Fueled by smartphones, daily deals, merchants embrace mobile marketing in a …
August 30, 2011 by admin
Filed under Latest Lingerie News
Retailers can no longer rely on the flashing neon sign or the “clown on the corner” to draw in customers who are walking past the storefronts with their heads down looking at their mobile devices.
That’s the message from Borrell Associates, which says it is seeing a dramatic shift in how small and mid-size businesses are embracing mobile advertising and mobile promotions.
Mobile advertising is fast becoming the go-to choice for local businesses across the U.S., thanks to the fast spreading of social media, smartphones and daily deals and coupons, according to a new report (subscription required) by Borrell Associates.
Local businesses in the U.S. are on pace to spend almost $800 million in 2011 on mobile ads, according to the Borrell report. Half of the spending — $400 million — is on mobile promotions, including contests, coupons and deals.
Half of the local businesses surveyed this summer said they were planning to participate in mobile marketing this year, according the report, Main Street Goes Mobile.
To put an exclamation point the importance of companies involved in mobile marketing, New York-based mobile marketing company Augme Technologies said Tuesday that it was closing on its deal to buy Kirkland-based mobile marketing and advertising company HipCricket in a cash and stock deal valued at up to $72 million. We previously reported the deal in early August.
Mobile ad spending is projected to double every year for the next five years. By 2016, local mobile marketing spending would top $18 billion for advertising and $4 billion for promotions, according to the report. That’s more than Main Street businesses are spending on traditional web-based advertising today, according to Borrell.
Borrell says that local companies are warming up to mobile marketing at a faster rate than local businesses warmed up to cable advertising in the 1980s or internet advertising 10 years ago.
