Table of Contents

Introduction

Mind Map

Literature Review

Research Question

Discussion

Self Evaluation

References

Evaluation of the peer reviewed Article

Introduction

Mobile marketing is multi-channel online marketing technique focused at reaching a specific audience on their smart phone, tablets, or any other related devices through websites, E mail, SMS and MMS, social media or mobile applications (Leppaniemi & Karjaluoto, 2005) .Mobile marketing can provide customers with time and location sensitive information such as information about the local stores for shopping, local shops, personalized information that promotes goods. Mobile is one of the paths that is easily approachable and is used promptly within everyday life. Mobile marketing provides new revenue streams and opportunities for subsidized access, along with the potential for customers to experience more convenient and relevant content value, sponsored by advertising (Barnes & Scornavacca, 2004).

Mind Map

Mind map is the graphical technique for showing the connections between the various ideas and information with the help of visuals .Every idea or the fact is written down and linked by the lines or the curves to its other subparts. Thus creating an entire relationship with the help of boxes and lines(“Businessdictionary,” n.d.).

The image shows a mind map for the mobile marketing strategy .It shows marketing as the main concept which has two areas Digital and Traditional marketing .The topic chosen for the research lies under the digital marketing which has different types of marketing covered under .The mobile marketing area is chosen for the research marked in orange colour shown in the rectangle box having two lines at the end of the box. Further this topic is elaborated into different parts. The consumer or user perceptions and acceptance levels are also examined in the research Followed by the attitude of the young generation towards traditional and mobile marketing .This research also studies that how the online purchasing intention of the consumers are enhanced with the mobile marketing .The mind map shows the various area of research marked in colour and their relationship with the main topic is represented with the red labelled lines.

Literature Review

Article 1

Title: Consumer responsiveness to mobile marketing

Heinonen, K., & Strandvik, T. (2007). Consumer responsiveness to mobile marketing. International Journal of Mobile Communications, 5(6), 603. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJMC.2007.014177

According to the authors Kristina Heinonen and Tore Strandvik in their research paper “consumer responsiveness to mobile marketing” states that the digital marketing channels have became a massive area for the marketers to invest and reach the customers (Heinonen & Strandvik, 2007).As large number of options are available for marketing so it is quite difficult to get the attention of the consumers. The research in paper shows the consumer response to the mobile marketing methods specifically SMS and MMS. To see the responsiveness towards the SMS, MMS and email an empirical study is conducted among a convenience sample of consumers in Finland 2003 .The study was based on the interviews with the consumers where they responded to the different scenarios. An earlier study conducted by them in Finland 2002 served as a basis for this study. The empirical study is conducted using the empirical evidence .It is method of gaining the knowledge with the help of direct and indirect observation or experience .The empirical evidence can be analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively(“Empirical research,” n.d.) .The convenience sampling method is the way in which people those who are selected as a sample are selected on the basis of their easy availability and access. The advantage of this type of sampling is the availability and the quickness with which data can be gathered. The disadvantage is the risk that the sample chosen might not represent the population as a whole and there are chances of biased behavior by the volunteers (“Businessdictionary,” n.d.).

The paper focuses on the empirical study the initial study was conducted in the Finland in year 2002 to compare the consumer responsiveness to the marketing communication services and products received by the direct mail ,email ,SMS in different situations .In this study the size of the convenience sample was 66 respondents .As a result this study showed that the responsiveness to the marketing communication is lower for the digital channel that is for Email and SMS as compared to the traditional direct mail .This study also showed the communication also led to the negative response and they were least responsive towards the mobile channel. The second study was conducted in the Finland in the year March 2003 .In this study the data was collected by interviewing the consumers on how they perceive marketing communication based

