mobile marketing Archives - Page 5 of 10

Email Marketing for Grandparents | The Elusive Demographic

Email marketers have, for awhile now, virtually ignored grandparents and the elderly. Why? Based on the simple theory that older people do not know how to operate modern technology that well, it would be hard to target them via email marketing. Seniors are often overlooked because marketers assume that they are too rooted in their old ways and have not learned new technology enough in order to be considered technologically savvy or marketable via the internet. I’m sure a majority of us have received a phone call from our grandparents asking about “this thingy” on their computer that they don’t know how to use. However, recent news has surfaced that suggests your grandparents may be a little more adaptable than you think, especially when the technology has relevant use for them.

The first thing we know about grandparents is that they LOVE their grandchildren. They love to spoil them, talk to them, keep in touch with them, see how they are doing, and hear what they’ve been up to lately. So logically, any technology that allows them to do this they will want to learn how to use, right? Well, according to a recent survey, 40% of grandparents say they support their grandchildren with everything from food to clothing. It’s also important to note that households with grandparents spend 4.4% more than any other type of household. This is a growing segment of the population and senior numbers in the United States are expected to grow significantly over the next few years, rising 11% by 2015. So now we know grandparents love to keep in touch with their kids, they spend more money than anyone else, and this is a growing demographic!

Now for the surprises. Think, when a new baby is born, the parents usually get online and look for information and bargains regarding the newborn. However, the grandparents are also doing this and evidence has pointed to grandparents going on email binges not just when newborns come into the family, but any time! Think about how grandparents love to buy things for their grandchildren. No, an elderly person is probably not going to want that new iPod, iPhone, or tablet that’s just been released to the public. They’re probably not going to want the new shoe that’s all the rage, or that new game system either, but their grandkids will. Marketers need to take note of the fact that email and the internet has replaced the usual catalogs kids would give their grandparents for Christmas and any other time of the year for them to buy. Email is easily the most popular medium for grandparents to communicate through, and marketers now have to realize that an awesome opportunity is sitting right in front of them! Where else are you going to be able to find so many people with disposable income and are motivated buyers?!

It’s easy to forget that this older demographic makes just as many purchases for others as they do for themselves. Now, with today’s technology, little Johnny can send Grandma that link to that toy he wants so desperately for his birthday instead of sorting through catalogs to find it. So email marketing should not just be something you are targeting at the younger and middle aged generation, but also to the oldest generation too! If you put content into your email marketing that appeals to the older generation you will be opening yourself up to a completely new flow of cash and revenue. You will undoubtedly find new marketing potential by providing content and resources that appeal to older consumers who make purchases for younger consumers.

To do this, you’ll want to educate them on products they may not be familiar with, answer frequently asked questions, and answer questions you would expect a grandparent to ask. You could even get creative by offering them excuses to offer parents who don’t like grandparents spoiling their children. The potential is unlimited! So stop ignoring the oldest population, take advantage of the demographic that is most willing to spend its money, and laugh your way to the bank!

JCPenney Leverages SMS Marketing In Its Favor

Recently, the department store chain JCPenney was able to use SMS marketing to its advantage and saw the great rewards and dividends it can bring. Their campaign, which started on February 7th, focused on reminding consumers of their pledge to consistently offer low prices. It was a part of a larger, multichannel marketing effort that JCPenney is currently enacting. Their success story is just another in what is becoming a staple with SMS and mobile marketing campaigns. We’re here to show you how JCPenney was able to do this.

The SMS campaign started on February 7th when the brand sent out an SMS message to all of its users. The message read “We’re making it easier to see the value with simple comparisons that show our price vs. elsewhere.” A link in the original messaged urged users to shop. They were then prompted to click through to a link which brough them to a landing page designed specifically for this campaign. The page, since it was optimized for mobile, allowed consumers to swipe through rich media and content which featured the brand’s promise to offer the lowest prices.

For example, on one page a woman’s t-shirt was listed at $6. The competition had the same t-shirt listed at $19.

Another page showed a men’s t-shirt at $5 at JCPenney, while the same shirt was $15 at a competing store.

Tabs at the bottom of each page let users search through the looks featured by JCPenney.

