Marketing is storytelling, and it is hard to tell a story in 160 characters, which is the maximum size of a text message. Marketing stories have their biggest successes when told at the right time and the right place, and when that story has some resonance with a consumer, by way of humour, drama, insight, or an offer of tangible value to that consumer. Certainly there are useful instances of text messaging, short code, and WAP-based campaigns, but these mediums are so creatively restrictive and encumbered that they are only ever going to win a small piece of the overall marketing budget of a small slice of marketers.

So, how do we provide a rich and smooth enough content experience on a mobile that can be the foundation for a marketing channel that is both useful and impactful enough to a broad base of marketers and brands? Where are the billions?

Enter freemium content

The answer could be found in what I call ‘freemium’ content. The concept behind freemium is the delivery of something of perceived value to the end user, at no cost; in other words, free premium content. It turns out that the average phone can do a whole lot more with content than just display test messages and WAP pages. Most mobile phones in the market today can display video, play music, and run rich, interactive java applications. These are much more compelling platforms for deeper marketing, provided that there is a free mechanism to deliver it.

Second, we must have a way to deliver content in context and at little effort for the end user. Every survey out there indicates that when price is not part of the equation, consumers want and enjoy mobile content when appropriate to them. The challenge has been one of allowing free and easy discovery of content at the right times and places. The mobile screen is unique because it accompanies a consumer throughout their day, during their commute, while they are shopping, hanging out, and at each precious moment of idle time. Each one of these activities carries a context – a time and location. Deeper context may be established by the presence of a visual call to action. Mobile marketers and brands should be looking to this inherent contextual nature of the mobile as an opportunity to establish a successful, personal connection with end users. 

Freemium is not cannibalism

The industry has been slow to embrace free content delivery models. One reason for this hesitation is the fear that allowing free content delivery will cannibalise the revenues from the nascent premium content model. Virtually every carrier today will not allow a marketer or content provider to underwrite the cost of delivery of content to the end user. The end user must pay for every piece of content or data. Want video? Sign up for a £20 per month video play, otherwise no dice. Want a game? Pay up front or worse yet, get signed up for a monthly content subscription.

It turns out that this potential cannibalisation effect can be tested quite simply, so we did. We built a java-based content catalogue and distributed it via Bluetooth from posters in the London Underground. We made two versions - premium-only content catalogues where every piece of content carried a fee (sent to the user’s mobile bill), and content catalogues with a mixture of premium and free content. Guess what happened? The mixed content catalogues sold more premium content items by a factor of three to one. Another pleasant surprise: 60 per cent of catalogue recipients downloaded further content over-the-air from within the catalogue within three weeks of receiving it - carriers take note.

We can also find clear analogies in every other form of media. There is a healthy ecosystem of free and premium television channels. Likewise for the internet – many sites offer free content and an upgrade to a premium service. One of the largest classes of mobile advertisers today consist of the premium mobile content providers themselves; this should be intuitive, given a little bit of thought. Just think about who the largest advertisers are in a grocery store. In advertising, context is power.

Context through location

Our particular business model leverages locations as a way to establish context and as a way to allow free download of content via open protocols like Bluetooth and Wifi. In key locations such as pubs, clubs, concerts, theatres, public squares, and train platforms, we provide a clear call to action via traditional or digital signage and allow users to easily accept content with a clear value (such as music, video, ringtones, games, and coupons), right on the spot. It turns out this is a highly effective way to allow consumers to discover content, receive it on impulse, and to kick start a deeper ongoing interaction between a brand and a consumer.

Advertising is not necessarily evil

In most cases, there is no need for an accompanying advertisement to ride alongside freemium content. The content itself is the message – lifestyle brands get the association of coolness, music and movie studios promote their upcoming content, and gaming companies give their consumers a taste of full games. Direct response mechanisms such as click-to-call links and click-to-web links can be built directly into the flow of content and show a direct, measurable ROI and way of closing the loop between advertising and a customer purchase. Ride-along banner ads are tolerated, even appreciated, when they have relevance.

Happiness is a virus

With the quality of content improving rapidly as handsets improve, brands who embrace freemium and contextual content delivery can break down the initial user barrier and achieve user satisfaction numbers of the size that really matter. Each successful delivery of valuable and free content leads to another happy user and paves the way for richer content interactions. And through word of mouth and more direct viral techniques (remember that the phone is ultimately a social tool, hint hint), the content experience spreads to their friends. The landscape will change and the long-sought mass market for mobile content will arrive. 

There is nothing simpler than giving people a way to get what they want, when they want it.