"Jane,...stop this crazy thing..."

We now join the revolution in progress. I remember seeing one of those funny photo caption contests online, back in 1994 and thinking that it was a creative way to engage website visitors to contribute their thoughts to a larger dialogue.  I don’t think there was even an entry vehicle by which to capture the name of the contributor, and there certainly was no opt-in. But, there was something in the idea that stirred the imagination of the viewer and something in the technology that implied that participation was immediate and intimate.

We’ve come a long way. Quickly? Well, yes and no. To think that the channel through which you are reading these words did not exist 20 years ago is mind-boggling.  And in the grand scheme it is truly a blink of the eye. But if you were a marketer for a traditional offline brand at some point during the late 90s and early part of this decade, you will know that getting your brand to consider online marketing has been a long, slow process. Human nature has always caused us to fear change and if there is one thing technology is about, it is change. Marketers were wary of the internet at first because of its unreliability, its slow speed, its limited reach. The concerns about secure transacting and identity theft only arose after that. As marketers, we’ve managed to overcome all of those hurdles, and finally today, one can see that the majority or major brands have come to accept and even begin to integrate an online marketing strategy into their overall plans. Believe me, it did not happen overnight.

So, fast forward (perhaps another soon-to-be archaic term) to today and look around you to see just how rapidly change is occurring.  Computers are obsolete after 2 or 3 years, replaced by newer, smaller, faster, higher capacity models. There’s a reason cell phone (now mobile phone) contracts are only two years… Can you even remember the cell phone you carried four years ago?  Marketers, having finally mustered the courage to assume an online presence, are being told that if they really want to reach their audience they must consider mobile marketing. In fact, we’ve been hearing that mobile marketing is upon us for two years now. So is it or isn’t it?

I believe it is. What we have to realize is that the growth of marketing through technology occurs in a bell curve…, slow to start, but once in motion, the growth is meteoric. Email begat instant messaging, and instant messaging begat text messaging (SMS). Events like the American Idol Text to Vote campaign have jettisoned the marketing application of SMS onto the map. As PDAs proliferate and 3G technology begins to take hold, we must not consider that our cell phones are getting bigger and more complex. Rather, our computers are getting smaller and more portable. If that’s the case, and marketers have matured their marketing strategies to include online, then they will need to quickly adopt the mindset that their audience is out there, moving around, and that the channel to reach them sits on their hip or in their purse. If there were ever any reason to justify the need to establish an intimate relationship with your customer, it is the realization that you have the potential to be by their side at all times, like a best friend. Mobile devices delivering internet access and multimedia messaging (MMS) essentially lift the veil on being able to deliver even robust, extended communications.  Savvy marketers are realizing that when it comes to consumer touchpoints;

You can reach them on a bus,

You can reach them in a car,

You can reach them at a show,

You can reach them near or far,

You can reach them by the sea,

You can reach them on the land,

You can reach them in the air,

You can reach them on the tram...

You can even reach them while they’re eating,

green eggs and ham.

(with apologies to Theodor Geisel)   

For the past two years, the Paul Reveres of this digital revolution have been proclaiming that "Mobile Marketing is coming! Mobile Marketing is coming!" Listen carefully over the next few months to hear how many times the phrase "3G technology" enters the marketing conversation, and I think you'll agree that the time to act is upon us.

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