Tag Archive for 'sms'Page 2 of 2

Start Building Your Mobile Database

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Ainsworth Boyle
on June 26, 2008
in Marketing
. 0 Comments

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.
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Mobile Marketing 101: Understanding Universal Keywords

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Ainsworth Boyle
on June 20, 2008
in 101
. 0 Comments

When the US mobile carriers established a ubiquitous system for sending SMS messages, they adopted a standard for end-users to manage the content they receive. As I’ve preached (here, here, and here), this is one of the main reasons that SMS has avoided the SPAM fate of e-mail. Unless you’re dealing with a newsletter, most e-mail SPAM does not have a clear sender or working unsubscribe options. On the e-mail front, SPAM filtering has become a “reactive” habit and, while most e-mail users are losing time, SPAM doesn’t have a measurable monetary penalty. Consumers pay for text messaging, even unlimited-messaging consumers so it is important to give them the correct methods to manage their subscription.

All US shortcodes must have universal keywords to receive help and to opt-out of a program. These keywords are designed to allow the user to receive additional information about a mobile campaign or remove themselves from receiving any additional charges and messages.

Stop, End, Cancel, Unsubscribe, Quit
Because users receive a standard rate fee for text messaging, they are more likely to complain about unwanted text messages. A properly structured initial message neutralizes complaints by giving users a clear and working way to unsubscribe. If a user texts a platform with “STOP”, the platform must prevent the end user from receiving any additional messages from that campaign. If the user is opted-in to several campaigns on the shortcode, an additional tiered response to clarify the correct campaign is acceptable; “STOP ALL” should opt-out the user for all campaigns.

Help
End-users should have clear information about the messages they are signing up to receive. A user who texts in “HELP” should receive a message back that includes:
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Continued: 4 Mobile Stats that Will Make You Think

Published
by
Ainsworth Boyle
on June 18, 2008
in Branding
. 1 Comment

In my earlier post: 4 Mobile Ad Stats that will make you Think I discussed 4 key statistics that represent the success of SMS as an advertising medium. To support this article, I thought it would be important to mention two more key findings from the Limbo report:

5. In 3 Months the number of recalled advertisements rose from 78 million to 82 million. 
Limbo reports that the majority of growth occurred among women and those aged 25-34.

This is a significant statistic as the 25-34 year-old demographic has been notably difficult to reach for marketers. If mobile subscribers are able to recall seeing advertisements, it is also critical that they remember the brand.

6. 41% of those who remembered mobile advertising could recall at least one brand.

In total, this is a 20 percent increase from December 2007. Advertising is only as affective as the consumers ability to recall the brand. Although, women are the growing demographic, men are 10 percent more likely to recall the brand that was advertised. What is more significant is that the 25-34 age-group performed the highest. Marketers have tried to reach this demographic using the social networking world with little success.

One striking note in the report were the types of brands that were recalled the most. Mobile operators and mobile content providers were at the top of the list with a sprinkle of bigger brands (ESPN, AOL, Nike, Coca-Cola, etc.) in the long tail.

This is more a reflection of the volume of marketing traffic that is pushed by mobile content providers. Major brands have yet to embrace mobile as a 24/7 campaign tool, which hinders the exposure to consumers. As brands begin to incorporate mobile into their sponsored content campaigns or their own mobile campaigns, their brand recognition will increase.

- Ainsworth

The Gateway to Generation-Y

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Ainsworth Boyle
on June 12, 2008
in Trends & Research
. 0 Comments

I had been spending the past several weeks without an iPhone, and yesterday I felt a bit “out-of-touch.” I thought to myself: no one else was affected by my phone being stolen, and I’ve replaced it with a temporary standard-issue phone, so why the big deal? Then… my 3 year-old phone lit-up with my morning text message from IWantSandy. After painfully navigating through the interface I found my text message and wrote down my to-do list. That’s when I realized my phone wasn’t meant for email or text messaging.
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How to Launch Your iPhone SDK Application

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Ainsworth Boyle
on June 9, 2008
in Inside 3Ci and Marketing
. 0 Comments

A new wave of the cell phone market has begun: the release of the iPhone SDK. While there has been a small market for mobile based applications, entirely new companies, some supported by KPCB’s $100 million iFund, will be spawned to produce iPhone supported applications. While the actual extent of this marketplace is still unclear, it still hits with the same sincerity that something is happening in the mobile world. I’d bet it’s unlike anything we’ve seen before.

Mobile marketing and mobile content distribution functions at a more powerful level than electronic newsletter subscriptions. Undoubtedly, electronic newsletter subscriptions are key to maintaining close access to former customers, current customers, and future customers. At the touch of a button, businesses can easily deliver news to the e-mail boxes of subscribers. Therefore, users are receiving their content when you need them to, and not when they stumble upon it, many weeks later - if ever.

The truth is, those were valuable, back when users were subscribed to a select few lists and were more open to mass e-mails. Now users are opting out of these newsletters or driving them to their junk box; this brings new value to the RSS feed, allowing users to have yet another method to cleanly manage information they wanted to read while sparing their inboxes. While, the RSS reader is still increasing in value, it does not hit the key point of business marketing: reliably pinging your audience at the crucial moment - the tipping point.

