Study on use of Mobile Phones as a platform to market various products and services”

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A

Research ReportSubject Code: 536221(36)On

Study on use of Mobile Phones as a platform tomarket various products and services

Submitted for partial fulfillment of requirement for the award

of degreeOf

Master of Business Administration

Of

CHHATTISGARH SWAMI VIVEKANAND TECHNICALUNIVERSTY

BHILAI (C.G.)

Session 2010-12

Supervision By Submitted by

Prof.Talat Yasmeen Ravneet kaur SahniFaculty Of Management Roll No:1001584Management MBA II Semester

Section C

2011

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT

DISHA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY(Disha Education Society)

Satya Vihar, Vidhansabha-Chandrakhuri Marg, Mandir Hasaud,Raipur (C.G.)492007

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DECLARATION

I the undersigned solemnly declare that the report of the project

work entitled Study on use of Mobile Phones as a platform to market various

products and servicesis based my own work carried out during the course

of my study under the supervision of Prof. Talat Yasmeen

I assert that the statements made and conclusions drawn are an

outcome of the project work. I further declare that to the best of my

knowledge and belief that the project report does not contain any part of

any work which has been submitted for the award of any other degree in

this University or any other University.

Ravneet kaur sahniRoll No : 1001584

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Appendix-IIICERTIFICATE BY GUIDE

This to certify that the report of the project submitted is the outcome of the

project work entitled Study on use of Mobile Phones as a platform to market

various products and servicescarried out by Ravneet kaur Sahni bearing Roll

No1001584 & Enrollment No AG8437 carried by under my guidance and

supervision for the award of Degree in Master of Business Administration

of Chhattisgarh Swami Vivekanand Technical University, Bhilai (C.G),

India.

To the best of the my knowledge the report

i) Embodies the work of the candidate him/herself,

ii) Has duly been completed,

iii) Fulfils the requirement of the ordinance relating to the MBA

degree of the University and

iv) Is up to the desired standard for the purpose of which is submitted.

_______________________(Signature of the Guide)

Name: Prof. Talat YasmeenDesignation: Faculty Of managementDISHA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

AND TECHNOLOGY

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(Disha Education Society)Satya Vihar, Vidhansabha-ChandrakhuriMarg, Mandir Hasaud,Raipur (C.G.)492007

The research report as mentioned above is hereby being recommended andforwarded for examination and evaluation.

CERTIFICATE BY THE EXAMINERS

This is to certify that the project entitledStudy on use of Mobile Phones as a platform to market various products and

services

Submitted by

Ravneet Kaur Sahni Roll No:1001584 enrollment No AG8437

Has been examined by the undersigned as apart of the examination for the

award of Master of Business Administration degree of Chhattisgarh Swami

Vivekanand Technical University, Bhilai (C.G.).

________________

________________ _________________

Name & Signature of Name & Signature ofInternal Examiner External ExaminerDate: Date:

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

CERTIFICATE (FACULTY GUIDE)

CHAPTERS:

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY..6

2. INTRODUCTION TO THE TOPIC..7

3. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY...13

4. INDUSTRY PROFILE..17

a. Global telecom market overviewb. Indian telecom industry

5. MOBILE MARKETING..28

6. DESIGN OF THE STUDY ..33

7. DATA ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION..37

8. FINDINGS.61

9. HYPOTHESIS TESTING62

10. SUGGESTIONS65

11. CONCLUSION & LEARNINGS69

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ANNEXURE: Questionnaire

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1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Innovation creates marketing opportunities and challenges. Mobile advertising,

an area of mobile commerce, is a form of advertising that targets users of handheld

wireless devices such as mobile phones and PDAs. In order to promote the selling of

products or services, all the activities required to communicate with the customers are

transferred through mobile devices. Combining with the customers profile and context

situation, advertising companies can provide the target customers exactly the

advertisement information they desire. The current study attempts to study consumer

acceptance of mobile phone marketing/advertising and consumer responsiveness to

mobile phone marketing, in terms of its impact on purchase decision making. The study

also aims to propose some features enhancing the acceptability of mobile advertising and

suggests an appropriate strategic initiative for the same. The major findings reveal that

the perception of consumers towards mobile marketing can be broadly categorized into

three factors: 1) Lack of contextualization and personalization of mobile ads 2)

Disorderly nature of mobile ads 3) Perceived utility of mobile ads. Mobile marketing is

relatively at a nascent stage in India.

Customers are looking for customization of mobile marketing messages as per

their individual requirements, tastes and preferences. Hence the need of the hour appears

to be customizing a companys products, services, and messages on a one-to-one basis.

The conclusion recognizes that customer/target audience attitudes, technological

developments and available content, all need to be reassessed if the industry is to be a

success, with the consumers behaviour towards mobile advertising an issue that can be

overcome by establishing trust. This trust can be created using permission based or

incentives based advertising.

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2. INTRODUCTION TO THE TOPIC

MOBILE MARKETING

In a couple of years, most of the information you share, most of the advertising you

read, most of the messages you send and most of the music you listen to, will transit

through your cell phone2

Maurice Levy, CEO, Publicis

Information technology affects everything from daily life to business in the 21st

century. In business environment, it shapes not only commerce but also the way in which

companies implement their marketing strategies. Offering new marketing channels to

interact with customers is crucial to increase sales for company. Thus, the successful

application of information technology to connect marketing applications is highly

prominent. One of the advances in information technology is wireless mobile

communication technology that makes the anytime-to-anyplace communication

possible. Due to wireless communication system, mobile phone users are able to access

their e-mails, search, order and buy products and services from everywhere without

computers. Besides the Internet and personal computers, the mobile phone is the key to

marketers because it is extremely popular and offers people the opportunity of mobility

now. Through the introduction of data services, Short Message Services (SMS),

Multimedia Message Service (MMS), Mobile Internet, etc., the mobile phone is rapidly

becoming a viable commercial marketing channel.

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Even though companies are investing heavily in mobile commerce and mobile

marketing, the nature and implications of this channel have yet to be fully understood

and studies need to be performed to gain an insight into how to utilize it best. Nowadays,

mobile marketing adoption and acceptance is on the rise, but marketers would have little

ability to consistently generate profits without a clear understanding of the elements

driving consumer acceptance.

Technology developments have created new marketing communication channels or media

such as email, SMS (Short Messaging Service) and MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service).

These digital media are considered to potentially improve the possibilities to reach

consumers by allowing personalisation of the content and context of the message (Forrester

Report 2001). Simultaneously there is a potential downside to the development of new

digital channels. In a Forrester report, companies using SMS expressed fear for invasion of

consumer privacy (80%) and negative consumer reaction (60%) as disadvantages of the

media. A crucial question is thus whether there are obstacles for the marketer to use mobile

media to its potential. Are customers more reluctant to receive marketing information

through mobile media than through traditional media or is it the other way around?

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Mobile advertising, which is an area of mobile commerce, is a form of advertising

that targets users of handheld wireless devices such as mobile phones and Personal Digital

Assistants (PDAs). In Comparison with traditional advertising, the main advantage of

mobile advertising is that it can reach the target customers anywhere anytime. In order to

promote the selling of products or services, all the activities required to communicate with

the customers are transferred through mobile devices.

Combining with the customers user profile and context situation, advertising

companies can provide the target customers exactly the advertisement information they

desire, not just spam them with advertisements they are not interested in. The devices on

which these value-added services are pushed onto or downloaded to, operate in an

environment that imposes constrains such as: wireless network environments are unreliable

and bandwidth is low, and the very mobility of devices increases the risk that a connection

will be lost or degraded. More importantly, mobile services must work within the daunting

constraints of the devices themselves, which include: memory, processing power, input

capabilities, and size of display. It is therefore important that mobile advertisements take

into account the users context, optimize resource usage, and minimize input effort imposed

on the user.

