MMS Becoming a Mobile Marketing Must-Have

Now that smartphones are falling into the hands of thousands of Americans, MMS has become habitual and a basic necessity.  Knowing that, this practical and accessible mechanism can and should be utilized for direct business-to-consumer contact.  MMS has continued to be a missed opportunity with mobile marketing, when it can easily be used to penetrate a large share of the U.S. market.  According to James Citron, CEO of Mogreet, this practice should become apart of every marketing mix and is not limited to smartphones with Internet plans.  Even the massive amount of non-smartphones are capable of accepting rich media and the users haven’t even realized it. 
MMS can offer businesses a new outlet for establishing brand loyalty and developing a relationship with the consumers.  It goes beyond the traditional SMS alerts that consumers can opt into.  With MMS consumers will be able to opt into an experience, a sort of branding entertainment. 
For instance, according to MediaPost’s Mobile Insider, Casa del Mar in Santa Monica has already began using this model of marketing - and reaped the benefits.  With their campaign, if you text “casa” to 21534, you will receive a message in return that includes a discount offer, call link, as well as a video of their dining room.  The simple text may supply the business with direct response, but by adding the video it adds a level of enticement and encourages positive brand thinking.  This local campaign resulted in 250 coupon redemptions - a redemption rate of 27% - as well as provided the business with a growing database of clearly interested consumers they can reach again in the future.  Given the positive results from recent MMS campaigns like this, it will not be a surprise to find that 2010 may very will bring a flood of MMS driven marketing campaigns. 
“It’s 1993 all over again ... only this time, rather than email, the race is on to harness mobile to build a direct relationship with the end consumer,” James Citron.