Gone are the Days of Using Phones for Phone Calls

Remember when phones were used to simply call people? No? Me either. We live in a world where “phones” are rarely used to do the one thing that Alexander Graham Bell intended them to do back in the late 1800’s. If I think of all the things I’ve done on my phone in the past week the list would include things like, buying baseball tickets (which were never printed, but rather scanned at the gate), downloading coupons, streaming music and videos, storing flight itineraries and boarding passes straight to my calendar and “wallet”, editing pictures, browsing a plethora of social media platforms, and that’s just the beginning.

Gone are the days of using phones for phone calls. We’re immersed in a world of doing just about everything but making calls on our “smart” phones.

Ian Blair, cofounder of BuildFire, wrote an article published by Forbes regarding the importance of the ever-changing mobile world. Blair’s three key points are the mobile marketers should expect more mobile video, practical apps, and location based push notifications.

Mobile Video

While the idea of mobile video is no longer considered “new” and “trendy”, its ability to reach consumers is huge. Companies like Audi and AT&T have begun testing vertical videos and found an increase of 80% views to completion. Since consumers typically use their phone in a vertical setting, why not adapt advertisements to go hand in hand?

Practical Apps

Remember when the term “app” first started buzzing around? This new application was kind of unknown and people were pretty skeptic. I mean, why would you need an app for StubHub or American Airlines when you could simply go to the website? Well, users have embraced apps over the years and companies have made them incredibly practical and efficient. These “all in one” apps are sure to become the norm.

Location-based Push Notifications

Blair’s example puts it best:

It’s the weekend, you’re visiting a friend’s city, walking downtown, and your favorite travel app sends you a notification about all the great lunch deals going on in the area. You check your phone and see the small restaurant across the street, though tiny, has a 4.5-star rating and is offering a buy-one-get-one 50% off on all lunch plates. The photos of the food look delicious, and you are getting hungry. So who gets your lunch dollars? That tiny restaurant you otherwise wouldn’t have noticed.

While many users choose to opt out of said notifications, the ones who don’t might score big time with coupons, deals, and exclusives based on their location.

It’s pretty clear that phones have adapted in ways never imagined. If you told Bell that one day his invention would be able to work cord-free and with a touch screen, he might laugh at you… before even mentioning the laundry list of other possibilities.