on the hypothetical scenarios of the offerings received by SMS,MMS and email .The scenarios were designed so that they assume that the respondents had given the permission for the marketing activity .The size of the convenience sample was 146 and they assessed the relevance and disturbance of marketing communication .The disturbance and relevance scenario was measured on the three point scale ranging from positive to negative perceptions .All the interviews were audio taped and transcribed and the relevance and disturbance perceptions were coded for each respondent .The study indicated that the responsiveness of consumer in the mobile channels is lower than for the commercial email communication this is due to the fact that the consumers have limited experience of marketing communication to digital channels .The study also showed that SMS communication was considered the most disturbing channel with respect to MMS and Email communication .There is mixed response for the customers some showed positive while other showed the negative impact .The responsiveness was also different for the different age groups .The findings represented the new view or perspective on the marketing communication strategy and effectiveness measurement .This paper lacks in showing the consumers responsiveness towards the other mobile marketing campaigns which should be explored in the future (Heinonen & Strandvik, 2007).

Keywords: Empirical Study, Interviews

Article 2

Title: Consumer Attitudes toward Mobile Marketing and Its impact on Customers

Dr. Seema Varshney & Joyce Joy. (2015). Consumer attitudes toward mobile marketing and its impact on customers. International Journal of Information, Business, and Management, 7(2), 77–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.11.002

The paper “Consumer Attitudes toward Mobile Marketing and Its impact on Customers” by Dr Seema Varshney and Joyce Joy published in “International Journal of Information, Business and Management” focuses on studying the attitude of consumers who are among different occupations, nationalities and gender towards the mobile marketing communication .This paper also study the impact of the mobile marketing messages on the buying intention of the consumer. The research methodology followed in this paper is quantitative in nature which is used to understand the consumer attitude towards mobile marketing and its impact on consumers in service sector in Oman. Questionnaires is used as a survey method was used to collect the data for the study .The convenience sampling method has been used to select the sample of the respondents .the sample size include 100 respondents . The findings from the research showed that majority of the sample population have strongly agreed that mobile marketing is important for any business while other disagree at this point .They also agreed that the receiving advertising such as SMS or MMS is very informative as they get aware of the latest offers and promotions. The acceptance of the mobile marketing messages was positive under various circumstances such as when it is related to the specific respondent, or it makes them aware of the various discounts or offers available to them. Some of the respondents were in the category that neither agreed nor disagreed on the acceptance of the mobile marketing .The findings showed that today consumers still prefer the traditional shopping over the online due to the trust factor over the convenient option. The study is restricted to Oman only so more amount of data should be collected in order to reach to any conclusion. The study also did not show the impact of mobile marketing on the buying intentions of the consumers(Dr. Seema Varshney & Joyce Joy, 2015).

Keywords: Quantitative, Questionnaire

Article 3

Title: The influence of Short Message Service (SMS) advertising on the purchase behavior of young consumers in a Tertiary Institution in Ghana

Ofosu, D., Polytechnic, K., Kf, P. O. B., Gyanewa, M., Polytechnic, K., Kf, P. O. B., & Region, E. (2013). The influence of short message service ( SMS ) advertising on the purchase behaviour of young consumers in a tertiary institution in Ghana. Review of Intergrative Business and Economics Research, 2(2), 276–303.

This paper looks at the young consumers’ exposure to the SMS advertising and its influence on their intention to purchase a product or service of the Vodafone Ghana Limited. In this paper Vodafone Ghana limited as a case study is used to identify the factors that the purchasing behavior of the young consumers’ in SMS advertising. The qualitative research method was adopted to perform the research. For data collection questionnaire and observation are used as primary data sources. The questionnaire was pretested to ensure the reliability and validity .For this it was distributed to the 80 students selected from Koforidua Polytechnic ,a tertiary institution in Ghana by using stratified random sampling method which ensured that every member of the population (consisting of male and females)had an equal chance of being selected for the sample .For the population there was an eligibility criteria that has to be fulfilled which is that a student participated in the sample must have his/her own mobile phone ,be a subscriber of Vodafone Ghana and should have in the past months received SMS advertisements form the operator .The age group of the population is between 18-35 years. The preparation of the questionnaire was set on the pattern of SMS advertisements from Vodafone that were observed and recorded for one month. The data collected was analyzed using the Statistical Package for social sciences .To have the clear understanding of the data tables ,charts and cross tabulation was produced. The findings of the research showed that the young consumers in Ghana are the major users of SMS as they recognize the use of SMS to be useful and free .There are various factors such as irritation and trust that had negative influence on the purchasing behavior of the consumers .However both male and female consumers have their own perception about the SMS advertising .This research lacked in the size of sample as the sample chosen can’t represent the entire population (Ofosu et al., 2013).