Mobile media, for example, transcend traditional communication and support one-to

one, many-to-many and mass communication. Phones and personal digital assistants

increase the availability, frequency and speed of communication. Yet the technology

associated with these devices, which let marketers personally communicate with consumers,

continues to evolve. The most popular mobile application, referred to as text messaging or

Short Message Service (SMS). Studies on this new advertising medium indicate that mobile

advertising campaigns can generate responses that are as high as 40%, compared with a 3%response rate through direct mail and 1% with internet banner ads.

The high diffusion of SMS facilitates analyzing usage behaviour and hints at the

commercial potential of future communication services. Multimedia Messaging Services

(MMS), for example, will build on the success of SMS but allow for richer content based on

similar asynchronous, digital and interactive communication. Studying interactive mobile

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services such as SMS and MMS suggests drawing upon theories in marketing, consumer

behaviour, psychology and adoption to investigate their organizational and personal use.

When looking at marketing communication from a consumer perspective the issue of

media effectiveness is challenging. The increased number of media has led to a harder

competition for consumers attention. Attention and time has increasingly become scarce

resources for the consumers in the information age.

It has been argued that the information age empowers consumers and creates immediate 24-

hour access, which changes consumers behaviour. Many consumers have attitudes;

aspirations and purchasing patterns that are different compared to what companies have been

used to. Today's consumers are claimed to be independent, individualistic, involved and

informed, which makes it harder than ever to conduct interruption-based communication.

In traditional research concerning advertising and media effects the consumers

perspective has been largely overlooked. Traditional marketing communication planning has

focused on the marketers objectives of reaching relevant consumers. An open question is,

however, what reaching means when considering the empowered and active consumer. Inpermission marketing context it has been argued that if the consumers have agreed to pay

attention it would be easier to reach them about offerings. A key issue is the responsiveness

of the consumer to marketing communication. Responsiveness depicts the consumers

willingness to receive and respond to marketing communication and can be viewed as a

function of the content and the context of the message. Any channel can and should be

evaluated according to consumer responsiveness in order to understand communication

effects and effectiveness. Consumer responsiveness is potentially more effective than

permission because it assumes consumer attention rather than merely permission.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Mobile Phone, Mobile Marketing and Mobile Commerce

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One of the marketers demands is to be able to communicate with potential

customers and to contact them anywhere and anytime. Mobile phone made a

revolutionary contribution to fulfilling the anywhere and anytime connectivity

marketers wishes. Mobile marketing is defined as using a wireless medium to provide

consumers with time- and location-sensitive, personalized information that promotes

products, services and ideas, thereby benefiting all stakeholders. Shortly, mobile

marketing refers to marketing activities and programs performed via mobile phone in

mobile commerce.

The rapid growth of mobile phone has also come up with a new term: mobile commerce.

It has a strong impact on industries like e-commerce in general and transformed mobile

commerce into a major driving force for the next wave of e-commerce. The growth and

use of mobile commerce as an emerging technology has the potential to dramatically

change the way consumers make business. Mobile commerce driven by wireless

communication technology is also generating interest from marketers. Therefore, the

penetration of this new technology has evoked changes in advertising, retailing and

shopping in marketing, and companies wishing to make business in mobile markets

should be ready for mobile marketing and mobile commerce. In the literature, all mobile

commerce definitions are very similar.

Mobile Marketing Tools

Mobile advertising, mobile sales promotion, mobile entertainment and mobile

shopping stand out as the critical elements in mobile marketing and mobile commerce.

(i) Mobile Advertising: A key component of mobile marketing communication is

advertising, either in a push or pull mode. After obtaining the consumers permission,

push advertising sends relevant but not explicitly requested text and video messages.

Quah and Lim (2002) argue that the push model will dominate mobile advertising since

it saves consumers time and money compared to browsing content. SMS and MMS

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messages are main mobile advertising systems. SMS has become a technological

buzzword in transmitting B2C messages to such wireless devices as mobile phones.

Many brands and media companies include text message numbers in their

advertisements to enable interested consumers to obtain more information. This mode of

advertising takes advantage of valuable channels of wireless communication to enhance

customer relationships, and to carry out direct marketing and promotional activities.

Moreover, MMS has provided more visual and active messages.

Marketers can benefit from the use of photos, music, logos and animation, videos by

advertising to consumers' mobile phones. SMS and MMS advertising are expected to

achieve higher response rates than that of e-mail or television because all advertisements

can be sent personally.

(ii) Mobile Sales Promotion: Sales promotion is one of the promotional mix including

coupons, discounts, rebates, free samples, gifts and incentive items in order to observe

an immediate effect on sales. Mobile coupons in sales promotion play a vital role, and

marketers can predict a higher usage of mobile compared to their paper-based

equivalents. Mobile coupons boast at least three advantages: (1) targeting based on

mobile phone numbers, (2) time sensitivity, and (3) efficient handling by scanning the

coupons bar code at the point of sale. Thousands of Japanese retailers, restaurants,

manufacturers, and other companies employ the mobile Internet to send discount

coupons, conduct surveys, and offer free samples to registered users via mobile mail. For

example, many restaurants use these mobile-based coupons to offer temporary discounts

on slow nights, thus creating a form of dynamic pricing.

(iii) Mobile Entertainment: The mobile phone has become an important media and

entertainment platform. In the mobile entertainment industry, there are lots of

entertainment services like listening music, playing games, gambling, watching

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television, video and sport matches etc., which have set a stage for an explosion of

mobile entertainment industry.

(iv) Mobile Shopping: Mobile phone is an exciting tool to expand customers shopping

options after the Internet. At first, mobile phone can seem like a scary place to shop;

however, mobile phone users can go online to buy just about Consumers Attitudes

towards Mobile Marketing and Mobile Commerce in Consumer Markets anything their

need or want. Used properly, mobile shopping is a new easy, practical, and economical

shopping tool. The sudden growth of mobile shopping has placed mobile retailers at

consumers fingertips, and allowed mobile phone users to purchase nearly anything they

desire without ever leaving their houses and offices.

3.OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

Primary objective

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To identify how mobile phone has emerged as a tool for marketing various products and

services

To analyze the perspective of people towards mobile phone marketing.

Secondary objective

Different types of Mobile marketing techniques

To study the conversion rate (attractive enough to enable buying/availing the marketed

product or service) in how successful this technique of marketing is.

To identify various advances in marketing techniques/tools in the Indian Market

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4.INDUSTRY PROFILE

The Indian telecommunications industry is one of the fastest growing in the world.

According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the number of telecom

subscribers in the country reached 621.28 million as on March 31, 2010, an increase of

3.38 per cent from 600.98 million in February 2010. With this the overall tele density

(telephones per 100 people) has touched 52.74.

The wireless subscriber base has increased to 584.32 million at the end of March 2010

from 564.02 million in February 2010, registering a growth of 3.6 per cent.

Value-Added Services (VAS) Market

Mobile value added services include text or SMS, menu-based services, downloading of

music or ring tones, mobile TV, videos and sophisticated m-commerce applications.

According to the Economic Survey 2009-10, prior to 2008 a majority of VAS revenue

was attributed to SMS. But with greater penetration of new services, availability of

relatively inexpensive, feature-rich handsets and consumer education, value-added

services other than SMS are gaining importance. It is expected that over the next few

years non-SMS services will become a dominant contributor to VAS revenue.

