Tag Archives: Mobile marketers

Post

How to Make Sure Your Mobile Marketing Is On Track

Posted on February 7, 2012 in Mobile Marketing by susan

Mobile Marketing

Mobile Marketing

How to Make Sure Your Mobile Marketing Is On Track

Mobile marketing is new for so many of us. Unfortunately, in these early days, this means many of us are making mistakes.

Here is a great article which talks about the 5 biggest mistakes many marketers make when it comes to mobile:

1. Flaw: De-Emphasizing the Unique Nature of the Medium

Although they share a common infrastructure, mobile is not the traditional web. In fact, the two have few equivalents in the stationary web world. The stationary web is exactly that – inactive. With that said, why would mobile design, which should be focused on creating an experience unique to those who are actively on-the-go, be constructed with an inactive model in mind?

Mobile events are inherently transitive in nature. The different elements of the medium — constant connectivity, location awareness, personalization and social connection — add affinity to consumer/brand interactions and empower the medium uniquely as an events-driven interface. These features form the foundation for consumer interaction — a tight, relevant orchestration of branded communications among increasingly interconnected brand advocates.

2. Flaw: Treating Connected Consumers as Stationary Targets

Mobile consumers are moving targets; therefore, marketers must consider the variability of exchange. Where is the consumer right now? What is she interested in? How can I compel her to visit my store location? What can I reward her with to increase her loyalty to the brand? What can I do to make her feel included? How can I use the medium to make her encounter the brand more efficiently? What experience can I provide to her that she would feel compelled to share? When viewed through this lens, the possibilities for engaging consumers are limited only to the imagination and ingenuity of the brand.

3. Flaw: Ignoring the Power of Contextual Relevance

The mobile medium represents the most powerful mechanism for delivering contextually relevant, consumer-brand marketing communications. To take advantage of its unique capabilities, however, successful marketing strategies must evolve alongside these communicating customers. The digital natives of today’s hyper-connected world seek contextual relevance when engaging with brands. Their experiences are defined not only by the message itself, but by the context in which the message is presented.

Marketers who effectively tackle today’s mobile variables will provide consumers with unique experiences that are differentiated, highly relevant and intensely personal. Only then will we collectively realize the power and influence of marketing in the moment.

4. Flaw: Employing Old World, Unidirectional Strategies

Effective consumer engagement can no longer take a unidirectional mindset. Today’s digital natives are constantly presented with a dizzying array of branded digital touchpoints. They are expecting consistent yet unique communication and brand message.

Brands are now challenged to become adept transmedia storytellers, to create a message that syncs with the communication medium in which it’s delivered. Brands must move beyond simply marketing to people but, instead, must master marketing to a context that is determined by device or platform. They must consider the specific medium which they choose to engage.

5. Flaw: Not Offering Value in Exchange for Value

Establishing consumer relationships through mobile marketing, as with any successful relationship, inherently requires a mutual exchange of value. Whether consumers are opting-in for brand communications via SMS or engaging with the brand in a single instance by scanning a QR code, the onus is on the brand to deliver value in return for customers’ time and information.

Without the perception that value is mutual, the relationship becomes essentially one-sided and unrequited. The customer may attempt to end the relationship — perhaps permanently. Regardless of the strategies or technologies employed, successful mobile marketing relies heavily on a fair and evenly balanced value exchange between consumer and brand. Given the intensely personal nature of smart devices, coupled with the fact that the device is nearly always within arm’s reach, it becomes extremely important that mobile marketing avoids being intrusive and irrelevant.

Conventional marketing wisdom advocates a right audience + right message + right time methodology, designed to entice a stationary audience. In mobile, the same principles don’t necessarily apply. Rather than marketing at the target with brand-centric storytelling, wherever and however she may encounter you, allow the tale to travel along with her as she goes. Communicate the narrative, allow the mobile medium to reveal ensuing chapters in a continuum of branded engagements.”

To see the full original article about mobile marketing.

We all are ‘learning’ because mobile is so new.  But the above list is a great summary of things we need to keep in mind as we venture into the mobile universe.

Click here to learn more about the Secrets to Successful Mobile Marketing!

If you liked this article, why not share it with your friends and colleagues?

FacebookLinkedInShare
Post

Mobile Marketing 2012—Are You Ready?

Posted on January 11, 2012 in Mobile Marketing by susan

Mobile Marketing
Mobile Marketing

Mobile Marketing 2012—Are You Ready?

