Should you consider mobile marketing for your brand?

I saw this question online this morning and thought it might make an interesting blog topic.

We believe that it's a good time to consider mobile marketing as part of your brand marketing mix - as long as your target market uses mobile phones and devices. Chances are that they do, since the U.S. alone has 250 million subscribers. And text messages to mobile phones have a read-rate of 94% - which is better than print, TV, e-mail or direct mail.*

After all, we're a mobile society; the mobile device is the fastest growing communications device in history, with twice the reach of the Internet. Smart businesses are saying about mobile marketing: "Why wouldn't we communicate with our customers the way we communicate with each other?"

Brands like Jameson and Nestle are using mobile brand marketing because it provides direct interaction and direct response from consumers - and provides a good return on investment. Quick service restaurants like Subway, Pizza Hut, Arby's, Papa John's, Burger King and McDonald's all have run successful mobile marketing campaigns and intend to run more.

Jiffy Lube ran a successful mobile campaign contest with a keyword-short code call-to-action to win a year of free oil changes. Non-winners were offered a mobile coupon, which had a unique code for tracking at the point of sale, for discounts on wiper blades, a tire change or an oil change.

Mobile marketing gives brands another highly targeted marketing tool and an opportunity to engage and interact with customers on the move.

So if you haven't considered mobile marketing yet for your brand, you really should. What are your thoughts about mobile marketing for your brand? Have you done it and, if so, what were the results? We'd love to hear from you.

*Mobile Marketing News, February 2009