Will Mobile Marketing Work For You?
By Randall Litchfield

Ninety percent of adults carry a mobile phone, 20 percent have mobile internet plans, and 10 percent access online content at least once per day. Sound like a marketing channel?

It depends if you’re talking mobile web or mobile email. Most of the hype centers on mobile web, but actual adoption rates never seem to meet expectations. Mobile web users endure poor usability, limited navigation and speeds recalling painful memories of dial-up access. The result is that few marketers have actually used the channel and fewer still have made money.

But don’t despair - think of those millions of email enabled BlackBerries, Treos, Pocket PCs and cell phones in constant use. You already send to them by default and the first thing you really need to do to make mobile marketing work for you is to ensure that you are sending well. This, ironically, means reacquainting yourself with the earliest forms of email marketing – text messaging. Here are a few guidelines:

1. Add an ALT Tag:
   Without an alternative text tag (ALT tag), the PDA will default to HTML and will show image codes and programming strings. ALT tags will enable your PDA to render the email in a simple, readable format without affecting how the email will look on your computer.



2. Keep it to a screen or two: Put text copy as close to the top of your email as possible. You have to get to the point quickly in text format. If you must include multiple offers in a single email, add a brief table of contents at the top to help your readers scan.



3. Don’t top load with ads: If you make subscribers scroll through long links of ads, they’ll simply delete. Position the ads lower down.



4. Use "from" and "subject" lines to identify yourself: You won't have your brand logo in the message.



5. Leave the boilerplate until last: Lead off with the call to action and put all standing copy at the end.



6. Use lots of white space between copy blocks: This sets off offers and breaks up the monotony.



7. Shorten long URLs: HTML allows you to hide long, tracking URLs behind shorter URLs or words, but they get long and distracting in text copy.



8. Create text content in simple applications like Notepad: This is so you don’t inadvertently add special formatting that can’t be rendered by simple mobile browsers.



9. Keep message width to 60 characters or less: Don’t count on auto-wrapping and use hard returns.



10. Break up copy with shorter paragraphs: You definitely want to make your point in the first screen: maximum 3 – 4 lines per paragraph.