Major Investments

The booming domestic telecom market has been attracting huge amounts of investment

which is likely to accelerate with the entry of new players and launch of new services.

According to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), the

telecommunications sector which includes radio paging, mobile services and basic

telephone services attracted foreign direct investment (FDI) worth US$ 2,495 million

during April to February 2010. The cumulative flow of FDI in the sector during April

2000 and February 2010 is US$ 8,872 million.

Norway-based telecom operator Telenor has bought a further 7 per cent in

Unitech Wireless for a little over US$ 431.3 million. Telenor now has 67.25 per

cent hold of the company. Telenor has now completed its four-stage stake buy

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and has invested a total of US$ 1.32 billion in Unitech Wireless as agreed on

with the latter last year

The government has approved the foreign direct investment (FDI) proposal of the

Federal Agency for State Property Management of the Russian Federation to buy

20 per cent stake in telecom service provider Sistema-Shyam for US$ 660.1

million

Going Global

In March 2010, Bharti Airtel bought the African operations of Kuwait-based Zain

Telecom for US$ 10.7 billion, driving the Indian player into the league of top ten

telecom players globally.

The Reserve Bank has liberalized the investment norms for Indian telecom companies by

allowing them to invest in international submarine cable consortia through the automatic

route. In April 2010, RBI issued a notification stating "As a measure of further

liberalization, it has now been decided... to allow Indian companies to participate in a

consortium with other international operators to construct and maintain submarine cable

systems on co-ownership basis under the automatic route." The notification further

added, "Accordingly, banks may allow remittances by Indian companies for overseas

direct investment."

3G Services

The Department of Telecom has taken the pioneering decision of launching of 3G

services by BSNL and MTNL and initiation of process for auction of spectrum for 3G

services to private operators. Allocation of spectrum for third-generation (3G), and

broadband wireless access (BWA) services was done through a controlled simultaneous,

ascending e-auction process.

All the 71 blocks that were put up for auction across the 22 service areas in the country

were sold, leaving no unsold lots. Auction for 3G spectrum ended on May 19, 2010 after

183 rounds of intense bidding over a span of 34 days. The Government is expected to

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morph revenue worth US$ 14.6 billion. All the available slots across 22 circles have

been sold to seven different operators.

A pan-India bid for third generation spectrum stood at US$ 3.6 billion. The Anil

Ambani-led Reliance Communication bagged the highest number of 13 circles at a cost

of US$ 1.9 billion, followed by Bharti Airtel in 12, Idea in 11 and Vodafone and the

Tatas in nine circles each, according to the Department of Telecommunications.

MTNL and BSNL will have to pay US$ 1.42 billion and US$ 2.2 billion respectively.

Manufacturing

The Indian telecom industry manufactures a vast range of telecom equipment usingstate-of-the-art technology.

According to the Economic Survey 2009-10, the production of telecom equipment in

value terms has increased from US$ 9 billion in 2007-08 to US$ 10.53 billion in 2008-09

and is expected to be US$ 12.4 billion in 2009-10.

Exports have increased from US$ 86.74 million in 2002-03 to US$ 23.7 billion in 2008-

09, accounting for 21 per cent of the equipment produced in the country

Telecommunication equipment Major Nokia Siemens is planning to source components

worth US$ 28.5 billion from India in 2010-11. In 2009, the company sourced

components worth US$ 20 billion from India.

According to a report by technology researcher Gartner Inc., India ranks fourth in

manufacturing telecom equipment in the Asia-Pacific (Apac) region. The country has a

5.7 per cent share of the regions total telecom equipment production revenue of US$

180 billion in 2009.

"We expect India to move up to the third spot (after China and South Korea) with a share

of 8.5 per cent of the total (estimated) Apac telecom equipment production revenue of

US$ 277 billion by 2014," Gartner said. The firm estimates Indias telecom equipment

production revenue to grow at a CAGR of 17.1 per cent to reach US$ 22.6 billion in

fiscal 2014. India will be the fastest growing telecom equipment production market in

the Apac region over the next five years, it predicts.

Rural Telephony

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According to the Economic Survey 2009-10, rural tele-density has increased from 1.2

per cent in March 2002 to 15.1 per cent in March 2009 and further to 21.2 per cent at the

end of December 2009.

Rural telephone connections have gone up from 12.3 million in March 2004 to 123.5

million in March 2009 and further to 174.6 million in December 2009. The share of

private sector players in the total telephone connections has steadily increased from

around 14 per cent in 2005 to 31 per cent as on December 31, 2009. During 2008-09, the

growth rate of rural telephones was 61.5 per cent as against 36.7 per cent for urban

telephones. The private sector has contributed significantly to the growth of rural

telephony by providing 81.5 per cent of the rural phones as on December 31, 2009.

It is proposed to achieve rural tele-density of 25 per cent by means of 200 million rural

connections by the end of the Eleventh Five Year Plan.

Policy Initiatives

The government has taken many proactive initiatives to facilitate the rapid growth of the

Indian telecom industry.

In the area of telecom equipment manufacturing and provision of IT-enabled

services, 100 per cent FDI is permitted.

No cap on the number of access providers in any service area. In 2008, 122 new

Unified Access Service (UAS) licenses were granted to 17 companies in 22

services areas of the country.

Revised subscriber based criteria for allocation of Global System of Mobile

Communication (GSM) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) spectra

were issued in January 2008.

To provide infrastructure support for mobile services a scheme has been

launched to provide support for setting up and managing 7,436 infrastructure

sites spread over 500 districts in 27 states. As on December 31, 2009, about

6,956 towers had been set up under the scheme.

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According to the Consolidated Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Policy document, the

FDI limit in telecom services is 74 per cent subject to the following conditions:

This is applicable in case of Basic, Cellular, Unified Access Services, National/

International Long Distance, V-Sat, Public Mobile Radio Trunked Services

(PMRTS), Global Mobile Personal Communications Services (GMPCS) and

other value added Services.

Both direct and indirect foreign investment in the licensee company shall be

counted for the purpose of FDI ceiling. Foreign Investment shall include

investment by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), Non-resident Indians (NRIs),

Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds (FCCBs), American Depository Receipts

(ADRs), Global Depository Receipts (GDRs) and convertible preference shares

held by foreign entity. In any case, the 'Indian' shareholding will not be less than

26 per cent

FDI up to 49 per cent is on the automatic route and beyond that on the

government route. FDI in the licensee company/Indian promoters/investment

companies including their holding companies shall require approval of the

Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) if it has a bearing on the overall

ceiling of 74 per cent. While approving the investment proposals, FIPB shall take

note that investment is not coming from countries of concern and/or unfriendly

entities.

The investment approval by FIPB shall envisage the conditionality that the

Company would adhere to license Agreement

FDI shall be subject to laws of India and not the laws of the foreign

country/countries

The Road Ahead

According to a report published by Gartner Inc in June 2009, the total mobile services

revenue in India is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.5

per cent from 2009-2013 to exceed US$ 30 billion. The India mobile subscriber base is

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set to exceed 771 million connections by 2013, growing at a CAGR of 14.3 per cent in

the same period from 452 million in 2009. This growth is poised to continue through the

forecast period, and India is expected to remain the worlds second largest wireless

market after China in terms of mobile connections.

"The Indian mobile industry has now moved out of its hyper growth mode, but it will

continue to grow at double-digit rates for next three years as operators focus on rural

parts of the country," said Madhusudan Gupta, senior research analyst at Gartner.

"Growth will also be triggered by increased adoption of value-added services, which are

relevant to both rural and urban markets."

Mobile market penetration is projected to increase from 38.7 per cent in 2009 to 63.5 per

cent in 2013, according to Gartner.

