Mobile Marketing Blogs

Starter for Mobile Marketing Strategy Planning

I have developed a strong strategy planning process to create a strategic and tactical plan for a brands mobile channel strategy.

The presentation can be found below:

Develop A Mobile Marketing Strategy

The guiding principle of the exercise is to create a better understanding of what is working today in the mobile channel and it relates with the organizations on going media channel plans and campaigns.

Let me know what you think.

Tom

posted @ 3/18/2008 12:59 PM by Tom Walls

Mobile Marketing 2007 Recap

For 2007 it was quite a ride for our Mobile Marketing company.  We started out very slow in the process of pure education on every single call and webinar.  I break 2007 into three major phases:

1. Educational - answering the same questions over and over as the US begins to think about Mobile Marketing
2. Early Adopters - a few strong minded clients/new businesses are ready to give Mobile Marketing a shot
3. We'll Do it in 2008 - finally the last group those who have been waiting, studying, watching and are now planning for 2008 but these will be "Pilots".  Q3/Q4 of '08 and 2009 will be the break out years imho.

Granted these three areas are still continuing the difference is we are seeing more falling out of the educational box and into the pilot phases.  The following is a break down of the profile of each of the groups:

Educational
These people run the gambit from extremely interested and need to know everything to the executive who just wants to know enough to play buzzword bingo at the next strategy meeting.  But here are the main questions asked and answered:

1. Does it cost the consumer for every text message they receive/send?
2. Is it considered spam to send messages to mobile subscribers?
3. Do you have a case study that of someone doing exactly the same thing we want to do and an ROI to prove its viable?
4. What the hell are you selling?  Mobile Phones? (honestly I had that a few times AND they called me - go figure)
5. How much does it cost for a "basic" campaign?  It always comes down to how much of course so that's a given.

I would say in my experience for every 1 hour webinar I gave in 2007 (about 60 - 5 a month over the course of 2007) the first 35 minutes at a minimum was spent on basic terms of the industry, how big the industry is and answering the questions above.  In terms of content those slides in the deck could last all of 5 minutes for those in the "know" but for those educating themselves it was always at least 35 minutes of questions. 

Let me say right now this is not a complaint this is just a demonstration that there is a STRONG interest in Mobile Marketing from a large number of companies but the amount of knowledge on the subject was/is very low.  Therefore, a lot of smart people were asking a lot of basic questions to educate themselves on something they have a strong interest (in most cases).

Early Adopters
Thank God for the Early Adopters!  These are the agencies, companies or individuals who see the power and opportunity that Mobile Marketing offers.  I can say for my company in almost all cases the early adopter had a good idea in there head and was looking for some case studies, hard data to demonstrate it would work and be effective.  But, we could not find that either in our book of business or through other resources.  So, in all cases these early adopters forged ahead and gave it a shot.  In some cases it just didn't work - wrong demographics, wrong message, too early ?  Many different answers to why it failed but the client and myself consequently now have hard data.  For those who took the risk I am so grateful because it allowed us to learn as we tried something new everyday.  For those who gambled and it paid off  it was beneficial for all - end consumer, client and my company.  We found a nice mix that worked for everyone.  But it all started with an early adopter mentality of let's give it a try what the hell!!

We'll Do it in 2008
I must say to me this is the catch phrase for me for 2007 - "We'll do it in 2008".  I have had discussions with a great number of major corporations that spent a great deal of time and energy analyzing, educating themselves and planning for Mobile Marketing in 2007 and all ended up saying "We'll Do it in 2008".  At first it was hard to hear but as it went from just one client to two to many I realized they were not all saying NO.  They were not saying YES either they were saying Mobile Marketing is not ready and/or we are not ready.  So, we'll resume this conversation in 2008. 

2007 Final Analysis
For me 2007 was a long year of many, many conversations about the potential and opportunities that Mobile Marketing can bring to an organization and the end consumer.  It was many discussions of the infinite number of programs/campaigns that could be deployed.  But, finally it was a year of transition from discussing Mobile Marketing with a few enlightened participants to a much larger group of agencies, companies and individuals who will finally in 2008 (not 2007 as we saw) engage the mobile channel in some form.  So, for that 2007 was a good year for Mobile Marketing not a great year but one that hopefully many seeds of knowledge were planted in fertile minds and 2008 will see them grow into a banner year for Mobile Marketing.

Tom Walls
Kona Interactive


Technorati Profile

posted @ 1/4/2008 9:58 AM by Tom Walls

Cell phones prove to be poor surfing platforms

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/344882_mobileweb26.html

Some key quotes out of the article:

But at a recent conference, 3G was called "a failure" by Caroline Gabriel, an analyst at Rethink Research. She said data would make up only 12 percent of average revenue per user in 2007, far below the expected 50 percent. (The 12 percent figure does not include text messaging, but you don't need a 3G network to send a text message.)

Similarly, surveys by Yankee Group, a Boston research firm, show that only 13 percent of cell phone users in North America use their phones to surf the Web more than once a month, while 70 percent of computer users view Web sites every day.

"The user experience has been a disaster," said Tony Davis, managing partner of Brightspark, a Toronto venture capital firm that has invested in two mobile Web companies.

What does this mean to those of us who are pushing for more mobile web?  Well, if you dive deeper most believe that products and newly designed mobile browser applications coming around in the next 5 years will solve the problem.  But, in the short term is does prove that the mobile web is not yet ready for prime time.  Stay tuned.

posted @ 12/26/2007 11:57 AM by Tom Walls

Pay using Text Messages

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071224/NEWS01/312240025

This  is a great example of leveraging the useability of text messaging to integrate with an existing commerce platform.

Be very eager to hear more on the success of the initial launch.

TW

posted @ 12/26/2007 11:50 AM by Tom Walls

Mobile Marketers Talk About Children

NEW YORK -- Protecting children under the age of 13 was one of the biggest issues addressed by the latest Mobile Marketing Association Consumer Best Practices Guidelines released on July 17.

As pre-teens have become the fastest growing segment of new phone purchasers, protecting them became paramount, per Laura Marriot, president of the MMA, Denver. “[Committee members from] Disney and MTV suggested we make more of an emphasis on protecting all of the folks in the ecosystem particularly those under 13.”

The new guidelines range from broad suggestions like complying with COPPA standards, to more targeted recommendations like avoiding exhortative language such as “only” and “just” when it comes to offers. For the complete guidelines go to: www.mmaglobal.com/bestpractices.pdf.

The other significant change to guidelines was adding mandatory double opt-ins when using interactive voice response or the mobile Web. For example, is you are purchasing a $1.99 Fall Out Boy ring tone, you have to confirm the purchase. “We didn’t address the mobile Web or voice in the past,” said Marriott. “This makes the services more foolproof. The worst thing that could happen is to have a consumer have a negative experience [in the mobile marketplace] and never come back.”

Source:  BrandWeek

posted @ 7/18/2007 9:38 AM by Tom Walls

Mobile Marketing: Back in Business

New unlimited text plans have revived the Mobile Marketing industry in the U.S., according to the New York Times. (In the past, marketeers had held back from the mobile route because unsolicited text messages were seen as annoying spam by those who were paying for the privilege of receiving them.)

Online retailers, some of the most obvious and earliest users of online advertising, don’t get the award for innovation here, says the NYT. The biggest trend-setters in the Mobile Marketing space have been the “offline” retailers like Coca Cola and American Express. This is because most Mobile Marketing has been about trying to give more “stickiness” to single brands, rather than actually getting people to use their phones to buy products. Mobile commerce, in fact, still has some way to go before it is ubiquitous. Of the 230 million people who use mobile phones in the U.S., half have sent or received text messages, but only 32 million have used their handsets to surf the Web. (Luckily for PayPal, which recently launched a new payment service for the mobile Internet, it will be targeting users in other countries as well.)  Ingrid Lunden, mocoNews

The other major trend in Mobile Marketing has been the increasing involvement of big media firms, by way of M&A. AOL purchasing Third Screen Media, and Aegis buying Marvellous Mobile—among other acquisitions—have helped bridge the connection between big media buying clients, technology, and dealing with mobile operators.

