Situational Marketing

How Many People Have Cell Phones?

We write about mobile marketing alot, but if you're new to the idea, or are wondering just how effective marketing to someone's cell phone is, I thought I'd share some numbers from the Harris Interactive poll that tracks wireless usage in the US. 

The Harris Interactive Poll found that:

Over eight in ten (81%) U.S. adults say that they have a landline phone and over three-quarters (77%) say that that they have a wireless or cell phone;
About one in six (16%) of U.S. adults use the Internet, sometimes referred to as VoIP of Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol, to make telephone calls; and
About 98 percent of all adults have some telephone service with the remaining two percent saying that they do not have phone service at all.
About six in ten (63%) U.S. adults are using multiple approaches to making telephone calls. Interestingly,
Just under one in five (18%) of U.S. adults only use a landline phone;
Eleven percent (11%) are only using their cell phone and two percent (2%) are only using the Internet (VoIP); and
Five percent (5%) are only using either a cell phone or VoIP.

You cannot build a successful marketing program without first understanding the demographics of the people you wish to sell to.  The key thing to remember about cell phones is that 80% of US Adults use something other than a landline to communicate. 

What's funny is this poll is conducted on landlines, which means the numbers could be even greater than reported.  Do you know all of those fancy political polls we see during the presidential primaries and election?  Did you ever wonder why they are so far off, even when they're conducted at the same time?  It's not a fickle American public - it's the lack of recognition that many people have gone exclusively wireless (I'm one of them).  There's no way to account for them in regular polling.

Now imagine you're trying to reach an audience.  Based on what you've read, what's the single best way to ensure that your message is seen or heard.  That's right - it's their cell phone.

people have them then

******hattip:  recruiting bloggers

Search Engine Marketing Miss: Ask.com Gets A Question

We love television commercials.  When a good one comes on, we rewind the TiVo and go back to watch it (honestly we do), simply because we think good commercials are worth seeing.

The creative approach is worth taking a look at (and often is better than what we're watching).  Sometimes, the creativity is good, but the execution of the television/online integration doesn't go so well.  Take Ask.com, for example.

Wait - let's start at the beginning.  The point of the situational marketing (the idea, not this site), is to understand your target market and communicate with them the way that best fits them. Based on age, demographics, earnings, ethinicity - whatever your marketing people dig up - if you can understand how they want to be marketed to, you can improve your efficiency by giving them what they want.

Know your audience. It's pretty simple.

So when Ask.com ran commercials on television, I was initially impressed.  I liked what I saw.  Apparently, a lot of people did, because Yahoo and Google jumped into blended results real fast.  But I still liked the commercial, and so added Ask to my search list.

But it seems Ask, while creative in advertising, missed a big part of the integration.  David Erickson of e-strategy.com liked the commercial.  He liked it so much he followed the instructions.

I've been watching your most recent television ads that show off your blended search results by demonstrating a search for "eagles of death metal" and felt compelled to write a blog post about the commercial.

First, of course, I had to try out your demonstration search. So I typed "eagles" and out popped some search suggestions from the search box but as I continued to type and my search filled out to "eagles 0f"..., you no longer had any suggestions for me:

David wasn't amused, and you have to figure that if he typed in eagles of death metal, so did a lot of other people, all of whom were disappointed.  And then add people like me, who liked your commercial, but after reading e-strategy, are rather less than impressed with your follow-through.

Granted, we should be blaming the agency rather than Ask.com, but integration is something all companies should get, but search engine companies, if they don't get it, aren't going to be around.

The internet is a magnifier.  It amplifies your message, and let's your public take your ads and spread them far and wide.  Or it could have been.

That's A Lot Of Stamps: Newspapers Love Direct Mail

New Communications Review collects a number of reports of interest to marketers in this blog post, and one of the facts that jumped out at me was the amount of money spent on postage by US newspapers.

 The nation’s daily newspapers are spending nearly $1 billion on postage for services from the U.S. Postal Service, according to a national survey by the Newspaper Association of America. The survey says that newspapers spent more than $972 million in 2006 compared with $901 million in 2004 and $700 million in 2002. “Collectively, daily newspapers are a leading customer of the U.S. Postal Service and many of our member newspapers are the largest mailers in their local markets,” said John F. Sturm, president and CEO of the Newspaper Association of America. “Along with door-to-door delivery, on-street boxes, specialty publications and digital transmission, mail is one of many different platforms newspapers use to guarantee an audience to their advertising customers.” Read the entire article here.

$972 million, which rounds to a nice even billion, and then we go off to gnash our teeth and beat at our breast when we think about what could be done with that billion dollars if it were used in internet communications.  As is clear from the quote -- this does not include door-to-door delivery, on-street boxes, or the internet (lovingly described as digital transmission).

$1 billion dollars spent on postage by the newspaper business.  It staggers the mind.  Of course, it's clear from the article that more is going on than delivering newspapers.  Direct mail advertising is a big piece of the puzzle, accounting for almost all of that money - $713 to $785 million sent as part of a package deal to non-subscribers.

In essence, the newspapers are a big Direct Mail conglomerate.