The Mobile Marketing Association defines mobile marketing as:
“ a set of practices that enables organizations to communicate and engage with their audience in an interactive and relevant manner through any mobile device or network.” 1
As this definition suggests, there are many ways in which a small business can engage in mobile marketing. The 1st Annual Fanminder Small Business Mobile Marketing Survey 2 listed six popular mobile marketing programs, asking respondents to rank their interest in them.
As with the mobile marketing benefits, all six mobile marketing programs presented in the survey garnered high interest from respondents—the lowest rated program was still very or extremely interesting to more than 40% of respondents.
Respondents were most interested in a mobile website—a business website optimized for mobile devices. A recent study by Pew Research Center in Washington showed that 40% of “American adults use their cell phones to surf the Web, e-mail, or use instant messaging,”3 so these business owners are definitely onto something!
Complete results for the 6 programs in the survey are:
| Mobile Marketing Program | % Very or Extremely Interested |
| Mobile website | 69% |
| Text message reminders | 53% |
| Birthday clubs | 50% |
| Customer reviews | 50% |
| Mobile coupons | 50% |
| Frequent buyer card | 44% |
What other uses do you think mobile marketing can be used for?
1 Mobile Marketing Association website.
2 1st annual Fanminder Small Business Mobile Marketing Survey analysis based on 42 responses to an online survey.