Blending with their mobile and SMS campaign, JCPenney also used TV as a big part of their larger marketing campaign. Users were able to click on a tab featured on the landing page so they could watch 15 second TV ads. All of the commercials were easily viewable on mobile devices.

As a part of JCPenney’s multichannel push, they also announced that they would be installing mobile devices in place of all their cash registers in order to become more consumer check-out friendly and improve customer satisfaction. Along with this, they drove consumers to stores during the holidays by using location-based ads which promoted an in-store campaign. Consumers, after shopping at JCPenney, could receive buttons in the store with a 7-digit code which could be entered online to win rewards and prizes. Using SMS marketing, they were able to do all of this very easily.

Derek Johnson, CEO of Tatango in Seattle, Washington, reminded us of the importance of SMS messaging in mobile marketing, “While Twitter, Facebook and email are becoming more mobile – and in turn a viable option for capturing attention on a consumer’s mobile phone – SMS is pure mobile. This makes SMS messaging the premier choice for an announcement such as this, as 90 percent of text messages are read within three minutes.”

Realize that the original SMS campaign started on February 7th. At the time of writing this article that was literally 5 days ago and JCPenney already saw returns for their investment in SMS. Imagine the returns youcould get if you launched an SMS marketing campaign today! The best part is it’s not even expensive. SMS marketing is the cheapest route you can take if you are planning on implementing a mobile marketing campaign into your company’s marketing strategy. Add the fact that not every phone is a smartphone yet, and SMS becomes even more attractive due to the fact that EVERY mobile phone, regardless if it’s smart or not, is capable of sending and receiving text messages.

So the question is, why are you waiting? Hop on the SMS marketing bandwagon today and watch your bottom line grow!

Mobile Marketing Winners of Super Bowl XLVII

February 8, 2013/0 Comments/in mobile marketing, sms marketing, social media integration /by Brett Gordon

Every year when the Super Bowl comes around in early February, you are watching for one of two reasons. One, you’re a football fan and you’re looking forward to the biggest game of the year, or two, you are watching for the commercials. The $4 million commericials to be more specific. With such an expensive price tag on a 30 second time slot, it’s no surprise that the pressure was on for companies and brands to deliver. Of course, that’s the case with every Super Bowl these days, but this year it was a little different. It’s 2013, so mobile marketing and social media were expected to be integrated into the commercials and bring added interactivity to their campaigns. Fortunately, some companies were able to do this, while others, unfortunately, were not.

It’s already known that mobile is continuing to grow as a mutitasking device. However, incorporating that into effective TV commercials is not always that easy. Mobile call-to-actions (CTAs) do not work for everyone. The effectiveness usually depeneds on the brand’s campaign message and target demographic. Still, marketers who choose to ignore what TV and the second screen have to offer are missing out on the HUGE opportunities they can provide. One 30 second ad could turn into a long-term, one-on-one relationship with your consumers.

According to Lora Schaeffer, Executive Director of Social at Resource in Columbus, Ohio, “The second screen winner really appeared to be Twitter as phones across America lit up the Twittersphere during the Beyonce halftime show and again during the blackout.”

So with that in mind, let us take a look at the mobile marketing winners of Super Bowl XLVII.

Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures released an app earlier in the year specifically designed for their upcoming movie “Star Trek: Into Darkness” to help them build hype for its release on May 17th. The app was designed so that viewers could sync the app with the commerical while it was airing on TV. The app, using audio recognition, was able to recognize that the user was watching the ad on TV and unlocked a video teaser for the movie. On top of this, users of the app were also able to get exclusive tickets to the movie before its release. Before the game, the app sent out a push notification to anyone who had downloaded the app reminding them to interact with the app during the game. After the commercial aired, users were directed to the movie’s website to unlock the content.

Bottom Line: The campaign was able to combine mobile and televison while also getting consumers to use the app multiple times leading up to the May premiere. That’s a definitive win.

Oreo

Oreo focused on mobile photo sharing and social media in their ad campaign. They also had one of the funnier commericals of 2013, featuring several people whispering it out with each other in a library over which was better, the creme or the cookie. The end of the spot prompted viewers to pick their favorite of the two on Instagram. Almost immediately after the spot aired, Oreo had over 37 THOUSAND new followers. Before the ad? Oreo had 2200 followers.

