M3 Mobile Marketing e-Newsletter (January 2010)

 

M3 Mobile Marketing – The Answer to Your Mobile Needs

By Chrissy Sirianni

M3 Mobile Marketing is a full-service interactive marketing agency that specializes in mobile marketing campaigns for brands that are driven to maximize ROI and increase brand awareness.   Our success is accomplished through strategic planning, flawless execution and real-time tracking. 

Because now’s the time to plunge into mobile marketing, we can offer you a comprehensive program that includes all of the following services – SMS broadcasting, WAP/mobile website development & hosting, tracking & reporting via our robust platform and more!  We have all the tools necessary to make this a turn-key process to get your company’s mobile program off the ground in as little as a few weeks.  Plus, we have the industry experience and know-how to make it all possible.   

Over the last few years we’ve really seen the mobile marketing channel grow from a luxury to a necessity.  Mobile marketing is one of the most direct ways to reach today’s consumers who are constantly on-the-go and craving new technology.  The level of targeted, one-to-one interaction is unparalleled across any other marketing medium.

We realize that in the world of mobile marketing businesses want to see these results, and they want to see them fast.  The way to get those results is through instantaneous tracking.  Knowing just how important this element is in gauging a campaign’s success, M3 Mobile Marketing created a multi-faceted platform, known as COREtxt (Campaign, Optimization, Reporting Engine), which encompasses all tracking and reporting capabilities with the additional benefit of customizable features.  With this much power at your disposal, you can leverage your direct results to make further decisions about your campaign and ultimately increase profitable revenue.

 COREtxt is just one example of how M3 Mobile Marketing is constantly enhancing our technology and marketing skills in order to provide potential clients, like you, with the best-of-breed mobile tracking, reporting and analytical tools. 

Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or requests for a more detailed explanation of our services.  We would be happy to assess your needs and determine a program that meets your requirements. 

We look forward to helping you begin a successful mobile campaign and encourage you to find new ways to further challenge and strengthen our existing capabilities.

 

Mobile Marketing Association Forecasts 2010 Trends for North America

By PR Newswire

10. Hypochondriac? We've got an app for that!

Ongoing global pandemics and concerns about socialized healthcare warrant a prescription for mobile content geared toward the sick and the paranoid. Symptoms to watch for include apps that diagnose, doctors that text and medical reminders at hand. Mobile health is just what the doctor ordered!

9. Back to Reality...

Oh, those boring old coupons - they get lost, forgotten, left behind or expired. Look for augmented reality to start playing a larger role in location-based advertising. Now, when you're walking into your favorite coffee shop, the real-time mobile coupon you receive gives you instant gratification with your discounted daily grind.

8. I want my Mobile TV.

In the coming year, both the 2010 Winter Olympics and the 2010 World Cup will heighten mobile video consumption. The introduction of new ad units, including interactive and partial screen, will subsidize free content.

7. Practice Safe Text

Governments and safety advocates around the world warned against texting and driving in 2009. We expect 2010 to bring about technology solutions that disable handset features when the owner is driving.

6. A guy walks into a Barcode...

Proliferation of standardized technology and higher quality camera phones will not only lead to increased adoption of mobile barcodes and coupons, but will also offer a whole new access point to content.

5. Have you hugged your aggregator lately?

Look for aggregators to expand their businesses beyond short codes. Aggregation services in the areas of location, customer service and mobile commerce will begin to emerge.

4. Turn free in 1.2 miles

Free is a very good price. We're keeping an eye out for no-cost turn-by-turn navigation applications rolling out on more devices in 2010. The end of stand-alone GPS is in sight. What great news for consumers...and McDonalds, Dunkin Donuts and Dairy Queen.

3. Your Skype is Showing.

Services that enable video conferencing and the networks and handsets that support it (like cameras on the front of the phone!) will proliferate in the coming year. More consumers will connect via WiFi, offloading traditional non-wireless video conferencing services.

2. How does mobile measure up?

Moving into 2010 and beyond, campaign effectiveness will be measured in a variety of different and very creative ways. The number of eyeballs, shakes and finger swipes. The number of blogs, articles, tweets and diggs. The number of acquisitions, conversions, calls, responses or purchases. Total basket size, consumer recall, loyalty and recommendations. Check-ins on foursquare and check-outs on Amazon.

1. Mobile's Sixth Sense

Over the past few years, the mobile device has moved beyond standard technology inputs. We're no longer talking, typing and clicking. Now, we're photographing, recording, touching, locating, shaking, accelerating and blowing. What's next? We're rooting for smell recognition.

