--------You Can Only Find Our Website With One Search Engine----
Isn't that the dumbest marketing statement you ever heard?
That's whats happening with mobile.
Did you ever wonder what would happen if just ONE shortcode was used for text messaging info requests? That could happen very easily and it would be a real blow to some mobile marketing companies.
What happened to the search engine space will have to the shortcode space too.
Last week I posted Jessica Simpson's mobile marketing campaign and consumers were asked to text "JESS" to 33992.
Wouldn't the campaign get a much greater response if I could text JESS to GOOGL and get the same results? Why can't you?
Because Google hasn't started to offer mobile marketing....Yet.
I don't know what's harder, typing in a web address on my mobile or remembering each 5 (now 6) digit shortcode.
If you're the campaign manager, shouldn't you find a word that corresponds to that number to make it easier to remember? I am amazed at the lack of creativity these marketing companies have when it comes the most important part of the campaign, and what they are doing to entice customers.
Either these mobile marketing companies come out with innovative words for their shortcodes, or Google is just going take over this space. 4INFO realized this and look at their market dominance.
Wouldn't you like anyone to be able to text JESS to the biggest shortcode and get the same information? Doesn't that increase your response rate?
What did Pontiac show us about searching with their TV ads? They told viewers to go to "the" search engine (www.google.com) and type in "PONTIAC" for more information. They are using a "universal" search engine and relying on one keyword for results.
What I see is the number of shortcodes consolidating very rapidly to just one or two. Outside of GOOGL, 4INFO and YAHOO, can you think of any others?
Here's how Google becomes the mobile marketing company.
Google will sell the mobile marketing company the ability to direct traffic using the short code GOOGL with their specific keyword. Send "JESS" to GOOGL and get the same result. Google starts to sell mobile marketing keywords and then GOOGL becomes the standard for text messaging inquiries.
Google is entering into print and radio advertising. Wouldn't it be the perfect opportunity to introduce GOOGLE or GOOGL words? Talk about a combination advertising punch. The Toyota ad in Newsweek invites you to send TOYOTA to GOOGL. The crazy German Dr Z says send DRZ to GOOGLE for more information on their radio ad.
GOOGL and GOOGLE could be for different services.
After seeing the lack of creativity by mobile marketing companies and their text message campaigns so far, I am surprised Google hasn't started to implement this already.
2 comments:
Mobile is not the same as internet. Pontiac on google returns 11 natural results (10 plus link to map of Pontiac, MI) and 10 sponsored results. This is not going to fit on the the tiny third screen.
So let's say Google supports texting 'Pontiac' to GOOGL Sorry, how do they know what I want? Right now it returns "Looking for map of Pontiac, MI? Sorry, map information is not available via Google SMS".
Send 'Pontiac' to 4info and you get back message asking if you want "1) Weather, 2) Movies, or 3) WIFI Hot Spots.
So these companies are offering local search capabilities. To offer mobile marketing, they would need a separate short code. And then it gets confusing again as consumers have to know which code to use when.
Point is, it's not so easy. Mobile internet and ** have thier own challenges.
Finally, successful mobile marketing requires creativity and hard work - a lot more than doing google adwords. So, there is room for different companies who are willing to spend dedicated think and execution time.
Good luck to all.
Whilst it would be nice to use more creativity on short codes, there aren't that many out there and they aren't cheap (especially to acquire cross-network); a lot of them have been bought by agencies who then resell individual keywords for individual campaigns.
If you look at what the short codes are used for, most are actually competitions etc aimed at getting a phone number or create an interaction between a customer and a brand, and many are run using premium SMS to make them self funding. Can't do that with Google, you wouldn't have the fine grained control of price etc and the ability to send scripted responses based on the message sent in.
So really Google has some potential to do basic info search. They do have more brand recognition than the mobile-dedicated players - I've personally never heard of 4info, they may well 'own' the market but this could also be a perception thing (like the assumption among many bloggers and AJAX lovers that flickr is the biggest photo sharing site when it is way smaller than the competition). I have heard of AQA though, and they give very informative responses tailored to an SMS which a lot of the time for simple questions are way quicker than a google search on the web, let alone on a tiny screen.
Google certainly have the potential to do well in mobile but I'd be wary of assuming they'll take over any market they enter. They'd have to be prepared to put a little more time into it than they do with most of the other second-rate me-too sidelines they run...
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