Mobile Marketing

Marketing, Technology And Present Situation

Marketing is the total of efforts aiming to meet human needs and desires. Global marketing has always been influenced by technological developments. For example, similar to the way railways transformed products and services from local to national and international, and thus contributed to the development of marketing and the globalization of the marketing environment concept, the reinforced concrete technology brought great changes to urbanization and structuring and triggered both movable and immovable property markets; other technologies also create their unique impacts on the markets.

New technologies have not only changed the lives of people, but they have also significantly changed business practices (Yamamoto & Telli, 2005). Every new technology brings a new dimension to the marketing concept and its interpretations with respect to both product and service. Developments in computer technologies have directed social life towards technology unexpectedly and, mobilization right afterwards has further accelerated such changes and new interpretations. The created mobile technologies enable using the marketing elements in different ways.

It is clear that e-commerce created radical changes on marketing systems and accelerated such developments before mobile development. Sheth and Sisodia (1999) indicated a change in society as they expressed the radical change in the content of marketing together with the expansion of e-commerce. At the end of the ‘90s, computers developed at a faster pace than mobile phones. In the later period, however, mobile phones developed much faster than computers with regard to their features and functions.

According to Sheth and Sisodia (1999), the development of electronic commerce caused a transformation in society and various points of twist occurred in the evolution of social and commercial change as a result of the transformation. With the mentioned change, sales, advertising, distribution and the promotional styles of conventional marketing cannot even create a sufficient influence, let alone a major one.

The application of conventional marketing rules is getting more difficult as the environment is getting more complicated. International networks of commerce, created in the globalization-oriented market strategies with painstaking efforts, high costs and trained labor force, transformed into new systems through Internet and mobile devices, and provided an inexpensive, simple and fast relationship between the producer and the consumer. There are almost no limitations with regard to the number of manufacturers the consumer can refer to, and literarily, surfing is possible among the product and service options of organizations on technological networks.

Due to these extensive means, differentiation became a point that should be carefully dwelled upon at every point from the beginning of launching the product to marketing and afterwards because products and services are gradually becoming more similar. In order to deliver the differences of similar products/services to customers, differentiation on the promotional instruments should be obtained first. One of the most important promotional materials is advertising. For example, at present digital advertisements have turned window shops into live marketing and promotional instruments, and mobile phones can also be used as a channel which can be accessed at any time and individually. Digital advertisements turn color, light and sound games and effects into brighter and more appealing and more entertaining form; thus making it more effective. However, in addition to providing differentiation, this and other similar promotional oriented approaches have also become easily imitable. On the other hand, the Internet placed an important role in this differentiation in terms of communication and sales; the developed web sites and internet sales have caused new business opportunities to appear.

Brand new opportunities will also appear as a result of Internet access from mobile phones. After the exchange of corporate and personal e-mails from any point where mobile phones can be connected to the Internet became possible, it has become possible to give a more “online” direction to marketing. Digital systems have undertaken missions beyond being a device only, and gained a multi-functional status where hardware, software and services are compiled together.

Actually, new technological instruments led to a shift even beyond “online”. All sectors and sectorial companies serving as a mobile content technology developer, an application service provider (ASP) or similar roles are supported using variable data with new technology and software. They also introduce new systems and new means of marketing.