Advertising through cell phones could be the wave of the future, according to a Ball State University study.
A recently released study in the Mobile Marketing Associations International Journal of Mobile Marketing surveyed 669 college students on the idea of cell phone advertising, also known as mobile marketing.
"Factors Influencing Mobile Advertising Acceptance: Will Incentives Motivate College Students to Accept Mobile Advertisements?" was put together by Mike Hanley, Michael Becker and Jamie Martinsen
While the majority of students said they'd prefer no advertising on their cell phones, 66 percent said they could be persuaded if they were paid in some way.
Hanley has done several studies on mobile marketing and said "young people are the target [marketers] are after right now because 96 percent of students have a cell phone," Mobile marketing is a new way to get to students, he said.
"It's a very quickly growing way to deliver ad messages to college students," Hanley said. "The reason it is so unique is because it targets one person at a time and pertains to their specific interests more so than TV or Internet."
College students are the ideal demographic for this study because they are usually the first to embrace technology, Hanley said.
The use of mobile marketing could have a significant effect on reaching people who are 18 to 34 years old. People within this age group tend to have more disposable income, high brand awareness and shorter attention spans.
Michael Becker is the executive vice president of business development at iLoop Mobile.
"iLoop Mobile is a software company providing a mobile solutions software platform to companies so that they can independently create, connect and manage their mobile initiatives, including mobile marketing programs," Becker said.
"I worked with Mike Hanley on authoring the paper. Mike, as lead author, coordinated all aspects of the paper. All research and data collection was performed by Mike, while I focused on pulling together the introduction, theory positioning, literature review and managerial implications portions of the paper."
Although it's just starting, mobile marketing has the potential to be a big money maker, Becker said.
"Emergence of cell phone advertising is on the rise," he said. "The prediction is that mobile marketing will reach $10 billion in revenue by 2010 from $1 billion today."
Hanley and Becker both said they believe mobile marketing will be important in future advertising.
Hanley said the one good thing about cell phone ads is the use of cell phones for advertising has to be regulated by the government.
"It is against the law to send an ad message unless you have permission," he said. "Cell phones are a good way to reach people if they get permission do to so."
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