Today mobile phones have moved beyond their primary role of voice

communications and have graduated to become an essential entertaining device for

mobile users. We are in an era where users buy mobile phones not just to be in touch,

todays youth use it to express their thoughts, for social networking, to show their

interests, play games, read news, surf on the internet, listen to music, chat instantly with

friends & families and even check their bank balances. There are various phone

manufacturers providing handsets.

However, Nokia is the dominant player on the GSM space, accounting for 63% of the

installed base (phones currently in use) while LG rules CDMA with 48% of installed

base market share. On looking at urban India GSM/CDMA combined installed base,

Nokia is at the top with 54% of installed base market followed by LG (14%). LG is

second most used handset manufacturer India primarily due to its dominant position in

the CDMA.

Phone manufacturer usage

April 2009 ending quarterly Average - India Urban Mobile Phone Users (N=5,775)

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**Likely to recommend current phone manufacturer to others

Indian mobile telephony market has seen explosive growth in subscriber base but

low tariffs keep building margin pressure on operators7

The Mobile VAS industry in India is estimated at Rs. 2850 crore at the end of 2006

and is estimated to grow at 60% to touch Rs. 4560 crores at the end of 2007.

This space is currently completely dominated by entertainment services and comprises

of; P2P SMS -Rs. 1140 crore; Ringtones (including CRBT) - Rs. 1026 crore; P2P &

A2P- Rs 428 crore; Games & Data- Rs. 171 crore; Others (MMS etc) - Rs 86 crore.

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Thus the Mobile VAS industry in India (excluding Telco share) is currently 24% of Rs.

2850 Crore and is estimated at Rs. 684 Crore in India.

India is going through a telecom revolution, especially in the wireless telephony

segment. The adoption of mobile telephony remains unparallel in scope, as users from

diverse segments increasingly choose to exercise the option of personal mobility. The

user base has been adding 3-4 million subscribers per month (on an average) and

recently the mobile subscriber base crossed the 100 million mark in April 2006.

The success of the market can be gauged from the fact that mobile user base has

surpassed the PC user base in India and very soon the Indian market will have more

mobile users than TV viewers. India is rapidly moving towards being an evolved

mobility market with no distinction between market incumbents and challengers.

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The growing intensity of competition has led to more services for the end user at lower

prices. This has had an effect of stimulating demand and thus increasing the category

adoption rate. As more users have been added to the subscriber base, it has led to a

further downward pressure on operator costs. This has led to further cost benefits to the

end user, fuelling further growth in the subscriber base.

Subscriber Base: Post Paid Vs Prepaid

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7

5.MOBILE MARKETING

Definition:

Mobile Marketing is a set of practices that enables organizations to communicate and

engage with their audience in an interactive and relevant manner through any mobile

device or network.

Over the past few years the proposition of mobile marketing & advertising went from a

puzzling idea to the big buzz. Mobile Industry bodies are actively however slowly are

working to standardize the process. Enabling technologies ranging from LBS, NFC and2D barcodes, to mobile TV, mobile gaming and social networks are enriching the

opportunity. Brands are pressuring their agencies to leverage the channel.

Guiding Principles for Mobile Marketing

i. Recipient must have given their permission

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ii. Subscribers must be provided with the functional method of

unsubscribing

iii. The message must clearly identify the sender

iv. Full terms and conditions must be identified when marketing premium

services

v. Express permission is required to use location based service

Mobile Marketing Types:

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WHY MOBILE

WHY MARKET TO CONSUMERS VIA MOBILE PHONES

Consumers use mobile phones as their first screen not their third

screen:

500M+ mobile phones in China

340M+ mobile phones in Western Europe

230M+ mobile phones in the US

170M+ mobile phones in India

Consumers have a 1:1 relationship with their mobile phone:

Almost never a shared device unlike television or the PC

Kept close at work, at home, on-the-go

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Personalized brand, colour, features, ring tones, are highly

customized

Consumers are increasingly using their phones for more than just calls:

Content (games, sports scores, maps) is driving consumer data usage

Improved screen quality (colour and size) is making rich media

desirable

Enhanced networks are making mobile data useful and usable

Mobile Marketing Applications

Mobile Coupons

Event Alerts

Appointment Reminders

Video, Picture, or

Music Downloads Voting / Polling

Fundraising Emergency Alerts

Holiday Wishes

Contests/Sweepstakes

Warnings

Corporate

Messages Schedule

Reminders Fundraising

Activities Customer Service Booth Finder

News Alerts

Delivery & Pick up

Store Openings

New Product

Mobile Effectiveness

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The final catalyst of the mobile advertising opportunity will be universally

accepted proof that mobile is an effective marketing and advertising medium. No large

scale mobile marketing & advertising effectiveness studies have been conducted to date

but several small studies suggest that the medium shows immense promise. A study by

Kavassalis (5) reports increased effectiveness of mobile marketing over traditional

media, with text messaging campaign response rates in the range of 10-20% being

common, as opposed to email (5%), direct mail (1 - 2%) and print advertising (0.15 -

0.60%).

There are reports that brand recall is high (46 - 64%) and redemption of in store coupons

can reach 80% with mobile marketing campaigns. Another study cites mobilemarketings positive effect on reach and intent to purchase. This study asserts that 89%

of all text messages are read and that 85.7% of respondents who felt more positively

towards the brand claimed they were more likely to make a purchase. The viral

capabilities of mobile campaigns indicates that messages were forwarded to others at a

rate of 5 - 32% which demonstrates that digital word-of-mouth is a key by-product of

mobile marketing.

In reaction to the growing body of evidence illustrating mobile marketings

effectiveness, the established advertising industry is finally waking up to the idea that

mobile may become more important to brands than the Web. Andrew Robertson, CEO

of BBDO, recently voiced his belief in mobile advertising by stating that, Mobile

phones will soon become the most important medium for advertisers to reach

technology-savvy consumers and we are rapidly getting to the point where the single

most important medium that people have is their wireless device. Its with them every

single moment of the day. Its genuinely the convergence box that everyone has been

talking about for so many years.

Mobile Marketing Strategy Development

Thus far we have demonstrated that the opportunity for brands to reach and

influence consumers via mobile is significant. We concede that the mobile advertising

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industry is in its infancy and we agree that there are obstacles that must be overcome

before it can become a mainstream advertising medium, but brands such as Adidas,

Microsoft and News Corp are increasing brand equity through mobile media now; they

are learning fast and potentially leapfrogging their competitors.

This opportunity must however be shaped through the development of a coherent mobile

marketing strategy that is fully integrated with your brands primary marketing strategy

and clearly supports your businesses objectives by demonstrating unquestionable ROI.

When developing marketing strategy we need, in the simplest of terms, to define wherewe are and where we want to be. This applies no less to our mobile marketing strategy.

When we define where we are we must look at our current market share, sales, profit,

customer base, product awareness and brand position.

We can also look at our historical and current use of mobile media and the use of mobile

media by our competitors. Then we can determine where we want to be using the same

variables. At this point this will include goals that mobile cannot exclusively achieve, or

even influence, but brands in most sectors should be able to identify one or more

marketing objectives that mobile would be ideally suited to help meet.

Examples include lead generation to improve our customer base, brands

awareness of a new line extension or CRM with busy, highly mobile twenty something

office workers who only use their homes to sleep. We then come to the description of the

process for making the transition. This will largely be dependent on the sector you

operate in, the demographics and media consumption habits of your target audience and

the resources you can allocate to mobile strategy development. Whatever your position it

is essential to be steered by some broad guidelines before we attempt to leverage mobile

media. Much research exists to explain why advertising works across TV, Radio, Press

and the Internet. Very little exists for mobile as it is such a nascent medium. We can

however draw analogies and inferences based on generally accepted theories of how

advertising works. If we accept this assumption we then need to define clear reasons

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why mobile will be used and what it is supposed to achieve before constructing the Big

Idea. The steps involved in this process are summarized inFigand we consider these to

be the fundamental principles for the development of any mobile marketing strategy.

