Published on November 23rd, 2008 | by Saurabh Pandey

Mobile Marketing!

Just thinking aloud on components of a Horizontal Mobile Platform Business Model:

Core Challenge:

1. To build a content ecosystem
2. To build an effective distribution mechanism
3. To create monetising opportunities and action

Positioning and Market Gap/Opportunity

90m handsets sold in 2007:
Total active Sub base- 250million already (adding more than 2million every month now)
Total PC base is 30m and internet base is 12m (usage would be about 40 odd million). The web penetration is not as much as we thought it would be by 2007, hence there is a clear opportunity to tap the Internet enabled handsets in India.- If we put only 20% of the handsets to be capable of using internet apps: we already have about 40 million users ready to use internet in some form over their mobile devices.
Independent domestic players with individual applications or major players with horizontal offerings but limited to their basket (Yahoo GO!). Hence a clear opportunity for a player that can serve cross-vehicle content (right from Yatra’s content to Magic brick’s content to content from Naukri)

Creating an effective content ecosystem:

Demands clear market segmentation
i. Youth
ii. Corporate
iii. Rural/Semi Urban

Creating relevant and compelling mobile internet experience
i. Video and photo sharing, social networking, Blogging, Multiplex, Fast Food, jobs, gaming, chat, answers.
ii. Flights, Gadgets, Business Content, jobs, gaming, easy notepad, alerts, business applications, online shopping. GPS maps etc.
iii. Voice based, whether, railways, movie clips, lingual content

Relevant users can download widgets and make their own mobile portal. Alternatively, they can be packaged and distributed.

Procuring the content

i. Tie up with content providers: essentially those who are not web savvy but have a compelling offline presence. Or have a pressure of expanding reach fast. like Enadu, Kumudam in south, India today’s newspaper-metro today, live mint, meta search engines like: zoomtra or desiya
ii. Need to have flagship content providers: People will not download the entire mobile portal unless one has buzz creating brands like: amazon, google, linkedin, orkut, apple-itunes etc.
iii. Create an affilicate network of publishers:

1. Ask content providers to submit their content/site and get paid on per download basis. or

2. Advertisement revenue sharing basis

Build an effective distribution mechanism:

a. Through web portals
b. Through Mobile operators
c. Handset manufacturers
d. Create pull from end users through consumer marketing
e. Tie up with content providers- their users will automatically transit/upgrade to a mobile version of content

Advertising Monetisation

Various Objectives for advertisers: each objective can be monetized:

Core Objectives of an advertiser:

1. Reach:
2. Relevance
3. Action
4. Tracking and RoI

· Couponing: sales promotion
· Form Filling: lead generation
· Behavioral advertising: targeted advertising for branding
· Location based advertising: contextual advertising
· On demand: extension of distribution (for eg. Click for an HP cartridge and get it delivered to your home)

So this was a macro perspective on Mobile advertising and marketing. I guess it’s just a matter of time when Marketers and Agencies will receive an opportunity to reach out to their TA in rural, semi urban and Urban areas with customised , close-loop-able and trackable communication.

It will make great sense for : Banking and Finance, Classifieds, locals and Travel companies.

However, two things need to be considered:

1. The communication and platform needs to be designed for mobile access.

2. Due to emphasis on privacy, Mobile communication will all the more depend on permissive marketing- hence the need for technology disruption (how to create an easy to navigate and action oriented mobile platform -which will automatically optimise basis screen size and resolution, for instance) and an opportunity to command premium precisely due to this from dvertisers (and may be consumers)

Tags: Digital Focus, Digital Marketing, Mobile Marketing