Bottom Line: Oreo emphasized social media beautifully by creating a funny Super Bowl ad that made their Instagram explode literally overnight, and had consumers feverishly taking and sharing photos with them on their smartphones and tablets. They also created a memorable tagline in the commercial with “Something we can all disagree on.”

The NFL

The National Football League was able to efficiently use CTAs during the course of the Super Bowl to build up its SMS database. They prompted viewers with text keywords like MVP and REWIND to their short code 55171. An example was when viewers texted in MVP, they were sent back a text message with a link to a mobile site which allowed users to cast their vote for the game MVP as well as receive future messages.

Bottom Line: The NFL was able to build up their SMS database while also allowing fans to interact with the MVP vote as well as establish a connection with the league over a the long-term. This will only help the league maintain a good relationship with its fans now, as well as into the future.

Lincoln

Automaker Lincoln ran an ad which featured its partnership with comedian Jimmy Fallon. They teamed up with Fallon as a part of a larger company-wide rebranding effort on a crowdsourced spot that advertised their MKZ sedans. Viewers were able to tweet Fallon using the hashtag #SteerTheScript to help tell the story of Lincoln’s rebranding. The top five tweets were then aggregated into a 90 second commercial. A CTA at the end of their 30 second ad compelled viewers to visit their website steerthescript.com which is also optimized for mobile, which means viewers could easily see and use the site on their mobile devices.

Bottom Line: Lincoln was able to put together a mobile marketing campaign that tied directly into their commercials using social media giant Twitter. They also used the help of mini-celebrity Jimmy Fallon to encourage viewers and users to interact with them through Twitter and had people talking about the MKZ during the game, most of them conversing through smartphones and tablets. A great way to tie social media, mobile marketing, and their Super Bowl commercials together while also promoting the MKZ. A terrific effort.

Samsung

Samsung has historically been very aggressive with its TV advertising. This year for the big game, they decided to bring in comedians Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd for a spot that centered around them competing to be “the next big thing.” The commerical took a comedic turn when, after pitching several ideas to Samsung’s “executive”, basketball star LeBron James ends up stealing the spotlight from Rogen and Rudd and wins the title of “the next big thing.” Samsung wrapped up the commercial beautifully by encouraging viewers to join in on the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #TheNextBigThing.

Bottom Line: Samsung incorporated Twitter into its commercial allowing viewers to interact with them while also running banner ads on ESPN’s and CBS’s mobile sites and The Weather Channel’s iPhone app during the game, and in turn drove YouTube viewership up. Can’t get much better than that.

Axe

Axe was able to connect their TV promotion with their time sensitive web sweepstakes which allowed them to promote their new product. Their sneakily funny commercial featured a lifeguard rescuing a woman from the ocean, but when she is revived, she ends up running towards an astronaut who is also on the beach, which in turn promoted Axe’s new Apollo line of personal care items. The end of the commercial urged viewers to go to their website axeapollo.com before midnight for a chance to win a trip into space.

Bottom Line: Axe was able to optimize all of their content for mobile devices, so they could ask viewers to fill out a registration form to enter the sweepstakes without it being a hassle for people who wanted to enter. The microsite was also able to compel viewers to sign up for email offers which allowed Axe to build their database as a part of their campaign to connect traditional TV marketing with their new digital apparatus. They also made it possible to share content about the commerical and brand through social networks like Facebook and Google+.

These were just some of the commercials which took advantage of mobile marketing through their Super Bowl ads. As you can see, mobile marketing has become essential to making any marketing campaign effective, and companies large and small are starting to take note. This was obvious while viewing the Super Bowl ads. Now, you are probably not a large enough company to be able to afford a $4 million spot in the Super Bowl, but there are several ways to implement mobile marketing into your marketing campaign, and that can start with us here at Anchor! We have extensive knowledge in mobile marketing and have done it long enough to know what works and what doesn’t. The best part is that you don’t need to drop $4 million or more to launch a mobile marketing campaign. We have helped companies launch and run mobile marketing campaignssuccessfully without putting a hurt on their wallets. Mobile marketing WORKS and it is CHEAP! Get started on your mobile marketing campaign today and reap the rewards the giant companies are already taking advantage of!