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Group Company wise % market share - May'20106

Sl. No.Name of

CompanyTotal SubFigures

% Market Share

1 Bharti Airtel 133619705 30.07%

2 Vodafone Essar 106347368 23.94%

3 IDEA 66726802 15.02%

4 BSNL 65790606 14.81%

5 Aircel 40079531 9.02%

6RelianceTelecom 16311206 3.67%

7 Uninor 5012929 1.13%

8 MTNL 4857967 1.09%

9 Loop Mobile 2911685 0.66%

10 Videocon 1394543 0.31%

11 Stel 1233247 0.28%

12 Etisalat 10122 0.00%

All India 444295711 100.00%

We are at the beginning of a second digital media evolution and mobile will

permeate all aspects of marketing and advertising over the next five years. This will

allow brands to deliver their message with such precision that the term wastage willbecome redundant We have also attempted to demonstrate the effectiveness of mobile to

connect with nomadic, fragmented audiences and have learned that there are a number of

ways to get our message to them. Marketing and advertising over mobile however is far

more complex than TV, Radio, and even the Internet because of mobile handset diversity

and the multitude of technologies used by different audiences. Developing a mobile

marketing strategy, therefore, is essential to help you tame this complexity and ensure

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that you are delivering your message to your consumers in the most effective and

efficient way.

6. DESIGN OF THE STUDY

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

TITLE OF THE STUDY:

The research problem selected for the dissertation is entitled as:Study on use of Mobile Phones as a platform to market various products and

services.

It is a study to find out the effectiveness of using mobile phones as a platform to market

various product and services.

One of the marketers demands is to be able to communicate with potential customers

and to contact them anywhere and anytime. Mobile phone made a revolutionary

contribution to fulfilling the anywhere and anytime connectivity marketers wishes.

Mobile marketing is defined as using a wireless medium to provide consumers with

time- and location-sensitive, personalized information that promotes products, services

and ideas, thereby benefiting all stakeholders. Shortly, mobile marketing refers to

marketing activities and programs performed via mobile phone in mobile commerce.

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The rapid growth of mobile phone has also come up with a new term: mobile

commerce. The growth and use of mobile commerce as an emerging technology has the

potential to dramatically change the way consumers make business. Mobile commerce

driven by wireless communication technology is also generating interest from marketers.

Therefore, the penetration of this new technology has evoked changes in advertising,

retailing and shopping in marketing, and companies wishing to make business in mobile

markets should be ready for mobile marketing and mobile commerce. Consumer

perception towards this form of marketing should be given prime importance to use this

medium effectively for marketing products and services. The aim of this study is to find

this.

Focus of study: Mobile phone marketing in India.

RATIONALE OF THE STUDY

The relevance of this topic now in India is the increasing popularity and reach of this

mode of marketing. Starting from Network providers to retailers use this. The

membership card holders (holders of membership cards like First Citizen from

Shoppers Stop) get frequent updates on latest offerings. It will be relevant to find out

the customers' (mobile phone users') perspective towards such type of marketing

communication to utilize this marketing platform in better ways.

METHODOLOGY

(a) Type of Research Design

This Research is conducted for the sample size of 200 mobile phone users.

Type of sampling used is probability sampling. This is primarily to cover a

diverse background of individuals for the study.

(b) Data (Primary Data and Secondary Data)

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Primary Data was collected through survey method choosing the respondents

randomly. A Questionnaire was used to collect the data as the population

covered 200, which was a large number.

Questionnaire Design: The questionnaire contains of open ended questions,

multiple choice questions, Likert Scale and dichotomous (yes/no) questions.

Questionnaire Administration: The questionnaire was administered to the

sample in person in order to clarify doubts and observe non-verbal clues from

the respondents. Each questionnaire took ten minutes to be answered.

Pilot Study: To reaffirm the research methodology of the survey, a pilot test

was carried among 5 respondents.

Secondary Data was collected from the Brochures of major firms, Research

reports, Internet, Company Magazines.

(c) Research Instrument

The Instrument used for the research is Questionnaire because the

population covered was large in number. The Questionnaire is a Structured-

Undisguised type of Questionnaire.

(d) Sampling Design

Sample Unit: The research was made with responses from mobile phone users in

Bangalore. Sample consisted of:a. Students (Youth between ages 18-25): They will be college goers who

are dependents and are not self employed.

b. Employees (Salaried : between age 20-35): The focus in this segment will

be IT employees (employed by IT companies like Accenture, Infosys

etc.,)

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Sample Size: The Sample Size covers over 200 respondents who are mobile phone

users.

Sampling Technique: Type of sampling used is probability sampling. This is

primarily to cover a diverse background of individuals for the study.

(a) HYPOTHESIS

Null Hypothesis (H0): Mobile phone is a preferred medium to market various product

and services. Alternative Hypothesis (H1): Mobile phone is not a preferred medium to market

various product and services.

CONTRIBUTION OF STUDY

This study attempts to study consumer acceptance of mobile phone

marketing/advertising and consumer responsiveness to mobile phone marketing, in terms

of its impact on purchase decision making. The study also aims to propose some features

enhancing the acceptability of mobile advertising and suggests an appropriate strategic

initiative for the same.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

Customers could not spare much time while filling the Questionnaire.

Most of the responses were irritated with marketing calls and messages on mobile

phones, which casted a shadow over their responses.

Questionnaires had to be modified to account for the new guidelines on Mobile

marketing Calls and Messages (Pesky Calls and SMSs) by TRAI (Telecom

Regulatory Authority of India) released in December 2010.

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In Depth study was not possible due to time constraint.

7.DATA ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION

7.1 ANA LYSIS OF DATA COLLECTED FROM MOBILE PHONEUSERS

1. RESPONDENT PROFILE

There were a total of 200 respondents (Sample Size). The distribution is as follows:

I. Gender:

Analysis: Most of the Respondents are male.

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Interpretation:

60 % of the respondents are male. This signifies that the opinion given in the study is

male dominated. Horror

II. Age Group:

Analysis: 85% of the respondents are in the age group of 20-30 years. They are mostly

graduates or the fresh working class.

Interpretation:

This group is stepping into the matured state of youth. This age group utilize most of the

services of mobile phone and are generally tech savvy. They are at the peak of

relationships and friendship and hence they do enjoy their life. If companies can identify

their occasions and needs, the communication can be made much more effective and

hence the personalized advertising can be done through the mobile medium.

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III. Occupation:

Analysis: 55% of the respondents are from the students community and 45% are

salaried working professionals.

Interpretation:

In the age group of 20-30, most of the respondents are either in their Graduation or doing

their Post Graduation. As this is the case, majority of the respondents are in student

community. Since they utilize most of the mobile phone services, youth can be a target

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for using mobile phone as a medium for mobile marketing. 45% of the respondents are

salaried and working in IT companies signifying the tech-savvy crowd.

Here students represent the mobile using youth and salaried represents IT employees

(between age 20-30) getting monthly income

IV. Income Level (per month):

Analysis: 45% of the respondents are having monthly income of more than Rs.10000

and remaining 55% forms income (from pocket money, mostly) in the range of Rs.

5000-7000.

