Advertising Channel
Mobile communication has opened a new prospective for advertising companies. Mobile operators and content providers widely use it for promotion of their new services and products. It proved to be so effective that it has become a mainstream in the sphere of advertising marketing. Mobile operators can easily process the information from their database and use it for advertising purposes. They know almost everything about their subscribers: age, location, interests and so on. Another plus of mobile advertising is that every commercial is sent directly to every mobile phone owner, so it presupposes an instant response from its addressee who can only push the button to order the service.
First advertising methods were realized through SMS system. The users regularly received the SMS containing the information about new actions of mobile communication, new content products. Many shops, restaurants and other service companies use the mobile numbers of their clients to send them the information concerning their sales and products list renewal. It is still the most popular and effective advertising method in the sphere of mobile communication.
Mobile Internet and Television become new platforms for mobile advertising. WAP sites now contain a lot of advertising banners. Mobile TV is performing a lot of video commercials.
However, the appropriateness and timeliness of mobile advertising is a controversial topic. Thus, the amount and content of the advertising SMS should be considered. Another restriction is the size of the screen. It is usually not very big and the number of signs is restricted, so the advertisement should be catching and appealing to the maximum.