Situational Marketing

Will There Be A Mobile Web?

I was speaking with my wife last week, discussing the type of mobile device we are going to buy in the new year.  It led us to talk about mobile sites, and the need for clients to optimize their sites for PDAs and new phones.  She pointed out that if we got an iPhone, or the new Google phone, there wouldn't be a need to find mobile sites, as the Safari browser (or Google browser) renders the entire site on the phone.

Made sense.  I figured mobile sites were a thing of the past.  And then I saw Ewan's post on the mobile web, and realize we were mistaken.  Yes, it seems like squeezing a website onto a phone browser is an easy solution.  As consumers, we say we want the internet on our phones,  but Ewan points out that's not true.

This issue is something that I absolutely, 100%, fundamentally disagree with. People (normobs — normal mobile users) do not want the internet on their mobile. They think they do.

But they don’t.

What they want is the information from the internet, optimised and perfectly formatted for their handset. They would never tell you this, because, as I said, they just don’t know.

Compressing banner ads and re-sizing images to give an out-of-context and screwed up version of the website the user is trying to view is SUCH a poor experience it’s not even worth talking about, especially when others have already hit the nail on the head so perfectly...

Without knowing much about the Vodaphone controversy, what he is saying makes a lot of sense.  As a normal cellphone user - I don't want the full internet.  I want what I want, when I want it.  Information from Rss feeds, the ability to browse a few mobile-friendly sites and blogs, and the ability to make transactions at my bank or other vendor safely and easily.

I'm not writing full documents out in public.  I want quick viewing that loads quickly and gives me what I want.  I want 20-30 minutes of easy reading time when I'm standing in line, or waiting for the wife to shop, or looking for sports scores.  I don't want ESPN.com - I want the mobile version of ESPN that gives me the football scores, some video, and columns I want to read.

It's a striking example of the need to be thinking ahead, and an excellent post on the future of mobile sites from SMS Text News.    

RehabCare Marketing Campaign - Press Release

St. Louis, MO (December 19, 2007) — In an effort to better communicate with students and new graduates in the medical rehabilitation fields, St. Louis, MO-based RehabCare turned to Blast Companies for development of a one-of-a-kind text messaging recruiting campaign.

Utilizing the engage mobile platform, Blast Companies helped RehabCare develop a text messaging application that enables RehabCare to gather information from employment candidates that includes not only their cell phone number, but also their email address, name, graduation date and specialty. Furthermore, all information is available in real time through Blast Companies’ data capture reporting.

Let's All Go To The Lobby, To Do Some Texting...

I was a latecomer to the text marketing world.  My mother learned to text before I did, and that's saying something  Part of the problem is the uses of texting weren't fleshed out.  I preferred to speak to someone, or write a proper e-mail, which is why to this day I still don't turn on my IM client.

Well, all that's changed.  While I still don't socially text, I have been making use of various commercial versions of mobile marketing.  They help me get what I want, when I want it, and if these companies are smart about it, they're using my interest in texting to build a database of people like me interested in their products.

Two uses of texting I've noticed and heartily approve of:

Test Case 1:  The Movies:  National Treasure is officially a blockbuster, bringing in scores of moviegoers to watch Nick Cage figure out who really was responsible for Lincoln's assassination.  The texting?  The advertisements for the movie tell  you to text the word 'Treasure" to a number, and they'll send you showtimes for the movie.  I don't have the exact number, but saw it in the Post-Dispatch this weekend.

It's a smart piece of marketing - subtle, but if you forget the time, or want to check different times while out, you can shoot a text message and get all the info you need.  You can also tell friends how to do so, if you really like the movie, opening up a viral effect from word-of-mouth (the key to viral is having a message that is easy to repeat).

This is all part of a larger marketing puzzle ($160 million in total), that's keeping NT at the top of the movie list during the holidays.  It's doubtful you have a $160 million in your marketing budget, but what ideas can you borrow for your marketing campaigns?

Report On Automotive Marketing

The key to wireless marketing is immediacy.  Western culture wants everything now.  Information, sales coupons, satisfaction - it doesn't matter what or where, and if our cellphones can deliver what we want, when we want it, we'll be happy consumers.

