Archive for the ‘Mobile Coupons’ Category

MMA releases Best Practices for Mobile Coupons

As 2010 comes to an end, it’s interesting that nobody is talking about when it will be “the year of mobile.”  That’s because the year of mobile has occurred.  It was 2010.

When you look at the projected growth of mobile marketing, the key application for that growth is mobile coupons.  It’s not surprising then that the Mobile Marketing Association has released a Best Practices and Guidelines for Mobile Couponing.

Just shy of 30% of mobile phone users are interested in receiving coupons on their mobile phone, according to a report from Synovate.  Mobile coupons can be delivered by SMS text message, MMS, mobile apps, a mobile web site, or through QR Codes.

It’s not so bad, only 10 pages.  If you are using mobile coupons, you should read this report and follow its guidelines.

Wayne, Pennsylvania Main Line Pizza now uses a QR Code to send its specials of the week to its customers.  Scan the QR Code below with your cell phone, get discounts via mobile coupons, and enjoy the best pizza in the Philadelphia western suburbs.

Mobile coupons have become a far more important way to reach retail shoppers than ever before and the results are starting to pay off.

According to Insight Express, 10% of all consumers admitted to having gone to a retail store due to receiving a mobile coupon.  Of young adults 18-34, 20% said they had gone to a retail store due to having received a mobile coupon or other mobile offer.

Here’s how consumers wish to receive your mobile coupons?

Send me coupons by text message!

Or, should we say: 62% of retailer are still NOT using mobile marketing.

Retailers are learning mobile sells.

According to a study from Aberdeen, only 18% of retailers were using mobile at the end of 2008.  Since then, however, the increase in the use of smartphones and improvements to other mobile technology has increased a retailer’s excitement for mobile.

The study surveyed 129 retailers this summer to find that 38% are using mobile.  Another 50% are not far behind, said the study, and do plan to use mobile marketing some day.  15% said they would employ mobile within the next year.

Retailers are anxious to begin to employ mobile for merchandise promotions, mobile coupons, mobile advertising, and retail loyalty programs.  Of course, at the core of any mobile program is text message marketing.

And, with Black Friday on us, what could be a better blog post than one that discussed mobile marketing for retailers?

Restaurants are one of the best vertical markets for the use of mobile marketing via text message.  84444.com has enjoyed many successes with restaurants and many savvy restaurant marketers are investing the time to generate more visits and more return visits via text message promotions.

Text Message Promotions for Restaurants

Where Restaurants Can Promote Text Message Mobile Marketing

Just like in any market, getting a database of restaurant patrons is the key to an effective mobile marketing plan.  Here are just some of the places that our restaurant customers are using to promote their text message marketing.

1. Along with all traditional advertising in newspaper, radio, and billboards.
2. Outdoor signage in prominent locations.
3. On the backs of t-shirts of the wait staff.
4. Can’t do t-shirts?  What about buttons?
5. On take out menus.
6. On pizza boxes or bags for take out.
7. On pens and other promotional products.
8. If you have a DJ, get patrons to interact by choosing the next song or sending a shout out.
9. Promote on receipts.
10. Business cards.
11. Give away cards.
12. Have the hostess take phone numbers and text them when the table is ready.  There’s no need for pagers any more.
13. On TVs at the bar.
14. On coasters.
15. Napkins.
16. Place mats.
17. In the bathrooms (enter joke here).
18. On the telephone on hold system.
19. Get the phone number when they make a reservation.

Interactive Text Message Promotions at Restaurants

Get your restaurant customers involved with an interactive text message program and they will opt-in to your database so that you can send them broadcast text message promotions in the future.