Interpretation:

The reason is be that most of the respondents are Post Graduates or Graduates who are

studying and still dependent on their parents. Salaried professionals has a monthly

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income of more than Rs. 10000. This sample is taken so as to analyze mobile

advertisements influence on purchase decisions based on income levels.

2. Most used mobile phone instrument:

Analysis: The most used mobile phone instrument is manufactured by Nokia with 29%

of the sample using Nokia. Sony Ericsson follows with 19%.

Interpretation:

From this we can understand that, Mobile marketing messages (SMSs), MMS,

Cell info Display Banners can be customized according to these two companies

manufactured phones particularly.

3. Willingness to pay for a mobile phone:

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Analysis: It is seen that 90 out of 200 respondents are willing to pay between INR 5000

to 8000 for a new mobile and 70 out of 200 are willing to pay Rs. 10000 and above.

Interpretation :

This means they are eager to buy feature rich mobile phones with 3G and other modern

features like GPRS, Edge etc., therefore the mobile marketing companies can focus on

such emerging technologies and use multimedia content to be used in Mobile phone ads.

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4. Duration of using a single mobile phone:

Analysis: We can see that 70 out of 200 respondents want to change their mobile phones

within 1-2 years of use.

Interpretation :

This means they want to upgrade to new phones with newly added features. Mobile

marketers can use thus issue more ads pertaining to products such as mobile phones and

its accessories.

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5. Reasons for using mobile phones:

Analysis : This is a multiple choice question. From the bar chart, we can notice that

talking and messaging constitute 140 out of 200 respondents prime need. 25% of the

respondents also use mobile phone for WAP/GPRS and for downloading files.

Interpretation :

Because of this, mobile marketers can focus on providing mobile ads through WAP

banners and also post sponsorship links and images during waiting time for downloading

files through the mobile phone. Others here include cameras.

Latest mobile features aware of:

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Analysis: 130 out of 200 respondents are familiar with Bluetooth and 80 out of 200 with

MMS. 110 out of 200 respondents are aware of 3G. Others include features like GPS.

Interpretation :

Increasing awareness towards mobile features like Bluetooth, GPRS, 3G, MMS are

demonstrated through this chart. This shows that mobile phone users have started using

mobile phones for sharing and connecting through the online (Internet) gateway rather

than just use mobile phones to talk. Mobile marketers/companies can market/advertise

their product and services through these means to exploit this potential.

Some technologies that can be tapped are Video calling by 3G, Blue-casting in front of

retail outlets, WAP banners (using GPRS) etc.

Plans of changing to a 3G handset:

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Analysis: 110 out of 200 respondents have decided to change to a 3G handset once 3G is

implemented by the network providers.

Interpretation :

This shows the huge potential of this technology and the awareness (hype) created due to

the online 3G auction. Mobile marketers/Companies can use innovative methods in

exploiting the marketing potential created by this technology.

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Postpaid or Prepaid Connection:

Analysis: 130 out of 200 respondents are Pre-paid customers.

Interpretation :

This shows that youth still prefer prepaid connections to postpaid connections. The main

reason for this is to keep spending on mobile services under control. Companies can

come up with specific marketing plans to target prepaid customers as they form the huge

bulk of mobile phone users among youth.

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Most subscribed Network Provider:

Analysis: 60 out of 200 respondents are using Airtel and 50 are using Vodafone. This

constitutes 55% of the respondents.

Interpretation :

Airtel has the maximum number of subscribers with Vodafone falling close behindamong youth. All other players have more of an even distribution. Companies can get

into contractual agreements with Telecom network providers like Vodafone and Airtel to

reach out to more number of customers.

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. Reasons for dissatisfaction towards network service provider:

Analysis : 80 out of 200 respondents are dissatisfied with customer care service and

problems of poor signal/network quality and value added services complaints constitue

about 45% of the responses.

Interpretation :

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Improper customer care services have turned out to be the major reason for

dissatisfaction among mobile phone users. Not getting connected to the customer care

centre, customer support executive no responding well, extended waiting time, network

problems and problems pertaining to balance/validity not sorted out fast are the major

issues here. Network providers can take special care to make customer support efficient

and resolve problems faster.

Most interested/used cell phone service:

Analysis: From the chart we can note that majority of the respondents use mobile phone

for Picture/File transfer, instant messaging,email and News/weather all covering more

than 100 respondents agreeing.

Interpretation :

From the chart, we can understand that News/Weather updates, video clips, instant

messaging and streaming music (through a GPRS connection) are found to be of great

interest to the mobile phone users/sample. We can include neutral responses along with

disagreement.

These services can be provided either through GPRS connectivity or SMS/MMS.

Companies can therefore use these preferred methods to advertise about their products or

services and make consumers aware.

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12. Perception towards using mobile phone as amarketing communication medium:

Analysis: We can note from the graph that 80 out of 200 respondents feel that use of

mobile phone as a marketing medium is necessary and useful, while 70 out of 200 found

it beneficial. 80 out of 200 respondents have told that such methods are not pleasant.

Interpretation:

From this we can understand that respondents are aware of the use of mobile phone as a

tool and are aware of their benefits too, but do not find it pleasant when there is an

intrusion of privacy.

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. Attitude towards mobile phone advertisements:

Analysis: We can see that general attitude towards mobile phone advertisements are

neutral with satisfaction, interest, necessity levels etc. clocking between 100-120

responses in the neutral level.

Interpretation:

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If we neglect the neutral responses, respondents find mobile advertisements as useful

and necessary. They find it informative. Thus marketers can use this medium to make

users aware of offers and discounts.

. Perception of Users towards different types of SMS ads

Analysis: 100 out of 200 respondents have said use of SMS as reminder of offers is

good. 120 out of 200 respondents prefer getting messages through Bluecasting. 90

respondents are not happy with call centre responses and waiting times.

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Interpretation:

Though, most respondents were neutral to this, three types stand out. Mobile marketers

and/companies can use SMS Vouchers, SMS bargain services and Mobile WAP banners

for their Mobile ads as these are perceived as agreeable by majority of the respondents.

Blue-Casting was perceived well by the respondents and there is a huge potential for

such kind of marketing, especially in retail outlets and Shopping Malls. Thus using SMS

Vouchers/Coupons and reminder messaging (of latest offers, as done for membership

card holders by MegaMart) are good strategies for mobile marketing.

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15. Perception towards mobile ads/Promotional messages:

Analysis: About 110 out of 130 responses (if we neglect neutral responses), have said

promotional messages and ads are intrusion into privacy. 120 respondents are of the opinion

that it is time consuming to go through SMS ads. Reminder of sale promotions and brand

recall is increased through mobile ads 120 respondents agreeing to this

Interpretation:

Majority of the respondents are having a negative attitude to promotional messages when it

comes to causing disturbance at work, relaying at wrong time and simply sending junk ads.There is also a clutter created due to lot of promotional messages received.

Companies should restrict the number of messages sent to each user to less than 3 a day and

maximum of one call a day. Messages/calls should be made at a proper time.

It will be better to include informative messages within the promotional SMSs to attract

attention. Few users have also complained to promotional messages being a reason for loss

of privacy.

16. Time of the day preference for getting promotional calls/Messages:

Analysis : 45% of the of the respondents feel the best time for receiving promotional calls

or messages after noon (after lunch or in the evening).

Interpretation :

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Majority (over 45%) of the respondents feel the best time for receiving promotional calls or

messages after noon (after lunch or in the evening). This fact can be used by companies to

time their mobile marketing tactics accordingly and time the delivery accordingly.

17. Preference towards SMS ads pertaining to location:

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Analysis: 110 out of 200 respondents feel that they should receive promotional calls and

messages pertaining to their location.