Some car dealers are figuring this out.  Volvo, not exactly a young hip brand, is using this in Europe, but I expect to see a lot of this move over to the US as marketers begin to understand how to use mobile marketing to sell automobiles.

And since we're on the subject of video - are you dealers making mobile websites?  If I'm on your showroom floor with my iPhone, are you taking advantage of my love for technology to sell to me?

Big Plans For Mobile Marketing In The Future

Marketing Sherpa tells us that everyone is into Mobile, and we should expect to see more of it.

Business-to-business mobile social networking is expected to gain even more traction as a marketing tool in 2008. A Universal McCann survey of B-to-B decision-makers last year highlighted the potential for mobile social networking: 69% of respondents said they participated in social networks.

Businesses, their employees, their partners and their customers face greater pressures on their time, so they are demanding access to information and contacts while on the move. Developing an effective strategy to take advantage of mobile social networking as a B-to-B marketing initiative is crucial.

The key benefit of mobile social marketing, of course, is immediate accessibility to potential customers and information. You’re connected to a network of contacts -- one you can interact with in the palm of your hand. These same people can find you or your business just as easily.

The trick to mobile is that it's just so obvious, but the execution requires nuanced management.  If you build a good list, and make sure people opt-in, the advantages are clear.  Set clear priorities, and measure your results.

The hard part is knowing the mobile space very well.  Do your customers all use the same wireless service/  Do they text?  Do they prefer IVR?

Can you track results?  Can you fix a problem quickly (say 10,000 text messages get sent to the same person).  And is it integrated into all of your other marketing?  My advice is to start small.  Pick a control group, run a test, and repeat several times until you have it perfect.  Look for easy wins, and build up your knowledge, success, reputation, and contact list as you go along.

The article gives you eight easy steps to follow to market to a social network using mobile sites, but you probably already know them.  Taking the time to do them correctly - now that's the real challenge.

What Kind Of Community Are You?

Church of the Customer wants to know if you're a Network or a Cult.  Or rather, they're helping you identify just what kind of a customer base you want to build.

For companies just dipping their toes into social media, the question, what kind of community do you want is usually met with a blank stare or a joke about KoolAid.  Deep down, I think most business owners want customers to join their cult.  It seems like the easy way to insure loyalty, but we often don't think about what you need to do to make a cult work for you.

There's the lighting, the robes, the 10 gallon drums for mixing the Kool-Aid (told you there'd be a joke).  The graphic tells a better story, which is that if you're building (or joining) a community online, what kind of community do you want to build?  And for Blast Marketing readers - how do you want to communicate with them.

   Check out their definition of a cult:

Cult
"Your community could be of medium size and resemble a cult. Its value is a strong belief system not fulfilled through mainstream channels. A charismatic leader has codified the belief system into rituals that people love and believe in. It may not be huge, but its devotion meter is off the scale."

That seems like a good idea, but it requires you to have a cult leader.  Anyone want to volunteer the time? 

The network sounds pretty good if you're a marketer, but it's difficult to sell a product to a network.  Everyone is in it for something.

Large communities form nations, but nations often don't want to hear from you.  They have their own agenda, and it's usually not selling 15% in the third quarter.

Which leaves Cliques.  Most social media marketing should focus on Cliques, because cliques form around a narrow set of criteria that are often complementary to you selling your product or service. Cliques are numerous, easy to find, and if you're willing to put the time in, you'll get a reward equal to or greater to your effort.

Unless you're one of those really lame cliques that are full of pretensions, but end up never really being much after high school.  Ben really makes you think about this.  What kind of community you want to build/join should be something you're asking yourself prior to the launch.types f

Help! I'm Getting Too Much E-mail!

An e-marketer report, forwarded to me by the ever-helpful Chris Torbit, references the problem with using e-mail marketing exclusively.  We as consumers have too many addresses, too much e-mail, and we can't opt-in everywhere.

 
Problem 1:  Many of us have multiple accounts.
Problem 2:  Everybody wants a piece of our time
Problem 3:  E-mail still works, at least for the moment.

These are the core problems of e-mail marketing, and yes, we're going to toot our own horn here, but this is what we build Consumer Decoder to solve.

