There’s a fine line between Push and pushy. Marketers have an extraordinarily powerful tool in reaching consumers through their mobile devices. There is potential to deliver messaging to consumers that is perfectly matched to their intent.
Yet much of the push marketing that I’ve experienced is anything but. Push without relevance is invasive.
There is also a fine line between cool and creepy. As marketers try to dial up the relevance of their offers, they can come across as stalking. A friend of mine received a push notification offering a hotel deal on the same street where he was standing. In one sense, this was highly targeted. Yet in another sense, it seemed a little like Big Brother. Also, the location data wasn’t cross-referenced against his billing address to know that he lives just a short drive away from where the hotel deal was offered. So, it was targeted enough to be creepy, but not targeted enough to be relevant.
We’re in an awkward adolescent stage of mobile marketing. Marketers will continue to experiment with different ways to use this new technology, and will alternately annoy and amaze consumers.
I’d love to hear your stories of mobile marketing, good and bad.
(Marketoonist Monday: I’m giving away a signed print of this week’s cartoon. Just share an insightful comment to this week’s post by 5:00 PST on Monday. Thanks!)