Interpretation :

Mobile marketers should make sure the offers or promotional calls made to a mobile

phone user could be availed by that particular user easily.

Peronalization/Customerization is also the need of the hour.

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18. Preference towards getting offers pertaining to personalinformation:

Analysis: Neglecting neutral responses, 100 out of 160 responses are positive for mobilephone ads pertaining to type of music, 80 out of 120 respondents are in interested in

receiving ads pertaining to occupation, leisure activities and ads pertaining to automobiles

Interpretation :

Majority of the respondents prefers getting offers pertaining to the following personal

information

a. Leisure Activities like holidaying. Therefore ads can be based on offers, travel

destinations etc.

b. Marital Status: Promotional messages and calls pertaining to activities and events

or products and services applicable to married or single individuals.

a. Promotional offers relating to Holidays and Leisure activities.

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For example as done by www.snapdeal.com

15. What a user normally does when he/she receives a promotionalcall:

Analysis: 80 out of 200 respondents partially here the promotional message when they

receive it while 50 (once phone number is recognized) disconnect it. Only 40 hear the

message fully

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Interpretation :

Majority of the respondents hear the message partially when a promotional call is received.

Therefore an effective pitch should be made within the first few seconds of call to persuade

the user to hear the message fully.

16. Whether convinced by the promotional calls:

Analysis : 160 out of 200 respondents are not convinced by the promotional calls they aregetting.

Interpretation :

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160 out of 200 respondents are not convinced by the promotional calls made and often

find it irritating. Mobile marketing companies and telecom network providers can use

innovative methods to capture users attention to and thus convince him/her.

Personlaizationof calls and messages along with customization are very important for

preventing disturbance and to create a pleasant feeling.

17. Are the promotional calls disturbing:

Abalysis: 130 out of 200 respondents are of the opinion that promotional calls are

disturbing. This pertains to the content of the message and gettign calls during work or

pleasure.

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Interpretation :

Majority of mobile phone users find promotional calls disturbing. This can be avoided

by mobile marketers by proper customization of messages and using innovative methods

to please the user.

8.FINDINGS

1. Majority of Mobile phone users find Promotional calls and SMS to be disturbing.

2. Most preferred time for receiving calls or messages for youth is afternoon time.

3. Latest technology offerings like 3G, MMS, and High speed Internet access on Mobile

phones etc. are highly preferred by the youth...

4. Personalization of calls and messages along with customization is very important for

preventing disturbance and to create a pleasant feeling.

5. Promotional calls are atleast partially heard before disconnecting it.

6. Location based mobile ads are preferred by users ads pertaining to their location.

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7. News/Weather updates, video clips, instant messaging and streaming music (through a

GPRS connection) are found to be of great interest to the mobile phone users.

8. Improper Customer care services have turned out to be the major reason for

dissatisfaction among mobile phone users.

9. Airtel has the maximum number of subscribers with Vodafone falling close behind

among youth.

10.Youth prefer using pre-paid connections

11.Blue-Casting is a preferred form of marketing technique among youth

12.The most used mobile phone instrument is manufactured by Nokia.

9.HYPOTHESIS TESTINGNull Hypothesis (H0):Mobile phone is a preferred medium to market various product

and services.

Alternative Hypothesis (H1):Mobile phone is not a preferred medium to market various

product and services.

The overall study proves that Null Hypothesis is accepted for certain parameters

while it is not for certain other parameters.

The parameters for which null hypothesis is accepted are:

1. News/Weather updates, video clips, instant messaging and streaming music

(through a GPRS connection) are found to be of great interest to the mobile

phone users/sample.

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2. Use of SMS Vouchers, SMS bargain services and Mobile WAP banners for their

Mobile ads as these are perceived as agreeable by majority of the respondents

3. Use of Blue-Casting Technique

4. 80 out of 120 (neglecting neutral responses) respondents are in interested in

receiving ads pertaining to occupation, leisure activities and ads pertaining to

automobiles

The parameters for which Alternate Hypothesis is accepted are:

1. Promotional calls

2. SMS Messages

The reasons cited are:

i. Intrusion of privacy: 110 out of 120 responses (if we neglect neutral

responses), have said promotional messages and ads are intrusion into

privacy.

ii. Time Consuming: 120 respondents are of the opinion that it is time

consuming to go through SMS ads.

iii. Promotional calls Not Convincing: 160 out of 200 respondents are not

convinced by the promotional calls they are getting.

iv. 130 out of 200 respondents are of the opinion that promotional calls are

disturbing.

FUTURE DEVELOPMENT

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Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has come up with stringent ruling to

restrict promotional calls and SMSs to mobile phones. The ruling includes the following

guidelines that the network operators and Telemarketing companies should adhere to:

1. Consumers who want to activate the Do-Not Call (DNC) service or file a complaint

against a telemarketer will now have to dial 1901, a toll-free number. Unlike the previous

regulations which provided only for a 'Do Not Call Registry, the regulations issued provide

a wider choice to customers.

2. The regulations also mandate that no commercial communication, even for unregistered

customers, shall be sent between 9.00 pm and 9.00 am, so that customers are not disturbed

at night.

3. The subscriber may choose to be under the 'Fully Blocked' category which is akin to the

'Do Not Call Registry'. The user can also choose the 'Partially Blocked' category, in which

case he/she will receive SMSs in the categories chosen by him.

4. TRAI has identified seven categories-- banking, and financial products, real estate,

education, health, consumer goods, automobiles, communication and entertainment,

tourism and leisure.

5. In case of violations, as per the revised guidelines, the telemarketers would have to pay a

fine of Rs 25,000 for the first offence which would go up to Rs 75,000 in case of a second

violation, Rs 80,000 for the third, Rs 1.25 lakh for the fourth, Rs 1.50 lakh for the fifth and

Rs 2.5 lakh for the sixth offence, following which the number will be blocked by all service

providers.

On December 1, 2010, the regulator had come out with guidelines on unsolicited

telemarketing calls and SMSs, to be implemented from January 1, 2011. According to

industry sources, the telecom operators need time to meet contractual obligations with

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various telemarketing companies for which they require at least three to four months and

that is the reason they are seeking more time to implement TRAI guidelines on pesky calls.

These guidelines are likely to be implemented by April 2011.

IMPACT :

The study proves that promotional calls and SMSs are not preferred by the mobile phone

users to be a medium for marketing products and services, marketers would be further

deterred from using this method of marketing, as it is regulated. Other means of mobile

phone marketing like the following can be pursued:

1. Blue-Casting

2. Pod-Casting: Embedding Podcasts with marketing/promotional messages.

3. Use of WAP banners

10.SUGGESTIONS

MACRO SUGGESTIONS:

1. Promotional calls and messages are perceived negatively (Disturbing and not

convincing) by the users. Therefore these methods should be customized according to

user or other means of mobile phone marketing should be pursued.

2. Mobile marketers/Companies can use innovative methods in exploiting the marketing

potential created by 3G technology.

3. Companies can come up with specific marketing plans to target prepaid customers as

they form the huge bulk of mobile phone users among youth.

4. Companies can get into contractual agreements with Telecom network providers like

Vodafone and Airtel to reach out to more number of customers, since majority of

mobile phone users are their subscribers.

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MICRO SUGGESTIONS:

1. Mobile marketing messages (SMSs), MMS, Cell info Display Banners can be

customized according to Nokia and Sony Ericsson manufactured phones predominantly.

2. Youth is eager to buy mobile phones with 3G and other modern features like GPRS,

Edge etc., therefore the mobile marketing companies can focus on such emerging

technologies and use multimedia content to be used in Mobile phone ads

3. Mobile marketers can focus on providing mobile ads through WAP banners and also post

sponsorship links and images during waiting time for downloading files through the mobile

phone.

