Situational Marketing

The iPhone Effect on Mobile Marketing

Have you tried the new iPhone?   Doesn't it appear to make your life a ton easier?  If I am a brand marketer how do I use this device to sell more products and services? 

This is what I term as the iPhone effect.  Marketers desperately trying to figure out how the new iPhone is going to impact their brand.  The iPhone provides an easy to use interface along with powerful software to make interacting with consumers easier than ever before.  SMS is a snap - Real time updates - GPS capabilities - Ability to upload pictures to an application - all very easy with an iPhone.  But isn't there a bigger picture here?  What is the bottom line for marketers when it comes to the iPhone?  Here are my thoughts for marketers feeling the iPhone effect:

1.  The iPhone has raised the bar for mobile marketing.  They have sold over a million new 3G phones since its debut.  It is not the golden ticket for every brand but will give it the kick every brand marketer needs to move forward with a mobile program.

2.  If you have not allotted budget to mobile marketing, I would start now, as your competition probably is.  It is critical to begin to understand how consumers want to interact with your brand over their mobile phone.  This could be as simple as adding a mobile component to your next marketing campaign or identifying how to utilize mobile messaging to enhance the brand experience through integrated messaging.

Even though the iPhone effect for brands is very powerful, it is still the content which is King for mobile users.  Be sure to engage your users with relevant content on a timely basis and they will be loyal mobile advocates for your brand no matter what the device.

Email Marketing Interview With Karen Talavera

The following is an interview with Karen Talavera, an email marketing expert with Synchronocity Marketing.

1) Karen, can you tell me a little bit about your company and what you do? No marketing speak is allowed for this question?

Yes, Synchronicity Marketing can be thought of as a strategic sherpa for marketers transitioning, evolving, and expanding beyond traditional direct marketing channels to new ones.  We help companies integrate new communications channels – like email or mobile messaging – into their traditional ones, and avoid the pitfalls in the process. The goal is to help marketers move away from a channel-siloed way of marketing to thinking holistically, so that the whole (constellation of efforts) produces a far more powerful impact than the individual components could on their own.

2) Integration is a pretty common buzzword in your line of work – what does it actually mean, and can you talk about an example where integration actually led to more revenue?

Integration to me means connecting the tools in the toolbox so that the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts.  It means different marketing channels and tactics work to reinforce and create incremental benefit for one another, rather than each operating in a pigeon-holed fashion.  Consumers are multi-media savvy so marketers need to assume their customers will experience their brand in many environments, including some like social media sites (MySpace, Second Life, You Tube) which can’t be entirely controlled.  Today there are so many channels, formats, and devices let alone points of presence through which a target audience member can be reached and communicated to that if marketing campaigns are not cross-channel integrated, meaning if we are not helping people “connect the dots”, the alternative is our messages will be hopelessly fragmented and therefore, lost or unintelligible.

GIMA Golf Scramble

GIMA has free golf at the Forest Park Golf Course. We're still looking for a few hole sponsors (three in all), so if you want to get in front of the city's fastest growing marketing club (full of interactive marketing professionals), now's the time to join/sponsor/get some free golf.

Something you may not no, we also have a free job board for St Louis interactive jobs.

Get A Call From A Wrestler?

A personalized phone call from a professional wrestler is not out of the question for some Missouri residents this spring as Adamson used Blast Companies' integrated voice technology to kick off the Missouri Lottery Muscle Up promotion in early April.

As part of the program, Blast Companies created the application that allowed users to create a personalized phone call for friends, family, etc. that featured the name, automobile make, county of residence and Viper's message of the call recipient. The call was then sent via either phone or email to notify the recipient to win a new vehicle as part of the Missouri Lottery promotion. Users put the call together via a website created by Adamson: http://www.callofviper.com.

"Using Blast Companies integrated voice services, we were able to create a fun promotion that not only engaged our target, but also left an impression with call recipients," said Jason Parks, Adamson principal and idea director. "Blast Companies not only provided the technology but also worked with us on all aspects of the promotion, and was integral to its success."

Blast Companies technology also featured real-time reporting that allowed Adamson to view the success of the campaign with the number of calls created and sent on a daily basis. 

"The Muscle Up promotion is really a perfect example of our technology in action - with information provided to us, we can create virtually any phone call, email, text message for any promotion," said Chris Torbit, Blast Companies president. "Call of Viper was fun to work on; we are thrilled with its success, and we can't wait to work with Adamson in the future."

Everyone Starts At Zero

I want to interact with my mobile consumers but where do I start?

Having worked with many brands this is the question I get most asked over and over again.   “ I don’t have a list of mobile numbers within my database” “Since we do not have a mobile database, where do we begin?”  “How do we gather preferences on our clients and provide relevant mobile content to them?”

These are all incredible questions which companies should be asking mobile application providers.   But please understand, Everyone starts at zero. I have said this line many times to help brand managers understand that every brand starts with zero mobile participants.  Do you remember when you started with no email addresses?  (There was a time when this was the case) What did you do?  How did the brand attempt to gather this information?  Once your brand got an email address what did you do with it?   Here are some tips on my philosophy of creating a successful mobile presence with your brand:

• Decide to move forward with a long-term mobile marketing strategy and earmark budget for it.
• Create mobile campaigns which coincide with your marketing calendar.
• Use these campaigns to begin to build a long-term mobile database.
• Have multiple avenues to allow participants to opt-in.
• These tools should gather preferences and mobile opt-in information.
• Have a post campaign plan to provide relevant weekly/monthly content to mobile users (True success of a long-term mobile strategy!)

