Mobile Marketing 1

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Mobile Marketing is Saudi Arabia

Mobile marketing is a latest technique of advertising and selling products and services

among the customers all over the world. It is a marketing medium which is done via mobile

or similar other cellular devices.

A marketing professor, Andreas Kaplan defines mobile marketing as follows,

A marketing technique for connecting the consumers worldwide by employing a

global network via mobile or similar cellular devices (mobile marketing, n.d.).

In other words, it is an interactive manner by which the organizations communicate

and publicize their services and products to their customers and world-wide users (Dushinski,

n.d.). It is done through employing following tools:

Text messages i.e. SMS (Dushinski, n.d.) : this involves advertisements done

for promoting brands, offering special packages, media teasers, product

service, information requests, polls, voting etc. (Anton, 2010).

MMS

Mobile campaigns

Websites which are mobile-friendly (Dushinski, n.d.)

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Through mobile advertising

Emailing via mobile

Mainly, mobile marketing is adopted locally and globally by various firms and

industries such as restaurants, clubs, real estate agents, salons and spas, events and festivals,

golf and country clubs, law firms, plumbers, auto repair shops, dental services, plastic

surgeons etc. (local mobile, n.d.). Some social societies such as blood donor society, relief

funds society and other social and political campaigns also adopt mobile marketing for

spreading their words regarding their services, campaign goals, aids etc. For example, various

brands like Nike involve their customers in marketing campaigns via mobile marketing

(Moth, 2013). Similarly, Nokias smartphone vending machine was launched which allowed

users to check in via their foursquare-enabled devices and receive free gifts (Moth, 2013). In

the same way famous brands such as IBA, BMW, Quidco etc. also employed mobile

marketing medium for promoting their product and incrementing their customers proportion

in the society.

Mobile marketing is seeking growth in the large state of Saudi Arabia. With the rapid

and growing use of mobile phones along with internet availability, is it quite clear that

advertising through smart phones mobile is maximizing among the Arabs in Saudi Arabia

(Arabic mobile, n.d.). Statistical data shows that the mobile market has reached up to 56.6

million subscribers in 2012, along with 195% mobile usage and 2 active SIM cards for every

person among the population of Saudi Arabia (Whitfield, 2012). The market growth of

advertising via mobile phones has increased up to 60% in the past few years. Statistical

analysis shows that around 56.1 million of the population own GSM telephones in 2011

(Safety on the Line, 2012). Saudi Arabia has been ranked as top country among the Arab
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worlds most competitive cellular marketing country medium with the mark score of 74.56%

(Saudi Arbia, n.d.). This shows that with this tremendous usage of mobile phones in this

country, the mobile marketing can get an edge within no time. Around one-third of the total

population use internet facility on their smart phone mobiles which also shows the success

and more growth of this technique in near future (Arabic mobile, n.d.).

According to (Arabic mobile, n.d.), the mobile users in Saudi Arabia are mostly of

age group 24-25 years old. This shows that most of its population is the youngsters who are

brand conscious. As discussed above, major brand companies like Nike, Pepsi, BMW etc. are

promoting their services and products via mobile marketing, thus these famous brands have

more of their customers in this country.

Mobile marketing was initially introduced by a government organization named as

STC (Safety on the Line, 2012). Now it has more additional operators such as Mobily, Zain

and Bravo. All of these companies adopted techniques of low advertising cost and ideal

positioning (Safety on the Line, 2012) of mobile marketing to attract their customers toward

their products:

According to (the evolution of mobile, n.d.), mobile marketing is being operated

most effectively in the telecommunication, media and advertising sectors of Saudi Arabia.

These areas are targeting and attracting four parties i.e. telecom operators, advertising

agencies, operator partner companies and independent players (the evolution of mobile,

n.d.)
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They are discussed here under:

1. Telecom operators: telecom operators are utilizing the mobile marketing since they

already have huge database of their present customers along with access to all mobile

portals and billing procedures etc. (the evolution of mobile, n.d.). However, due to

the absence of the knowledge of advertising and operating campaigns, these operators

are employing yet simple but strong techniques as follows:

Voting via TV

Selling SMS to bulk corporate clients (the evolution of mobile, n.d.)

Vodafone

Making wireless advertising subsidiaries etc. (the evolution of

mobile, n.d.)