Mobile Marketing Subscriptions Pass 6 BILLION

February 7, 2013/0 Comments/in mobile advertising, mobile marketing, mobile marketing subscriptions /by Brett Gordon

Startling news has risen from the results of a mobile advertising report recently conducted by the CMO Council. Apparently, only 16% of marketers have instituted a mobile marketing strategy despite the fact that over 6 BILLION mobile subscriptions have been reported. That means that 86% of all marketing companies are failing to take advantage of over 6 billion subscriptions made by consumers. To us, this is absolutely mindblowing. Considering the power and gravity of mobile marketing, it is hard for us to fathom this fact. But that’s okay, we’re here to help you see the light!

It seems the biggest factor contributing to the low percentage of companies implementing mobile marketing has to do with the fact that they don’t feel like it is working. This could be true, but this is probably a result of a poorly planned and executed mobile strategy, lack of mobile marketing knowledge, or lack of analytics to properly measure your results. Regardless what the problem is, here at Anchor we guarantee we have the solution. We have had companies come in and tell us that they are not happy with their mobile marketing efforts, and we have been able to fix it and give them the results that they want. This has happened time and time again and we have utmost confidence in our methods. Why? Because we know what works!

Another interesting statistic derived from the study is that 77% of marketers report that there is a lack of case studies that demonstrate mobile marketing’s best practices. We have, in fact, a post on this very blog that gives you mobile marketing’s best practices. You can see that article here. We also have several other articles regarding mobile marketing that will help you. Diving into a mobile marketing campaign without knowing the facts or having extensive knowledge in the matter is a sure recipe for failure, and that is obviously what a majority of these companies have done. We know this because if mobile marketing is implemented correctly,it will become your most powerful marketing tool!

Interestingly enough, the CMO report supports this by stating that a majority of the companies who were unhappy with their mobile marketing campaigns indicated a “lack of understanding” on mobile. This was true among both brands and agencies. So the facts are there. It is clear that not only are a majority of companies unaware of the power of mobile marketing, but even when they do become aware of it, they do not understand it fully enough to successfully implement a mobile marketing campaign into their marketing strategy.

Just the fact that there are only 16% of all companies taking advantage of over 6 billion subscribers should tell you that there is a HUGE UNTAPPED market out there for you and your company. People travel around with cell phones and smartphones all the time, and it has gotten to the point where it has become an addiction. We actually have an entire blog dedicated to smartphone addiction here. Think to yourself, how often do you see people whip out their phones? All the time? Well, statistically speaking, 91% of all adults in the U.S. have a smartphone, 73% say they want to receive offers on their phones, 90% of all texts are read within 3 minutes, 97% of smartphone owners have their smartphones within arms reach at all times of the day, oh, and did we mention over 6 billion subscriptions have been reported?

We could continue, but what else is there to say? It is OBVIOUS that you should be thinking about launching a mobile marketing campaign, and soon! Before you know it, companies are going to figure out the mobile marketing game and will most assuredly pass you by if you don’t jump on the train now! Let us help you and your company take the bull by the horns and launch a successful mobile markting campaign today!

White Castle Takes Advantage of Mobile Marketing | Another Success Story

February 5, 2013/0 Comments/in is mobile marketing effective, mobile coupons, mobile marketing, sms marketing, sms mobile marketing /by Brett Gordon

White Castle has become another example in a long line of success stories involving companies who have implemented mobile marketing. Recently, they integrated a mobile campaign into their marketing strategy and have seen the robust returns mobile marketing can bring. They launched their SMS campaign using a Text2Crave service which, whenever customers are near or around any of their restaurants, sends customized alerts and unique mobile coupons to them. Their customers are then given the opportunity to opt-in to White Castle’s service any time they are around or near a White Castle location. This allows them to control what and what isn’t sent to them, while also connecting into White Castle’s mobile campaign to get coupons and deals on the food they crave.

Shuli Lowy, Marketing Director at Ping Mobile, pointed out, “Mobile coupons delivered through SMS are known to have the highest redemption rates—dwarfing those of all of all other forms of distribution including direct mail, newspaper ads, mobile applications, television commercial and mobile banner ads.”

Lowy continued, “Particularly when it comes to fast food restaurants, SMS has proven to be widely effective. SMS coupons in this vertical can easily have redemption rates of 10-30 percent – especially when location targeting is added to the recipe.”

