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M3 Mobile Marketing e-Newsletter (November 2009)

New Survey Shows 42% of 18-34 Year-Old Cell Phone Owners are Interested in Receiving Location Based Advertising Specials, Provided They Opt-In for Such Alerts

By PR Web

According to a new survey, American consumers are interested in receiving opt-in marketing messages. The survey of 2,029 adults, ages 18 and older, measured cell phone owner preference levels and receptivity for opt-in mobile marketing messages from brick-and-mortar businesses.

The results found that 42% of 18 to 34 year old cell phone owners and 33% of 35 to 44 year olds are at least somewhat interested in receiving alerts about sales on their cell phones from their favorite establishments. Men are more interested than women; 51% of men ages 18 to 34, and 34% of women of the same age range who own cell phones, are at least somewhat interested in receiving opt-in shopping alerts on their cell phones.

Food, entertainment and consumer products top the list of categories. Only 1% of cell phone owners currently receive alerts about sales at their favorite establishments on their phones, yet 26% would be at least somewhat interested in receiving such alerts, assuming they were permission-based.

Of those interested in receiving alerts, 53% would be at least somewhat interested in being notified about restaurant specials around them.  

About 2-in-5 of these adults would like to receive alerts about sales for:
Movie/event tickets (43%)
Weather information (39%)
Clearance or liquidation sales (37%)

About another 3-in-10 of these adults would want to be alerted about:
Pizza (31%)
Clothes (30%)
Fast food (27%)

About one quarter would want to be notified about:
Electronics (25%)
Music (24%)
Happy hour specials or bar and night club offers (21%).

Impulse shopping among cell phone owners

The survey found that marketers have a substantial opportunity to influence impulse purchasers. In fact, about 9-in-10 U.S. adults have made an impulse purchase when they were out shopping in a store based on a sale or special going on around where they were. Nearly a quarter of adults owning cell phones (22%) make this type of impulse purchase at least once per week or more often. Among women with cell phones ages 18 to 44, 27% report making at least one impulse purchase a week; among men 18 - 34, this number rises to 31%.

According to Kathryn Koegel of Primary Impact Research, "Many American consumers have their mobile devices with them all day long, including when they are shopping. Reaching a receptive audience that has indicated they are interested presents a big opportunity to influence impulse purchases, particularly with younger audiences."

 

Mobile Marketing + Social Networking = Success

By Corrine Dempsey

Social networking has, without a doubt, become an integral part of many people’s daily lives, especially while they’re on the go.  In the past six months alone, the number of people regularly accessing social networks on their mobile phones has more than doubled.  Four of the top ten URLs visited via mobile devices were social networking sites.  Not surprisingly, industry leaders such as Facebook and MySpace ranked highly on the list.

However, mobile social activity involves more than just accessing social networking sites from a mobile phone.  It’s also about participating in interactive mobile programs.  Think of this approach to marketing as more of a hybrid model where online & mobile marketing can be happily married.  Take the following chain of events for example:  Post a call-to-action on a Social Network à Follower opts-in à Mobile coupon is broadcasted à Consumer redeems & makes purchase à Additional mobile promotions are broadcasted à Consumer makes additional purchases.  Both parties have benefited in this case.  The consumer receives discounts and the company adds another customer to their mobile database and increases sales.  This is a quick example of how these two methods of marketing can work harmoniously together to achieve a common goal.

Without question, Twitter, Facebook or any other social networking site are great marketing tools in and of themselves.  But when adding mobile into the mix, the return can multiply.  Mobile provides precise targeting, which is more than half of the battle when it comes to marketing.  When directly targeting a niche crowd with a genuine interest, success is inevitable.  This is why mobile programs, combined with social networks, really work!  Mobile phones truly have the potential to become the core of all social networking efforts because of their convenience, promptness and the fact that they are “always on.”

 

Can Verizon's Motorola 'Droid' Live Up to the Hype?

By Daniel Ionescu

Verizon cranked up its hype machine recently, preparing the launch of the Droid, Motorola's Android-powered competitor to the iPhone. But will it be good enough to trump the iPhone?

Verizon's Droid is not a surprise by far. The Droid is actually the Google Android-powered Motorola Sholes, which we first heard of in July. Only this time, Verizon is ready to show off its flagship smartphone, which is set to go head to head with the iPhone when it launches next month.

What's interesting is the way Verizon decided to market the Droid. The iDon't campaign basically bashes the iPhone, highlighting some of the shortcomings of Apple's popular smartphone, such as the lack of a physical keyboard, camera flash, multitasking or lack of widgets and customization -- which, of course, Droid does.

To recap the key specs of the Motorola Droid (aka Sholes) leaked in August, you can expect a 3.7-inch capacitive display (854 by 480 pixels resolution); 5-megapixel camera with flash, autofocus and video recorder; GPS; Wi-Fi; Bluetooth 2.0; and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The Droid is reportedly a three-way effort between Verizon, Motorola, and Google.