Source:  Ingrid Lunden, mocoNews

posted @ 7/17/2007 2:47 PM by Tom Walls

Reaching More Customers With a Simple Text Message

ONLINE retailers were, for all the obvious reasons, the pioneers of Web advertising. When it comes to advertising on the mobile Web, though, they are treading carefully.

On the one hand, executives and analysts said, online retailers are right to be cautious. After all, few consumers are buying items through their mobile devices. But at least some online retailers say they have found enticing success from early marketing efforts, as long as those initiatives are aimed at simply keeping themselves on the radar of customers as opposed to trying to prompt an immediate purchase or a visit to the company’s Web site.

Take Moosejaw Mountaineering, for example, an outdoor goods retailer based in Madison Heights, Mich. Earlier this year, Moosejaw began sending out text messages to more than 1,000 of its customers who had signed up to receive them. The campaign caught on quickly, with recipients often sending messages back to the retailer and receiving loyalty program points as a reward.

A recent message sent to customers, for instance, conveyed the news that someone had told Robert Wolfe, one of Moosejaw’s founders, that he looked like Ben Stiller. It then asked customers whether that was a good thing and promised points in the company’s rewards program for those who answered “correctly” (meaning yes). Sixty-six percent of the customers who received the message voted.

Mr. Wolfe said he tested a text messaging campaign two years ago with his customers (largely college students and recent graduates), but messages were too costly to send and receive, so he abandoned the idea. Now, with cellphone service carriers offering unlimited texting plans, he thinks the time is right to try again.

“With our customer base, we have to be first to market with this type of stuff,” he said.

The content of the messages was, Mr. Wolfe said, in keeping with the company’s mission to “have as much fun as possible with our customers.” The next contest will ask customers which Kelly they prefer, the one from “Beverly Hills 90210” or the one from “Saved by the Bell.”

“We try to be as dumb as you can possibly be,” he said.

Mr. Wolfe said the campaign is helping sales, although he declined to say how much. In future versions of the texting campaign, he said, the company would take a page from past marketing initiatives and include coupon codes for those who reply. The logic of that approach, he said, may be lost on more mainstream e-commerce executives.

“We sent out a mailer once that said text us back for a coupon code to get a free Moosejaw T-shirt with any order,” Mr. Wolfe said. “A real Internet business person would say it’s a mistake to do that, because the customer has to receive the e-mail, get on the phone and text us, then wait for the reply to get the code, then go back to the computer to put in their order.

“We could’ve just sent out a coupon code in an e-mail,” Mr. Wolfe continued. “But texting is cool enough that we were willing to risk some friction, knowing the upside was that people would talk about it in their dorm rooms.”

Mr. Wolfe said he would consider buying graphical advertisements for mobile Internet devices, but with the exception of iPhones, he said, screens are not sufficient to render ads effectively.

Of the roughly 230 million Americans with cellphones, about half have used them to send or receive text messages, while only about 32 million use them to browse the Web, according to Greg Sterling, an analyst with the Internet consultancy Sterling Market Intelligence.

“Thirty two million is still a significant number,” he said, “but text is where most of the volume is.”

While e-commerce companies take their time exploring mobile advertising, some of the biggest offline marketers, like Visa, American Express and Coca-Cola, have been more aggressive. That is partly because online merchants typically pursue different goals with their marketing dollars than, say, consumer goods manufacturers, who chiefly want people to remember their brands when they shop at the supermarket. Online merchants, by contrast, try to generate purchases or Web site visits with their ads.

“It’s been the opposite of the early days of the Internet,” he said. “Only now, when we’re two and a half years into the real buying, are we seeing e-commerce companies come and say, “This can drive traffic to our sites.’ ”

Online retailers with less technologically aware customers than those of , say, Moosejaw have ignored even text messaging as a marketing tool. William Strauss, chief executive of Provide Commerce, the parent company of, among others, the online flower seller ProFlowers, said he might consider a texting campaign like that used by Moosejaw if customers opted to receive the messages.

“But I’d rather advertise in a more traditional place, where people drive by billboards or see it on the Internet,” Mr. Strauss said. “On a mobile phone, it’s on my ear, not in front of my eyes.”

Mr. Strauss said the iPhone could change that because of how well the device’s screen displays Internet pages. “All bets are off in terms of what behaviors the iPhone might create,” he said. “It’s something we’ll watch very closely.”

Whether it is from e-commerce companies or traditional marketers, consumers should expect more ads on their cellphones in the coming year, industry executives said.

Membership in the Mobile Marketing Association, an industry trade group, has nearly doubled in the past year, to about 500 companies. 

“This is going to ramp up much faster than the Internet did,” said Mr. Sterling, of Sterling Market Intelligence. “It took 10 years and the proliferation of broadband for marketers to do things online that were predicted early on. This will take half the time or less.”

Source:  Bob Tedeschi, New York Times

posted @ 7/16/2007 11:08 AM by Tom Walls

3 Things to Revolutionize Mobile Marketing

1. Time Based Opt In - The way most opt-in's work is that an individual company seeks my permission to market to me, and once they have it they can send me messages at any time based on their own schedule. We all know this comes with wastage as many of the messages will likely reach me at a time when I am not interested in them. For email, this is not as much of a problem as I can just save it for later. Mobile Marketing is about immediacy - and therefore less suited to this model of opt-ins. What we need is a time based opt-in where I can indicate my status and openness to marketing messages as easily as I change my status on an instant messenger window. This works for consumers and for marketers - ensuring the messages arrive at a point when consumers are most likely to act on them.

2. My Marketing Profile - Unfortunately, delivering messages at the right time doesn't necessarily mean they will be relevant. Right now, users can create profiles on social networking sites, indicate news preferences to get the most relevant news, and otherwise create profiles on thousands of sites to save their preferences. What people can't usually set is their marketing preferences. Of course, you can opt in to messages from individual marketers, but what about opting into messages from every company in a mall that you frequent, or all middle eastern restaurants in Brooklyn? Setting these parameters into my profile lets me opt into messages that have the most relevance. The difficulty is the level of coordination (sometimes between competitors) that would be required to make this work.

3. Synchronization of Mobile And Retail - As anyone who has ever downloaded a marketing offer to their mobile phone knows, the entire process falls apart if you go into a retail location to redeem the offer and the staff are unaware of the promotion or how to honor it. This is a large stumbling block and one that will continue to hinder the adoption of mobile as a channel to receive marketing messages. Consumers need to feel that what they get via mobile is integrated into a real life experience (where appropriate), or Mobile Marketing will always need to fight the same credibility battle.

Source:  Rohit Bhargava, Internet Financial News

Read article here

posted @ 7/9/2007 2:40 PM by Tom Walls

Half the World Population will have a phone by end of July

http://news.com.com/Global+mobile+phone+use+to+pass+record+3+billion/2100-1039_3-6193559.html?tag=nefd.top

By the end of July, global mobile phone use will for the first time pass the 3 billion mark--equivalent to half the world's population--as cell phone demand booms in China, India and Africa, a survey said on Wednesday.

posted @ 6/27/2007 11:08 AM by Tom Walls

The Real Thing in Mobile Marketing

The launch of Sprite Yard is aimed at being a real time “on the go” community. It will allow its members to network with each other and to download various types of content 24/7. In order to register to join Yard, users simply SMS the keyword “Yard” to a short code. They will then be linked to the Yard portal and will be able to download a browser application on their mobile phones.

The Yard user is registered with a tag name and password, has the ability to select various preferences relating to content and can invite friends to join their community. In short, the Yard is a classic mobile digital community with the significant difference that it is consumer-brand driven.