2. Advertising agencies: According to (the evolution of mobile, n.d.), these agencies

are making a joint promotional strategy of mobile marketing and social media

marketing. Through this they tend to promote their products and brand name by

sending SMS to their clients. Examples of such operating advertising agencies are

Carat interactive, Oglivy one, 12Snap etc. These agencies are also using latest

technologies of bar coding via Nokia mobile through establishing partnership with

application service providers such as Lucent and Neo Media (the evolution of

mobile, n.d.).

3. Operator partner companies: several mobile operators are initiating new mobile

marketing ventures by establishing strategic alliance with investors. For example,

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Mind-matics has T-Mobile as its major investor through which it can operate its

marketing with all mobile operators of the industry (the evolution of mobile, n.d.).

4. Independent players: such authorities are named as green field entrants (the

evolution of mobile, n.d.) as they strategically design a platform offering

applications, creative ideas and campaign management services (8) for promoting

mobile marketing. Players employing this strategy are such as Fly-txt, 12Snap, Spot

Cell etc.

Mobile marketing initially came into being based on various famous theories. In 1975,

Fishbein & Ajzen presented theory of a reasoned behaviour (TRA). This theory examined

consumers behaviour and their possible outcomes. It proposed the idea that every person has

a specific intention before doing anything and analyse the implication of his/her decisions

before-hand (Al-alak & Alnawas, 2010). This theory also showed that a persons perceptions

are also a main factor. Thus, this theory considered a persons behavioural intent a main

entity toward his/her decision for any matter. This theory was advanced by the theory of

planned behaviour (TPB) which showed that a persons perceived behavioural control also

affects decisions a lot (Al-alak & Alnawas, 2010). Another theory was presented at mobile

world congress i.e. mobile marketing chaos theory (Roberts, n.d.) which presented that

mobile marketing can be enhanced by offering, providing, promoting and agreeing to

everything in favour of customer and their company.

Numerous researchers have studied and examined the impact of mobile marketing,

internet media other factors toward consumer preferences. A research conducted by

Almahroos (2012) highlighted the impact of attitudes of consumers toward internet

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technology and online buying. It has been seen that Saudis are mostly reluctant toward

advertisements offered via mobile marketing and hesitate to buy online or respond to them.

This study revealed that Saudi Arab has a collectivist society which is comprised of highly-

socially amiable people i.e. people communicate, think, vote and adopt hobbies together.

That means that if this mobile marketing is promoted strongly in this country, then it will

raised to the heights if success by gaining confidence from every single customer among the

population (Almahroos, 2012). However, the paper also presented a challenging factor

prevailing in the mobile marketing environment i.e. insecurity of the users toward

experiencing new advertisements, marketing campaigns and risking their money toward

buying expensive things likes cars and furniture etc. moreover, they shows reluctance toward

buying or being inspired by mere a picture or advertisement of the product being offered.

Another challenge to be faced by Saudis will be the less educated consumers who are less

optimistic and have very little know-how of browsing on internet, using mobile services and

responding to various ads etc. Moreover, females are seemed to be reluctant toward using

mobile marketing promotions and avoid facing new technologies as compared to the males

(Almahroos, 2012). The paper presented cures such as employing risk removing strategies,

promoting experience, educating consumers and gaining their satisfaction.

Another research framework was worked on by Cheung & Lee (2005) who worked on

studying the customer satisfaction with internet shopping. They employed the frameworks of

end-user computing EUC and satisfaction and service quality SERVQUAL. This framework

presented results in correspondence to the past theories that customers respond quickly to the

online buying and mobile marketed ads when they get quality in information provided,

service quality and system quality (Cheung & Lee, 2005).

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Similar research was also conducted by Zhou et al. (2007) in which they employed an

Online Shopping Acceptance Model (OSAM) which studied the effects of various

consumers factors toward online buying such as their age, income, education, culture,

internet experience, motivational, online experience, personal traits and psychological

perceptions (Zhou et al. 2007). Their study revealed there is need to minimize risk by

improving mobile marketing and promotional strategies, also by gaining customer loyalty

through providing best online experience and so on. Similar research was conducted by

Alharbi, B. (2012) which also studied the effects of gender and customer location on

customer satisfaction toward their response to mobile marketing.

