Mobile Marketing SMS: A Lesson From Whole Foods

From time to time, we like to profile businesses and people who really seem to “get” the essence of what mobile marketing SMS is all about. One of those people is Walter Robb, co-CEO of Whole Foods. He said that the company’s vision was to “be wherever the consumer is” and inspire people to live healthier, better lives — be it emotionally, socially, financially, or what have you. You can call it “conscious capitalism.”

Mobile Marketing Helps You Share Vision…

“Great companies have a great purpose,” Walter Robb told audiences. “Purpose creates alignment. Why shouldn’t businesses have the same depth and aspiration that individuals have? Purpose is also about inspiration.” He adds that SMS is the ideal medium for their company to reach their vision because it’s a convenient way of accessing customers in a big, exciting way.

SMS Marketing Gives You A Medium To Communicate…

Recently, Whole Foods unveiled a mobile marketing SMS app that helps consumers lead a healthier lifestyle by delivering healthy recipes and practical advice on cooking, nutrition, green living, food storage and more. Users can search recipes by budget, ingredients, gluten-free or allergy preferences, kids meals, or quick and easy. They can also build a shopping list and search for the nearest Whole Foods store. Mobile is an exciting new medium to deliver the content that people want to read, no matter where your consumers happen to be — whether it’s at home or in the aisles of a Whole Foods store.

Marketers Plan To Spend More On Mobile

Undoubtedly, 2011 was a huge year for mobile advertising. Yet, mobile advertising spending is set to rise even higher in 2012, as more companies adopt mobile strategies. SMS appeals to marketers because it reaches the 50 percent of Americans who still don’t want or have smartphones. It’s also an easy way to create a monetized database and new avenues for data mining. Berg Insight estimates that mobile marketing SMS will account for 15.2 percent of global online advertising expenditures by 2016. They add that the value of the global mobile advertising market will grow from $3.4 Billion in 2010 to $22.4 Billion in 2016, growing at an annual rate of 37 percent.

Small Businesses Are Drawn To Mobile Technology Too.

“Similar to social media, mobile marketing spend as a whole will impressively increase in 2012 not so much in terms of greater budget allocations by a few enterprises but in terms of volume due to more SMBs and consumer affinity groups getting in the mobile marketing game,” explains Angelo Biasi, adjunct professor at NYU.

He adds that the “easy to use do-it-yourself SMS campaign… and tools that remove traditional barriers to entry, will become more attractive and consolidated service offerings by organizations that cater to these segments.”