Mobile Marketing is a booming industry right now and that is only expected to grow exponentially in the future. As with any newly developing market, the jobs that are required to carry out the tasks do not yet exist or need to be tweaked from previously existing positions. People will need to either move from related positions into the new jobs or become educated and trained from the ground up to fill these spots. As the marketplace continues to develop, more people will be necessary to fill various strategic and creative positions. Some of these jobs will be more necessary than others and will become high demand positions subject to a healthy dose of competition between firms to retain the best and the brightest. The following four positions are jobs that are emerging in the new mobile marketing landscape and will become regular positions in many organizations in the near future.
What Are The Types Of Mobile Marketing Jobs
1. Mobile Marketing Strategist
A Mobile Marketing Strategist is the person that makes the key tactical decisions in the mobile marketing campaign. Essentially, the project manager, the person in this position will need to have a great deal of knowledge about the marketplace and mobile marketing strategy and implementation. This person doesn’t just make recommendation for strategy, they need to have the expertise to make recommendations and guide the client on decisions throughout the entire process. This includes guiding them towards the best application development and vendor engagement options for their campaign. In addition, a position like this will require strong market research skills and the ability to digest large amount of industry and market data into actionable recommendations and best practices. The Mobile Marketing Strategist position is a very demanding position that calls for a high level of expertise. Despite the pressure a position like this will cause, the rewards are also just a high.
2. Mobile Application Developer
A Mobile Application Developer is the person that creates the applications for the mobile platform on which the campaign will be deployed. There are two basic types of mobile application development, so a developer should be familiar with one or both of the processes. The first is taking existing applications, for example web applications for use on a computer through the internet, and converting that application into one that can be used through a mobile phone. The conversion process is not as easy as it might initially sound and requires multiple techniques to accomplish. A new user interface must be designed and implemented, though the back end processes may stay very similar. The second is to develop an entirely new mobile application for use with the mobile marketing campaign or advertising effort. A new mobile application will be required for each new platform that the application will be deployed on, such as the iPhone, Android, or Blackberry. The developer must be skilled in several programming languages, specifically Java, HTML, Flash, and the C programming languages are the most effective and in demand when developing applications for mobile marketing campaigns on hand-held devices.
3. Social Media Manager
The Social Media Manager position can vary from organization to organization. In general, this is the person that will be managing the day-to-day operations of the mobile marketing campaign. While the strategist devises the overall plan and methods of conducting the campaign, the social media manager will be in charge of ensuring those instructions are followed through. Another aspect of the Social Media Manager in some organizations will be to manage the social aspects of the mobile web properties. Mobile campaigns are increasingly becoming two-way streets, with consumers sending information back to the company as well as the company sending advertisements and information to the consumer. In addition, mobile campaigns lend themselves to social interaction and this must be managed to make sure that the interactions stay in line with the vision and intent of the campaign and are not derailed.
4. Media Buyer
One of the main ways of conducting a mobile campaign is by purchasing advertising on an already existing mobile advertising network. Companies such as Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft have developed their own advertising networks and this composes a considerable part of their income. Making keyword purchase decisions can be a critical choice when developing a mobile marketing campaign, as the keywords should be relevant and engaging to the consumer. In addition, the ads should be placed in the network with relevant content to the target audience to increase their engagement with the campaign. This responsibility lies with the media buyer.
The jobs will be on the cutting edge of emerging mobile marketing jobs and will become commonplace in organizations trying to develop or maintain a mobile presence. Statistics show that more people own mobile devices than credit cards. It is only a matter of time before all businesses large and small realize that they will need to develop a presence on the mobile web and start hiring for these positions. Right now the mobile marketing field is wide open with no one company claiming dominance. As the field becomes more developed then it will be more difficult to move into these positions as the requirements will be higher than ever. Now is the time to develop the ability and knowledge to compete in the emerging mobile marketing job market.