Keywords: Questionnaire, Observation, Case Study

Article 4

Title: SMS advertising, permission and the Consumer: a study

Bamba, F., & Barnes, S. J. (2007). SMS advertising, permission and the consumer: a study. Business Process Management Journal, 13(6), 815–829. https://doi.org/10.1108/14637150710834578

This paper tries to fill the gap in the literature regarding permission marketing and SMS advertising .In this paper the author examines that how the consumers see the SMS advertisements are they are willing to give the permission to receive those SMS advertisements .This paper also studied the key factors that affect the consumer permission to receive the mobile advertisements. Based on the literature review the authors constructed the research model based on all the factors that have impact on m-commerce ,m-marketing and permission marketing .There are two basic factors identified in this model which are identified into two categories Unconscious factors and Conscious factors .The study is more focused on the conscious factors such as relevance of SMS ads and brand familiarity .These factors directly influence the decision of the consumers to give permission to the acceptance of the SMS advertising or not .The methodology used in the paper is the strategy of enquiry which is sequential and exploratory and is followed in the three phases .The first phase is the literature focused on the factors impacting on consumer concern to give permission to receive the SMS advertisements .the second phase includes the consumers perceptions about the development of the research model with the focus group .The final phase includes the validation  of the research model using the empirical data with the help of survey questionnaire .The sample students used in the focus group were selected by purposive heterogeneous sampling .The data collected from the focus group with the help of audio recorder is transcribed and analyzed in the narrative presentation . The same sample was used for the online survey questionnaire which had 50 questions. The data was analyzed using a five point Likert scale. The findings of the research showed that the consumers perceptions of SMS ads are negative .The marketers should make effort to get the consent from the consumers about receiving SMS ads .The limitation of the study is the scope .Further, the student population selected to perform is also criticized in the research (Bamba & Barnes, 2007).

Keywords: Mixed Method, Focus Group, Survey Data

Research Question

The mobile advertising is a good medium for direct-response advertising. The mobile marketing is a powerful tool to dominate the perception of individual (Fang, Yang, Deng, & Cai, 2013).Today mobile marketing is gaining its importance from the marketers and consumer point of view.

Significance of Research

Mobile advertising will always be in an ON mode till the consumers have their smart phones in switched on mode. The significance of the research is to study the factors such as trust, irritation, permission and relevance that influence the consumer thoughts about accepting the mobile marketing. As overuse of anything can lead to various consequences same is the case of mobile advertising sometimes it can increase the irritation level to a greater extent when the consumer receive interrupting advertisements during the content that they are watching with the great level of interest . The advertisement is a promotional activity done on the medium which is quite handy these days can generate better exposure to the advertisers for the product. As the consumer and the marketers go hand in hand so it always necessary for the marketers to develop such methods or ways to engage consumers with the advancement of the technology.

The main objective of this study

Q1 Identify the factors that influence the consumer perception and acceptance level of mobile marketing or advertising

Q2 How to engage customers through mobile marketing and enhance their online purchasing intentions.

Q3 What is the attitude of young generation towards the mobile marketing compared with the traditional advertising mediums.