4. Mobile marketers/companies can market/advertise their product and services through

technological features like Video calling by 3G, Blue-casting in front of retail outlets, WAP

banners (using GPRS) and Podcasting.

5. Cell info Display can be used as Mobile advertising medium to market various products

and services by companies. This can be ensure location based advertising, since towers near

to the mobile phone instrument can relay ads pertaining to that particular place.

10. These services can be provided either through GPRS connectivity or SMS/MMS.

Companies can therefore use these preferred methods to advertise about their products or

services and make consumers aware.

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11. Blue-Casting was perceived well by the respondents and there is a huge potential for

such kind of marketing, especially in retail outlets and Shopping Malls. Thus using SMS

Vouchers/Coupons and reminder messaging (of latest offers, as done for membership card

holders by MegaMart) are good strategies for mobile marketing.

12. Companies should restrict the number of messages and calls to each user as users find it

disturbing and not convincing.

13. The best time for receiving promotional calls or messages in after noon (after lunch or

in the evening). Companies can target this time for mobile marketing.

14. Mobile marketers should make sure the offers or promotional calls made to a mobile

phone user could be availed by that particular user easily. Peronalization/Customerization is

the need of the hour. Mobile marketers can use proper customization of messages and use

innovative methods to please the user.

15. Promotional offers relating to Holidays and Leisure activities should be communicated

as it is preferred.

16. Respondents hear the message partially when a promotional call is received. Therefore

an effective pitch should be made within the first few seconds of call to persuade the user to

hear the message fully, though it is preferable to use other methods of mobile marketing

than calls and messages.

Following Points should be noted:

Personalization: Marketers can personalize text messages based on the consumers local

time, location, and preferences e.g., directions to the nearest vegetarian restaurant open at

the time of request.

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Time: Less intrusive than phone calls, recipients can read text messages at their leisure and

choose when to respond, if at all. Still, organizations must consider the best time and

message frequency for the target group and topic.

For e.g. For targeting students, messages should not be sent before noon, because at this

time students can either not be reached efficiently or might get into trouble receiving

messages during their classes.

Location: Mobile phones amplify two key arguments for electronic commerce, location

independence and ubiquity. Consumers increasingly expect tailored and location-based

services, thereby underlining the importance of personalized mobile marketing.

Preferences: Personalizing messages increases their impact. Similar to traditional media, a

personalized SMS campaign relies upon databases with enough active and potential clients

to reach the target group profitably. Such databases regularly contain personal information

such as leisure activities, holidays, music and media interests, type of Internet access,

occupation, marital status, car ownership and income.

Consumer control, permission and privacy:Advertisers should have permission and convince consumers to opt-in before sending

advertisements. A simple registration ensures sending relevant messages to an interested

audience. Unwanted messages, commonly known as spam, stifle user acceptance

particularly as mobile phones cannot distinguish between spam and genuine communication

automatically. Spam may work as the strongest negative influence on consumer attitudes

towards SMS advertising.

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11. CONCLUSION

Mobile phone is a new direct marketing device that provides direct access to

consumers and interacts with them in a very personal way. The mobile advertising, mobile

Internet, mobile banking and mobile entertainment services are growing in the world and inIndia, GSM operators and retailers expect to benefit from these mobile marketing tools.

Consumers generally had negative attitudes toward mobile advertising unless they have

specifically consented to receive the mobile advertising messages. Consumers develop a

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positive attitude toward mobile marketing if mobile marketing messages were creatively

designed, entertained and proved a high information value. Mobile marketing adoption and

acceptance is on the rise. Even though it is too early to say whether mobile commerce and

mobile marketing services are accepted or not in India, the findings of the research

conducted on mobile phone users suggest that mobile phone users have positive attitudes

towards mobile marketing tools except for irritating calls and messages.

To come to the point, the mobile phone is rapidly becoming a practical direct

marketing channel. There are some factors playing a role in improving and increasing

mobile commerce. Besides mobile service quality, entertainment value, information value

and advertising content communication are some of the strongest drivers of the acceptance

of the mobile phone as a marketing tool. Moreover, one of the ways to convince mobile

phone users of the benefits of mobile commerce is the price of products and services.

Furthermore, GSM operators and retailers ought to (1) get ready the mobile revolution in

commerce, (2) develop healthy mobile commerce market, (3) create a favourable mobile

shopping environment, (4) increase mobile phones operational efficiency and customer

interaction, and (5) develop effective the mobile marketing mix, programs and strategies.As long as these requirements are carried out, mobile commerce adoption level will be

increased.

LEARNINGS

1. Dissertation was few months full of learning experiences and putting into

practice what I learnt in class. Meeting with respondents helped me understand

the benefits of business communication course.

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2. Doing project in Bangalore gave me enough exposure to meet and interact with

umpteen numbers of people. This finally helped me to understand how the

Telecom industry works and the ways to tackle problems. It helped me

understand the lessons of persuasion that paid off when I had to persuade some

managers to provide me with the required information.

3. Over the course of five months, I understood how to prepare a questionnaire,

different types of questions to be asked in the questionnaire, and how to do

competitor analysis.

4. Since there were weekly reporting and deadlines, I learnt to adjust time and

finish tasks accordingly.

5. Overall, it was a wonderful learning experience.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Internet:

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1http://www.ibef.org/industry/telecommunications.aspx

http://www.comscore.com/

http://www.coai.in/statistics.php

http://www.allacademic.com

http://papers.ssrn.com

http://www.ibef.org/

6 http://www.aibsnloa.org/telecomnews/gsmfigures0109.pdf

2How to Develop a Mobile Marketing Strategy - Chris Bourke, Managing Director,

Aerodeon,July 20010

3All India GSM Cell Sub Figures - May' 10

4Mobile Marketer - THE NEWS LEADER IN MOBILE MARKETING, MEDIAAND COMMERCE, March 19, 2009

5 India: The Impact of Mobile Phones - Moving the debate forward The PolicyPaper Series Number 9 January 2009

7 Mobile Value Added Services in India - A Report by IAMAI & eTechnologyGroup@IMRB December 2009

Books:

1. Naresh k malhotra, Marketing Research 2. Philip Kotler, Marketing Management

ANNEXURE

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Disha Institute Of Management And Technology

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am a student of Disha Institute of Management And Technology (DIMAT), undertaking a

Study on the use of Mobile Phones as a platform to market various products and

services. I would really appreciate if you could spend some time to fill this questionnaire

and thus help me with valid information to complete the study. All information collected

shall be kept confidential and used for academic purposes only.

Your survey responses will be strictly confidential and data from this research will be

reported only in the aggregate. Thank you for your time and support.

Section 1

1. Gender: Male Female

2. Age Group: 10-20 20-30 30-50 50 & Above

3. Occupation:

Self Employed Professional Salaried House wife Student Others, Please

Specify ( )

4. Income Level (per month) :


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Section 2

6. Which mobile phone instrument are you using?

Nokia Samsung Motorola Micromax Blackberry Spice Sony

Ericsson LG iPhone Others, please specify ( )

7. How long have you been using a mobile phone?

Less than 1 year 1-2 years 2-4 years above 4 years

8. What are the reasons for using the above mentioned mobile phone?

WAP Just to talk on it Use GPRS function Receive Email & SMS

Down load Files Others please specify ( )

9. Latest Mobile facilities which you are aware of (Multiple choice)

GPRS 3G MMS Bluetooth infrared Video call

Other facil

Documents

Study on use of Mobile Phones as a platform to market various products and services”