Archive for the ‘Mobile Applications’ Category

Although almost every adult in the United States has a cell phone, some demographics are better targets for mobile marketing efforts than others.

Mobile advertising best to target young men.

According to a study by BIGresearch, mobile marketing efforts are best suited to target the following groups:

  * Young Men — This group is very cell phone-centered and are likely to be regular users of social media such as Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter.  At the opposite end of the spectrum are older women who are less likely to be centered around their cell phones or to use social media.

  *  Electronics — Mobile advertising is more effective when targeting specific industries or product groups such as electronics.  Those who are regular users of mobile marketing tend to be far more likely to purchase  electronics over the next six months than those who did not like mobile marketing.

  *  Advice — Mobile marketing users are more likely to both give advice and seek advice about products or services they have purchased.

The study confirmed the dominance of males in mobile advertising.  57.8% of those who use mobile marketing are male versus only 46.2% of the American public being male.  The average age of those using mobile advertising is 39.2, slightly younger than the 45.9 year-0ld age of non-users.  37.9% of mobile marketing users utilize Facebook versus only 26% of non-users.

 The good news for legitimate mobile marketers is that more consumers are now understanding that mobile marketing is true opt-in marketing.  58% of people in the study now understand that mobile marketers need permission prior to sending a mobile advertisement.  This is up 3% over last year’s study.

Insisting on permission prior to sending a mobile marketing message is an important factor for all legitimate direct marketers.  It is good news that consumers will insist on permission prior to be marketed to, for that is precisely why mobile marketing is so effective.

Just what is mobile marketing?

Mobile marketing defined

The word can take on a vast array of products and services from mobile promotions, to mobile advertising, to mobile alerts, and even mobile apps.

What better organization to decide just what the definition of mobile marketing is than the Mobile Marketing Association?

“Mobile Marketing is a set of practices that enables organizations to communicate and engage with their audience in an interactive and relevant manner through any mobile device or network.”

The definition of mobile marketing is constantly changing and will continue to change.  Such is the nature of an exciting new industry.

Marketing Profs has published an article by 84444.com’s Bob Bentz about

Read more about mobile coupons at Marketing Profs.

mobile coupons.

Mobile coupons are the second most popular product on Advanced Telecom Services’ 84444.com mobile marketing site. The top category is sweepstakes.

“Mobile coupons have proven to be an extremely effective way for retailers to get the word out about special offerings,” said Bentz. “In fact, some mobile coupons have generated return rates in excess of 8.7 %!”

Starting a WAP site is a low risk, low cost way to engage consumers and use mobile marketing.

A WAP site makes your company easily accessed by mobile internet devices. If you don’t have a WAP site,consumers cannot access your company’s website from their smartphone.

A recent study from ExactTarget found that three quarters of consumers would rather receive advertising messages through SMS marketing campaigns than any other channel.

Mobile has long been a small blip in most advertising and marketing budgets, despite the huge number of mobile  users and the increasingly advanced devices and usage patterns.

Compared with online advertising spending, mobile looks tiny.  According to eMarketer, mobile ad spending will reach $416 million in 2009 compared with $24 billion that will be spent overall for online advertising.

Many marketers have been hesitant to embrace a medium that lacks proven use cases. However, an increasing number have begun to realize that the addictive effect of mobile on the other advertising and marketing efforts spreads easily.  eMarketer predicts that spending on mobile advertising will gain momentum through 2013, reaching $1.56 billion.

An exiting mobile marketing plan has been launched by outdoor clothes company, Timberland, to promote its latest products.

Consumers throughout the US, UK and Italy will be able to access information on its new footwear collection via a special iPhone application. (Mobile Marketer)

Within the app is a mobile commerce facility which allows consumers to buy certain items right away while featuring details on hiking trails, maps and even lets users play games and listen to music.

There is also a mobile website set up by Timberland which contains full product details and a store locator.

Of course, this mobile marketing strategy has been designed to meet the needs of hip young urban consumers with active outdoor lifestyles.

According to the Mobile Marketing association this type of promotional strategy is an “enormously effective” way of engaging with its consumers.

Pocono Raceway is one of the latest sports stadiums to use Advanced

Text message alerts are being used by Pocono Raceway for fans to notify security of unruly spectators.

Telecom Services’ 84444.com to stay in touch with problems in the sports venue.

Pocono Raceway, which has been operating since 1968, has been a NASCAR venue since 1974.  It ran its first 500 mile race in 1971.  The fastest lap was by Kasey Kahne at 176 MPH.

The Pocono Raceway seats over 76,000 race car fans.  So, you can imagine that there’s bound to be some problems when you put this many excited racing fans into such a large venue.

Like many other sports stadiums, Pocono Raceway has incorporated a text message alert system where fans can report unruly spectators that are causing a ruckus in their section.  In the past, fans might be afraid to ask an usher for help and be a target of possible violence from the fan, but the text message alert system can notify Pocono Raceway security without indicating which fan is reporting the problem.

Numerous college and professional sports venues now use 84444.com for trouble alerts at stadiums and arenas.  Text message alerts work so well, because fans can anonymously alert stadium security of the problem.  This makes for a better experience for all attending fans.

“Some companies are charging thousands of dollars for an emergency text message stadium alert system,” said Bob Bentz, president of Advanced Telecom Services.  “With our system, stadiums can pay $99 and get up to 1000 text message alerts for the venue.  That’s way more than most need,” added Bentz.

The Kelsy Group, a division of BIA, has found that local mobile ad revenue is expected to reach more than $3.1 billion by 2013, up from $160 million in 2008. The bulk of this is mobile search, at $2.3 billion. SMS had only $100 million in 2008!

Local ad revenue may hit a low of $135.8 billion in 2010 before climbing a bit in 2011. And, local advertising in newspapers, direct mail, TV, radio, yellow pages, outdoor, magazines and online is expected to slip to $144.4 billion by 2013, down from $155 billion last year, says BIA.

Radio and TV Internet revenue will climb to $1.9 billion in 2013, from $805 million last year.

Local mobile advertising will be the next hot trend, especially in terms of local mobile search according to The Kelsey Group study. Local mobile ad revenue will hit $3.1 billion in 2013, mobile search will reach $2.3 billion, and local searches, which were 27.8% of all searches in 2008 is projected to hit 35.1% in 2013.

The report states that currently, 54 million people use the mobile web, and should reach 95 million by 2013. Local search will make up more than half of mobile advertising at 56%, though local search will only be just over 35% of all searches.

Mobile Marketing, including mobile coupons and text message sweepstakes, is the newest medium for advertisers and promoters.  Mobile marketing site 84444.com is now available for promotion by affiliate marketers.

Several recent studies, including one by eMarketer, say that $670 million will be invested in mobile marketing this year by American companies.  Growth is anticipated to reach $3.3 billion by 2014.   read more

For the full article featured in the Sept. 1, 2009 article on PRWeb, please click here.

The number of text coupons being sent on behalf of business services and products is increasing daily.

More and more, Americans are signing up to receive coupons through e-mails and text messages. According to research, about 8% of US households get coupons through email or text, with users tending to be young, affluent, educated and female.

Text message coupons are typically sent only to consumers who have signed up (opted-in) to receive them. This increases the relevancy of the offer and the potential for the consumer to act on that offer. Not only are these types of coupons convenient, they are environmentally friendly because no paper is used!