Changing dynamics

Up to now we have seen web-based digital communities such as Myspace, Facebook and mobile digital communities such as Mxit in SA. They have dominated the market based on first entry. I foresee that vertical social network services offered by consumer brands will drastically change the dynamics in digital communities. There is a new game coming to town.

What, from a technical point of view, is Sprite Yard offering its consumers in its mobile digital community?

• A tag name and password for access giving a form of security
  
• The ability to create your own community by inviting others to join
  
• Photo sharing
  
• A message board for sending messages to individuals or groups
  
• Showcasing a snapshot of your activities
  
• Digital downloads of content for free
  
• Exclusive content such as visitones (music with ringtones) and mobisodes (animated shorts) linked to PIN activation under a Sprite bottle cap.

Linking mobile content to product sales will become the new marketing dynamite of the next five years.

The Mobile Marketing perspective

Taken from a Mobile Marketing perspective, Sprite Yard is an example of a brand combining with technology to communicate with its consumers in the most personal way via their mobile phones. As I have mentioned before, the mobile is personal, portable and pedestrian. It is also offers the most complete way in which to communicate a message to someone since Eve offered the apple of temptation to Adam.

“We know that when it comes to reaching teens, mobile is the medium. This program will enable us to connect with teens by putting Sprite both in their hand and in their phone,” says Denis Sison, Sprite global brand director.

The mobile imperative for teens

Looking at recent global research by Mobilitec (www.mobilitec.com/) on Mobile Marketing and Teens, the principal points are confirmed once again. These are that

• teens are highly responsive to Mobile Marketing techniques and mobile branding
  
• this group anticipates receiving advertising and special offers on their mobile phones telling them about new products and good deals.

This is hardly surprising when you think about it. This group is probably the most connected to the world wide web where they are constantly exposed to similar offers.

A similar research project, conducted by Q Research, amongst the 11 – 20 age group in the UK, has come up with results that rank their preferences when receiving Mobile Marketing communications as follows:

• 32% – willing to receive “general” ads to mobile
  
• 71% – willing to receive ads only on things I am interested in
  
• 76% – willing to receive ads in exchange for discounts/ special offers
  
• 82% – willing to receive ads in exchange for top-up credit

The research further showed that young people preferred picture advertising messages to video and text/sms ads. This is probably due to the current cost of downloading video in the UK. As SA presently has amongst the cheapest rates in the world it would not surprise me to find that SA teens would be quite prepared to download video ads on their mobiles.

Mind the gap

But what of the generation gap and the old timers in SA? Anything from 35 years and up could be considered “old” in the mobile digital age. Will they use their mobile phones to join communities and to access information? What of the digital divide in this country?

One has to spend only 30 minutes in the company of Brian Richardson of Wizzit Bank to realize that when one offers a valued service on a mobile phone, no matter what the age, gender or ethnic group, the user will learn to use and adopt that service. In the case of Wizzit, this is a banking product that has been enthusiastically adopted by the previously unbanked population sector of SA.

Bite the apple

There are two things that you can do about this opportunity that is being offered to you:

• You can relax, soak up the sun and have it pass you by. At least, make it a conscious decision to ignore the proferred ‘apple' without testing the fruit.
  
• You can decide to investigate it and determine whether or not a mobile digital community suits your brand strategy. At least then you will test the fruit and decide whether or not to take a bite of the apple.

And by the way, do it in 2007, because in 2008 you will be banished from the Garden of Eden.

Source:  Biz Community

Read article here

posted @ 6/20/2007 9:20 AM by Tom Walls

Accelerated Course In Mobile Marketing

The older generation is playing catch-up but are not far behind. Applications on mobile that add value to the older person's lifestyle are rapidly taking hold.

Banking, news, alerts, invitations, coupons, branded messages are all received by mobile phones today. Competitive gaming, interactive sms chat, mobile web, mobile TV and numerous other applications are making marketing to the ‘new' mobile consumers a challenging process.

One-to-one takes on a new meaning as marketers have to dig deep to encourage and establish direct and measurable relationships with their consumers.

Mobile communication is the most embraced form of direct communication outstripping the internet in its world wide usage. In SA we almost have one man, one mobile as cell phone penetration reaches to the heart of the population.

Brand managers and anyone associated with the development of their company or brand's marketing message need to comprehend the role of Mobile Marketing in an integrated communications strategy in 2007.

Harry Trisos, CEO of Mobilety, an expert contributor on Mobile Marketing to dominant South African marketing portal, www.Bizcommunity.com, and who has chaired conferences on Mobile Marketing, has specifically developed a concentrated course on Mobile Marketing for business and marketing executives.

Harry says, “It has become clear to me that people desperately need to get to grips with the nitty-gritty of Mobile Marketing; to understand the different elements that can be used in mobile, and how to apply it to your communication strategy.

This is why we have devised the Accelerated Course in Mobile Marketing. In only two days you will leave with a working knowledge of Mobile Marketing and how to apply it to your communication strategy. The intensity of the course will enable you to evaluate the propositions in Mobile Marketing that will no doubt face you in the foreseeable future.”

Who should attend:
Chief Executives, Marketing Directors, Marketing Managers, Brand managers, Product Managers, Advertising Agency Creative Management, Brand Ambassadors, Sales Management, Public Relations Executives.

Numbers are limited to only 30 delegates for the course.

Some of the experts who will share their insights with you:

Robin Parker : Managing Director of Bizcommunity.com
Graham Groenewaldt. Marketing Director of Foneworx Ltd, a leading Interactive Voice Response Service Provider in Southern Africa.
Russel Stromin : CEO of Mobility Methods, A leading sms service provider in South Africa.
Ryan Birkin: Exactmobile Solutions Division, Exactmobile (Pty) Ltd, a company that is at the forefront of MMS and image marketing
Harry Trisos. CEO of Mobilety and Mobile Marketing Specialist.
Farhad Omar. CEO of Mobiblitz, a leading service provider of Mobile Digital Communities.
Working session with teens and 20-somethings and golden oldies! Let them show and tell you what it is about.

The Subjects that we will be covering:

• The Business Imperative that Brands Adopt A Mobile Marketing Strategy
• The First Element in the Mobile Mix : Voice and Sound. Why there is a compelling reason to use foundation services.
• The Second Element in the Mobile Mix : Text / SMS/ Bulk SMS
• The Third Element in the Mobile Mix: Image on mobile and how to use it.
• The 12 Business Models of Mobile Marketing: Yes there are 12!
• Mobile Demographics and how they apply to your brand.
• Mobile web and mobile video.
• The Fourth Element in the Mobile Mix - Mobile Digital Communities
• Mxit and the Marketing Mix
• Social Networking Services: Where Communities and Brands meet.
• User Generated Content; how to use it to your benefit
• Putting It All Together: Working on a mobile communication strategy for your brand or business.

Venue: The Palm House, 10 Oxford Street, Wynberg, Cape Town

Date: Wednesday and Thursday, 7th and 8th August 2007

Cost: R4600 plus vat per delegate for the 2 days. ( 15% early bird discount applies if you register and pay before 30 June 2007

Source:  Biz Community

Read article here

posted @ 6/19/2007 12:03 PM by Tom Walls

The ABC's of Mobile Marketing

If you're unfamiliar with the mobile space's players and ecosystem, selecting the ideal mobile partner can be daunting. This column will explain the mobile value chain and provides some questions for you -- the brand or agency -- to ask your prospective mobile partners, prior to making any selection decisions.

Although many players in the space are integrating across the value chain, there are four main elements:

• Products and services. Includes brands, agencies, and third-party content providers. These are the companies seeking collaboration and partnership with others within the value chain. We also see the emergence of mobile agencies and the creation of mobile divisions within larger agencies, which help with the end-to-end decisions around the mobile campaign. Depending on your needs, the mobile agencies may be what you're looking for.
  
  
• Mobile ASPs (define). Includes application and technology providers, along with the MASP. The MASP is the mobile partner that can provide a complete, one-stop solution for a mobile campaign, including mobile storefronts, campaign planning, and connectivity.
  