Successful brands who are utilizing mobile marketing within their marketing mix are committed to a long-term strategy.   Yes – every brand starts with zero mobile numbers!  Mentally please get beyond it!  Create a plan to build your mobile database which provides content to users which provides value.  Think like a marathon runner and you too will be successful in this channel.   

Reheating Your Business Leftovers

I'm working with a client who sells GPS tracking systems to small businesses.  The process is simple - the company advertises, and small businesses with more than 5 vehicles buy a GPS phone and connect it to the software.

The company turns on the software, and like magic, can track the vehicle throughout the day.  We were talking about their marketing mix, which includes SEM and SEO, and I asked about e-mails.  The Blast Companies store is easy to use, and starting $35 a month, they can send 1000 e-mails out to prospects. 

Where do I get the leads from?  That's the question.

My first thought was to find a competitor who went out of business, and buy their database.  It's a truism that the best clients are those who've bought your service before.  Even if they were burned, they represent a group of individuals who saw value in the services you provide.   Companies go out of business all the time, usually for reasons not related to the product itself.

Finding a bankrupt, or near-bankrupt competitor and purchasing their leads and database could be the easy way to market your services with a phone and email campaign for thousands less than brand new shiny marketing campaign using print, television and radio.

Think of a failed competitor's database as cold pizza.  All it needs is a little reheating to make it a filling and delicious meal.

Wireless Amber Alerts

The Ad Council is sponsoring a series of commercials about Amber Alerts, the community response system in place for children who have gone missing.

The first three hours after a child abduction are the most important, and the Amber Alert system takes advantage of the eyeballs in the community to help law enforcement track down the abductors.

It's a great system, and one that works with citizens, rather than against them.

Which is why the latest technology upgrade to use SMS text messaging for Amber Alerts is such a great idea.  In addition to radio, television, and press releases, you can sign up for Amber Alerts on your phone, which means that driving around, you might be in the position to help save a child.

https://www.wirelessamberalerts.org is the site, and I urge you to join.  Just Text the word "Amber" followed by a space and your Zip code, and you'll be enrolled. You can stop at anytime, but it's a valuable service, and mobile bloggers can make a difference by writing about it and  linking to the website.

GIMA Meeting, Starring Chris Torbit!

Over 82% of the US population has a cell phone thus liberating our audiences from their computer screen and opening up to new ways of targeted marketing. This month, our panel of experts will discuss how to get started in mobile marketing, along with reviewing some of the most successful strategies they have encountered in the space.

Our panelists:
Rob Sprungman, Director of Sales, Midwest, AdMob - the world's largest mobile marketplace for advertisers while offering a surgical level of targeting through content, device, carrier, etc. Rob most recently was the Midwest Sales Manager for Electronic Arts (EASports.com, EA.com, and POGO.com) and has been in the interactive space for nearly ten years. Prior to interactive, Rob was a media manager and buyer for Montgomery Ward.

Chris Torbit, President and Founder, Blast Companies -  offering emerging communication applications and marketing services in text messaging, email marketing, mobile marketing and voice broadcasting that enable clients to effectively communicate with their target audience.

Steven Kelley, CEO and Founder, MessageBuzz - an innovative solution provider of choice to advertising agencies creating mobile marketing campaigns and strategic mobile communication solutions for their clients.

Join us and interact with the fast-growing St. Louis interactive community!
When:  Wednesday, April 16, 6-9 p.m.
           6-7 Networking - refreshments and heavy hor d'oeuvres
           7-8 Presentation
           8-9 More networking
Where: Monarch Restaurant, 7401 Manchester Rd, Maplewood, MO 63143, (314) 644-3995

To register at the GIMA site (Gateway Interactive Marketing Association)

No cost to you, thanks to our sponsors:

                                          

Selling Capacity For The 2008 Political Campaign

The calls have started coming in about voice broadcast, e-mail marketing, and text messaging for political campaigns.  Most political consultants are focused on the cost of robocalls, but there's more to an online campaign and messaging that voice broadcast. 

The smart campaigns are taking advantage of the internet to drive political messages, organize volunteers, and in the case of the presidential campaigns, raise hundreds of millions of dollars.

Don't get left behind.  Yes, you can contact us at Voterblast to talk about  your voice broadcast needs (it's cheaper now to reserve capacity), but be thinking about how you can use text clubs, e-mails, and blogs to affect your local district and state races.

What Do Mobile Customers Really Want?

It seems to be a question keeping a lot of us up at night:

Ewan takes some thoughts down from actual normobs (normal mobile users).

One of his commenters says it's predictability (I agree with that)

Kim lays it out in her blog series, and says it's location.

This is the no-brainer category of information to provide for your customers via mobile. Location-specific knowledge is the number one reason that people access the mobile web for mobile search.

That's true today - but I was at the Apple Store thinking about the upcoming uses for mobile phones.

I felt pretty cool, but now that we have smart phones and the iPhone and web access with cheap data plans, the possibility of doing live shopping without the help of someone at home is really going to take off. In addition to shopping at retail stores, we can comparison shop with friends, setting location against location, and pitting both against online versions.