White Castle’s mobile campaign is simple and easy to understand, and that’s the beauty of it. Any normal street-goer who uses a mobile device or a smartphone is easily capable of opting-in to White Castle’s service. We’ll you how their campaign works.

Customers or potential customers who choose to opt-in to the service can do so by texting the keyword CRAVE to the short code 25787 (you’re welcome, White Castle, for the free
promotion). Now that the customers have opted-in to the service, they will now receive real-time text mesage alerts from White Castle any time they are within a 1-5 mile radius of any White Castle location. Now, you may think this could become a problem, especially if any of these customers are near White Castles often, but White Castle has implemented a setting into their mobile marketing campaign which limits the amount of texts they send to one customer to 6 per month. This prevents them from bombarding their customers with text messages and possibly annoying or irritating them to the point where they opt-out of the service, which is obviously not something you would want.

The coupons sent through the text messages range from from discounts for the company’s Angus Steak Chili and Brownie on a Stick to deals on Sliders and other favorites. Ms. Lowy chimed in, “The mobile marketing industry has been blessed with tremendous innovation in the space and the addition of many new, exciting forms of advertising. However, the majority of those campaigns can only be executed on smartphones.Smartphone penetration is currently at just over half of the market.” Luckily, the smartphone market is growing rapidly and the younger generation already dominates the smartphone market with 74% of 25-34 year olds already owning smartphones. This is a growing trend that you DO NOT want to fall behind on. If you do, you and your company WILL feel the effects of it.

In addition to the Text2Crave service, White Castle is also offering two free Original Sliders to anyone who opts-in to their service. So on top of the incentive to opt-in for deals on White Castle food and products, customers also have the added incentive of just opting-in for the free Sliders.

Ms. Lowy summed up, “The beautiful thing about SMS messages targeted by location is that it enables brands to catch the right person, in the right place, at the crucial decision making moment. Opted in consumers have already expressed interest in the brand and are therefore likely to engage with it further. They are being contacted in the right place as the system can gauge whether they are within the vicinity. Additionally, messages are often pushed out pre-meal time when consumers are beginning to contemplate where to eat their next meal. That is targeting.”

Study Shows Overwhelming Use of Mobile Marketing

February 4, 2013/0 Comments/in mobile marketing, mobile marketing statistics, sms marketing /by Brett Gordon

A recent study conducted by The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and MediaVest has revealed that an overwhelming 96% of marketers are currently using, or are planning to integrate mobile marketing into their marketing strategy. On top of this, 85% said they planned on increasing their mobile budgets in the near future. If it hasn’t been made apparent to you yet, it should be obvious now, mobile marketing is not just the future of marketing, it is the here and the now! ANA President and Chief Executive Bob Liodice specifically stated, “Mobile is a huge opportunity for marketers. [It’s] territory that has yet to be fully tapped.”

Of the marketers surveyed, 83% reported that brand building was the main objective for their mobile campaigns, 78% stated that creating brand awareness was also a key objective, and 74% said they intended to create customer loyalty and retention. The three biggest draws of mobile marketing for marketers was its ability to reach unique audiences (85%), its ability to deliver content on-the-go (80%), and its ability to create location awareness (78%) both for the mobile users as well as the marketer. The top two uses for mobile marketing was the use of website ads, which comprised 84% of those surveyed, and search, which made up 78% of those surveyed.

Considering that 91% of all adults in the U.S. now own smartphones, it is no surprise that marketers are seeing the vast possibilities that mobile marketing has to offer and want to take
advantage of this. MediaVest CEO Brian Terkelson stated, “There is no doubt that Mobile is a powerful vehicle for creating deep experiences with consumers. It has transcended beyond a connection and convergence device. Mobile is not just changing consumer behavior; it is impacting business through customer service, e-commerce, awareness and more. The potential is huge!” Terkelson also noted that, “At MediaVest, we are investing in new partnerships and technologies to help us continue to add value to our clients in the mobile space because marketers will clearly be using it as a vital part of their planning in 2013.”

The fact is, you know people are using and interacting with smartphones. So what are you waiting for? You can already tell by this article that the competition has recognized the need for mobile marketing and is now clearly taking advantage of it, you should be too! If you don’t you will find yourself scratching and clawing to get back into the game. That is, if you even survive. Too many companies have fallen by the wayside because they lacked a mobile marketing campaign, don’t let your company be one of them! Jump on the mobile marketing bandwagon today and see what it can do for your brand, customer loyalty and retention, and most importantly, your ROI!