  
• Connection. Includes aggregators and wireless operators. Many players in the mobile space are focused on connection only. Many MASPs are partnered with these companies, and thus connection players don't need to be contacted directly (although, again, it depends on your needs).
  
  
• Media and retail. Includes brick-and-mortar, e-tail, and so on.

Many brands are baffled. With so many companies to choose from and so many differences between the companies, how can you possibly find the right partner? It's best to first determine the capabilities you're looking for, then develop a checklist so you can narrow the selections and determine the partner that's right for you. According to Nihal Mehta, CEO of ipsh!, finding the right partner is one of the most important decisions you can make when choosing to integrate mobile into your cross media campaign. "Finding the right partner in the Mobile Marketing space makes the difference between a successful campaign and a complete flop," says Nihal.

Develop a checklist that includes the elements important to you and your company. Also ensure you include the following:

• How many campaigns has your mobile company launched? With which companies and brands? The number of campaigns and the size of the brands a company's worked with helps you understand its level of expertise. A partner should provide you with a list of contact companies and brands it's worked with, along with references.
  
  
• What are your company's customer care resources? Do I receive a dedicated account manager or support person? This should include number of support individuals, response times, levels of care (SLAs), and so forth. For those who appreciate personalized service, understanding if the same individual will be involved throughout your campaign may be important.
  
  
• Does your company provide proactive monitoring and reporting on my campaign? For example, does the company provide statistics and information throughout the campaign, or only at the end? Is this information available via a client extranet or must you depend on the agency to supply this data? Answers to these questions are important as ongoing feedback will help you understand and tweak the campaign throughout (iterative feedback and refinement).
  
  
• To what extent is the mobile company focused on your particular niche? If you're a player in the business-to-business (B2B) space, does the mobile partner understand how you do business? If you're a nonprofit, does your mobile partner understand the intricate nature of grassroots fundraising and donor management? If you're a large brand marketer, does your mobile partner understand all the channels you speak through and can it help augment them with a mobile program that works in concert?
  
  
• What types of services are offered? Is the partner company a mobile agency, an aggregator, other? Can you provide Web-related development that brings a mobile program to life or help to guide this process? How does its services match to your specific needs? For example, will you look to the partner company to execute creative and strategic direction in addition to connectivity?
  
  In this case, developing a needs checklist is important in assessing a potential partner company. Be honest about which services you need and which you don't. If you're looking for creative input, ensure you pick a company that values creativity and personalization.
  
  
• Can the mobile partner help determine the campaign objectives through an ROI (define) calculation or other quantitative or qualitative means? This will help you determine if your mobile partner understands what your needs and priorities are prior to the campaign launch. Some mobile companies specialize in certain vertical segments. If you're looking for expertise for your vertical, ask around.
  
  
• What wireless carriers do you have direct or indirect connectivity to? Depending on your campaign, this is an important question if you're planning to launch nationwide or global campaigns across all carriers, or only with one carrier, standard or premium rate.
  
  
• How stable is the partner company? What are the funding and employee count, and how long has the company been in operation? What's its core focus and competencies (e.g., aggregation, licensing, creative, etc.)? If you're considering a long-term partnership for your mobile initiatives, these are important questions to ask. There are a large number of both established and new entrants in the space.

Source: Laura Marriott,ClickZ

Read article here

posted @ 6/14/2007 12:41 PM by Tom Walls

The Agility of Mobile Marketing

Mobile Marketing is having a profound impact on the way in which companies think about, approach and implement marketing campaigns.

The immediacy in generating the content and the personal attachment people have with their phones facilitates fast moving, high impact campaigns.

Consider the time it takes to generate a TV or print campaign. First one needs an agency to create the campaign; then there is the conceptual work, the creation of the specific content and the booking of airtime, or space in print/online publications. The process of start to finish can take anything from weeks to months. Furthermore, the company has to align its business with the campaign, particularly for retail companies who use their marketing to move stock.

However, Mobile Marketing is far more direct and agile because a company communicates with consumers through their cellphone.

So for example, if a retailer at the start of a week wanted to have a sale that Saturday, using broadcasting or print mediums to publicise the sale would be impossible. Online advertising could be a possibility but high volume Sites would most likely have already sold their advertising space for that week.

However, the same experience as a TV, radio or print campaign could be created using MMS. In contrast to other mediums, an interactive MMS campaign with voice over, graphics and text can be created within two working days. Distribution to a base of say 200,000 MMS enabled handsets (registered handsets are verified first) could be done in a further two days and by the weekend over 90 percent of the base would most likely have been exposed to the campaign with an added knock-on effect given the viral nature of Mobile Marketing.

Mobile Marketing can therefore be used to have a direct, immediate impact whereas other mediums need time for the message to get out into the market given people's intermittent use of those media types.

In addition, unlike other forms of marketing, a medium like MMS gives power to both the sender and receiver. Advertisers can deliver a content rich message including video, sounds, pictures and text to specific consumers, while the consumer has the choice of whether to accept or reject an incoming MMS and should be able to unsubscribe from the service at any time.

And because Mobile Marketing is measurable, companies can see real time reporting including when the MMS are delivered, who opens them, which numbers fail to receive the MMS and which recipients reject the message.

Along with looking at Mobile Marketing's ability to deliver content quickly, companies need to take cognisance of the number of phones in the market. It is difficult to say how many people have cellphones, but the three cellphone networks together claim to have a combined base of over 36-million subscribers in 2007.

Compare that to TV and radio audiences. According to the South African Advertising Research Foundation (SAARF), its 2006 AMPS (All Media and Products Survey) estimated there to be over 24.5-million adult viewers, while there were over 28.5-million radio listeners. Importantly, these figures represent people who watched TV or listened to the radio once in the space of a week. Running campaigns to this group of people takes time for the message to saturate the market.

Mobile is more direct because you're going straight to the person. Given that there are likely more cellphone users than adult TV viewers, the strength of mobile channel to deliver marketing is becoming significant. Globally cellphones clearly have the greatest penetration of devices. There are close to 2.5-billion active cellphones, compared to an estimated 900-million internet users and a billion television sets.

Mobile Marketing is therefore poised to become the most powerful marketing medium in the world. It is therefore vital that companies begin to think about Mobile Marketing as a means of reaching out to their target market.

Source:  Marketing Web

Full article here

posted @ 6/12/2007 9:36 AM by Tom Walls

Latino Mobile Marketing

www.hispanicprwire.com/news.phpDallas, TX--(HISPANIC PR WIRE)--June 11, 2007--Since 2006 there has been a buzz among marketers and brands that Mobile Marketing is finally ready to take off in the US. What most people may not realize is that the best opportunities for Mobile Marketing campaigns are among Latino consumers.

In 2006 M:Metrics, an authority on mobile market measurements, compared the data usage of Latino mobile consumers versus the general population. In every category Latinos were nearly twice as likely to use mobile data services as the general population. The study found that Latino consumers were likely to purchase more than twice as many ringtones, images and games as their counterparts. Other studies have shown that Latino consumers are spending about $6 more each month for mobile services than any other demographic group and are more likely across all age groups to consider their mobile phone their primary means of communication.

Mobile has a penetration rate in the US that has now far surpassed cable television or internet. The opportunity among Latinos lies in the fact that not only is there a greater penetration of mobile services among that demographic, but they are more than twice as likely to use the additional data services upon which Mobile Marketing relies. This understanding of mobile devices, and their use, is what puts the Latino consumer far ahead of any other demographic group as an ideal target for focused Mobile Marketing.

Unfortunately, as the industry grows there are many potential pitfalls, just as there were when online marketing was starting to grow. Some issues that brand advertisers have to deal with are mobile technology companies being overzealous in selling their marketing expertise or marketing companies overstating their qualifications in mobile. FastBreak Mobile overcomes this by partnering with companies with strong backgrounds in traditional marketing which allows us to bring a brand the best of both worlds when it comes Mobile Marketing.