Have you figured out your mobile marketing program yet?

If you have any kind of analytics installed in your website, you may have noticed that more and more of your Web traffic is coming from mobile devices.  And it’s just going to keep on increasing.

Mobile marketing is big. And it is here to stay.

But what is the best way to cater to your mobile visitors?

Here are some tips:

Mobile Search: Give Them What They’re Looking For

Desktop search may still dominate the overall search market, but mobile search represents a new frontier. It is widely accepted that 10 percent to 15 percent of searches today are from mobile devices.

Whether you’re running a multimillion-dollar pay-per-click campaign on AdWords or optimizing for organic search traffic and inbound leads, here are a few things you should know about the areas where desktop and mobile differ.

  • Locality: People on mobile devices are seeking things around them; anywhere between 20 percent and 53 percent of mobile searches have a local intent. If you’ve got local content or content that can be localized, optimize it for mobile.
  • Task-focused: The average keyword mobile search on Android and iPhone is roughly double the average length of a desktop search. Why? Because mobile searchers are task-focused and seeking specific things. When presenting information as the result of a search, offer more specific information to your mobile users.
  • Time of day: Google reports that mobile search volumes increase throughout the day and peak at 8 or 9 p.m., while desktop search volume mirrors hours spent at work.
  • Spelling mistakes: Not surprisingly, mobile searchers are more prone to misspellings than desktop searchers. Including common misspellings in your SEO campaigns can be a great, untapped source of new traffic.

Before You Hit Send…

ComScore found that while Web-based email declined significantly throughout 2010, mobile email surged 36 percent from the prior year. To cater to these mobile users, follow the best mobile usability and accessibility rules:

  • Short wins. Smartphone screens are small, and each line is valuable. Be brief and get your message as high up in the email as possible.
  • Focus on the subject and sender name. In the mobile world, there’s little or no preview pane to see the message body. As a result, a message’s subject and sender name take center stage. Choose a recognizable name for the “from” field and use your subject line as effectively as possible (keep it less than 30 characters).
  • Consider plain text. As marketers, we want to make things pretty and opt for HTML. However, this practice falls flat in many situations on mobile devices. Consider sending plain text email, particularly for anything that must get into people’s hands, such as account activations, password retrievals, and alerts.

Be Social-Savvy

A comScore report found that 72 million Americans accessed social media from their mobile devices during the month of August 2011 alone. Even more telling is the fact that 50 percent of these users are social networking on a daily basis from their mobile devices. When it comes to incorporating mobile into your social strategy, here are a few things to keep in mind:

Mobile Web: While both Facebook and Twitter have apps for the iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry, the majority of their mobile traffic comes from a mobile browser rather than a device-specific app. Looking at some sample numbers for Facebook, 57 percent of mobile posts are made from the mobile Web site (m.facebook.com), while all apps combined contribute 43 percent.

Women rule social media: With the exception of LinkedIn, women are the dominant users of the top 10 social networks on both mobile and desktop. Give women credible things to care about and share with their broader social network.

Help people share the love: A clean and consistent URL structure will help people share your links across platforms. Don’t underestimate the importance of client detection technology, which intelligently serves up a mobile site to mobile users and a desktop site to desktop users.”

Get ready for mobile and your mobile marketing program now.  It promises to pay off in big dividends for those who are prepared.

For the complete full article about mobile marketing.

Want to learn more about mobile marketing?

If you liked this article, why not share it with your friends and colleagues?

FacebookLinkedInShare
Post

Warning to All Local Businesses: Mobile IS Mandatory!

Posted on December 29, 2011 in Mobile Marketing by susan

mobile marketing

mobile marketing

Warning to All Local Businesses: Mobile IS Mandatory!

Local businesses need to get into mobile marketing.  Your customer expects to find you (and be able to read about you!) on their mobile phones. Don’t miss out on all that mobile marketing has to offer.

Check out the following findings from Google:

Google notes through its research that:

  • 79% of smartphone consumers use their phones to help with shopping, from comparing prices, to finding more product info, to locating a retailer.
  • 70% use their smartphones while in a store.
  • 77% have contacted a business via mobile, with 61% calling and 59% visiting the local business.

Google says that users are now expecting to engage with local businesses though their mobile devices. Think about it: did you go to a local businesses mobile website this year? Did that business have an app or a website optimized for mobile? People on the go rely on their smartphones for information and nothing is more fundamental to consumers then how they spend their money. Brands and retailers have to come to understand that the way users interact with their digital fronts is now being done from smart devices.