Blending Mobile Marketing With Social Media

January 29, 2013/0 Comments/in mobile marketing, mobile marketing campaign, social media /by Brett Gordon

Before you and your business can fully take advantage of mobile marketing and all of its benefits, you first need to optimize your marketing endeavors to reach customers who are on the move. When you integrate your mobile marketing strategy, you should be able to easily flow between social media and your SMS campaign. In fact, using both of them to your advantage will only multiply your success. If you know how to properly do this, your customers should be able to easily share and interact with your brand experience, therefore spreading the word about your brand. Remember, mobile marketing is the best way to keep your relationships with your customers alive well after their real-world interactions with your company. Not only will your customers appreciate you more, it will also naturally boost sales.

Starting out, you want to learn how to effectively integrate your mobile campaign into your marketing strategy. This means learning how to blend mobile and social media. Here are a few quick tips to help you get started.

Simplicity Is Golden

Social content and web content are NOT the same. This also goes for mobile content. For example, don’t just link your QR code to your Facebook fan page or your company’s home website. Even if you already optimized those pages for mobile, your content probably isn’t. Any mobile content you create needs to be easily accessible and easily shareable. If your content is not simple enough for the user, or good enough, you will not create the reaction you want from the customer. Remember, any mobile content needs to be SIMPLE, or else it will not work.

Remember That Your Customers Are MOBILE

If you forget this, you will LOSE the mobile marketing game. This is the single most important thing to remember when putting together a mobile marketing campaign. For this reason, mobile marketing experts are big on QR codes because of their quickness and efficiency. It’s a simple fact that taking a picture of something, or scanning something, is much quicker than looking up a Twitter handle, searching for a webpage, or finding a venue to check into on a location-based social network. Technology in the future will no doubt provide users with even faster ways to make their mobile devices interact with their surroundings, but for now at least, QR codes are the fastest and easiest way for on-the-go users to connect with you and your company.

Your Context MUST Determine Your Content

You want to ensure that your mobile content is useful to customers where they are. For example, you don’t want to offer a video in a location where customers can’t open and view it right away. However, you can modify your content to make it more applicable to your customers. An example would be offering location-specific coupons to customers to go with their purchases at the grocery store. So your coupons would be based on the region’s tastes and ingredients.

This Is Just The Beginning

You aren’t going to capture a customer simply because they bought something from you or they filled out one of your forms. Now you must interactwith the customer. Your mobile site is just one touch point in what should be a long line of interactions with the customer. Great mobile sites give users an enticing piece of content, then creates an opportunity for them to connect with the brand in a much more significant way through a different channel at another time. In Tim Hayden’s words, Chief Marketing Officer and founder of 44Doors, “Wow the hell out of them, then get them to take action.”

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Blending your mobile marketing campaign with social media can be tricky, but it doesn’t have to be. The key is to keep it simple, follow these simple steps, and you should be fine. A lot of the failures in mobile marketing do NOT happen because of the method. The method has worked for THOUSANDS of companies in EVERY industry you can think of. Failures happen because people try to do too much, not realizing that the best thing you can do is keep it simple and straightforward so your customers can easily understand you, as well as easily interact with you.

Mobile Marketing Mistakes | 5 Things You Might Be Doing Wrong

January 28, 2013/0 Comments/in mobile marketing, mobile marketing strategy, mobile marketing tips /by Brett Gordon

Organizing and launching a mobile marketing strategy really is not that hard. In fact, it can be extremely easy. However, sometimes marketers run into problems while managing their campaign, or simply do not understand how to properly and fully utilize mobile marketing. Either way, we’re here to help!

The first thing you want to be aware of is that the modern day consumer is extremely impatient. They are hyper-connected toeverything and their smartphones have virtually become electronic extenstions of themselves. These consumers are evolving quickly too, becoming smarter and more efficient with their technologies over time, so you need to be able to evolve with them or risk losing them to someone else who is adapting to their wants and needs.

Here we’ve compiled a list of things marketers are doing wrong, and how YOU can avoid them.

