Real-Time Push Mobile Marketing Strategy: To What Extent does Time and Relevance Matter?

The ubiquity of the smartphone has proven disruptive. The relevance of this medium can be observed through time spent on mobile media, google mobile search numbers, and direct and indirect sales generated by mobile devices. Consumer expectations of firms have likewise increased, and there is now an anticipation of readily reliable, responsive, and personalized services to support consumers’ everyday activities whenever they need it. Prior research focused on the following themes: mobile marketing strategy, permission marketing, proximity marketing, topicality, and utility. Empirical gaps were identified in the real-time mobile and push mobile marketing domain. A quantitative engaged scholarship research method was utilized to empirically investigate this phenomenon. In partnership with an online information marketplace, an empirical investigation was undertaken via an experiment that used real mobile application users. The empirical findings suggest that unlike traditional mobile marketing, real-time mobile communication to users requires a guided and relevant experience. Failing to engage users with any communication or provide a guided experience on the mobile application is as counterproductive as sending users a push communication that is neither relevant nor in real-time. Also, in certain business contexts, typicality takes priority over the timing of the communication. The study contributes to research by plugging the real-time and push mobile marketing literature gap. Furthermore, the research contributes to practice by providing a push mobile marketing framework for firms seeking to orchestrate a sound push mobile communication strategy. Finally, the study acts as a catalyst to a call for research on the scarcely explored areas of real-time and push mobile marketing to move the field forward.