 

Retailers Should Seriously Try Mobile Marketing

By Mickey Alam Khan

It's no secret that retailers have been dealt a blow in the solar plexus with a weak economy. Why don't they give mobile marketing a shot to get consumers spending again?

Almost every sector of retail has been affected by the current economic downtown -- apparel and home furnishings among the hardest hit -- and crises in the housing and financial markets are no help in restoring consumer confidence.

Still, a case can be made to try an emerging marketing channel that has the potential to drive consumers and customers into stores. We're talking mobile, and here are some ideas.

First, tackle the issue of building an opted-in database of consumers.

Apparel retail chains such as Gap and J. Crew are experts at collecting email addresses from consumers who have just bought at the store. Their sales staff also encourages customers to sign up for store-branded credit cards. In both cases, these actions can result either in early-bird deals or discounts for customers.

So why not try the same exercise with mobile?

Retailers should ask consumers to text in their mobile numbers to a short code to receive news of new product arrivals, coupons, discounts and events. The short codes should be publicized across all retail channels, just like the retail Web site address is.

Also, train the sales staff to have customers punch in their mobile phone numbers into a device at the checkout counter. They must make it very clear that the number will be used to send occasional text messages on discounts, coupons, new products, events and promotions.

Another thing: make sure the database is all opted-in through a confirming message sent to the mobile number soon after the sign-up -- while the customer is standing there at the checkout counter. This also takes care of dud phone numbers.

With this step done, retailers must take the next: instilling additional confidence in consumers who have parted with their mobile numbers that they will not be bombarded with telemarketing calls or annoying messages.

In fact, direct the opted-in consumers to a privacy policy on the Web or even send a 160-character promise since that's the word-limit for SMS text messages. Make it easy for them to opt-out by sending a text to the same short code, saying Unsubscribe. Again, mention this in the privacy policy.

You can't be careful enough with this measure. There's nothing more personal than a mobile phone. And there's nothing more annoying than paying for text messages or calls that are not either personal or directly work-related.

So, retail store staff must be trained to explain that the text messages will be sent, say, only twice a month or so and for the purposes of keeping valued customers informed of deals, coupons, new products and events.

Third, retailers should buy memorable and easy-to-remember short codes and then run them on the covers and inside pages of their catalogs and on the Web site.

The short codes should also appear on posters, newspaper and magazine ads, in-store signage, store circulars, flyers, inserts and direct mail pieces as well as in emails and plugged on television commercials and radio ads. Don't forget to mention the Web address, of course.

Finally, retailers should follow best practices. Check the Mobile Marketing Association's guidelines and work with trusted mobile marketing service providers who have expertise in their area, particularly those dealing with retail chains and quick-service restaurants.

With short codes and text-led retail, retailers open a new customer acquisition and retention channel. Not only will such text messages encourage repeat visits, they may also spur impulse buys.

Make the sure the text messages are to-the-point, state the benefit upfront and yet evoke some excitement. Don't abuse the privilege -- yes, it is a privilege when it comes to mobile -- and don't inundate the consumer with text after text. For some, parting with the mobile number is as hard as parting with money.

 

Why SMS is Ideal for Location-Based Marketing

By Chris Glode and Tom Parrish

Marketers looking to employ mobile location for advertising or marketing purposes face tough decisions on how to engage the customer. Build a downloadable application? Create a mobile Web page? Launch an SMS campaign? 

While there are certainly a wide variety of factors that go into this decision, ranging from the overall goals of the campaign, desired targeting and budget, one thing is clear: the best and easiest way to create a location-aware mobile campaign with reach is to use SMS.

The reasons for SMS are: the location-based service opt-in requirement fits perfectly with existing SMS opt-in requirements, location-based SMS provides the widest reach and the cost structures line up nicely. 

Once a user is reached, opted-in and located over the SMS channel, marketers have a broad range of complementary rich media options to present the user, ranging from coupons and mobile Web sites to downloadable applications to enhance the customer experience based on both location and device capabilities.

SMS offers reach

The Mobile Marketing Association guidelines are very clear when it comes to SMS marketing – customers must elect to receive SMS messages via an opt-in and be able to cancel at any time. 

Not coincidentally, the requirements for use of carrier-derived LBS are almost identical.

Adding additional language to an SMS opt-in confirmation to explain how location will be used is a very natural and easy thing for the customer to understand. 

Likewise, it is intuitive to consumers that to revoke consent and to disable use of their location, they need simply to opt-out of the campaign.

