Mobile Campaign

• Brigadier General Randall L. GibsonSpanish Fort
• Major General John R. LiddellFort Blakely

• Major General E. R. S. CanbySpanish Fort, Fort Blakely

Organizations increasingly rely on SMS based outreach as a way to connect with audiences, and this practice has come to be known as a mobile campaign. Rather than relying solely on broad marketing, advertising, or public relations efforts, companies use text messaging to build a closer, more personal bond with the people they want to reach. This underlying practice is commonly labeled mobile marketing. Depending on what a business hopes to achieve, a campaign might simply flash an image, deliver informational text about a product, or push for genuine engagement through a response or click.

What started as a minor tool on the fringes of advertising has grown into a core piece of effective marketing strategy. Figures from 2013 show that online advertising ranked second in total spending at $113 billion, trailing only television's $196.5 billion. Early mobile campaigns were mostly designed to amplify whatever primary campaign was already underway. The voting system used on American Idol stands out as an early and telling example of this approach. Television served as the main campaign, while mobile engagement came through the now familiar instruction to watch the show and text in a vote. During 2012, this system logged over 131 million votes in a single night, a total that set the world record for mobile voting. Given that more than 90% of Americans now own cell phones, and that roughly 6.8 billion mobile devices exist worldwide compared to only 2.4 billion with internet access, mobile campaigns appear poised to define the future of advertising and consumer engagement.

Advertisers continue refining their approach to reach consumers, and new technology keeps opening fresh avenues for interaction between companies and the public. Developers are working to turn mobile devices into highly personalized marketing tools, including GPS enabled smartphones capable of offering location based services and nearby coupon alerts. Mobile campaigns can be delivered through app based ads, text messages, or emails, often combining several of the following approaches.

Text to Vote lets a content provider, such as a television program, movie theater, or baseball game, present a list of choices that mobile users can vote on directly.

Text to Win allows mobile users to submit their information to a designated number, entering them into a drawing for a prize.

Click to Call sends an SMS, email, or app notification containing a phone number, giving users a single tap connection to a business. Advertisers often use this option to share product details or open a dialogue about their offerings.

Click to order brochures gives users the choice to request printed or promotional materials by submitting their email, postal code, or other requested details.

Click to receive mobile coupons enables users to obtain coupons tied either to information they've provided or to a specific advertisement, with the app FourSquare being a well known example of a GPS driven coupon delivery service.

Click to buy provides users with a direct link to purchase a product or service, often supporting payment through mobile systems, credit cards, or services like PayPal.

Click to download content allows users to obtain material from a provider, such as apps, ringtones, or wallpaper, frequently in exchange for personal data, a location check in, survey completion, or viewing an ad.

Click to enter branded mobile websites lets users tap a banner to reach a website built specifically for that campaign.

Click to forward content gives users the ability to pass along an ad or piece of content to someone else, helping a campaign spread virally.

Click or text to donate became possible after government approval in 2005 across Canada, the US, Mexico, and the UK, letting mobile users text a specific number to donate money that would then appear on their phone bill. Among the most notable uses of this method was the Haiti relief effort, through which the American Red Cross collected more than $32,000,000 in donations.