Molly Edmonton estimates she sends between 100 and 125 text messages a day, mostly to close friends and her 11-year-old daughter, Alexis.

Wireless companies report that Americans send over 75 billion text messages a month. The popularity of texting has increased by 900 percent in four years and the fastest growing group of texters are soccer mom’s who have figured out the best way to reach kids who don’t call back is via text. Over 95% of text messages are read by recipients.

By the numbers
Text messaging by parents is outstripping the growth rate among younger generations.
# 28 percent of moms use text messaging  to coordinate family schedules and errands
The overall growth in texting is driven by:
# of adults who use texting to “talk” while they’re in meetings
# of parents who are using text messaging as a way to interact with each other and stay connected with their kids. Source: Verizon Wireless

“(Texting) doesn’t take up as much time as making a call,” she said. “It’s short and to the point, and I can find out what I need to know without having to get through all the small talk of a phone conversation.”

All those messages add up, and industry experts say that more text messages are sent each day in the United States than there are people who populate the country. Who’s sending those messages: Moms just like Edmonton.

“Women are using the devices to manage the hectic schedules of their families,” said Caran Smith, a spokeswoman for Verizon Wireless, the leading wireless carrier.

Contact ApolloBravo for the latest ideas on reaching mobile moms

When times are tough every penny in a marketing budget has to count. Even more so than when times are easy and the market is good, companies need to use smart marketing to reach consumers. Every single outreach needs to make as big an impact as possible. There is really no room for marketing that doesn’t have a solid return on investment.

With mobile being the newest kid on the block it may seem prudent to let it wait. Just stick with the tried and true methods. Keep it safe. My take on it is that it is the perfect time to jump in with mobile marketing. It is actually the perfect marketing tool for tough economic times because there is no better time to use a tool that is a direct response mechanism that is timely and relevant to consumers. The results you get from mobile marketing are trackable and can make your other marketing trackable. Plus you can beat your competition to the punch with mobile.

Six Reasons Mobile Marketing is the Perfect Tool for Tough Economic Times:

1.
It is a Direct Response Tool

Mobile marketing is a direct response tool – people can quickly and easily respond to your marketing by using their mobile device. This is perfect for tough economic times because if you set up your marketing campaign to be direct response you can measure what is working. And when you build your campaign around the response being a revenue-generating activity then you will be actively bringing in business that you know came from a specific campaign.

2.
Done Correctly, It is Relevant to Consumers

When you offer something of value to consumers and provide it to them when they need it wherever they happen to be, you are the hero. In rough times consumers are looking for ways to save money and they always want to save time and be smart. Give them these things via mobile and you both win.

3.
Nothing is More Timely

There is no faster way to reach consumers than through mobile. If they are looking for you on their mobile browser having a mobile-friendly website makes that possible. If you have enticed them to be on your mobile alert list you can contact them when even email is too slow.

4.
Mobile Marketing is Trackable

Not only can you track your mobile marketing efforts, you can use mobile marketing to track results of you other marketing efforts. By adding a mobile response option (call in on your mobile now, text in to win or even browse to a certain mobile-friendly URL) you can see which of your marketing is getting a response. If you find that a particular marketing effort is simply not paying off you can stop doing it and thereby save money on ineffective marketing.

5.
It Helps Your Other Marketing Be More Effective

Adding in a response mechanism to your advertising and marketing adds a level of excitement and interaction to your other marketing that is unusual. Instead of just staying with the tried and true which may have become boring to your customers, you can bring mobile to the table and step things up.

6.
Your Competition is Not Using it Yet

Because mobile marketing is the newest marketing tool in the toolbox not very many businesses are using it yet. You have the chance to jump in first and reap the biggest rewards. Mobile is as new and exciting to consumers as the internet once was. The opportunity is ripe to be one of the first businesses to get going. Just do it. Really.

Contact ApolloBravo for 3 creative mobile marketing ideas for your company.

opera browser

When it comes to emerging markets, there’s been a lot of talk of how the mobile web will be the dominant way that people access the internet. Now there’s evidence from Opera Software (OSL: OPERA), the browser makers, who in its October “State of the Mobile Web” report, found that the mobile web is replacing the wired web in Southeast Asia. Looking at data and metrics from its mobile browser Opera Mini, the company found that page views per user in Indonesia and the Philippines are significantly higher than the worldwide numbers. Page views in the Philippines alone grew more than 1120 percent this year. In Indonesia, each user browsed 358 pages on average in October 2008, “well above the global average”.

Highlights from the report:

– In Southeast Asia, among mobile Web users, Google (NSDQ: GOOG) is the dominant player in the search engine space, with Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) and Live Search vying for second place. Friendster is the premier social-networking site in the region, with hi5 coming in second. Nokia (NYSE: NOK) is dominant in the region, with brands like Sony (NYSE: SNE) Ericsson (NSDQ: ERIC) and Huawei competing for a distant second place.

– Opera Mini users viewed more than 5 billion pages in October. Each person using Opera Mini viewed approximately 242 pages on average. Since September, page views have gone up 12.2 percent. Since October 2007, this number is up 326 percent.

– The report also includes a look at the ten most popular sites in the ten countries with the highest amount of traffic. In the US, UK, Egypt and India, Google.com is the most visited web site. In Indonesia, Ukraine, South Africa and Poland, it is the second most visited website. In China, it is third, and in Russia, sixth.

Release | Report

Contact ApolloBravo Mobile Marketing about our Snd2Phone platform with automated mobile web site creation.

Photo Credit: ricardoalvarez

Social Media Deals Report: This 199-page report, filled with charts and data, examines the categories, number and size of VC and M&A deal in social media from 2007 through 2008. Visit the ContentNext Reports page

Hey everyone loves something free right? Not hard to get someone to click a link to become a fan if they know they are getting a free pizza out of it. Bargain shopping and coupon websites and blogs were abuzz and Papa John’s added 120,000 fans in the first 24 hours of the offer.

Via www.sogoodblog.com

Read More http://www.sogoodblog.com/2008/11/19/papa-johns-fan-base-surging-on-facebook/

Contact ApolloBravo to execute Facebook Coupon and Gifting Campaigns

November 4, 2008

Use of mobile data services continues to increase in the U.S.

Mobile social network Limbo and market research agency GfK Technology have released their latest Mobile Advertising Report.

The third-quarter report reveals that mobile advertising awareness grew 33 percent in nine months against a backdrop of 6 percent growth in mobile phone usage. This suggests an increased allocation of advertising dollars to mobile formats through the first nine months of the year.

“The top-level findings from the report are that mobile is growing in the U.S. and the growth of the awareness of mobile ads is significantly higher, indicating that mobile ads are reaching mass market,” said Rob Lawson, cofounder and chief marketing officer of Limbo, Burlingame, CA.

“Just like data services are dominated by text messaging and the mobile Web, it’s the same for mobile advertising—mobile advertising is still dominated by SMS-based content, so while the medium is growning, don’t be afraid to use low-tech strategies like SMS,” he said.

Nearly four out of 10 Americans with a mobile phone—104 million—recall seeing advertising on their mobile device between July and September 2008.

SMS continues to impress

This is the first time the number of Americans aware of mobile advertising has exceeded 100 million in a three-month period.

The most commonly viewed ads were in text messages, with 60 million consumers having recalled seeing text message-based ads, an increase of 42 percent in nine months.

Mobile Web advertising also grew strongly, but with 31 million people recalling this format, it has about half the reach of text-messaging ads. See full study.http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/advertising/2036.html

ApolloBravo can deliver SMS campaigns linked to search optimized mobile web sites. Contact us to learn more.