During the early stages, brands often find that mobile campaigns work best when combined with traditional marketing efforts, using the mobile aspect to capture consumers with fewer impressions. The important thing to remember is that consumers are looking for more than a free wallpaper of a company’s logo, they want to be engaged. Mobile Marketing gives the brand something it’s never had before, the ability to create intuitive campaigns that can actually learn from the consumer’s interaction, and become more relevant to the consumer as time goes on.

Source:  Hispanic PR Wire

Read article here 

posted @ 6/11/2007 2:06 PM by Tom Walls

Mobile Marketing's Day has Come

posted @ 6/11/2007 12:55 PM by Tom Walls

Nielsen Measuring Mobile Phone Usage

NEW YORK (AP) — More than 33 million people have used mobile phones to access the Internet this year, according to Nielsen Media Research, which on Wednesday announced its new effort to measure such use.

With Nielsen known primarily for its ratings system for television viewing, the announcement is another indication of how it is trying to keep up with rapidly changing entertainment options.

At first, Nielsen is simply offering information culled from interviews of the 30,000 people included in its television sample. Besides the people who have used their phones for Internet access, Nielsen estimated that 8 million people viewed video on their phones during the first three months of the year.

One-quarter of all people aged 18 to 34 use their phones to access the Internet, Nielsen said.

The mobile video audience actually skews older and male: nearly half (46 percent) of this audience is aged 35 and up, and 54 percent are men, Nielsen said.

Nielsen is still unable to specifically measure what videos are hottest on cell phones. The company is working to develop technology that would accomplish this, either through a tiny meter attached to a phone or a docking station that can record how the phone was used, said Karen Gyimesi, company spokeswoman.

Source:  Nola

Read article here

posted @ 6/11/2007 11:05 AM by Tom Walls

Mobile advertising set for boom trend

A new report from Strategy Analytics suggests that mobile advertising could account for up to 25 per cent of worldwide internet advertising spend by 2011.

In its "Global Mobile Advertising Update: Outlook Bright as Inventory Expands" report, the firm predicts that mobile internet advertising will grow to $14.4 billion in 2011 from $1.4 billion this year, as more companies transfer their budgets to this growing medium.

"The outlook for mobile advertising spend has significantly advanced in the past 12 months," said Phil Taylor of Global Wireless Practice.

"The supply of advertising inventory is rapidly increasing as mobile publishers look to develop advertising as a revenue stream."

Meanwhile, Vodafone has launched a new, cheaper internet portal in the UK that could mark the dawn of a new era in mobile advertising.

He added that operators such as Vodafone and Verizon Wireless were expanding their plans to sell mobile advertising, and that it would be search companies such as Google and Yahoo that would drive advertisers to the market.

The company's ten million customers who own a 3G or GPRS handset will be able to access internet services such as Gmail and Hotmail.

According to Telephia and comScore, around 5.7 million people accessed the internet via a mobile device during January 2007.

Source:  Direct Traffic Media

posted @ 6/11/2007 10:10 AM by Tom Walls

Mobile Marketing Comes of Age

NEW YORK CITY— Mobile Marketing and advertising has been mostly text-based until now, but things are starting to change. More agencies and brands are starting to use richer mobile content to sell their brands.

That's one of the main messages that came out of the fourth annual Mobile Marketing Forum session this week in New York City. Another message is that big brands like Coca-Cola are viewing Mobile Marketing as a key part of their strategies. Coca-Cola announced at the show it will launch a teen-focused mobile community site to promote its Sprite brand. The site, called The Yard, will include video.

"We're out of the experimentation phase now," says Laura Marriott, executive director of the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), which sponsors the forum. "Mobile has become a viable option for the brands."

That attention is bringing about an evolution in how Mobile Marketing and advertising is being delivered. About two-thirds of it has been done through SMS and premium SMS on an opt-in basis, but WAP sites that use banner ads are growing in popularity and video is expected to play a bigger role.

ABI Research says Mobile Marketing will drive $3 billion in spending this year but will grow to $19 billion by 2011. ABI also is forecasting that mobile video as an advertising channel will surpass SMS by 2011, with $9 billion spent on that medium alone.

An ecosystem that includes brands, agencies, aggregators and wireless carriers is coming together to make that kind of market possible. Carriers who appeared at the forum seemed cautious about that relationship, although open to the possibility of allowing advertising-supported content to flow through their networks.

Marriott says that's to be expected because the carriers own the customer and have spent a lot of money on spectrum and building out their networks. Carriers have been an essential part of the work of the MMA in developing guidelines for the emerging Mobile Marketing industry, she says.

Carriers are starting to take steps to make it possible for advertisers to target particular demographic categories. Sprint was the first, providing information like sex, age and the zip code of subscribers on a controlled basis. Verizon Wireless and AT&T are on a similar track.

Two marketing executives involved in the early stages of mobile advertising expressed cautious optimism at the forum meeting about the future. John Hadl, CEO of Brand in Hand, which worked with Proctor & Gamble on a Mobile Marketing campaign, said wireless networks have given brands the kind of consumer interaction that is invaluable in an age where TV viewing and newspaper readership are declining.

And Eric Bader, senior vice president of MediaVest, said the wireless industry has to understand that mobile advertising does not exist in a vacuum because it has to compete with all the other forms of advertising. It often will be purchased as part of a broad strategy that includes traditional media and Internet advertising.

"The most important point," Hadl said, "is that marketers buy audiences, not tools." He said advertisers don't care about the technology, only the consumers it can reach.

Source:  Wireless Week

Read article here

posted @ 6/8/2007 12:56 PM by Tom Walls

Mobile Advertising Guidelines Agreed

The Dublin-headquartered organization behind the .mobi domain has backed the mobile advertising guidelines developed by the international Mobile Marketing Association. The guidelines, which are in their fourth revision, are the first step made by the Mobile Marketing Association’s (MMA) Mobile Advertising Committee towards defining the mobile advertising landscape.

“The guidelines are designed to stimulate the growth of Mobile Marketing by establishing a consistent global advertising guideline and best practice for the growth of the mobile advertising industry,” explained Laura Marriot, president of the MMA.

“These guidelines will continue to evolve as the market matures in order to serve the burgeoning mobile marketplace,” Marriot added.

According to eMarketer, Mobile Marketing and advertising in the US will grow from US$421m in 2006 to US$4.8bn in 2011 – accounting for 12pc of total online advertising spending.

Dublin-based .Mobi last month claimed 500,000 .mobi domain names have been registered since it was set up last October.

The consortium, which also has offices in Washington and Beijing, said the continual growth of .mobi registrations illustrates that content developers are focused on delivering quality sites and applications to mobile phones.

The domains have been registered in 104 countries since October and millions of mobile handset-tailored content pages are now available for phone users. Some leading brands that have .mobi domains include Fox, BMW, Scandinavian Airlines, Ferrari, Rolls Royce, CNN, BusinessWeek and Maxim.

The organization responsible for the domain .mobi is backed by a consortium of tech industry giants including Microsoft, HP, Vodafone, 3, the GSM Association, Orange, Nokia, Samsung and Sun.

The organization’s chief executive Neil Edwards said: “Having industry organizations such as the MMA develop standards, guidelines and best practices for the mobile platform is essential to the growth and success of the mobile Internet.

“Our mission is to be the leader and driving force behind that growth,” Edwards said.

Source:  Silicon Republic 

Read article here 

posted @ 6/7/2007 10:21 AM by Tom Walls

Mobile Marketing Association Announces Formation of Participation TV Committee

MMA Will Focus Key TV and Mobile Media Membership to Ensure Best Practices Continue to “Uphold Public Trust and Positive Consumer Experience”

New York (June 6, 2007) - The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), which represents more than 400 companies across the mobile ecosystem, today announced the formation of the first industry-wide committee to focus on the growth of TV’s mobile participation. The MMA, which launched the first version of its interactive TV guidelines in June 2005, appointed a committee, represented by all key industry sectors, that will enable U.S. TV viewers to engage with their favorite shows in a consistent manner. The Participation TV (PTV) Committee includes TV broadcasters, producers, mobile operators, mobile gateway providers and application specialists.