A journal conducted by Al-Khadi (2011) studies rate of spam in the telecom and

information and communication technology of Saudi Arabia and proposed actions plans

which must be taken to design anti-spam policies to effectively fight back the rising spam

flaw in the country.

A study conducted by Leppaniemi & Karjaluoto (n.d.) showed the possible activities

needed to enhance the scope of mobile marketing in the present industry. It threw light on the

deficiency faced in the fields of advertising, sales promotion and direct marketing. The study

proposed to remove these flaws and also to include customer relationship management

(CRM) in the mobile marketing strategy (Leppaniemi & Karjaluoto, n.d.).

Similarly, a research conducted by Warf B. & Vincent P. (2007) highlighted the

relatively late emergence of internet usage in Saudi Arabia and also suggested means to

arrange anti-spam strategies. Another, research conducted by (N. & Balamurugan, 2012)
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studied how the customers can be attracted toward buying and suggested to motivate mobile

operators, mobile retailers and mobile advertising toward enhancing it.

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References

Al-alak, B. A. M. & Alnawas, I. A. M. (2010, March), mobile marketing: examining the

impact of trust, privacy concern and consumers attitudes on intention to purchase.

(3). Vol. 5. 28-41.

Alharbi, B. (2012, Sept), customer choice in mobile service providers in Saudi Arabia.

Victoria university (18). Vol. 13. 283-285.

Al-Khadi, M. A. (2011), Assessment of the status of spam in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Journal of King Saud university (23), 45-58

Almahroos, K. (2012), The impact of attitudes toward internet technology and demographics

on Saudi consumers use of online buying. University of Ottawa.

Anton. (2010, Nov 24), Review of mobile marketing literature. Retrieved from:

http://essays24.com/print/Review-Mobile-Marekting-Literature/13742.html

(n.d.), Arabic mobile marketing services IstiZada internet advertising. Retrieved from:

http://istizada.com/arabic-mobile-marketing-services/

Cheung, C.M.K., Lee, M.K.O. (2005). "Research Framework for Consumer Satisfaction with

Internet Shopping," City University of Hong Kong, China. Sprouts: Working Papers

on Information Systems, 5(26). http://sprouts.aisnet.org/5-26

Dushinski, K. (Nov 18), What is mobile marketing anyway? Retrieved from:

http://mobilemarketingprofits.com/tag/mobile-marketing-definition/

Leppaniemi, M. & Karjaluoto, H. (n.d.), mobile marketing: from marketing strategy to

mobile marketing campaign implementation. University of Oulu.

(n.d.) Local mobile marketing examples. Retrieved from:

http://www.brickandmobile.com/solutions/local-examples/
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N. K. & Balamurugan, T. (2012, Feb.), mobile marketing: Examining the impact of Interest,

Individual attention, Problem faced and consumers attitude on intention to purchase.

(10). Vol. 3. 809-821.

Moth, D. (2013, Feb 14), Six examples of mobile marketing excellence. Retrieved from:

http://econsultancy.com/pk/blog/62128-six-examples-of-mobile-marketing-excellence

(n.d.) mobile marketing. Retrieved from:

http://www.linkedin.com/skills/skill/Mobile_Marketing

Roberts, B. (Feb. 22), the mobile marketing chaos theory at mobile world congress. Retrieved

at: http://www.gomonews.com/the-mobile-marketing-chaos-theory-at-mobile-world-

congress/

(2012, Aug 9), Safety on the Line: Exposing the myth of mobile communication security - Kingdom of

Saudi Arabia, Retrieved from: http://www.refworld.org/cgi-

bin/texis/vtx/rwmain?docid=502a0c51a

(n.d.), Saudi Arbia: the Arab worlds most competitive cellular market. Retrieved from:

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(n.d.), The evolution of mobile phones in Saudi Arabia ( present future).Retrieved from:

http://bayazidt.wordpress.com/com-546-papers/the-evolution-of-mobile-phones-in-

saudi-arabia-present-future/

Whitfield, K. (2012, Dec 18), Smartphone market growth in Saudi Arabia. Retrieved from:

http://www.portioresearch.com/en/blog/2012/12/smartphone-market-growth-in-saudi-

arabia.aspx

Warf, B. & Vincent, P. (2007), multiple geographies of the Arab internet. Florida state

university (39.1), 83-96

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Zhou, L., Dai, L., & Zhang, D. (2007), online shopping acceptance model a critical survey

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