Do NOT Forget to Emphasize the Uniqueness of the Medium

Although you may think they are alike, mobile and traditional web are not the same! Traditional web is inactivewhile mobile web is active. This means that you should be focused on creating an experience that is unique to those who are actively on-the-go, not people who are just sitting on their desktops at home. That’s what your desktop site is for. Make sure to create content for your mobile site that the average on-the-go smartphone owner would be able to appreciate and use.

The important thing to remember is that mobile is an events-driven interface. Its constant connectivity, location awareness, personalization, and social connection add oomph to consumer and brand interactions.

Your Connected Consumers Are NOT Stationary

Your mobile consumers are moving targets. It says it in the name “mobile” marketing. You, as a marketer, must consider the variability of exchange. Ask yourself, “Where is the consumer right now? What is he/she interested in? How can I compel my consumers to visit my store location? What can I reward them with to increase their loyalty to my brand? What can I do to make them feel included? Can I use the medium to make them encounter my brand more efficiently? What experience can I provide to my consumers that would make them want to share it?” All of these are questions that will help you better engage your consumers. Remember, creativity and ingenuity will be rewarded far more than any content designed “by the book”.

Do NOT Ignore the Power of Contextual Relevance

One of the harder things to do in your mobile marketing campaign is staying relevant. Remember, mobile users are constantly in touch with what’s going on in and around their worlds. So you need to learn how to market in the moment. You have the power to send messages and market to your consumers in real-time, take advantage of this by sending your consumers and subscribers contextually relevant information that coincides with what is going on right now!

If you, as a marketer, learn how to deliver active, engaging, and relevant content to your consumers, the reaction and responses you get will be much greater, much richer, and your bottom line will reflect that.

Do NOT Implement a Mobile Strategy Without Direction

If you’re planning on diving into a mobile marketing campaign without any sense of direction, STOP NOW! You cannot effectively manage a mobile campaign without first implementing a set direction for your campaign and nailing down the voice in which you want to present your brand. The consumers of today are constantly overloaded and bombarded with marketing and advertising to the point that they have become numb to it. This is why you need to develop a consistent, yet unique brand and message so you stand out from the crowd. However, this can become tricky because you don’t want to overdo the creativity or you risk confusing your consumers. Sometimes simple is better, but again you don’t want to be too simple. You want to strike the perfect balance between the two so you are compelling people to like, share, and interact with your brand, while also being simple enough for consumers to enjoy and understand.

Do NOT Forget to Offer Value for Value

This is probably the biggest mistake mobile marketers make. You cannot expect people to engage in your content or walk through your doors if you are not offering them incentive to do so. Any relationship requires a mutual exchange of value or it will not work. It doesn’t matter if consumers are opting-in for brand communications via SMS, engaging with the brand through a single QR code, or simply liking a brand’s page on Facebook, you still need to deliver value in return for your customer’s and consumer’s time and information. If you don’t, we GUARANTEE you will start to lose them.

If you do not create a sense that the value you are providing is mutual, your relationship with the consumer will become one-sided and unreciprocated. This is bad news! Not only will your customers start to become discontent or even upset with your brand, but they will leave you, and permanently. Considering the intensely personal nature of smart devices and the fact that the device is virtually always within arms reach of the owner, this facet of your mobile marketing strategy becomes paramount.

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Conventional marketing rules usually state that you want to deliver the right message, to the right audience, at the right time. However, with mobile marketing this changes. You still want the right message/time/audience concept to be true, but it becomes tougher because now you are marketing to a mobile populace. This means you need to pull them in to your advertising, engage them, and adapt in order to continually be providing relevant information. Sometimes, even though you want to operate based on a set plan, you’ll have to deviate from it in order to cater to your consumers’ wants, needs, and desires. Consumers are fickle, so this should be an expectation by the time you decide to implement your mobile marketing strategy. Expect the unexpected and you will be much better off for it.

SMS Marketing Software Improvements

January 25, 2013/0 Comments/in mobile marketing, SMS, sms marketing, text message marketing /by Emily Hubbman

In a world where everything is constantly evolving, we thought we’d keep up! We’ve recently made quite a few improvements to our SMS Marketing Software to stay up with mobile marketing trends.

For starters, the whole statistics reporting system has been upgraded. Within the system, you now can go 18 months back into your records from the statistics search page. This lets you see just how well mobile marketing is working for you.