Don’t forget: the iPhone has SMS!
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3Ci Launches Beta Version of SMS Chat

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Ainsworth Boyle
on June 5, 2008
in Inside 3Ci
. 0 Comments

To better serve enterprise level communications needs, 3Ci has launched its beta version of a SMS based chat platform. The platform will be launched with two pre-selected beta clients and full product rollout is scheduled for the beginning of Q4 2008.

The chat platform was a response to market driven need for direct, one-on-one text based communication with consumers and employees. Customer service based call centers will have the ability to answer common questions for consumers through the ease and immediacy of SMS. This dramatically lowers the time and cost of providing traditional telephone based service for similar inquiries. Additionally, large, enterprise level businesses can more easily communicate in real-time with employees on a one-to-many or one-to-one level without having their message get caught up in easily ignored email inboxes.

Contact 3Ci today to find out more!

- Jeff Michaud

4 Mobile Ad Stats that Will Make You Think

Published
by
Ainsworth Boyle
on May 29, 2008
in Advertising
. 1 Comment

I spent the weekend with several very successful franchisees in our area, and of course, they commented on my heavy use of text messaging. As you could imagine, the conversation veered into mobile being such a youth-oriented technology that “doesn’t make sense.” As the conversation developed I couldn’t help but think of the recent Limbo Mobile Advertising report, that addressed this misconception. Here I was, spending a lovely Memorial Day weekend in the Florida Keys at one of their many, large, resort-like homes; I needed a tactful opportunity to let them know they were misled. Alas, the opportunity arose, when the champion of the bunch needed to know more: “So, what is it that you prefer about text messaging?”
My explanation covered a few key areas: First, text messaging is asynchronous so I can communicate with a friend in the background without disturbing other activities or the people around me. Second, text messaging gets my attention but doesn’t require my attention. In other words, I’m inclined enough to check it and respond, but not to the point where I’m annoyed. For a busy businessman, that explanation made sense, and I now had a segue into a few interesting stats about text messaging.
I started out with a bit of the basics - special thanks to Limbo, GFK, and NOP for pulling together this survey.

1. Over 50% of the 255 million mobile phone owners use SMS
This alone shows how widely adopted the SMS medium is. This means, that an audience of ~130 million users has near-constant access (~24/7) and familiarity with this medium. Even better, mobile marketers have the ability to touch these users within minutes, just enough to generate attention, without requiring it. It’s intrusive, but not annoying. So what? If 82 percent of those under 24 use SMS, what does that mean for marketers interested in the older demographics?

2. 50% of SMS users are 35 or over
For 25 or over, that number turns to 75%. This is an astounding figure, as these demographics have purchasing power that can be activated with targeted messages. When I mentioned this to the inquisitor, it became a bit more clear. Those consumers with the most purchasing power are often the most distracted and hardest to activate. Knowing that a call-to-action can be delivered and consumed at a precise moment is previously unheard of. His franchises are focused on chain restaurants so we spoke at length about his current marketing campaigns. Then I asked, “When a businessman gets up from his desk for lunch and asks the inevitable, ‘Where are we going,’ what is he more likely to recall: your competitor’s local advertisement during halftime of the game last night, or the mobile coupon you just delivered to his phone?”
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7 Ways to Maintain Conversions in Mobile Marketing

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Ainsworth Boyle
on May 15, 2008
in Marketing
. 2 Comments

The mobile marketing medium is defining its future as a viable channel for consumer impressions and conversions. Unlike blast e-mail marketing, which failed because of a lack of regulation, mobile marketing has shown tremendous conversion rates. E-mail marketing is now at such a low-conversion, because of the decreased sensitivity of the end-user, it’s borderline useless. Mobile marketing and text messaging is a viable impression and conversion medium because users have such a high sensitivity to the notifications they receive. Don’t be fooled, there’s more to it than sitting in their pocket - that’s just one, albeit, critical factor - it is also because the abuse rate has been low. Cell phone users are very aware of the ability to turn off notifications for text messaging, and if markets abuse this service, they will; much like many have switched off notifications for e-mails because the iPhone has no spam filter.

The carrier’s strict regulations have benefit mobile marketers in this fashion, as they have managed to prevent end-users from feeling spammed. As mobile marketing begins to take off in 2008, and shortcodes reach the spotlight, more of this responsibility will rest on the Application Service Providers and mobile marketers. In fact, the future of 50% conversion rates rests in the hands of the mobile marketers; following a few simple steps can preserve the most affordable and most profitable medium to hit marketing.

1. Double Opt-In
While only T-Mobile and Verizon wireless require double-opt-in for marketing messages, requiring all participants to double opt-in will significantly reduce the potential that you will have an unwilling subscriber on your marketing channel. When users opt-in, make sure to send a follow-up message asking them to reply with Yes, Y, or something similar, to confirm they want to receive the messages you’re interested in sending them. Confirmed users are interested in receiving messages and you won’t run into complaints.