The MMA PTV Committee will continue to develop industry guidelines that protect the long-term viability of the industry by setting standards across all key elements of the interactive TV supply chain. The guidelines will be integrated into the MMA’s Consumer Best Practices guidelines
(www.mmaglobal.com/bestpractices.pdf ) and reinforces the MMA’s commitment to the development of the mobile content industry. The Committee will be co-chaired by Telescope, Inc. and Granada USA. The MMA continues to demonstrate its leadership in the field of participation TV, which delivers a specific experience for TV viewers, enabling them to vote, integrate play-at-home versions into TV formats, and enable home viewers to appear on their favorite TV game shows through their mobile devices.

“The formation of the Participation TV Interest Group occurs at a key juncture in the history of consumer-TV interaction, given the numerous and growing successes of reality, text-to-vote and mobile TV programming across the industry,” said Troy Sample, chief executive officer of Telescope and chairman of the MMA PTV Group. “The MMA is taking the leadership reins in its development of common guidelines upon which the entire industry can build their campaigns. The MMA has helped galvanize the Mobile Marketing industry in a way that few self-governing industry organizations have done. The formation of the Participation TV Interest Group will help fuel the growth of what is already an exciting market sector.”

“MMA members include the leaders in developing consumer programming across all marketing channels, including broadcast, broadband internet and mobile TV, and this new committee is a natural fit for the association,” said Cyriac Roeding, executive vice president, CBS Mobile and MMA’s Global and North American chairman. “The Participation TV Interest Group will enable all players in the Mobile Marketing ecosystem to speed delivery of interactive or participation campaigns centered on the growing demands of today’s highly mobile consumer.”

Committee membership is open to all active MMA members.

About the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA)
The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) is the premier global non-profit association established to lead the growth of Mobile Marketing and its associated technologies. The MMA is an action-oriented organization designed to clear obstacles to market development, establish mobile media guidelines and best practices for sustainable growth, and evangelize the mobile channel for use by brands and content providers. The 400+ global member companies include agencies, advertisers, hand held device manufacturers, wireless operators, aggregators, technology enablers, market research firms and all companies focused on marketing via the mobile channel. The Mobile Marketing Association’s global headquarters are located in the United States. For more information, please visit www.mmaglobal.com.

posted @ 6/6/2007 11:40 AM by Tom Walls

MMA Increases Focus On Measurement of Mobile Marketing Successes

NEW YORK, June 6, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Mobile Marketing Forum -- The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) (www.mmaglobal.com), which represents more than 400 companies across the mobile ecosystem, today announced the association's focus on mobile advertising measurement with the introduction of its Global Measurement Committee (GMC). The focus on measurement comes on the heels of the latest MMA Mobile Advertising Guidelines (www.mmaglobal.com/mobileadvertising.pdf) release. The MMA plans to collaborate on the initiative with other industry associations.

Today, mobile spend by brand marketers is in the trial stages. Before allocating more budgets to mobile, brands require a deeper understanding of the role of mobile in the overall mix, consumer acceptance of brand messaging, consistent guidelines and best practices as well as insight into effectiveness and value. Under guidance of the MMA GMC, the industry will create a framework for the measurement of Mobile Marketing campaigns across all channels such as mobile video, television, multimedia services and more.

"The MMA is the right organization to lead the development of ad currencies against its current guidelines, given its diverse and representative membership base," said Tom Daly, group manager, Strategy & Planning, Global Interactive Marketing, The Coca-Cola Company and MMA Global and NA Board Executive Committee member. "The Coca-Cola Company is committed to mobile as a viable channel to our consumer and measurement will help us ensure the investment is allocated in the right place."

Richard Saggers, New Business -- Head of Mobile Advertising, Vodafone Group Services Ltd & EMEA MMA Chairman, added, "It is crucial to have guidelines in place to measure the use of Mobile Marketing not only for agencies, brands and marketers, but for the entire global industry. Then, understanding how to measure campaign success will help to drive the adoption of the mobile channel."

"Measurement was one of the two most critical items we needed to address in rebuilding the Internet Advertising industry," said Greg Stuart, former CEO of the IAB. "Marketers and their agencies demand that all digital mediums, including Mobile, provide superior advertising measurement, while ensuring that the measurement meets the standards and market acceptance of traditional media. How well the Mobile Marketing industry accomplishes this will determine whether they capture their rightful share of marketers' budgets."

Co-chaired by The Coca-Cola Company in North America and M:Metrics in EMEA, the MMA GMC membership includes representation from media companies, brands, wireless operators and market research firms. The MMA GMC membership is open to all MMA member companies.

posted @ 6/6/2007 11:10 AM by Tom Walls

Preparing Customers to "Go Mobile"

Issues such as corporate security and manageability influence the IT department, while issues such as cost and expenses affect business managers. The benefits are strong for opting for the solution. Improving communication is the key benefit; resulting in a responsive workforce both to colleagues and to customers. So while the decision to “go mobile” can be a bit challenging to implement for some organizations, the benefits often outweigh the concerns.

Now, “going mobile” can mean a variety of various things to various organizations. In this context, we include solutions that enable remote worker access to corporate systems.

Through our mobile research, Info-Tech Research Group identified that mobility buyers place a high priority on customer service when faced with the decision to go mobile. Upon surveying more than 1,900 executives, 34 percent of respondents commented that serving customers was the primary motivator for deploying a mobile solution. By contrast, in other IT solutions serving customers was selected number one by only 20 percent of respondents.

There is also a perception that newer mobile solutions are more secure than their predecessors. As a result, security is now cited as being a strong motivator for deploying newer mobile solutions. Interestingly, however, replacing outdated technology was not considered to be a strong motivator. Instead, security was the key factor.

Other aspects influencing a mobile solution deployment include: cost reduction, reducing complexity, addressing competitive shortcomings and responding to corporate mandates.

Improving productivity by reducing costs and complexity and responding to corporate directions, are all significant factors for sellers to address. These issues are relevant in the eyes of the purchaser. However, focusing on issues that are critical to the corporate users will help generate sales and a leadership position within the mobile market.

What does this information mean to you? For resellers and vendors, it means that an emphasis on customer service, versus cost, will sway clients. The other important message to highlight is security. Enhanced security benefits of the latest technology are strong selling features for corporate end-users.

“Going mobile” offers significant ways to increase customer response times, and employee productivity. It can also create headaches for IT departments, and business managers. The tricks are to identity and target corporate clients with the proper message. The benefits outweigh the headaches, and with each new solution, the possibilities expand. Understanding the needs and motivating influencers of the clients is the first step to a successful relationship.

posted @ 6/6/2007 10:54 AM by Tom Walls

Mobile Marketing Forum Highlights Mobile Advertising, Media, and Entertainment

ABC News Digital Media, The Coca-Cola Company, SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT Highlighted Speakers At Industry's Leading Mobile Marketing Event

NEW YORK, June 4, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- This week, the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) (www.mmaglobal.com) will host its annual Mobile Marketing Forum (MMF) in New York, showcasing the mobile opportunities for marketing, advertising, media and entertainment. The industry's premier global event, the MMF will host industry leaders from agencies, brands, carriers, content, entertainment and media companies. Keynote addresses include: Mark Greatrex, SVP Marketing Communications and Insights, The Coca-Cola Company; Thomas Gewecke, EVP Global Business Development, SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT; and Bernard Gershon, SVP/general manager, ABC News Digital Media Group.

"Mobile marketing is strengthening the bond between consumers and our brands," said Greatrex. "I look forward to sharing the latest innovation in how The Coca-Cola Company is pioneering in the mobile channel."

