Our mobile marketing trends 2010 report was a big hit with over 65,000 views and comments on slideshare and scribd. This year we cover the rapidly expanding use of smart phones to access social networks. We also take a deep look at creative ways to use SMS text promotions and integrating them with Facebook, QR Codes and mobile websites.  We share some of our mobile campaigns Including Text to Win, Snap to Win, Text to Give, Text to Screen, digital signage and mobile coupon integration.  Plus much more…Take a look.
 
Mobile Marketing Trends 2011. Mobile Goes Social

Retail Mobile Coupons are a idea who’s time has come. Borders Books UK had a 69% opt-in rate for mobile coupons, among existing e-mail club members! This was with no in-store promotion. Why, because they are easy to use. No need to print them, they are with you when you need them, they are green and they are linked to a loyalty card, so you can leave that home as well. I am not sure about you but it is not very often I would print out an e-mailed coupon fold it up and put it in my wallet. Mobile just makes more sense as a consumer and as a marketer.

With the advent of digital signage in is also easy to opt people into your club just by texting, in store, no plastic, no paper, no mailings. Need more convincing read this article for Mobile Marketing Profits.

“Is it on sale?” The mobile opportunity – people are buying now from Mobile Marketing Profits

In today’s market, consumers are thinking twice before they buy almost anything.  “How much do I need it?” “Do I need it all, or do I just want it?” “It is on sale?” Questions people ask when they’re uncertain about their own economic futures.

This “Is it on sale?” thinking presents an ideal opportunity for mobile marketing to worried consumers.  For example, if a consumer has a genuine need and desire for a purchase more complex or higher value than an impulse buy – anything from an upgraded mobile phone to a new car – they may repeatedly pass up that item at full price, or even with some discounting.  Stretching their spending dollars by waiting for a better deal is a safer move in a tight economy.

But what if that same consumer were to receive a coupon on their mobile phone while they were out shopping? Not a printed coupon sitting at home with the unopened mail, or an email coupon waiting in a distant inbox to be printed out and stuck in a purse or a pocket.  Rather, a targeted offer made to the right consumer at the right time, in the right place.

This sort of precision targeting has been the promise of mobile marketing for many years, but few companies have yet to fully leverage such a strategy today.  Confusing opt-in/op-out rules for commercial SMS messages, platform compatibility issues with sending MMS coupons to different families of smartphones, divergent carrier support for standards and commercial traffic – all of these factors and more have served to discourage corporate involvement in robust mobile couponing.

Yet there are best practices and design solutions which can work with all of these impediments to transform them into success factors.  An inbound mobile marketing campaign driven by point-of-sale signage and advertising placements combines the consumer opt-in process with the marketing contact.  Use of well crafted standard SMS messages (text-only) sidesteps MMS and barcode compatibility issues to reach all SMS-capable phones.  Even minimal integration between the messaging gateway provider and your own retail management systems can provide end-to-end accountability and realtime program ROI.

You as a mobile marketer need to keep the following things in mind when pursuing this kind of program:

1. How will the consumer become aware of your campaign?
2. How will you obtain their permission to interact?
3. How will the offer be redeemed at the point of sale?

By offering consumers mobile coupons, businesses can create stronger customer relationships while giving consumers what they want, resulting in increased satisfaction, and increased profitability.

“Is it on sale?” The mobile opportunity – people are buying now from Mobile Marketing Profits

Want to learn more about Mobile Coupons Contact ApolloBravo and ask about our Loyalty Link Program with integrated digital signage.

Contact ApolloBravo for information on integrating SMS Text, text-2-win and mobile coupon campaigns with the mobile web.

Read More US Mobile Phone Text and Web Usage 2009 Study Executive Summary | Mobile Marketing Association.

Mobile marketing Watch: Nielsen Mobile is so upbeat about SMS marketing, its analysts even use the jargon!

In its December 2008 report titled “The Short Code Marketing Opportunity,” Nielsen Mobile outlines the success of numerous SMS campaigns, describes how it bridges old and new media, and engages customers because it’s a “highly personal and interactive medium.” In its closing sentence, the report tells marketers: “Good luck 2 u.”

No wonder Nielsen descends into text-speak. According to research figures, SMS messaging has become extremely popular with U.S. wireless subscribers. In the third quarter of 2008, 203 million of 263 million users, or 77 percent, paid for texting either as part of a data package or in per-transaction fees. By the third quarter, wireless subscribers were sending an average 357 texts per month.

During the same period, brands using SMS saw great response. Coca-Cola’s short code campaigns resulted in 1.1 million AT&T and Verizon Wireless customers actively texting with the beverage company. Some 1.013 million (presumably pizza-loving) Verizon and AT&T subscribers texted with the pie chains Domino’s, Pizza Hut, and Papa John’s. Foot Locker’s VIP program resulted in 306,000 AT&T and Verizon subscribers exchanging texts with the shoe chain. And the SMS campaigns of more than two dozen radio stations–which used the technology to let listeners enter contests and engage with their favorite on-air hosts–received enough response that the campaigns appear in Nielsen’s Messaging Report.

What does all this mean?

It proves that as texting becomes embedded in U.S. consumers’ daily life, it is also the ideal way for marketers to reach them. (As long as these texts are permission-based opt-in messages, of course.) This isn’t just true for national brands. As Nielsen noted in its report, a regional chain of Ashley Furniture HomeStores in the Carolinas saw ROI of $122 for every $1 spent when it used SMS to promote a “secret sale.”

