Still, women are an important demographic in mobile marketing and should not be ignored. A 2009 study called "Women and Digital Life" reported that females between 12 and 24 named their mobile phone as the most important piece of technology in their life—even more important than a personal computer or laptop. The younger part of this demographic surpassed their older business professional counterparts in terms of mobile Internet usage.
Busy mothers can also be quite a lucrative demographic to target with mobile marketing, partially because they are 43% more likely to download mobile content. A 2009 study by GreyStripe actually renamed part of the "soccer mom" demographic to "iPhone moms." This makes sense, because the report shows that 29% of iPhone owners are women with children. Because they are often the purchase decision makers for the household, they control the purse strings —and are also frequently out of their homes, away from other types of marketing channels.
Some marketers worry that there is a trade-off between different types of mobile activities; for example, if people begin to get involved with one type of mobile activity, such as applications, they will become less involved with another mobile activity, such as online mobile social networking or mobile shopping. As it turns out, the opposite might be true. In a multiplier effect, more mobile activity might beget more mobile activity. A 2009 study of 2,000 mobile consumers by Exact Target found a correlation between growth in participants' use of mobile email, instant messaging, text messaging, and mobile social networking activities.
As you might expect, different age groups use their mobile phones differently. According to the Magid study referenced in Table 3.1,80% of mobile social networking activity is by people under the age of 34. As shown in Figure 3.2, a 2008 study showed that the highest demographic accessing mobile content was between the ages of 20 and 29. The second-largest group was between the ages of 30 and 39. Teenagers between 16 and 19 were the third largest group, beating out only those 40 to 49 and those 50 and above for their use of the mobile Internet.
Mobile Users Accessing the Internet on Their Mobile Devices, by Age, Income and Gender
Question: Do you access the Internet on your mobile device? (yes, no) Base: U.S. mobile user ages 16+ (n=1,001)
According to GreyStripe—one of the top mobile gaming companies—47% of its mobile gamers are between the ages of 18 and 24, 23% are between 23 and 43, and only 14% are between 13 and 17. Text messaging is the most popular method of communication for people who are ages 13 to 24, and, according to a 2009 post on the Mobile Marketing Blog, their acceptance of this medium is actually growing at a faster rate than email, phone calls, and even social media. A 2008 study by Nielson shows that 35% of those age 13 to 17 actually remember receiving a text message ad, whereas only 10% of those 55 and older do
Recall of Any Text-Message Advertising Amongst Texters, by Age and Ethnicity (Q2 2008)
You might have guessed it, but this study proves that mobile users between the ages of 13 and 17 are the most likely to remember your text message advertisement. Image courtesy of hlielson Telecom Practice Qroup.
