Monday Morning Mobile: The Crown Jewel of Direct Marketing

Once upon a time, a single media campaign was distributed to the general public through mail, catalogs, and other forms of mass marketing. As consumer information became more accessible, companies began to re-align their marketing focus and budget to accomplish the ultimate goal of reaching the right audience, at the right time and place. As technology progressed, many of these scatter-bomb campaigns evolved into finely tuned messages that could reach an incredibly focused group of consumers.

Mobile marketing has progressed the definition of direct marketing at an unprecedented pace allowing companies to harness all that the technology has to offer. Jewelry retailer Pandora already has an established, comprehensive mobile presence, implementing campaigns that show they understand and that allow them to push the limit on how direct their marketing can be.

This year, Pandora ran a Valentine's Day campaign aimed at male gift-givers that targeted mobile devices on Super Bowl Sunday. The result was a perfect combination of marketing research, technology and execution, as heavy mobile usage among males made the campaign incredibly successful.

The 'when and where' aspects of marketing have forever changed with mobile. An expensive 30-second TV spot can only reach a loosely defined audience demographic, while a properly executed mobile campaign can actually divert a consumer's eyes down to their phone and engage them on a far more direct level, for a fraction of the price.

Real estate is the perfect industry to showcase the direct nature of mobile marketing. Agents and brokers can now use mobile to target a potential buyer while they are standing at the property, receiving an alert the instant that the buyer expresses interest in the listing. Technology aside, this is a breakthrough in marketing and sales. There is literally no other form of marketing that can connect a buyer and seller at such a brief, yet pivotal moment during the consumer experience.