2. Send Like Offers
Not only is it a violation of the mobile acceptable use policies to avoid this rule, it is also common sense. If you have a valid double opt-in registration for television coupon offers, don’t send alerts for the local car wash. Unrelated, but demographically targeted offers are more appropriate for appended messages, where the user has solicited information and you are providing relevant advertising in the remaining character messages of the information they requested. To emphasize my point, I was excited to sign up for mobile alerts through http://www.wiialerts.com, knowing that I would only receive mobile alerts when Nintendo Wii’s hit Amazon.com at their normal $249 price. So far, that has been all I have received, and I will keep my subscription despite already having bought a Wii from the first set of alerts sent to me - just a few days before Christmas. If this were to change, I would remove the service and never think twice about rejoining. Send users what they signed up for, and they’ll stay subscribed for as long as they’re interested in converting on your messages. Send users something they’re not interested in and they’ll never rejoin your services.

3. Don’t Bait Your Call-To-Action
If you are offering a Call-To-Action that requires a conversion off of the handset, such as visiting a full html website, be very clear with the offer to the end users. Nothing screams UNSUBSCRIBE like a user that took time to sit down at his/her computer only to find out they’re not getting what they were told. While a baited Call-To-Action may receive more conversions from handset to website, the conversion from website to product will not be any better. An honest Call-To-Action will have great conversion rates and leave consumers satisfied with your mobile offering.
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Looking to Go Mobile? Start with SMS.

Published
by
Ainsworth Boyle
on May 2, 2008
in Enterprise
. 2 Comments

The numerous options in mobile marketing have confused marketing offices. From native handset applications to MMS and SMS, each technology has its ups and downs.
Because they occur on the handset and can leverage other applications or hardware features (e.g. GPS), native applications offer the most flexibility for user interaction. But, native applications, are subject to one-time installs, and users rarely remember to update their software.
The next bet for content delivery is MMS, and while that is a great medium, the technology isn’t ubiquitous across the major carriers. SMS, the plain text sibling of MMS, is ubiquitous but many marketers shy away because of the misconception that SMS lacks the full package.
Digging a bit further, marketers will jump back to WAP only to find that it too struggles to provide ubiquitous experience end-users. This is partially a result of the lack of standardized browsers, and that Verizon Wireless blocks WAP content downloads to their handsets.
So, after all this research, somehow, handset applications come away with the biggest appeal. They’re fast, they leverage the handset’s features, and they can handle all the fun content without battling a messaging platform. Which leaves me asking… how good was this research?! Yes, a handset application can do all that and the end-users – who actually download it - would love it, but why eliminate such a large audience with all the red tape?
Don’t get me wrong, mobile applications are cool - I had a few before I jumped to the iPhone – but the mobile phone is about speed and convenience. The traditional method of finding and downloading an application has too many hurdles – the iPhone AppStore will change this.
Continue reading ‘Looking to Go Mobile? Start with SMS.’

7 Reasons WAP is Flawed

Published
by
Ainsworth Boyle
on April 25, 2008
in Trends & Research
. 6 Comments

I’ve had this sitting on a burner for a rainy day and Victor’s post on Mobile Marketing Watch was enough to bring it to the surface:

The prognosis on WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) hasn’t changed since the turn of the century. WAP technology had a premature introduction to the mobile phone as it came before the infrastructure and consumer interest supported it. The early complaints of WAP were closely related to those of the early internet, which left hope for WAP developers but, unlike the internet, WAP had to compete with a more complete sibling: the internet. In my mind, 7 key things pile in the barrel of WAP’s struggle:

7. Not Supported by All Major Carriers
WAP’s initial lax in the content delivery space was relieved by the WAP push. A WAP push allows content providers to deliver content to a mobile device using a WAP browser connection. In addition, the WAP push is a favorable alternative to MMS, a technology that is/was suffering from a lack of universal standards across the major carriers. But the major carriers have their own business to protect, so off-deck content delivery through WAP is not supported by all of the major carriers. This alone eliminates at least 30% of the mobile market. Imagine having a billboard that 1/3 of the motorists couldn’t read.

6. MMS is Next
Because MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) is not a ubiquitous mobile offering, mobile ASPs have relied heavily on WAP to deliver their content. Since the carriers have agreed to MMS interoperability, that is going to change. MMS allows sending and receiving of graphics, video, and audio clips - most of the information sent through a WAP push. There is very little that needs to be changed for WAP interoperability, instead it is limited by the carriers’ business decisions to block off-deck WAP delivery. MMS interoperability is a step up from the limits of WAP, by allowing users to be billed directly through SMS without the additional pain of a WAP download. There is potential for one bill, one technology, interoperable delivery.

5. Billed by Data Usage
Consumers are already wary of the premium paid for direct mobile content such as ringtones. Most of the paid ringtone services are charging a minimum of $0.99 p/ ringtone, which is the price of a full mp3 from iTunes. Consumers are still downloading ringtones despite the premium charge, however, many consumers are shocked to see WAP data charges on top of their premium sms charge. This will leave many consumers frustrated until unlimited data plans become more of the norm. People dislike being billed twice for the same content.
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