In turn, mobile search is changing the user experience. Apple realized this and is one of the reasons that it baked Siri into the iPhone 4S as a way to easily search on the go. Search functions include looking up a local restaurant to see what is on the menu or find directions.

The way ads are delivered via mobile underwent dramatic shifts in 2011. Google calls these the “pipes” of mobile advertising. That includes work on standards like ORMMA or MRAID or how ads are delivered through real-time engagement, real-time-bidding platforms or improvements in HTML5 that have made mobile advertising more seamless and ubiquitous.

Tablets have joined smartphones as an important factors in mobile advertising. Google notes that tablets are now a third screen that marketers have to deal with and that the company saw a 440% spike in tablet traffic in November 2011 from its December 2010 levels on the AdMob network. That number may be partly skewed by the fact that Google consolidated AdMob to mobile devices while keeping AdSense Web only, hence driving traffic numbers to the network.”

Make sure that your local business can be found on mobile phones and that it is easy to navigate.  Mobile marketing is the best invention to come around in a long time for the local business.  Are you ready?

For the full original article on mobile marketing.

Interested in knowing more about mobile marketing? Why don’t you check out this great resource.

Would you like to share this article with a friend? Just tap on one of the buttons below.

FacebookLinkedInShare
Post

4 Mobile Marketing Mistakes To Avoid

Posted on December 29, 2011 in Mobile Marketing by susan

Mobile Marketing
Mobile Marketing

4 Mobile Marketing Mistakes To Avoid

Mobile marketing. Everyone wants to get in on it.  But while the interest and curiosity about mobile marketing is vast, many are very unconfident about how to put the right food forward.

This article outlines some classic rookie mobile marketing mistakes:

“1. Using Mobile to Share Non-Mobile Content

You’ve read all about how to use text messages and quick response (QR) codes to target customers while they’re out in the wild or even just sitting on their couch at home. And that’s great–until you use these techniques to send users to content that is anything but mobile friendly. Perhaps it’s a video their phone can’t download or the desktop version of your website, which takes too long to load and far too much scrolling to use on their device. These types of mistakes leave customers feeling frustrated and almost ensure they never again try to load your website from a mobile device. They’re also a waste of time and resources on your part if you’re creating campaigns that don’t work, let alone convert.

If you’re going to use text message marketing to offer a discount or present a call to action for someone to visit your site, make sure the page you’re sending them to is mobile friendly. Ensure it will load on their device and present them with the proper experience. Otherwise, you’re just spinning your wheels and their data plan.

2. Using QR Codes to Direct Customers Back to Your Site

For many of us, when we think “mobile marketing” we really think “QR codes.” A QR code is that barcode-like symbol that a user can scan with their smartphone to be taken to a page of your choosing. QR codes are great for sending users to mobile-friendly landing pages, informing them about specials and promotions, or providing an exclusive experience via their phone. When QR codes don’t work is when you use them to direct people back to your home page. Or, worse, when you try to put them in an email. (How do you scan a barcode while using your phone for email?)

If you’re going to invest in creating a QR code, don’t simply use the code to drive people back to your website. They could have gotten there on their own. Instead, pack that code with something valuable and unique. It could be an exclusive discount or special offer, time-sensitive information, an image they couldn’t get otherwise, a free download, etc. There has to be a “why” to make the experience worthwhile. Otherwise, you’re going to have a frustrated customer when they take the time to scan your QR code only to be given the same experience they receive every day.

3. Missing a Chance for Better Targeting

You can bet that not all of your customers are going to feel comfortable giving you access to their phone and opting into a mobile marketing campaign. And you know what? That’s OK, because it means you’ll be able to target your marketing to the type of user who is OK with a more personal interaction. To really leverage mobile marketing, find out more about the demographics of the people who do opt into this service and adapt your campaigns to specifically address them. This may including knowing what kind of offers they’re most interested in, the products they buy most, the price point they stay within, the types of deals they respond to, etc. If you don’t know offhand (and why would you?), your analytics will be able to give you this information.

As with anything, if you want customers to do something, you need to give them a reason. People will be more likely to sign up if you send them special discounts and offers that have been hand-crafted for them.