Gershon stated, "The mobile platform puts the world at the fingertips of our viewers. ABC News has been successfully utilizing the mobile medium and consumer acceptance and participation has been overwhelming. I look forward to again participating in the MMA's event. It is great to see so much enthusiasm and collaboration around mobile marketing."

The Mobile Marketing Forum kicks off on Wednesday, June 6th at the New York Marriott Marquis Hotel. The two-day event brings together the world's largest brands, entertainment and media companies along with the agencies, carriers and developer communities that are making mobile marketing a reality today.

"This week's MMF reflects the increased focus on the success of mobile marketing to drive brand awareness and consumer engagement," said Laura Marriott, president of the MMA. "Mobile marketing knows no boundaries. The mobile device is unique to each person that owns one, making it a highly personable medium to reach virtually every demographic. We look forward to this week's event and welcome all participants."

posted @ 6/5/2007 9:20 AM by Patrick Irvin - VP @ KONA Interactive

Mobile Marketing - How does it fit in?

There are Pros and Cons to all forms of Marketing.  While print, radio and television have tremendous reach, they provide limited interaction with consumers.  Direct mail allows Marketers to segment their market, but is limited in its ability to grab consumer’s attention.  While the Web provides unprecedented interactivity and monitoring, but is not personal and has to fight for the consumer’s attention.   Marketers must provide a way to connect with consumers via all of these mediums when and where they show interest in their products to be most effective.  Mobile Marketing provides an interactive and integrated platform that can be leveraged across all online and offline marketing.

 

Though many Brands excel through traditional and interactive marketing methods, it is also true that many competing factors can cloud the Brands message. Given this reality, smart marketers must constantly update their marketing mix with new responsive media to increase the probability of customers receiving the right message when they want it and where they want it.  The most effective and least intrusive forms of mobile marketing are delivered on an opt-in basis; the availability and convenience of subscription based mobile marketing is ideal for forging loyal customers.  This relaxed environment means customers are more receptive to the messages being communicated. By contacting prospects when and where they are most open to receiving marketing information, companies can garner unprecedented returns.

When designing a mobile marketing campaign, it is important to integrate and align the initiative with other marketing campaigns and goals.  Mobile marketing campaigns are easy to integrate with all traditional marketing: brand marketing, direct marketing,

market research, event marketing, in-store marketing and customer relationship management.

 

Brand Marketing

 

Mobile marketing provides a variety of options for increasing brand awareness. By providing consumers in-depth information you can influence purchase decisions by delivering tailored messages to specific demographics.   Prospects receive the content they want, in a format that is convenient when it is needed.  Integrated Mobile Brand Marketing is limited only by the imagination.

 

Direct Marketing

 

Direct marketing campaigns provide an opportunity to collect customer leads, deliver coupons and communicate promotions to a targeted audience. Mobile marketing’s tracking and reporting capabilities provide fast, detailed campaign results, enabling quick prospect follow up.  Mobile Marketing is flexible enough to easily integrate with traditional direct marketing strategies, and enables the development of creative direct marketing campaigns that deliver quantifiable results.

 

Market Research

 

Researching consumer behavior via their mobile phone will change where, when and how we gather market data like no medium has before.  The ability to survey, collect data and poll customers via their mobile phone, then push coupons, benefits and rewards programs directly to their Mobile Phone will change the way brands develop and motivate loyal customers.

 

Event Marketing

 

Event marketing has long been a staple of marketing, there is no better time to raise brand awareness than when consumers are relaxing and enjoying themselves. Mobile event marketing allows brands to engage their audience by leveraging mobile interaction directly through television advertising, sporting events, concerts and trade shows.

 

Customer Relationship Management

 

The personal nature of the mobile phone makes them the ideal vehicle for enhancing existing customer relationships. Rather than just one-way corporate marketing messages, mobile marketing provides an avenue for two-way dialog with customers.  Companies can provide customers with promotional information; secure account information and status, frequently asked questions, customer support, loyalty programs and more.

 

 

posted @ 6/4/2007 11:59 AM by Patrick Irvin - VP @ KONA Interactive

Mobile Marketing to the "Mobile Generation"

Media is changing, Marketing is changing, Brands are changing, the Consumer is changing and we must change the way we interact with the Consumer.  People are going online more and tuning in less.  Consumers are texting, blogging, instant messaging, sharing photos and videos on their phones, not just calling from them.  The “Mobile Generation” is consuming and sharing information, making transactions, and interacting with each other from anywhere on the planet, around the clock.  The result is marketers must change their focus and find new ways for their brands and consumers to interact.  Traditional ad spending in offline and broadcast media is declining, while non-traditional marketing is growing in leaps and bounds.

 

Who is a part of the “Mobile Generation”?  The answer is clear; we are all a part of the “Mobile Generation”.  Mobile Phones have penetrated over 75% of the US Market already and by 2010 over 50% of the world’s population will have a mobile phone.  While mobile usage tends to skew to younger users, mobile usage is also tends to be common place with tech-savvy professionals who frequently use their mobile phone during downtime. More so than traditional target audiences, mobile users represent a highly attentive and engaged user group.  Because of this 1 to 1 interaction, Mobile Marketing offers a reach never seen before by any other medium and will forever change how and where Brands interact with their market. Interactive relationships that were never possible, will now be commonplace, with the ability to deliver a personal, 1 to 1, branded campaign to consumers in a timely manner, anywhere.  The ability to take a survey, enter a contest, cast a vote, win a prize, receive a coupon, download a song – the possibilities are overwhelming- will help cement a personal relationship and dialogue between Brands and their customers.     

 

The “mobile generation” is responding to a new approach to traditional marketing strategies, an approach that will reach them how they live…on their Mobile Phone.  The “Mobile Generation” use their mobile phone as their number one accessory, their connection to the world, and as an extension of who they are. Mobile offers independence and community at the same time, allowing constant contact, information and

 

connectivity, regardless of time or place.  The “Mobile Generation” consumes information from a mix of the fragmented media outlets at their disposal from mobile phones, to satellite radio, to the internet, to TiVo, and Blogs.  They are listening to podcasts instead of reading the newspaper; consumers are playing integral parts in the shows they watch.  Because of this unprecedented choice in media outlets, the ability to tune out or off at any minute means you must integrate your Marketing across all Offline and Online Media. 

The “Mobile Generation” relies heavily on instant information to make decisions; Mobile Marketing provides them this information when they want it, where they want it, and how they want it. 

 

Mobile Marketing is the fastest growing marketing channel in the world. According to the Mobile Marketing Association, 89% of companies will be using mobile marketing to reach their audiences by the end of 2008.   Mobile Marketing is happening much faster than the Internet “Boom”.  Unlike when the internet debuted, PCs usage and ownership was limited and only a fraction of those used broadband connections, Mobile Marketing is coming of age with the infrastructure already in place.  The Internet drove PC sales and broadband connectivity. Mobile Marketing has arrived at a time when the infrastructure (hardware, software and services) to accommodate rapid growth is peaking with mobile phone penetration already over 75% in the US.

posted @ 5/31/2007 10:31 AM by Patrick Irvin - VP @ KONA Interactive

Can I use my Mobile Phone Numbers for Marketing?

Can I use my Mobile Phone Numbers for Marketing?

Recently we have had quite a few new clients and prospective clients working towards leveraging their existing client database of mobile phone numbers for a Mobile Marketing campaigns.  The first question we always have to ask our client is:

1.  How did you get their mobile phone number?

2.  Did you explicitly request permission to send text messages to their mobile number?

3.  Do you have a personally signed or web site form and associated records to show permission was granted?

 

In a lot of cases the issue that the mobile carriers and the MMA Guidelines seeks to ensure is that a mobile subscriber willingly requested (ie gave permission) to your company to send text messages to their phone number.  Generally, this is not the case, the mobile number was given to use for phone calls to the mobile number.  If you are using "Standard messaging" (no premium charge for the sms message) then some carriers are willing to allow you to send an opt-in message to the phone (up to 2-3 times only) to see if the mobile user will reply and officially give you permission to send messages.  In, the case of T-Mobile they generally will not allow such a message to be sent if you do not have explicit permission to send text (sms) messages.  So, be aware that you may be able to use some and not others depending if they use T-mobile or not.

