Is in-call the next big thing?

Recently, DialDirections announced a partnership with VoltDelta, a leader in the hosted directory assistance market, to provide 411 service to many of the leading telephone companies. The partnership will give VoltDelta customers access to DialDirection's voice-activated directions service.

The offering includes turn-by-turn directions which are text messaged to customer's mobile phones. How can marketers take advantage of the service - which is offered free to consumers? By advertising within.

Marketers can choose to place their ad copy at the bottom of an SMS message or use an audio ad for in-call. However, the key is to include sparse information because ads over :10 to :15 seconds could be ignored, so including only a quick jingle and a 'sponsored by' message should suffice.

"You can express more things in an audio medium than just in text," said Amit Desai, co-founder and chief product officer for DialDirections. "People remember jingles, so it's an excellent medium."

The context of the ad is also important because these are incredibly in-market users. They want specific information or directions so there is the ability to serve relevant ads. As far as targeting, geographical is best but don't target too narrowly.

"Targeting within a zip code is the most you'd want to do," said Mr. Desai.

Tags: in-call advertising, mobile advertising, mobile text messaging