4. Not Optimizing Your Mobile Website

The mobile version of your website should be more than just a shrunken version of what your site looks like on a desktop computer. It should be optimized for a different experience and for a customer coming to you a different intent. We know that desktop users and users pulling you up via a mobile phone are coming for different purposes. They’re not just browsing on their phone; they’re on the hunt for specific information or content. For best performance, use your analytics to understand what your mobile users are after, the pages they request most often, and the mission they land on your site with. This will help you to optimize an experience that is relevant to their needs and that helps them achieve their goals faster. Give your mobile searchers what they want and very little noise.”

For the full, original article on mobile marketing.

Do you make any of these mobile marketing mistakes?  Or do you simply have questions about how to begin your mobile marketing program?  We have some resources for you.  Click here to sign up for our exclusive video on mobile marketing.

Want to learn more about mobile email and mobile marketing?

Please click here to share this information with any of your friends or colleagues who might be interested in mobile marketing or creating a mobile website.

FacebookLinkedInShare
Post

Mobile Marketing Leads a New Marketing Reality for 2012

Posted on December 27, 2011 in Mobile Marketing by susan

Mobile Marketing
Mobile Marketing

Mobile Marketing Leads a New Marketing Reality for 2012

Sometimes it is good at the beginning of a New Year to re-assess our beliefs about everything.  Marketing is the same.

Here is a list from Leo Burnett Chicago which asks us to re-write some of our marketing ‘givens’.  Of course the importance of social and mobile marketing is on the list too:

Here are six trends outlined in the Burnett report, entitled “Humankind 2012: The Transformation of Aspiration”:

1. Sense of fairness in decline; happiness inequality on the rise. Americans, who as a population traditionally have beenoptimistic and happyregardless of social class,” are now by and large unhappy – and not surprisingly, those with lower incomes are least happy, according to the report. With the bottom 40% of households having less than 1% of the countrys wealth, The deck is stacked, and people are suspicious,” the report concludes. Feelings of inequality and unfairness are rampant.

Brand implications: The winning brands will be those that consistently deliver acts of fairness and behave with morality,” according to Burnett. Companies that treat all customers fairly will earn Americans’ trust and patronage.

2. The end of the average” American family and the decline of the traditional Big Plan.” Getting educated, marrying, having kids and climbing the corporate ladder is a plan that still exists, but only for some,” sums up Burnett, noting that 40% of American children are now born to unmarried mothers, and that more couples are having children out of wedlock. In short, People define their own family situations and shape their lives according to their own needs,rather than trying to conform to peer-group behaviors or lifestyles.

Brand implications: Popular media have been slow to catch up with the changing family makeup and lifestyles. Employing diverse images of family ring true with consumers and can be a great way to show how your brand fits into today’s reality.

3. The traditional masculine archetype is over. The old rules that defined a mans role in the home and at work do not apply in todays world” – at least in part because men account for two-thirds of recessionary job losses, says the report. In fact, it observes, 77% of all men report that they are comfortable with their wives earning more than them, and 72% report that they are okay with staying home to take care of the children.

Brand implications: Speak with caution when referring to traditional views of masculinity. Instead of focusing on a specific gender, focus on shaping identities and transforming individuals.

4. Healthy” is in the eye of the beholder. Despite growing awareness of the obesity crisis, food tends to be viewed as an affordable luxury – a way to treat oneself when being forced to cut back in other ways. While 47% of Americans say they would like restaurants to offer healthier items, just 23% actually order those items.

Brand implications: Regardless of whether brands are in the food industry, they should think about how to satisfy consumers’ desire for smaller, bite-sized luxuries. A small amount of satisfaction can go a long way.

5. Collective bargaining is a survival weapon. Daily-deal giants such as Groupon and LivingSocial have paved the way for Americans to score deals on everything and anything. People don’t expect or want to pay full price ever again, and collectively demand better deals and offerings in the palms of their hands, each morning.” Fully 73% of U.S. consumers report having used a digital coupon, and 58% report following brands for deals.

Brand implications: Integrate daily deals with customer loyalty programs. To compensate for downward pressure on margins, daily-deal technology needs to segment customers who are already bargaining and offer more personalized deals to heavy users.

6. Social/mobile technology: Consumers want value, not novelty. There will be 20 million new smartphone users in 2012. These users want to leverage social platforms and mobile within their shopping and buying repertoires, but they need these to add value, not noise.

Brand implications: To activate shoppers through social and mobile, marketers need to identify the problems that shoppers are trying to solve and provide informed solutions. Brands that don’t provide practical experiences will be ignored.

For the complete article on mobile marketing.

Want to know more mobile marketing? Why don’t you check out this great resource.

