little investment, compared to traditional media such as print or electronic. Placing an ad in a newspaper takes a lot of money, and space is obviously at a premium on billboards and road banners. The electronic media, though useful, is expensive – and there is no way to guarantee that your targeted user will surf the channel where you have placed your ad. If you consider the mobile phone, the biggest possibility is in reaching exactly the people you want to target. Since a mobile phone is a user’s very own device, you can send a message directly – and chances are that since the phone is with the user most of the times, they will look at the message at least once. And, if it is a useful or attractive service you are providing or an interesting campaign you are announcing, the chances of conversion become much higher. After this, of course, viral marketing might take over as your user sends your promotional message to their friends.

A huge technological change that has slowly but steadily begun to influence mobile marketing trends is geo-location. It has become easier to target a potential user via geo-location services and influence choices of what they buy. Bigger companies have not been slow to catch on to this latest trend. For example, social media giant Facebook has introduced mobile couponing services for their UK users with tie-ups that gives users offers to use a particular restaurant service when they are near that restaurant.

Games with promotional messages tucked into them, couponing, and video promotional messages are all strategies you can use to reach out to customers. Short Text Message Marketing (SMS) campaigns, sales promotion activities and even market research and customer feedback programs are easily possible using mobile marketing services.