We are yet to see official pictures of the Droid, or anything except a November release date (known since July), but the guys over at Boy Genius Report managed to get a hands-on with the Droid. They note that it is running Android 2.0, it's thin and very fast, and the keyboard is "pretty usable."

TechCrunch's Michael Arrington is already calling the Droid "the real deal," saying that the device "poses a different and more significant challenge to the iPhone than any other phone to date." And it makes sense: a great Google Android device on Verizon's top network could make a dent in the iPhone sales this holiday season, especially as the hardware capabilities of the Droid are superior in some cases.

However, many vendors have claimed to have iPhone-killer devices, but Apple continues to reign with a loyal following and the 75,000+ strong app store. So it's good to see the Verizon Droid as a serious Android-threat to the iPhone, which would force Apple to upgrade and open up its smartphone in the long run.

 

M3 Mobile Marketing Participates in Global Creative Economy Convergence Summit

By Chrissy Sirianni

On Monday, October 5th M3 Mobile Marketing was proud to attend and participate in the 2009 Global Creative Economy Convergence Summit held at The Pennsylvania Convention Center and hosted by Innovation Philadelphia.  The overall goal of this year’s summit was to bring together leading creative professionals, technology experts, entrepreneurs and business and cultural leaders in order to gain a better understanding of how they drive the creative economy. 

The day’s agenda featured several engaging sessions led by industry experts as well as a keynote breakfast, luncheon and reception.  M3 Mobile Marketing’s President, Gary Ackerman, was amongst the panel members for the conference titled “ABCs of Mobile Marketing.”  He was joined by three other local professionals, each contributing their knowledge of and experience in the mobile channel.  Gary’s insight into the business and marketing perspective of mobile prompted several poignant questions from the audience and propelled further discussions.

“It was great to see such a large turnout and variety in companies represented during today’s summit.  Plus, it was the perfect opportunity for us to meet other individuals within the creative industry and share ideas and strategies that may help further one another’s business goals,” said Ackerman.  “I look forward to implementing some of the new information learned into our marketing campaigns here at M3 Mobile Marketing.”          

 

How to Create a Mobile Marketing Strategy Map

By Gib Bassett

As marketers go about establishing plans and budgets for 2010, they cannot afford to ignore mobile as a channel for engaging customers in revenue- and profit-producing ways. 

With many companies experiencing success meeting their business objectives using mobile and clear ROI metrics emerging, the conversation has shifted from “Should I try mobile?” to “How do I go about building mobile most effectively into my plans?” 

To this end, the concept of a mobile marketing strategy map can help marketers quickly establish and communicate their plans for leveraging mobile throughout the year.

Knowledge-based marketing actions

Marketers stand to achieve the greatest value from mobile through a better understanding of their customers while “on-the-go,” and using this state-based insight to create relevant, ongoing interactions to facilitate a variety of marketing programs. Like best practices in other marketing disciplines aimed at executing:

Brand awareness: Mobile applications are often developed with an eye on brand affinity, but text communications are also employed for direct branding, a flavor of direct marketing that connects brand marketers with their customers to drive consumption and gain on-the-ground insight into brand choice decisions. 

Marketers are also using mobile effectively to leverage the channel’s built-in social media and viral marketing qualities to transform customers into brand stewards who spread the word.

Champion/challenger testing: Mobile may be the killer application for testing the effectiveness of marketing messages and various media before a full-scale rollout.

Text message interactions are often used to this end by tracking response rates by unique keywords promoted in various media. This also serves to measure return on investment once a program is concluded, for advertising spend across media such as print, billboards, radio and television.

Promotions, sales or coupons: Limited time offers to drive short-term demand requirements such as promotions, sales or coupons are among the most popular uses of mobile that marketers stitch into their programs throughout the year. 

Coupon distribution and redemption can be executed using many combinations of mobile methods, including text, applications and Web. These are also often core components of loyalty programs.

Note that mobile is absent in the names of each of these applications. This is because mobile is as much a key tactic as others used by marketers to perform their jobs more effectively, such as email, the Web, point of sale, direct mail, advertising and the call center. 

As such, mobile considerations must be top of mind for marketers as they establish their priorities and budgets.

Getting started

Many initial efforts by marketers were focused on trialing mobile as a means of acquiring a list of opted-in names for future mobile communications. Unlike other approaches, mobile requires permission to contact people first.

Therefore, the first step toward developing relationships with customers via mobile is to create a compelling call to action redeemable via a mobile interaction, such as a discount or access to timely information promoted in traditional media including billboards, radio or television, or interactive channels comprising the Web or email. 

Building this step into the first few months of the plan year is crucial to embedding mobile into the fabric of ensuing marketing initiatives and reaping the benefits.

Marketers need to take a programmatic, iterative approach to mobile to realize the greatest benefit offered by this new and exciting channel. Those who do so will achieve breakthrough results by focusing on their objectives, given the customer interaction channels offered by their business. Planning now and budgeting appropriately is the path to success.