If you have enjoyed this article, take the time to share it with a friend. Just tap on one of the buttons below.

FacebookLinkedInShare
Post

2012 Promises to Be the Year of Mobile Marketing

Posted on December 27, 2011 in Mobile Marketing by susan

Mobile Marketing
Mobile Marketing

2012 Promises to Be the Year of Mobile Marketing

Even though people talked a lot about mobile in 2011, I don’t think we have seen anything yet.  We will start to see even more growth in mobile marketing in the coming months.

Here are eight trends to watch for:

“Mobile Trend # 1 – Smartphones to Overtake Other Mobile by 2012

Of course, more and more users will become initiated into mobile handsets.  Not only will their number of users increase sharply; more types of new smartphones with more user-friendly capabilities will emerge.

Smartphone units sold worldwide in 2009 will grow 14.5% from 2008 levels, according to a forecast by Infonetics. READ MORE

Internet marketers, therefore, should do their best to keep these customers, mostly young people, on their radar.  The same goes for tablets.

Mobile Trend # 2 - Text Messaging Will Rise

Text messaging will rise to a projected 8 trillion SMS in 2012. This is a rise of about a billion from the 6.9 billion SMS sent in 2011.

This indicates that as long as there are mobile phones, SMS will always be in demand, along with MMS and instant messaging through the mobile phone.  That means more fertile ground for marketers to experiment with catchy text messages and enticing graphics.

Mobile Trend # 3 – Social Networking Site Access

Social networking sites will get more exposure on mobile phones.  Social networking reaches far beyond the conventional computer: because our mobile devices are always with us, it is expected that more than half of social networking will be done on mobile phones at any time and any place we want.

That means more opportunities for marketers to reach audiences on the social networking sites when they are using them.  Facebooks official page sites, there are currently 350 million active users that access Facebook on their mobile phones.

Facebook use is expected to spread to other parts of the developing countries that currently have low mobile penetration.

Mobile Trend # 4 – Rise in Social Games

More social games in mobile devices will be developed.  They can be played anytime, anywhere, as long as you have a mobile device with you. Which means that companies smart enough to market with mobile games can achieve prominence in the mobile community.

Mobile Trend # 5 – Location-Based Marketing

Location-based marketing will develop that is, dishing out content based on where the recipients precisely are.   Think of entering a restaurant and then receiving a SMS offering you some freebies once you order something from them.

Sounds surprising, right? That novel technology can be achieved by Wi-Fi, RFID, and mobile phone tracking.

Mobile Trend # 6 – Increased Mobile Spending

There will be a large increase in spending by SMBs on mobile advertising.  The $1.6 billion figure garnered last 2010 more than doubled to $3.3 billion in 2011, and 2012 is predicted to double that enormous figure again.

Mobile Trend # 7 – More Video on Smartphones

Videos will become a greater trend in mobile marketing.  With so many smartphones already capable of capturing video, it is time for businesses to look at the bounds of video marketing beyond YouTube or similar.  Videos can now be viewed anywhere, anytime, at convenience, and companies should poise themselves for it in the following years.

Mobile Trend # 8 - Mobile Money Transfers

More currency will exchange through mobile phones. 2011 saw $86.1 billion move around the world in about 141 million exchanges. Thus, it is expected that companies who offer mobile payment will enhance its capabilities.  Mobile banking will also be rising in developing countries where banks are scarce.

To sum up, the prosperity of 2011 for mobile marketing will carry over to 2012, with possibly more frontiers to open up.

Which of these trends interest you the most?   I am interested in trend number 8.  I believe that mobile money transfer will change the name of the game altogether as people begin to use their mobile phones as a their very own personalized bank window.  What do you think is the most important?

For the complete article on mobile marketing trends.

Click here to learn more about the Secrets to Successful Mobile Marketing!

If you like this post, please share it with your friends!

FacebookLinkedInShare
Post

Three Major Mobile Marketing Predictions for 2012

Posted on December 27, 2011 in Mobile Marketing by susan

Mobile Marketing
Mobile Marketing

Three Major Mobile Marketing Predictions for 2012

What will the New Year bring for mobile marketing? Of course, predicting the year ahead is one of the most popular sports this time of year. But it is possibly one of the more risky activities too!

Having said that, I believe the following three predictions are fairly ‘safe’ and infinitely accurate about where the world of mobile marketing will go in 2012.

