Opinion: Mobilemom – a great example of targeted content

After yesterday’s comment on Quitmate, an application targeted specifically at smokers trying to give up, we’ve heard about another user group-specific tool that helps emphasize the potential of really well targeted content. ‘MobileMom’ is a ‘life hack’ style text- and browser-based organizational tool for busy American mothers. A joint venture between developer GoWare and parenting website MomCentral, we think it’s a service that epitomizes one of the ways in which providers can utilize the personal nature of mobile phones to really add value for users.

MobileMom is a beta-test PC-based application that allows users to send content such as web links, photos, or documents to their phones via SMS with a couple of clicks. Alternatively they can simply drag and drop items from their PC’s desktop into their MobileMom folder, and an SMS with the relevant content is automatically sent to their phone. It provides its target audience of young (and probably working) mothers with a central way of managing their busy schedules, to-do lists, shopping lists, photos, documents and other online services. Other features of the service include an easy way of sharing content between family members and friends, and the fact that the content is automatically rendered to fit the screen size and resolution of the user’s handset.

Importantly, as well as these user-oriented features, MobileMom also offers advertisers a great way of communicating with this extremely valuable target audience by, for example, sending vouchers and money-off coupons to the user’s mobile phone that can then be redeemed in-store. This is being implemented via GoWare’s relationship with mobile coupon provider Cellfire.

The service is marketed in a very straightforward, easy to understand way, and really focuses on what it does for users, rather than on the supporting technology. Granted that observation isn’t rocket science, but emphasis of technology over service benefits is something we still see time and time again, and it’s refreshing to see that this obvious potential mistake has been avoided here. So, well targeted, user-oriented, benefit-focused and, most importantly, useful. We think that’s a winning combination.

Hamish M.