You now have the power of image uploads from the wysiwyg (What You See Is What You Get) editor on mobile landing pages and the Applications tool.

Speaking of the Apps tool, it’s got its fair share of upgrades as well. Now, within our platform, our apps tool has a template system, footer images and descriptions, domain masking, and more.

In the upgraded QR Code portion of out SMS Marketing Program, you can now have colored codes and vCards. So, instead of havng just the standard black and white QR codes, you can add that little “something extra” in QR Codes with a pop of color.

Overall, system throughput has increased substantially. (Throughput meaning the average rate of successful message delivery–this means more messages getting to where they need to go and getting your marketing messages out there!)

In our SMS marketing Software, we offer our digital publishing tool. We’re currently working on a few more nifty bells and whistles, including a QR Code based coupon redemption system. Stay tuned for the latest and greatest with our platform changes!

Not a user of out SMS Marketing program yet? Give us a yell and get started today.
Not sure about mobile marketing? Check out some stats and see for yourself: mobile marketing is a smart choice for any marketing plan. Own a small business and still not convinced? Check out our recent blog post about how we can help you work mobile marketing into your plans today, without breaking the bank.

Mobile Marketing for Small Business

January 25, 2013/0 Comments/in mobile marketing, mobile marketing for small business, sms marketing /by Brett Gordon

It seems a lot of small business owners are afraid to launch a mobile marketing campaign for a number of reasons. First, they don’t understand it and they don’t feel they could launch and run it successfully, or second, they feel like mobile marketing is for larger companies that have more money and more resources. They also fear that the campaign will not give them the ROI they desire. If you’re a small business owner and you believe any of these things STOP! Take everything you’ve ever thought or assumed about mobile marketing and throw it out right now! We’re going to show you how cheap and easy mobile marketing can be for your small business, and more importantly, how it can greatly affect your bottom line.

For small business owners, you are more likely to connect with your customers rather than amass fans and followers. This is because small business owners have a smaller customer base than the big corporations, but this is a good thing because small business owners are more able to actively engage with their customers. This is where mobile comes in.

Mobile marketing is, simply put, marketing on or with a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet. Considering a majority of the U.S. population owns smartphones, this is a no-brainer for any business that wants to grow their customer base. Small business owners can more directly connect with their customers through mobile marketing than through any other form of advertising. Why are we saying this? Because when you mobile market, you are marketing directly into the hands of your customers and potential clientele. It’s already known that people who have smartphones are constantly looking at them, playing with them, and checking them multiple times within an hour and even more times across a day. That means you are guaranteed to reach them! In fact, the open rate of text messages is literally 99%, and 90% of text messages read within 3 minutes of their arrival! So not only are people reading your messages, they are reading them promptly.

So we already know mobile marketing is effective and a great way to personally advertise to your client base, but how much is this going to cost? To be honest, you can operate a mobile marketing campaign on a shoestring budget. Of course, it will depend on what kind of features you want incorporated into your mobile marketing campaign, but a simple SMS campaign would literally be pennies per text. Considering how dirt cheap this can be, imagine the type of returns you would get! We have had several small businesses do work with us and they have all been happy with their results. Of course, we would tailor each campaign to each client’s wants and needs, but they have all been happy with their results as well as their ROI.

Now probably the best thing about mobile marketing, besides the fact that it’s cost efficient, is that it is easy!We would provide you with all the platforms and tools you need to make launching your mobile marketing campaign as smooth and seamless as possible. We would of course be doing most of the work, but there would be transparency and constant interaction between us and your company to ensure the final products and results are what you desire.

If you remember anything from this, remember that mobile marketing is NOT something to sweat. It is cheap, easy, and efficient! Any current expert in the industry will tell you that mobile marketing is THE way to market to customers, especially if you’re a small business. Tons of money and resources are NOT required to successfully launch a mobile marketing campaign. Also, not only is mobile marketing already a successful way to market, but the industry and market are growing. That means mobile marketing is not going away! So if you’re a small business and you haven’t incorporated mobile into your marketing strategy yet, you are going to lose to the competition! Why? Because a majority of your competitors have probably already jumped on the mobile marketing train. If you don’t hop on today, you WILL be left behind!