In many cases, marketers choose SMS campaigns because they are cost-effective and provide the widest reach.

Artificially segmenting a campaign by building an application for the latest or hottest smartphone platform is both expensive and limiting.

By location-enabling an SMS campaign, marketers get the widest reach and a unique, feature-rich way to engage all customers, not just the relatively few who are able to download an application or use the mobile Web.

Though application and mobile Web penetration is growing rapidly, SMS still rules the day from a reach perspective.

Cost-wise, SMS campaigns are typically charged on a per-message basis, with a pricing table that decreases with volume. 

As it currently stands, many sources of carrier-derived location have a similar cost structure.

Marketers who can find a way to leverage location to significantly increase the value of a campaign will benefit from the alignment of these costs, especially where each piece of location data can be used to engage the customer directly.

Locating examples

Let us look at a few examples of how location can be used to enhance an SMS campaign:

§  Location-based SMS campaigns are ideal for bricks-and-mortar advertisers looking to drive users to local retail locations.

The ideal profile is a national advertiser in categories such as quick-service restaurants, hospitality and retail. 

In these cases, offline short code promotions can be augmented to incorporate a storefinder component, where a user can be sent a map and directions to the nearest location, in addition to a coupon or offer to further track campaign performance.

§  For service-based businesses looking to online marketing to increase appointment scheduling on call-center-based telesales, location-based SMS campaigns coupled with click-to-call-based calls to action can be a powerful component of a mobile marketing campaign.

National automotive brands seeking to increase the volume of test drives at local dealerships can use click-to-call capabilities to accomplish this. 

By acquiring the user’s location from the carrier network, the calls can be directed to the local dealer instead of national call centers, which greatly improves conversion and bookings.

§  Proximity alerts represent a completely different way marketers can use location-based SMS to acquire and retain customers. 

A geofence (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geofence) can be created around brand-relevant locations, i.e., local retail shops, or a sports stadium, or a geographical feature like a body of water. 

When opted-in customers come near the geofence, an alert with a time-sensitive offer can be used to trigger an impulse visit to the local point of sale. 

For example, a ski resort could opt in customers for a campaign providing free snow reports via SMS.

During the opt-in, customers agree to allow their location to be used to send them special offers on the mountain. When skiers get to the mountain, a coupon arrives in the morning for 2-for-1 ski lessons or for a cup of hot cocoa. 

 

AccuWeather Makes School Closing Predictions via Mobile

By Giselle Tsirulnik

AccuWeather.com Mobile now features a School Closing Outlook, which predicts the probability of school cancellation for users’ specific locations based on expected winter-season weather.

Parents of daycare and school-aged children struggle every winter with the challenge of trying to plan for childcare needs based on school cancellations. With this new feature, parents can check conditions on their mobile phones wherever they are and plan for the possibilities of likely snow days.

“AccuWeather.com mobile continues to grow at a tremendous rate in terms of users, over 200 percent in 2009, and we are always looking for new features to add value for our audience,” said Jim Candor, senior vice president of New Media at AccuWeather.com. “Particularly, we’re interested in the way our users engage with weather to make their own lives easier.

“School Warnings is a perfect example,” he said. “Winter weather can pose a particular challenge for parents of pre-school and grade school children.

“A snow storm that might mean a delay in getting to work for a single user could equal a whole day of having to stay home to take care of children.”

If there is a high probability of snow for the user’s location, an alert bar will appear just below the main menu of the AccuWeather.com mobile Web site, which when clicked will send users to the School Closing Outlook page.

To make its forecasts, School Closing Outlook takes into account a variety of types of winter weather events that may play a role in the decision whether or not to cancel school, including snow, ice and extreme cold.

It considers not only the actual weather, but also considers its likely impact on road and travel conditions.

School Closing Outlook also takes into account local climatology – an inch of snow in northern Florida may lead to school cancellation, while it would likely take a much greater snow accumulation to cancel school in the Great Lakes snow belts.

The School Closing Outlook is not intended as a replacement for official school closing and delay notices, which come directly from the school district.

School children themselves may also want to monitor the index for possible snow days.

“We believe our users come to AccuWeather.com Mobile because they need the most accurate weather information but also because we provide something more than the forecast,” Mr. Candor said. “With great features like travel weather, flight delays, video forecasts and news we try to give users a picture of the weather and how it impacts their lives.

“You can find many more lifestyle indices – everything from barbeque to football indices – on AccuWeather.com on the wired Web and no doubt we’ll be bringing more on mobile in the coming months,” he said.