1. When delivering the check, add text message promotion to get a free appetizer or desert on their next visit.
2. Get them back quickly.  Put a text message promotion on the check to get a discount if they come back within a week or on a slow night.
3. Add free mobile coupon offer in all traditional advertisements.
4. If you have outdoor advertising on the highway, use an interactive text message promotion to send directions to the restaurant.
5. Text message sweepstakes usually produce the greatest amount of participants.  Have your restaurant offer tickets to a sporting event or concert, sponsored by the restaurant.  It’s the single best way to grow your database of opt-in users.
6. Prior to the start of the NFL or MLB season, offer a chance for fantasy football or fantasy baseball players to host their draft at the restaurant with special offers for them.  A fantasy draft takes several hours so you can sell a lot of drinks in that time.
7. During the big game, have some fun with the audience by giving them a chance to predict who will score the next touchdown or the next basket.  Give prizes to those with the correct answer.
8. Send picture of food to get a response message.
9. Send a text message to get a message back with the menu or the specials.
10. Return with an app download for the restaurant that includes the menu and mobile coupon.

Restaurant Broadcast Text Messages

1. Get traffic to your restaurant on slow days with a broadcast text message offer.
2. Invite your opt-in database to the restaurant to a special Monday Night Football party or to watch the local big game on TV.
3. Notify your database when there is a celebrity in the house and watch the traffic come through the door of your restaurant.
4. Send reservation reminders.
5. Let your restaurant customers know when you are having live music.
6. If you added menu items, let them know by broadcast text message.
7. On the holidays, invite your database to the restaurant.

Parents with children in the household are the best target markets for mobile coupons, according to a new study by Harris Interactive.

Moms love mobile coupons.

Mobile phone owners with children under the age of 6 were the most receptive with 35% being at least somewhat interested in receiving opt-in text alerts about new products, sales, or promotions.  Those with children age 6-17 had a 32% chance of desiring opt-in messages from text message promotions.  Of those without children, only 25% showed such interest.

When it comes to mobile coupons, adults with young children showed double the interest of those with no children (36% versus 18%) in having signed up to receive mobile coupons.  Women show slightly more interest than men.

7-Eleven Day: Free Slurpees on July 11.

7-Eleven offers up to 1,000 customers a free Slurpee of their choice only one day a year.  This promotion interests consumers to take part in their marketed day.

7-Eleven has used 84444.com’s text messaging marketing solutions in order to promote this day. They use interactive text message programs where the customers opts-in to their promotion.  Customers text slurpee to 84444 and receive the promotion in response.  The response message is what is shown to any 7-Eleven in order to get a 7.11 oz free slurpee. 

On 7-Eleven day, they also use 84444.com’s text messaging in order to help customers save money on gas.  Customers text gas to 84444 in order to save 11 cents per gallon at participating 7-Eleven’s with CITGO gas when you purchase a CITGO cash card and prepay at the pump. 

Interactive and broadcast messaging is taking its toll on the marketing industry. Pizza restaurants have the ability to target the mobile industry based on interactive text message programs.  Their first goal is to create as big of a database as possible by using sweepstakes and mobile coupons through their advertisements. 

Pizza Restaurants: Red Hot Sales with Mobile Marketing

A pizza restaurant can use permission based marketing in order to build a database of interested consumers.  The customer opts-in to the promotion or offers by texting a keyword to a short code. For example, text pizza to short code 84444.  Then, the text message solution invoices immediately an automatic response including the advertised mobile coupon or promotion; for example, buy 1 pizza get the other half off.

This mobile strategy can easily be added to the existing marketing strategies.  Any customer would shun advertisements to be sent to their mobile device; however they would enjoy receiving mobile coupons that are accepted at the register of their favorite pizza restaurants.  In order to advertise their mobile coupons and promotions, there are several things the restaurant can do; including sign up sheets in public places, where the customer can physically opt-in to receiving promotions to their phones, or have radio broadcasting in which it advertises the keyword and short code. 

Once a restaurant has built a database of interested consumers, they now have the capability to send out broadcast texts that include mobile coupons, promotions, specials, or information regarding the restaurant. The restaurant can use this to promote its restaurant personally and beneficially.  For example, if they are generally slow on a particular day, they can send broadcast texts with mobile coupons promoting that day specifically.