I hate text ads.
You’d think I might be open to text ads, being involved in marketing and all, but I hate them. They are so intrusive and always mass-market focused. For instance, I received one from eBay this morning, prompting this post. I took five minutes out of my day to call their number and opt out. Five minutes or twenty, I don’t want to waste my time being bothered by mass advertising on a personal device that has historically been protected from this type of thing. It’s the principle multiplied by the slippery slope. If I had to do that for ten ads a day, I’d throw away my cell phone and communicate via email only.
So, other than throwing the baby out with the text ads, when would a text ad become acceptable to me?
- ONLY when I opt in (and don’t try to fool me with an opt out registration form). I would only opt in for a local service, never for a mass-market focused company.
- If it were for useful services – there’s a radiation leak at the nuclear plant, my car tells me that it is low on oil, or I’m looking for a hotel in Florence and I want some options in the immediate vicinity of where I am.
- If any of those prior options are abused or are anything less than 100% useful to me at that moment, I’ll never use the services again.
So many companies who have exhausted other means of growth through the plethora of online channels have slowly started to look at the mobile market. Unfortunately, a mobile phone’s calling or texting feature is a very personal medium, far more so than email. It requires a new kind of marketer to find new ways of exercising restraint at the corporate level and to know whether their message is tailored to the individual enough to warrant this type of intrusion. The old “4 P’s” guide is useful here and more often than not, the place is not relevant or useful when it involves mobile phones and a mass-market focused company.