“Mega-Trend #1: Mobile Ecommerce Will Reach a Tipping Point
It was a quiet explosion and it’s not over yet.  Purchases made on mobile devices will jump significantly in 2012. If you’ve never bought anything on your phone, watch yourself in 2012. You may personally contribute to this trend.

In 2010, e-commerce sales from mobile devices on Black Friday was 3.2%; in 2011, this number jumped to 9.8%. This year will be the tipping point for the ecommerce portion of the mobile mega-trend.

Retail spaces will still be stores, but more than ever, will become showrooms for their websites. Big retailers will make it easier to order online from the store on your phone. For small brick-and-mortar retailers, “buy it where you try it” will be the rally cry.  Either way, in 2012 shoppers will realize they can scan, price shop and order any product in front of them then have it delivered tomorrow.

Mega-Trend #2: The Decline of Apps
Well, not an actual decline, but a decline relative to the growth of mobile sites. 2012 will be the year when people who say “I want to build an app” also say “…unless the same thing is possible with a mobile site.”

Potential mobile application builders are starting to figure out that building an app really means building two apps (one for iPhones and one for Android) or else leaving out a big chunk of the audience. Mobile websites don’t have that problem.  A properly built mobile site will display on any mobile device.

When something is purchased through an app, there’s a middle man who usually takes a cut (Apple takes 30% of purchases made through iPhone apps, for example). But when you sell something through a mobile site, you don’t have to worry about this. Sales are handled through the company.

App development is expensive and time consuming and usually has no advantages over mobile sites. They have to be downloaded and installed: This isn’t my preferred way to access things, is it yours? Plus, apps can’t be linked to easily, so they’re harder to promote.

In 2012, marketers will begin to realize that mobile sites can do virtually everything an app can do, easier, faster and cheaper.

Mega-Trend #3: Enter Inbound Marketing
This is the year that millions of companies, large and small, realize that inbound marketing, rather than outbound advertising, is the way to go. By inbound marketing (a/k/a content marketing), we mean writing and promoting content using search marketing, social media, blogging, email marketing and PR.

As we start year four of the recession/recovery, marketers are still cost-conscious.  They’ll find that inbound marketing takes time, but the out-of-pocket expenses are low. Business-to-business companies seem to be leading the charge, but everyone will be on board soon. Year 2012 is the year of content marketing.

Inbound isn’t a fad or the next “shiny object,” it’s a long-term commitment of real time and energy. But as word gets out about the clever ways to combine search marketing with blogging, social media with PR, hoards of marketing departments will jump in.”

Mobile marketing will be the news of 2012 and will change millions of marketing plans around the globe as businesses of all sizes jump on the mobile marketing bandwagon.  What are YOUR plans for integrating mobile marketing into your communications?

For the full original article on mobile marketing

Want to learn more about mobile marketing?

If you like this article, please share it with a friend or members of your family.

FacebookLinkedInShare
Post

How Are You Using Mobile Marketing?

Posted on December 23, 2011 in Mobile Marketing by susan

mobile marketing
mobile marketing

How Are You Using Mobile Marketing?

Interested in how other people are using mobile marketing? Here are some great mobile marketing statistics to help you understand how companies are integrating mobile into their communications:

“According to Millennial Media’s October SMART Report:

  • 29% of mobile campaigns directed mobiles to download apps, a 33% increase month-to-month
  • 23% of mobile campaigns offered ‘Store Locator’ options
  • 42% of mobile ads in the entertainment vertical dealt with movie releases
  • Entertainment brands identified product launch/release as a top goal for the month
  • Half of mobile ads from entertainment campaigns offered video content
  • 23% offered mCommerce

As for what mobile consumers are doing with their devices, data from ReturnPath indicates email viewing via iPad has increased 73% with mobile email opens increasing 34%. Mobile email views spike over the weekends, when most people are home or running errands rather than sitting at a desk.

“Email is more relevant today than ever before as consumption continues to grow on more platforms,” said Matt Blumberg, CEO and Chairman, Return Path. “Email is everywhere you want your message to be. And while benchmark studies provide marketers with a view into shifting trends, they are no substitute for having real time, specific data on subscribers. Marketers need to gather campaign data specific to their audience, figure out where their subscribers are viewing email and design a relevant and timely sending strategy.”

Mobile shopping is also increasing, according to comScore. Their data shows about 40% of US smartphone users shopped via mobile in September; these shoppers purchases apparel, digital content (Music, eBooks, movies, etc) and also shopped for daily deals.

