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Mobile Marketing Best Practices: Capture

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Ainsworth Boyle
on July 18, 2008
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The following is part 2 of a 3 part introduction to mobile marketing best practices. You can find part 1 here.

To run a successful text message marketing campaign, it is important to provide information and content that is considered valuable to consumers. Be sure to avoid third-party lists; building a database of consumers interested in your brand is the most successful strategy. In addition to not being carrier or MMA compliant, third party lists will also generate complaints. For consumers to join a mobile marketing program, they must opt-in or confirm their intent to receive your content. Carriers have two types of opt-ins; single and double, determined by the type of program. These opt-ins are limited to the particular program and short code and are not considered blanket approvals for other programs and short codes that you are marketing.

When a mobile subscriber opts into your mobile marketing program they are agreeing to receive information or mobile content from the offer you described. The best mobile marketing programs opt users into programs when demographic information can be inferred directly or indirectly. Having deeper levels of demographics allows your program to be selective when sending out future marketing messages. The more refined your marketing message is, the more receptive your end-users will be to your offer. For example, a sports radio station would benefit from individual lists for the area’s sports teams rather than one combined list of sports enthusiasts. Using this method, more general sports messages can be sent out to applicable lists but the targeted messages can be sent to the receptive users.

Be straightforward about the content and messages that users are going to receive. At a minimum include pricing, terms and billing intervals, and a notice that the cost will be charged to or deducted from their mobile phone. Do not use “free” or “bonus” terminology as end-users are still subjected to standard text messaging rates from their carrier. Including “standard carrier and other charges may apply” in your text message properly notifies the consumer of charges when joining a mobile program. Stay tuned for the wrap up…

- Ainsworth

Continue to part 3…

Mobile Marketing Best Practices: Create

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Ainsworth Boyle
on July 17, 2008
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At 3Cinteractive, we design campaigns around the motto that our company is named for: Create, Capture, Convert. First, you Create compelling, targeted “calls to action” to engage consumers via mobile. Next you Capture that consumer’s mobile number and any relevant demographic information into a consumer database. Lastly, the mobile consumer database is Converted into a new marketing channel, one that helps you achieve new and existing marketing goals. Utilizing this system and the best practices associated with each step, you will ensure a successful campaigns that build revenue and consumer loyalty for your brand.

The following is part 1 of a 3 part introduction to mobile marketing best practices.
Continue reading ‘Mobile Marketing Best Practices: Create’

MobileMe: Re-Launching the iPhone vs. BlackBerry Debate

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Ainsworth Boyle
on July 16, 2008
in Industry News
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When Phil Schiller first introduced MobileMe at WWDC he likened it to “push for the rest of us.” Now that the iPhone supports Exchange, and MobileMe offers a consumer-level solution, the debate of iPhone vs. BlackBerry is back. Many of the complaints I had heard were related to the lackluster e-mail service always loading, and the inability to easily manage junk mail.

MobileMe, the 3G service, and the iPhone 2.0 OS resolves these issues and more. During the first introductory days of the MobileMe service, “Push” was choppy and delayed by several minutes. By the end of the weekend, I was able to erase and re-sync/Push my contacts, calendar, e-mail, and bookmarks. Monday morning, I made a couple of changes using iCal and Address Book and the changes were at my iPhone just a minute later.

But, even before this feature, the largest complaint was not calendar or contact syncing; it was e-mail. If you’re wondering if Apple resolved the junk filter issue, you’ll still be disappointed. They have, however, made a small step by allowing users to easily delete multiple e-mails. The 3G network and Push e-mail have made e-mail faster, with no “loading…” screen, which was an irritating feature of Apple’s “fetch” solution. It’s not perfect yet; I hit a terminal “loading…” screen when I dropped service while opening an e-mail. Compared to iPhone 1.x, it’s night and day.

With Apple on the path to creating a MobileMe service that ousts BlackBerry’s Push service, what more is there left to compare? Keyboard? OS?

With the rumors of BlackBerry’s touch screen Thunder device, it’s even more of a debate of operating systems, and I don’t think BlackBerry is suited for an OS war.

- Ainsworth

See Also:
MobileMe on Wikipedia

My Experience at the 3G iPhone Launch

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Ainsworth Boyle
on July 11, 2008
in Industry News
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Last year I made it to the initial iPhone launch. I arrived at a small AT&T store, on Linton Blvd, in Boca Raton, FL, six hours early. I was one of the first 20 people in line and just after 7:30PM I walked out of the store with one of the first iPhones.

This week, I’m on vacation in New York City. Late last night I debated making the trip over to the legendary 5th Avenue Store - I was at that store’s grand opening - but I decided a local AT&T store might be the better bet - I should have remembered AT&T stores sold out last year and Apple stores did not.

