Today, we live in what is known as the information age. It has been said that a weekday edition of the New York Times contains more information that a person in the 17th century would come across in an entire lifetime. It’s also estimated that more information has been produced in the last three decades than in the 5,000 years previous to that.

Having such a vast amount of information at our fingertips is a good thing. But being bombarded with information constantly can have a negative effect. If our generation is experiencing the information age then you could say the next generation will live in the information overload age.

With so much information, many communication experts say that message overload has already occurred, those who disagree feel it will come soon. It’s a problem that marketers especially should be concerned about.

Concern for marketers

It’s the business of marketers to reach out and make contact with consumers. The problem advertisers face is that with every message they send out, they could be reducing the effectiveness of that message. For a great example of this, look no further than email marketing.

When email first got its start, emailed advertisements didn’t have the negative stigma they have now. Today, a person is likely to have 10 or more spam emails to every one email that actually matters. As a result, the vast majority of emails go straight into the deleted folder without every being opened.

Will the same happen with mobile marketing?

Many mobile marketers worry that the same thing will eventually happen with mobile marketing. Mobile is still a relatively new marketing channel as evidenced by the open rate of text messages. Approximately 99% of text messages sent will be opened by the recipient. There is a very real fear however that text messages will eventually go the way of the email. As more and more spam floods people’s text messaging inbox, more and more text messages will be deleted still unread.

The takeaway for mobile marketers

Whether the mobile marketing channel will ever experience information overload is yet to be seen. Whether it does occur or not, there are still some best practices mobile marketers can employ to make sure their messages aren’t the ones being deleted unread.

Marketing experts recommend keeping advertisement messages short and to the point. Lengthy ads that ask consumers to weigh a number of choices are more likely to overwhelm them. Finally, messages that are irrelevant and offer no value to consumers are much more likely to be ignored. A company that wants its audience to read their messages would be wise to keep their marketing messages relevant and to offer something of value to consumers.

Source: mobilemarketingwatch.com/understanding-marketing-message-overload-42512/