“Mobile is becoming a central part in the shopping funnel for many consumers,” said Mark Donovan, comScore senior vice president for mobile. “In September we saw two-thirds of all smartphone owners perform shopping activities on their phones, including comparing products and prices, searching for coupons, taking product pictures or locating a retail store. Considering there are currently 90 million smartphone owners in the U.S., retailers without a well-developed mobile strategy are not only missing a tremendous opportunity with these customers but also risk becoming obsolete in the minds of these digital omnivores.

Texting remains the biggest mobile activity with nearly 72% of mobiles using this option; meanwhile over 40% are using mobile browsers or downloaded apps and 32% are accessing social networks.”

Check out the full article on Mobile Marketing

To my mind the most interesting mobile marketing trend is mobile shopping.  As this continues to grow in 2012, we will see major shifts in how retailers spend their mobile marketing budget .  Which of these statistics interest you the most?

Want to learn more about mobile marketing?

If you liked this article, why not share it with your friends and colleagues?

FacebookLinkedInShare
Post

Tis The Season For Mobile Marketing Predictions

Posted on December 21, 2011 in Mobile Marketing by susan

Mobile Marketing

Mobile Marketing

Tis The Season For Mobile Marketing Predictions

5 Key Digital Media and Advertising Trends for 2012

It is the time of year for predictions and, not surprisingly, mobile marketing is hot on the list. Here is a fabulous list of predictions from Mashable which talk about mobile marketing and beyond for the New Year:

“1. Social Curation and Mobile Will Drive Growth for Media Organizations

The rise of mobile and tablets is having a profound impact on media consumption habits. At Mashable, for example, our average iPad app user spends 6 times as much time with the content as our average web user.

More broadly speaking, tablet apps that also take into account what your social network is sharing – like Flipboard, Zite and Pulse – are becoming important new distribution channels. And early signs point to Apple’s Newsstand becoming a key driver of growth for traditional publications. Conde Nast, for example, recently reported a 268% increase in digital subscribers after launching on Newsstand.
Facebook’s social news apps are also opening up Zynga-like opportunities for publishers. Just last week, The Guardian revealed that its app has been installed more than 4 million times and is driving more than 1 million additional daily pageviews for the publication.

2. The Impact of the Second Screen on Television
The growing ubiquity of mobile is being felt in the living room as well. According to data from Yahoo/Nielsen, 86% of web users now use a mobile device while watching TV. That creates new opportunities for marketers to launch more interactive campaigns, and we’re already seeing startups like Into Now and Shazam create platforms for engaging with the second screen audience, with advertisers like Pepsi, Gap and Starbucks jumping on board.

The TV networks are also starting to leverage the second screen. Most networks are now offering up streaming content on mobile devices, and some, like USA, are building robust social experiences for the second screen – features the networks hope will result in stickier audiences and increase ROI for advertisers.

3. An Explosion of Content for Connected TVs

The promise of Internet connected television has lingered for several years – so much so that some might see the medium as a flop. But that’s far from the case.

While current estimates suggest about 35 million people have an Internet connected TV (either via the device itself, a set-top box or a gaming console), 65% of TVs sold in 2012 will be connected TVs. Add to that the likelihood of an Apple–made television hitting the market within the next 18 months and suddenly the outlook looks much brighter.
At the same time, we’re starting to see content providers open up their offerings to alternative viewing options. Xbox just added dozens of live TV channels to its programming lineup. And while that does still require a conventional cable subscription, it will help warm consumers to the idea of consuming content through their televisions via the Internet. Meanwhile, YouTube is investing $100 million in original web-only programming that will also be available on connected televisions, where YouTube is often a default “channel.”

That will ultimately lead to the TV of the future: consumers enjoying the same diversity of choice in video programming in the living room that they currently enjoy on the desktop. And for advertisers, that means the biggest marketing medium of them all opening up to the same type of targeting that was previously only possible on the Web and more recently mobile devices. To that end, LG recently announced a partnership with YuMe to launch an ad network for the company’s connected TVs, with Toyota as a charter sponsor.

4. Connectivity in the Car Makes Autos the Next Great Platform
In the same way the TVs of the future will be powered by the Internet, so too will the cars. And while that could impact everything from fuel efficiency to finding parking spots, its impact is already being felt on the radio dial.
With car manufacturers developing their own app platforms that can access the Internet – currently through a smartphone but eventually through built-in connectivity – the AM and FM worlds are ripe for disruption (check out how MOG works in a Mini in the video above for an example).