Finally, what can you do today to start using your mobile phone numbers in your client database?  Here are a few things you should consider:

1. Change language of your signup forms to include explicit permission to send text message alerts and campaigns.
2. Have your signup language reviewed to ensure you are compliant for permission based text message marketing.
3. Send opt-in messages to your customers and begin sending at least monthly messages to keep your list from going stale.

BEGIN Collecting Mobile Phone Numbers Today for Mobile Marketing!!!

posted @ 5/26/2007 2:01 PM by Tom Walls

Text to Vote for KidzAid Battle of the High School Bands

Text 2 Vote for KidzAid Battle of the High School Bands

KidzAid is a non-profit organization dedicated to the assistance of children who live their lives in the face of unusual adversity.  Last night, May 25th, they had their first annual Battle of (best of Fairfield County) High School Bands.  KidzAid chose Kona's Text 2 Vote solution to provide a fun and interactive mobile voting solution for the audience participants (over 900).  The results were outstanding with over 350+ voters comprising 40% of participants who voted for one of the 9 bands in the Battle.

It was fun checking the votes during the contest as each new act performed.  We would like to congratulate Baio Paco who won the Text 2 Vote contest. 

The great part of this solution was not only the cool and real-time Text 2 Vote solution that the audience, high schoolers, could use to participate but the fact that it brought a excitement to the contest on the level of an American Idol where not only could the audience immediately participate, how many high schoolers do you know on a Friday not that does not have a mobile phone, but also gave the sense of something bigger to the 9 bands participating they themselves (and we suspect they did) could vote for themselves as well.

Again, we thank KidzAid, Stephen Bradley, for allowing us to provide our services to their Battle of the High School Bands.

posted @ 5/26/2007 8:51 AM by Tom Walls

Mobile marketing is for Today

As the first posting into my Kona Blog I have decided to discuss why Mobile Marketing is for TODAY.  When you look at the current opportunities available in the US for Mobile Marketing its staggering the audience that is available to willing participants.

Here are some interesting facts about Mobile Marketing Today:

• There are over 95 million wireless subscribers who text message once a day!
• Text messaging (SMS) is available on almost all (97%) of phones in use in the US Today!
• Text messaging is widely recognized and now very cheap, in many more cases unlimited or high number of message plans are part of all new mobile plans.
• Technology is ready today!  The usage of a short code (31622) makes text messaging and broadcasting your marketing message available to all US mobile carriers

So, today you can reach a potential group of 260 million mobile subscribers.  Today is the day to start gathering subscribers into your Mobile Marketing database as people become more inclined to use their phone for gathering information you will be right there to begin the process with your customers and prospects.

Mobile Marketing is for Today!

posted @ 5/18/2007 4:47 PM by Tom Walls

Mobile Marketing - Nomenclature

Nomenclature

General

Carrier – The service provider for a particular handset or service plan (Verizon Wireless,
Cingular, Sprint Nextel, etc.).

Handset – Manufacturer and model of phone (e.g., Motorola, LG, Samsung + model
number).

Screen size – Amount of display space a particular handset offers.

Wireless Web or Internet – The common term for Internet use on a wireless phone. The
wireless web offers users the ability to do such things as play games and trivia, search for
information, look up telephone numbers and addresses and do their banking and shopping,
all on their wireless phone. Also called Mobile Web or Mobile Internet.

Formats

WAP – Wireless Application Protocol. A protocol developed to allow efficient transmission
of optimized Internet content to wireless phones.

WAP 1.0 – WAP version 1 relied on the WML markup language and special protocols
designed for ultra-efficient transmission of content to limited devices over limited
connections.

WAP 2.0 – Relies on a new set of standards that are more in line with Internet standards.
Using xHTML, carriers, content providers and media companies can present content and
functionality in more robust formats on powerful devices via faster wireless technologies.

Mobile Web (WAP) Ad Components

Combination Ad – A potentially clickable ad consisting of an image and text.

Landing Page – A secondary page a consumer is taken to once they click on an ad in order
to give or receive additional information pertaining to the offer of interest.

Image Ad – A potentially clickable ad consisting of an image only.

Page view – Each time a subscriber requests a new page of content a Page View is
recorded.

SMS – A text message used to deliver relevant information or confirmation of participation in
a particular campaign initiative once a consumer has opted-in to a particular offer. SMS
messages are limited in size – a max of 160 characters and no images.

MMS – Multimedia messaging that is used to deliver text, pictures, audio and/or video
messages once a customer has opted in to a particular offer. MMS allows for greater
creativity and richness.

Text Ad – A potentially clickable ad consisting of text only.

Mobile Web (WAP) Campaign Types

Branding – A non-clickable ad that serves to reinforce the advertiser’s brand.

Click to Call – An ad where a call to an advertiser can be initiated from the landing page
without a user inputting a phone number.

Coupon – An ad where a text coupon code can be delivered via SMS or MMS, or displayed
on the landing page.

Data Collection – An ad where an e-mail address or a phone number is collected by the
advertiser in order for additional requested information (coupon, event details etc.) to be
delivered to the recipient.

Locator – An ad where a brick and mortar location for an advertiser (i.e., Radio Shack, Ford)
can be identified based on proximity of the consumer or their preferred location (can be
GPS/LBS or user defined postal code).

Offer Based Ad – A clickable ad that typically has some type of offer.

Mobile Web (WAP) Campaign Operations

Dynamic Ad Delivery – The process of a mobile ad being delivered through a campaign
management platform to a publisher’s mobile phone content based upon predetermined
criteria.

Optimization – The process of modifying a campaign so it will perform more favorably for
the advertiser.

Placement – The area where an ad is located within a publisher’s mobile content.

Reporting – The results of a campaign broken down by various criteria (impressions
delivered, click-through rate, etc.).

Site Tagging – The process of inserting ad tags into a Mobile Web (WAP) site that allows a
mobile campaign management platform to deliver advertisements to the site.

Targeting – Various criteria to make the delivery of a mobile ad more precise (age, gender,
geographical, day parting, household income, etc.).

Tracking – The ability to assess the performance of a mobile campaign.

Ad Measurement Criteria

Acquisition Rate – Percentage of consumers that were “acquired” (typically refers to giving
a phone number or e-mail address) for a particular campaign.

Ad Impression – An ad impression is recorded each time an ad is displayed on the user’s
handset screen. The process goes like this: while a subscriber is browsing a data product,
ads appear within the content. The ads are then sent to the users screen by an ad server
that reacts to “calls” from the mobile content provider.

Click – When the user interacts (highlights and clicks) on the advertisement (banner, text
link) that has been served to their screen.

Click-through – Each time an ad is clicked on to take the consumer to a jump page for more
information or to take advantage of an offer.

CPM (Cost per thousand) – CPM is used by marketers (not just Internet marketers) to price
ad banners. Sites that sell advertising may guarantee an advertiser a certain number of
impressions (number of times an ad banner is served and presumably seen by visitors) and
then set the cost based on the guarantee multiplied by the CPM rate.

Impression – Each individual page view on a mobile publisher’s site.

Redemption – The number or percentage of consumers that actually took advantage of a
particular offer.

Unique user – A unique user is a specific subscriber. Every mobile phone user has some
sort of alpha and/or numeric code (not personal subscriber data like name or phone number)
that is sent with each ad request. These unique identifiers are used to determine how many
“unique users” view each ad.

posted @ 5/18/2007 4:04 PM by Patrick Irvin - VP @ KONA Interactive