Purpose of Research

The purpose of the research is to find the factor that makes an influence on the consumer perception and acceptance level of the mobile marketing or advertising .This study also explore the fact that how the customers are engaged through the mobile marketing which in turn can enhance their online purchasing intentions .This study also explore the attitude of young generation towards the mobile marketing compared with the traditional advertising mediums such as newspaper ,billboards or the TV commercial advertisements.

Research Methodology

The approach to be followed for the study will adopt mixed method that include both qualitative and quantitative.

Discussion

The mobile marketing is going to take a step forward in the future in every aspect whether it be the innovation, technology advancements or increasing rate of consumers. With the advancement of the technology mobile marketing is going to face the challenges in the future too. Mobile advertising would face threats from issues like mobile content spam, SMS flooding, SMS faking and SMS spoofing. Mobile operators and advertisers will have to figure out ways to filter content and distinguish legitimate traffic before investing any significant resources and money in developing valuable mobile advertising content (Karim & Reddy, 2013).On the other hand, there is a challenge too that would be in developing the content that should be interesting for the consumers and go in hand with the latest technology.

Self Evaluation

Our professor Dr.Dobrilla Lopez guided me with the process of writing the contents of the report in the way that can make sense and designed a clear pathway for the research report .Her initial start help me to focus on the area that needs to be explored. She also guided me with the process to extract what and how from the research articles which makes my vision clear about the research question. While doing the assignment ,I observed a number of learning situations where I explored different viewpoints of the various authors .I have seen that most of research presented in the papers have been provided with the significant amount of the evidence .I begin with the development of the mind map to graphical represent the area that interest me for the research .Then I read four peer reviewed quality research paper that showed different aspects of the research done in the mobile marketing area . I found two papers that used qualitative method and the other two employed quantitative method for doing the research. I studied the articles and wrote down the summaries for the four research papers. The research papers helped me to clear the research question and to identify the research question. The papers also helped me to clear the purpose and significance of the research. In the end I wrote the discussion considering some of the negative and positive aspects of the mobile marketing. I consider getting a B plus grade for my work because I gained deep understanding and knowledge during the phase of reading and writing the content of the research report.

References:

Bamba, F., & Barnes, S. J. (2007). SMS advertising, permission and the consumer: a study. Business Process Management Journal, 13(6), 815–829. https://doi.org/10.1108/14637150710834578

Barnes, S. J., & Scornavacca, E. (2004). Mobile marketing: the role of permission and acceptance. International Journal of Mobile Communications, 2, 128–139. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1504/IJMC.2004.004663

Businessdictionary. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/convenience-sampling.html

Dr. Seema Varshney & Joyce Joy. (2015). Consumer attitudes toward mobile marketing and its impact on customers. International Journal of Information, Business, and Management, 7(2), 77–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.11.002

Empirical research. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empirical_research

Fang, Z., Yang, Y., Deng, F. ., & Cai, J. (2013). Research advances in mobile advertising areas. Applied Mechanics and Materials, 248, 555–558.

Heinonen, K., & Strandvik, T. (2007). Consumer responsiveness to mobile marketing. International Journal of Mobile Communications, 5(6), 603. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJMC.2007.014177

Karim, S., & Reddy, S. K. (2013). Mobile advertising and its impact on the customers mind : Case of New Delhi ( India ). Science, Technology and Arts Research Journal, 7522(1), 103–107.

Leppaniemi, M., & Karjaluoto, H. (2005). Factors influencing consumers’ willingness to accept mobile advertising: a conceptual model. International Journal of Mobile Communications, 3(3), 197. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJMC.2005.006580

Ofosu, D., Polytechnic, K., Kf, P. O. B., Gyanewa, M., Polytechnic, K., Kf, P. O. B., & Region, E. (2013). The influence of short message service ( SMS ) advertising on the purchase behaviour of young consumers in a tertiary institution in Ghana. Review of Intergrative Business and Economics Research, 2(2), 276–303.

Evaluation of the peer reviewed Article

Part B

Name: Consumer Attitudes toward mobile marketing and its impact on customers.