For example, Pandora users can now listen to their music through their car stereo in BMW, Ford, Mercedes-Benz and GMC vehicles, among others. And the online music service now accounts for nearly 4% of all radio listenership in the U.S., with the majority of its $50+ million in quarterly ad revenue coming from mobile advertising.

As music shifts to the cloud – an undeniable trend – and cars increasingly add options for accessing online content, look for radio advertising to get an Internet-powered overhaul.

5. Mobile Commerce Brings it All Together

Adding to the intrigue of advertising being delivered via the Internet across media platforms is the rise of mobile commerce. Already, ecommerce juggernauts like Amazon and eBay are reporting billions of dollars in sales taking place via mobile. Overall, Jupiter Research estimates mobile transaction volume growing to $670 billion by 2015.

Meanwhile, you have products like Google Wallet, PayPal Wallet and Square — not to mention the oft-rumored prospect of Apple moving into the mobile payments space — promising to connect location, deals and purchasing all through your phone. When you combine that concept with ads that are integrated seamlessly across media platforms, you suddenly have the purchase process of the future on the horizon.”

For the full and complete article on mobile marketing

According to these predictions, the impact of mobile marketing is just starting to heat up.  Between mobile commerce and the rise of the tablet, hold onto your hats for the year to come. It will be an exhilarating mobile ride!

Click here to learn more about  Mobile Marketing!

If you like this post, please share it with your friends!

FacebookLinkedInShare
Post

Small Business Set To Soar With Mobile and Social Marketing in 2012

Posted on December 21, 2011 in Mobile Marketing by susan

Mobile marketing

Mobile marketing

Small Business Set To Soar With Mobile and Social Marketing in 2012

Mobile marketing is irresistibly seductive for small businesses.

Small business often sits on the sidelines when it comes to technology.  Given their tight budgets, they prefer to do nothing until an entity is proven.  But there is always an exception to the rule.  And the exception is mobile.

The following article explains why:

“With smartphone penetration reaching an impressive 80% in the small-business community, interest in mobile marketing is mounting: 21.8% of small-business decision-makers say they plan to dedicate more resources to mobile marketing in 2012, up from the 12.6% who said so a year earlier, according to a report by Ad-ology Research.

In addition, one in five surveyed SMB decision-makers (small- and mid-sized businesses; defined in the study as organizations with fewer than 100 employees) plan to develop a mobile app in 2012:

Below, additional finding from Ad-ology’s annual Small Business Marketing Forecast.

Social media has reached a tipping point: Only 10% of small-business decision-makers say they will not use social media in 2012, down from the 24% who said so in 2011. Moreover, one-half of small businesses plan to spend more time and/or money on social media in 2012.

Small businesses are using a variety of social media channels, but Facebook is the most widely used, and appears to be the most effective:

  • Facebook is ranked as the social media site most beneficial: 86.8% of small-business decision-makers use the social networking site for marketing with 77.3% saying their efforts are very or somewhat beneficial for business.
  • Twitter penetration has reached 71.4% in the small business community with 56.0% saying Twitter marketing is very or somewhat beneficial.
  • Google+ penetration (64.3%) is already rivaling LinkedIn (66.9%) in the small business community; 53.2% of small-business decision-makers say their efforts with Google+ are very or somewhat beneficial, while 51.2% say the same about LinkedIn.

Though more than six in ten (61.6%) small businesses use YouTube, only 45.0% rate the video-sharing site as very or somewhat beneficial.

Small businesses have been slow to adopt Foursquare (only 40.3% have done so) and only 24.1% report the geo-location platform as very or somewhat effective.

For the first time, “improving the customer experience” was ranked as the top benefit of social media marketing efforts, according to the study.

Among other key findings among surveyed small businesses:

  • Online video is set to grow: 22.2% of small-business decision-makers say they plan to increase spending on online video, up from the 18.4% who planned to do so in 2011.
  • Daily deals: 22.7% of small businesses plan to increase budget for daily deals, with Groupon and Living Social being the most popular providers.
  • Budgets: 28.6% of small-business decision-makers plan to increase budgets for direct mail in 2012; 45.3% plan to increase their overall advertising spend in 2012, with just 3.9% planning to decrease.”

To view the full original article on mobile marketing and small businesses

Are you a small business? How will you integrate mobile marketing into your efforts next year?

Click here to learn more about mobile marketing!

If you like this post, please share it with your friends!
FacebookLinkedInShare
Powered by WishList Member - Membership Site Software