Tuesday, May 27, 2008

What people will give up for important information

I was reading an LA Times article about how teens are willing to give out their cell phone numbers to mobile advertisers in exchange for relevant content.
"It may all seem a little bothersome, but teens don't mind receiving messages
about products on their phones, says Nic Covey, director of insights at
research firm Nielsen Mobile. Nielsen said teens were nearly twice more
likely than adults to trust and respond to advertising and pitches on mobile
phones."


This goes back to the question of would you rather be served information or would you rather go find it when you are ready? Based on research in my own industry, people don't make decisions about their ERP system when a vendor tells them it's time to do that, unless the vendor happens to be their best friend. But, I think the fact that I am selling a very expensive B2B product versus a consumer good limits my marketing abilities...

People who are purchasing for work, want to hear about it at work, not on their mobile phones. People that purchase for personal use want to hear about it when it's convenient to them, and where it's convenient, which might be their phones.

I would be interested to see a study about how many of these teens ended up actually making purchases. I am not completely convinced of the ROI...