By now, most of us have seen the YouTube videos telling us how fast the internet has grown, how much shorter adoption times have become, and that Facebook has more users than many countries’ populations. Today, the newest trend is mobility. By 2012, at least 80 percent of all internet access will be through a mobile device, phone or tablet.
Here are some other things to know about mobile communication:
So what does all this mean to you and me?
Personal is the word that comes to mind. We use our mobile devices for nearly everything we do – e-mail, social networking, and texting. As a result, we have made ourselves available 24/7. Our mobile devices are at our disposal at all times – and we don’t ignore them. Statistics show that we respond to 95 percent of text messages we receive and we read 30 percent of our emails on a mobile device. According to a Deloitte survey, this holiday season, more than one quarter (27 percent) of smart phone owners plan to use their devices for holiday shopping, with 59 percent using mobile apps to compare prices and 46 percent using their devices to check product availability while on the go. Mobility has become, for all intents and purposes, an integrated part of who we are.
Wired phones offered us choices. We had the choice to pick up or not to pick up. But now, our wireless devices compel us to answer all the time via e-mail, text, or phone. Our mobile devices have allowed contact with us to become personal, and that is the key to what is next. We are available 24/7 and so we have become living and breathing marketing targets.
The mobile revolution is here. Digital strategies are leading the way to even more revolutionizing as companies review their marketing plans for 2012 and beyond. Short message service (SMS), quick response codes (QR codes), e-mail and mobile websites are replacing traditional methods of advertising at rates much faster than expected.
This new mobility trend is quickly gaining momentum and will soon become the norm. Take a minute to measure your own reactions to what you are receiving via a mobile device. This is a major opportunity for marketers around the world – accept it and be a part of the mobile revolution!
Leisa Holland-Nelson is Co-founder, President and Chief Marketing Officer of ContentActive, a leader driving the next generation of web and mobile technologies. The company has won the Houston Business Journal’s Fast Tech 50 Award six times and been named to the Top Web Developers List for the past five years in a row, as well as making its Fast 100 list in 2010 and 2011. Ms. Holland-Nelson’s diverse background leading marketing and merchandising teams at Neiman-Marcus, Federated Department Stores and Evan-Picone, and partnering at executive search firms including Heidrick & Struggles in NYC, have led her to the acceptance of her role as a serial change agent. She was named one of “Houston’s Fifty Most Influential Women of 2009” by Houston Woman Magazine. She is also the Host of the weekly “Women Mean Business” segment on The BusinessMakers Show heard on 950 AM radio and twenty other stations across the country and found on-line at www.thebusinessmakers.com.
terrific,,,so happy for all of your accomplishments…love reading you thoughts
Leisa’s data is both accurate and overwhelming. What effect will these electronic leashes have on our culture? I suspect that the answers are considerably more complex than we realize. Nonetheless, this is our world, and we will need to adapt to it.
The trend towards mobile is important for business-to-business marketing as well as consumers. With the lines between work and personal communications becoming more blurred, these new channels provide a powerful way to keep relevant, engaging content in front of the customers.