Your opt-in strategy may be a brilliant one, but for most companies, the fatal flaw is in a lack of consumer choice.  The whole point of opt-in is customers get to tell you whether or not you have permission to contact them.  If your only method of communication is e-mail, you're going to lose customers who just can't take any more e-mail messaging.

You can solve that by offering a myriad of choices for customers to be contacted, including Voice, IVR, SMS, and RSS, but you need four vendors to handle that work, and your database integration becomes hopelessly tangled.

Consumer Decoder is built to help your customers self-select their messaging options.  They opt-in, choose how they want to be contacted, and you do nothing but service their needs and focus on your messaging.  Currently, most people prefer e-mail, but the market is changing, and based on your demographic, e-mail may not be the only choice.  What are the stats on usage?  The chart is below the fold.

Microsoft Ads On MSN Mobile

Yesterday marked the day that Microsoft ventures in to the promising new market of mobile advertising. According to the Mobilitysite blog, Microsoft Corp. has began placing ads on its U.S. MSN mobile page.......

"The company will start with advertisements from Bank of America, Paramount Pictures and Jaguar. Microsoft already sells mobile phone advertisements in Belgium, France, Spain, Japan and the United Kingdom."

For the moment, mobile internet usage has not come close to computer-based web usage but companies. The big question is, will it replace the $40 billion online advertising market? Companies like Microsoft and Blast Companies are banking on it. It is a planning tool needed to achieve long term success and mobile marketing is an incredible channel of communication for corporate brands to interact with consumer's most personal device.

Mobile Banking

Evidently, it really is a mobile world after all, at least it appears that mobile banking and commerce are going in that direction anyway. According to the Banks.com blog, mobile banking is yet another step to further the world's progression toward doing everything faster, faster, faster.......

"Mobile banking enables consumers to access their personal information through their cell phones, with the help of special software. Mobile banking launched in the U.S. earlier this year amidst a giant media storm.  Cell phones and banks are taking sides and picking teammates."

As the number of mobile subscribers continues to increase it is only a matter of time until banks begin to tap into this market. They've already began doing so in India. As a matter of fact, there are currently 1.6 million mobile banking users and "mobile wallets" look to replace credit and debit cards in the very near future.

Mobile carriers have already begun to address the need for mobile banking and have begun partnering  with several banks to make the mobile wallet a reality........

"Unlike last week's announcement by AT&T, in which Wachovia and other banks launched their own mobile-banking applications in partnership with the country's largest wireless provider, Citibank customers can access Citi Mobile from any carrier on over 100 handsets ranging from the BlackBerry to the RAZR. Bank of America launched a smaller mobile banking offering in Tennessee last month, and says it will take the service cross-country by year's end."

As mobile wallet technology becomes more mainstream, banks are going to need to creatively and effectively market their software. Blast Company's long term approach to mobile interaction with mobile users is the most effective way to create a "buzz" in the mobile community about this new and innovative form of contactless payment.

Tattoo Marketing

Did you know that two out of every five Americans between the ages of 26 and 40 have tattoos? I am in that category and have not felt the need for a tattoo as of yet, but as the  time comes for my car to need new tires, I might just be tempted to go and get one.

Tattoos were once seen as a sign of rebellion but have become so mainstream that advertisers have started using them to market everything from shoes to energy drinks. Marketers are tapping in to the fact that tattoos aren't just for the young anymore, but are for those that think and act young.

Tattoos deliver a unique message; a message, that some say, has gotten lost in the world of tv, blogs, and video. For example,

"For three years, Goodyear's Dunlop tire unit has offered a set of free tires to anyone who will get the company's flying-D logo tattooed somewhere on their body, and 98 people have taken up the offer."

Leaseyourbody.com is a site that will connect people with advertisers who will pay those willing to wear the brands they represent. But will this shift in trend become so common that it will, in turn, become less effective?  David Crockett, assistant professor of marketing at the University of South Carolina,  thinks so......

"You've got this constant game of cat and mouse, of youth culture and these companies. That lifestyle just gets shorter and shorter and shorter."

We recognize that consistent and creative marketing can be very competitive in today's ever changing environment and while tattoo marketing may not be the direction most companies are  willing to take, Blast Companies can help deliver messages in a myriad of mediums that require less pain and ink.