By: Guest Editor
Mobile marketing is becoming very popular because of the many people that own cell phones. You can easily use this form of marketing to interact on a personal level with consumers. Everyone knows about text messaging, which can also be known as SMS or short message service. Text messages can now be sent by different companies so that the cell phone owner receives their ad. Guidelines are important to have because of the history of mobile marketing and Jared Lansky explains why this is important.

In the year 2000, mobile marketing started in Europe. There were many businesses that started gathering mobile phone numbers and sending texts to those numbers. Most of the times the messages sent were unwanted and people started complaining about receiving them because it was a lot like getting spam.

Over the last few years, text messaging has become a very legitimate way for businesses to advertise. Mobile marketing is done with the use of a wireless service. This gives advertisers a way to keep track of the messages they have sent. Plus, because of the problems in Europe with this marketing method, different agencies have come up with guidelines to make sure that you only receive these messages if you want to.

In the beginning, mobile marketing got negative media coverage because of the spam like content being sent. This is why Jared Lansky wants you to understand that guidelines have been put into place so that this form of marketing is becoming more effective and is only going to the people that want it. This is why this marketing is becoming more popular all the time now.

There are many people that have started using mobile marketing by sending text messages and they have started adding this type of marketing into their advertising budgets. With the new guidelines in place, consumers can now opt in to the service if they want to receive ads but they can also opt out by texting the word stop via text. Most of the mobile operators will now require double opt in to make sure that the messages will be welcomed instead of causing problems.

If you are going to be using mobile marketing than you are going to have to know these guidelines. You can easily find them because they have been established in the MMA Consumer Best Practices Guidelines. All mobile marketers understand the importance of following these guidelines and they are being strictly followed by marketers in the United States.