This years launch was 8:00AM; I strolled up to AT&T 86th and 3rd street store in New York City at ~8:30. I was about 150 people deep, give or take the handful of people that “ran into friends who happened to be standing in line.”

As many of you know, the activation process was now set to be done on sight. That only worked for the first customer as both AT&T and iTunes (Apple) would crash by 8:15.

As I got to the front of the store, the countdown began: “We have no more 16GBs and only 10 8GBs. We are accepting direct fulfillment.”

At this point, I began running the number of line cutters through my head, realizing I was 11 from the front. No more announcements would come, yet I was invited into the store with the chain closing behind me.

5 minutes later my AT&T salesman was handed an iPhone 3G and told, “That’s the last one.” Alas, I was handed my new iPhone 3G and told that the remaining activation process would have to be done at home using iTunes.

Needless to say, the new phone is sexy… however, iTunes is still struggling through the activation process. Once I’m able to get through the set-up process I’ll be sure to add updates on the MobileMe experience; I know there are a few debates about it’s ability to dethrone BlackBerry.

- Ainsworth

Text Your Crime Tips

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Ainsworth Boyle
on July 8, 2008
in Industry News
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As the teens and 20-somethings transition from voice-to-text, major city resources are doing the same. Brian Bernardi, Sgt of the Louisville, KY, Metro Police Department, who was interviewed in Fox News’ article realizes that the target demographic wouldn’t normally dial a Crime Stoppers line to report a crime. Departments are hoping a more familiar and discreet medium, like text messaging, will encourage use.

More than 100 communities, including Boston, Cincinnati, Tampa, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, Indianapolis, New Orleans, and Detroit have implemented the system. Fox reports that in the 12 months since they launched the system, Boston police have logged 678 text tips, nearly the same as the 727 phone tips in the same period.

And tipsters aren’t shy when it comes to providing information. Police have reported tips that include specific times, drug information, names of suspects, locations, and license plate numbers.

Best of all, text tips still carry a cash reward.

- Ainsworth

3Cinteractive Powers Innovative HD Digital Radio Alliance Conversion Campaign

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Ainsworth Boyle
on July 7, 2008
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Boca Raton, FL (PRWEB) – 6/30/2008 – 3Cinteractive, a leading creative mobile marketing company, announced it is powering the innovative consumer awareness campaign for the HD Digital Radio Alliance. The expanded marketing campaign is aimed at accelerating the adoption of HD Radio. The Alliance is featuring a text messaging call to action in more than half of all of its radio ads nationwide.

3Ci’s mobile messaging platform is creating real-time, measurable conversations with consumers by promoting listeners to “Text UPGRADE to 34343”. “By establishing a direct, instant relationship with consumers who show an interest in HD Radio, we are activating a whole new category of catalysts,” said Peter Ferrara, President and CEO of the HD Digital Radio Alliance.
Radio ads within the new $57 million, 13-week marketing campaign are running in 100 markets on more than 700 stations. A full 65% of the radio ads invite consumers to text UPGRADE to 34343 with the remainder issuing the familiar call to action to visit www.HDRadio.com.
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3Cinteractive Completes Trial for Industry Changing Text Collect™ Service

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Ainsworth Boyle
on July 5, 2008
in Press Releases
. 1 Comment

Boca Raton, FL (PRWEB) – 7/7/2008 – 3Cinteractive, a leading mobile marketing agency and application development company, announced it has completed a successful 9 month trial of the company’s patent pending Text Collect™ service. As a result, 3Ci is announcing an immediate full scale launch of the product. Text Collect combines Interactive Voice Response, SMS and Premium SMS (PSMS) mobile billing, producing the only service that allows collect calling and operator services providers to complete collect calls to mobile phones.

Prior to Text Collect™, the ability to complete collect calls to mobile phones has been a major challenge to the collect calling industry. With the number of mobile lines quickly outpacing the number of landlines in the U.S., the solution could not have come soon enough. Collect call completion ratios have been steadily declining for years due to the rapid growth in mobile phone usage. According to David Ellerstein, 3Cinteractive’s Text Collect™ General Manager, “Text Collect™ has driven significant positive results for collect calling providers and all of the major mobile carriers participating in the trial.”
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Short Code Messaging vs. E-Mail Gateways

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Ainsworth Boyle
on July 3, 2008
in Inside 3Ci
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Before the onset of short code messaging, marketers and consumers were able to send free messages to consumers using e-mail-to-sms gateways. This allowed users to send an e-mail to phonenumber@carrier.com that would be converted and delivered as an SMS. As you could imagine, this became a prime target for internet spammers, which led the carriers to develop robust filtering systems to protect their consumers. This was the dawn of the short code and a new process that allowed carriers to prescreen and certify legitimate mobile marketing campaigns.

