Konstantina Mameletzi

No ratings yet.

Recently I participated in a Google’s workshop regarding Analytics and Digital trends. What made me post this topic on the blog is the following lecturer’s question to the participants: “If you had to delete all the applications from your smartphone and keep only one, which would that be and why?”. More than 50% of the participants replied that they would keep Whatsapp because they use it for chatting only with their most valuable friends and they don’t feel spammed by advertisements. At first I was impressed because I thought that Instagram for example is a way more popular social networking application and far more funny: photos and Instagram stories apart from chat.

After a couple of days I watched a video of an official TED conference: “Why our screens make us less happy?”

Psychologist Adam Alter studies how much time screens steal from our everyday lives. And indeed the amount of our personal time spending to our smartphones has increased from 2007. But the question is how enriching are the apps we use? Well, it was found that we spend in average 9 minutes per day in apps that make us feel better (education, weather, health, relaxation), whereas we spend 3 times longer (27 minutes) in apps that make us feel less happy (social networking, web browsing, gaming etc). So actually why we use them more? “Because news feed rolls on and everything is bottomless: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, email, text messaging, the news”

Trying to decrease the time we spend on our phones big firms got some great strategies like for example turning the workplace into a yoga or fitness studio twice a week or deleting emails sent to an employee while on vacation. Vodafone also launched a campaign (#Lookup) encouraging people to “keep their phone aside and have a real chat with friends”.

And all of these make me think of how new technologies has also changed people’s relationships. In a bad or in a good way?

References:

http://bestmediainfo.com/2017/08/vodafone-tells-us-to-keep-phone-aside-and-have-a-real-chat-with-friends-this-friendship-day/

5/5 (1)

New technologies and especially the use of smartphones have changed people’s everyday activities. They have also affected marketing strategies and marketers’ approach towards consumers.

Regarding marketers, mobile marketing has from one hand a significantly lower cost than traditional advertising media and from the other hand enables companies to establish a personal relationship with customers (customer-centric marketing). Other benefits of mobile marketing: interaction between advertiser and consumer (Qui-Gao, Pei-Luen et al., 2010), pre-sales, sales, after-sales support(Roger Strom, Martin Vendel et al. , 2014) and personalized content, since companies are able to collect data concerning consumers preferences and consequently form specific target groups.(Phumisak Smutkupt, Donyaprueth Krairit et al, 2010 and Koh Jing Yee, Rashad Yazdanifard, 2013).

Regarding consumers, the value of mobile marketing is associated with the anywhere and anytime access (Roger Strom, Martin Vendel et al. , 2014). Access to advertisements while on the move enables consumers to have product information available constantly(Baoling Li (2013).

However, in a recent research, Catherine Watsona, Jeff McCarthy b, et al. (2013) support the majority of consumers are negative and cautious towards mobile marketing since smartphones are perceived as something private and personal. Most of them consider mobile advertising spam and wish to have more control regarding what is appeared on their smartphone’s screen. They don’t like being exposed and make personal information known.

In order to increase consumers engagement and involvement to mobile advertising , companies need to give them the feeling of control and reassure them regarding safety of their personal data. QR codes are a modern strategy adopted by several companies. Consumers scan an image or code with their smartphone and are redirected to a relative website with product information. (Cathy Boyle,2011). Another recent practice is the following: consumers take a picture of a product they like and send it to their favorite store, receiving information on whether there is a similar product available. Amazon’s app is a great example (Venkatesh Shankar, Alladi Venkatesh, et al. , 2010). These practices incorporate the variable of control from consumers side and enable companies invest on customers loyalty.

Sources:

Gao, Q. ,Rau, PLP. & Salvendy, G. (2010) Measuring perceived interactivity of mobile advertisements. Behaviour & Information Technology,29(1),35-44.

Strom, R. & Vendel, M. (2014) Mobile Marketing : A Literature Review on its Value for Consumers and Retailers. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services,21(6),1001-1020

Smutkupt, P. , Krairit, D. & Esichaikul, V. (2010). Mobile Marketing : Implications for Marketing Strategies. International Journal of Mobile Marketing,5(2).

Li, B. (2013) Understanding Mobile Marketing: Conception, Current Situation and Key Issues. Liss,1319-1324.

Boyle, C. (2011) eMarketer Webinar: Mobile marketing trends, insight and best practices, http://www.slideshare.net/eMarketerInc/emarketer-webinar-mobile-marketing-trends-insights-and-best-practices-14791998

Venkatesh , S., Venkatesh, Al., Hofacker, C., Naik, P.(2010) Mobile Marketing in the Retailing Environment: Current Insights and Future Research Avenues. Journal of interactive Marketing 24,111-120.

[accessed 20-22/09/2017]

Digital Technologies: Mobile marketing & its effect on consumers behavior

23

Please rate this