The annual CTIA convention in Las Vegas is underway and as always with the CTIA many new research reports have been released.   One report from Informa has some positive data points for the future growth of mobile marketing. 

According to the Informa ‘fact sheet’ mobile advertising will be a key agenda item for the CTIA conference.  Informa is forecasting that US mobile social networking alone will reach revenues of $421 million USD, marking a 50% increase.

The fact sheet continues to say the U.S. mobile social networking market will continue it’s robust growth into 2013 when it is projected to breakthrough the 1 billion revenue mark.

These statistics, taking with a grain of salt of course, are interesting because just about every report I have read or better yet the majority of the successful mobile campaigns in the marketplace still utilize mobile messaging in someway as the preferred channel to the consumer.

I guess with more and more apps like Loopt and foursquare coming out, there are more and more avenues for advertising but are these the type of adverts Mobile Marketing is really about?  

In these reports, what actually qualifies as mobile marketing or mobile adverting? 

According to the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), the definition for mobile marketing is:

“Mobile Marketing is a set of practices that enables organizations to communicate and engage with their audience in an interactive and relevant manner through any mobile device or network.”

I think that is as good a definition as any but it is still open to interpretation.   The key phase for me is –interactive-.  You can put a sticker with your company logo on a mobile phone but that does not make it mobile marketing. 

One of the biggest advantages of Mobile Marketing is having the ability to establish a one-on-one connection with the consumer and uncover particular consumers purchasing habits and then in-turn market a specific product/service to them.  

That’s not to say this is the only definition but simply having a banner add on a mobile is not truly mobile adverting in my opinion.

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Name: Kent McNeil Title: Principal Company: DonRiver View Kent McNeil's Blog