As a result we now have a ubiquitous infrastructure for cross-carrier SMS messaging. As part of this project, the carriers charge fees for short code messaging, which is different than the free email gateway service, but free isn’t necessarily better; it’s far worse.

E-Mail Gateways:
- Heavily filtered and monitored by the major carriers. Each carrier systematically scans for message content and monitors volume by IP address.
- No delivery confirmation. Each message is “fire and forget” much like blast e-mail.
- No carrier information. You must know the users carrier to send through an e-mail gateway. Numbers turn over at a rate of 8% per month causing failed send attempts.
- Low throughput limit. Throughput is limited both by IP throttling and infrastructure issues.
- One-way only service. There is no interactivity or opt-in process that creates a targeted database.

The base of an effective, compliant mobile marketing program, is an opt-ed in database. This can only be accomplished through the two-way interaction offered by Short Code messaging. While short code messaging comes at a fee, it provides an interactive experience that influences the consumer. The success rates of mobile marketing campaigns are attributed to the highly targeted nature of Short Code messaging and not the broad spectrum SPAM messages from e-mail gateways.

Short Code Messaging:
- Certified and approved by aggregators. Each aggregator pre-approves message programs to ensure that all messages are delivered once the program is approved.
- Message delivery confirmation. Each message delivery status can be delivered in real-time as it is queued for delivery.
- Carrier information pre-determined before delivery. Each phone number is “dipped” for mobile carrier delivery to ensure the number is properly labeled for delivery.
- High throughput limit. Throughput is not limited by short code allowing messages to be delivered faster.
- Two-way interactive service. Users can text-in or reply to mobile marketing campaigns creating a more enjoyable end-user experience.

While e-mail gateway services carry the appeal of “zero cost” they do little to enhance or activate a brand’s current marketing initiatives. Instead, e-mail gateway messaging becomes an extension to a traditional e-mail marketing campaign. In contrast, a well structured Short Code campaign functions to both independently engage users or activate existing traditional marketing campaigns.

- Ainsworth

Calise & Sedei and Taco Cabana Celebrate Mobile

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Ainsworth Boyle
on June 27, 2008
in Branding
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3Ci, Taco Cabana and Calise & Sedei, the agency for the retail food chain, recently launched a mobile marketing campaign aimed at building a mobile database and testing the effectiveness of mobile marketing - and the early results show the immediate, positive impact of mobile! To build their mobile database, Taco Cabana took a two pronged approach over six days of promotion. First, a call to action was promoted at SanAntonio Spurs games asking fans to text in their vote for the best “kissingcam” couple and they would receive a mobile coupon for a free taco. Second, in store point of purchase promos called for fans to text in for a chance to win Spurs tickets. Taco Cabana then sent out a text message to the mobile consumers in their database, asking them to opt-in to the Taco Cabana mobile club and get a coupon for a free order of nachos.

An astounding 22% of the consumers were converted into mobile club members who will receive coupons on their mobile phones. In addition, they saw a 10% redemption rate on the coupons delivered during the promotions. Due to the overwhelming success of this test, 3Ci’s team is currently working with Taco Cabana to build additional mobile marketing campaigns that will
further build their mobile database and drive foot traffic to retail stores.

- Ainsworth

Start Building Your Mobile Database

Published
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Ainsworth Boyle
on June 26, 2008
in Marketing
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I sat through a great meeting yesterday with a direct marketing firm from Boca Raton. As I demoed our platform, we reviewed a couple of the firm’s ideas. A lot of direct marketing firms are dealing with e-mail or direct mail, which is a slightly different beast than SMS. There are particular ways to maintain conversions with mobile marketing, that wouldn’t apply for e-mail marketing. In addition, mobile marketing is about spending the time to build a database rather than simply catching and blasting opt-in messages.

This firm got the concept that many do not: Mobile marketing isn’t restricted to a stand alone campaign that can be monetized immediately. In fact, a well designed mobile marketing strategy will have always-on campaigns that support other direct marketing efforts. Your brand’s short code is equivalent to it’s URL. When I work with a client, this is one of the first concepts that I establish. Once your short code is live, you need at least one campaign that will run constantly and collect interested consumers who read your marketing material. Mobile activates traditional marketing in a way that websites cannot. Missing this concept causes a lot of brands to avoid mobile marketing because they aren’t quite sure how to monetize it.
Continue reading ‘Start Building Your Mobile Database’