Besides radio, print media has also used SMS to create multi-channel campaigns. Hearst Magazines has implemented campaigns to offer specials to readers of titles as varied as CosmoGirl and SmartMoney–proving that print really can survive in a digitized world.

To be sure, SMS usage among wireless subscribers in the United States lags behind everyone else in the world except Canada, according to Nielsen. The U.S. rate was 57 percent in the third quarter, compared to 88 percent in Russia, which had the highest usage of all countries mentioned.

However that U.S. rate is bound to increase, especially after the recent presidential campaign drew more awareness to text campaigns. Nielsen estimates that the famous SMS-announcement of Sen. Joe Biden as Barack Obama’s running mate was received by 2.9 million phone users. While election-year hysteria has died down, excitement over SMS marketing–on the part of consumers–keeps growing.

Contact ApolloBravo for a free consultation on mobile marketing campaigns 703-835-9688 or text bravo to 99702

Nielsen To Mobile Marketers: “Good Luck 2 U” : Mobile Marketing Watch – The Pulse Of The Mobile Marketing Community.

Textings Political Triumph by Ben Goddard

New media came into its own during the 2008 campaign with the successful use of the Internet for organizing, communicating and fundraising. Many proclaimed the new age of digital campaigns was upon us. Well, we haven’t seen anything yet. Phones are taking over as the cutting-edge political communication device — and I don’t mean those old-fashioned phone banks with their push polls, voter ID and GOTV calls that interrupted so many pleasant dinner hours or favorite TV programs in the past. Those anonymous rooms filled with rows of paid phone operators with their voter registration lists are being pushed out of the game by mobile media.

Mobile phones deliver a reach never before seen by any medium. Eighty-six percent of the U.S. population has a cell phone, providing more reach than cable TV, home Internet access and personal computers. There are more wireless devices in use than televisions and computers combined — and those numbers are growing most rapidly among Latinos, millennials and Americans over 30 years of age.

Of the 262 million cell phones currently subscribed in the U.S., over 95 percent are SMS-capable. Americans using those phones send some 70 billion text messages each month. That is a lot of communication going on out there. Most frequently, text messages are sent and received by younger Americans. Over 75 percent of 18-to-29-year-old mobile phone users are frequent users of text messages. But it’s not just a young person’s game. The fastest-growing group of texters is “soccer moms” who have figured out the best way to reach kids who don’t return calls to their cell phone is via text. As those moms have become more familiar with texting, they’ve used it to reach their peers, creating a viral growth in text messaging among adults, in particular opinion leaders who are so valuable to an issue advocacy or political campaign. They have quickly adopted texting as a quick, easy and reliable way to communicate throughout their busy days. Research, admittedly conducted by mobile marketers, shows that 94 percent of text messages are read.

About five times as many people respond to mobile messages as compared to traditional, off-mobile call-to-action campaigns.Public officials have now begun to endorse mobile media as well.  It is difficult to send an e-mail from a Metro car, for example, but simple to text one word and four digits of a short code. The person sending the text gets an immediate response and an invitation to join a movement for change.

In the 2008 presidential campaign, Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) experimented with pages on Facebook, MySpace and other social-networking sites, without great success. Now-President Barack Obama did a better job by producing great content and engaging visitors in a dialogue. Obama even used text messaging to announce Delaware Sen. Joe Biden (D) as his vice presidential choice and to promote some events. In the few short months since the Obama/McCain campaign the technology has become more sophisticated and the users more engaged. The potential uses of mobile media are virtually unlimited.

Look for more and more cell phone messages in the 2010 campaign and in issue advocacy efforts in the months ahead. The technology is opening up whole new communication channels. But, as always, the tool is only as good as the message it carries. The challenge for political practitioners will be to devise creative messages that make best the use of all those phones.Goddard is a founding partner of political consultants Goddard Claussen.

Read more http://thehill.com/ben-goddard/textings-political-triumph-2009-03-11.html

The wardrobe on Gossip Girl isn’t the only thing that changes with the seasons — for season 2 everyone showed up with a new cell phone. Serena, Blair others take mobile multitasking to a new level. CW Network also uses extensive mobile marketing tactics to promote the show.

Contact ApolloBravo for the latest methods to reach the smart phone consumer. www.apollobravo.com
[via Geeksugar] & textually.org

Barack Obama’s campaign is counting on a potent new weapon for Election Day: the humble cell-phone text message. Bloomberg reports.

Texting may do for the Democratic presidential candidate what arm-twisting precinct captains did in years past: prod millions to get out and vote. The Obama campaign plans to use the millions of cell-phone numbers it has amassed over the past 22 months to blast its supporters with that message today.

The biggest concern for the Obama campaign is getting young people — who have registered in record numbers and shown unprecedented interest in surveys — to turn out. In 2004, only 45 percent of those under 30 showed up to vote, according to Census data, making them just 16 percent of the electorate that year.

… Studies show that texting is among the most effective and cheapest ways of getting supporters, particularly blacks, Hispanics and younger voters, to the voting booth.

Photo of a line of voters stretched around the corner at a polling place this morning from The New York Times. Read More  http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2008/11/021660.htm

Contact ApolloBravo for the latest on Political Mobile Strategy www.apollobravo.com