Archive for the ‘Mobile Marketing Tips’ Category

Super Bowl Sunday requires some serious flour power at pizza restaurants across America.

The National Restaurant Association said that 55% of Super Bowl viewers order food from restaurants and 65% of them pick pizza.  For most pizza restaurants, that means that Super Bowl Sunday will mean twice as many pizzas as their next biggest day of the year.

Last year, Pizza Hut and Domino’s sold 2 million and 1.2 million pizzas respectively on the day of the biggest game of the year. Papa John’s sold more than 1 million pizzas on Super Bowl Sunday topping its 940,000 that it sold on Super Bowl Sunday in 2010.

Papa John’s Gives Away Free Pizza on Coin Flip

This year, however, Papa John’s has cooked up a new promotion in an attempt to top 2011’s sales.  If you go to the Papa John’s website, you can choose the outcome of the coin toss if you are a member of Papa John’s Rewards.  If the majority of Americans choose the outcome of the coin toss prior to the start of the Super Bowl, Papa John’s will give away one large one-topping pizza plus a two-liter Pepsi MAX to its Papa John’s Rewards members.

If you like to gamble based on historical outcomes, this is not the best place to do so.  In the first 45 Super Bowls, heads holds a slim 23-22 lead so it must be the year for tails, right?  Interestingly, the NFC team has won the coin toss for 14 consecutive years.

A coin flip that matches the choice of the fans is going to mean that Papa John’s employees are going to be flipping a lot more free pizzas in February.  And, Papa John’s hopes that its Rewards members will be flipping out if they win.

Despite the potential cost of the free food, Papa John’s online promotion and television commercials starring Peyton Manning and Jerome “The Bus” Bettis are helping it build its database of email addresses and mobile phone numbers.  A mushrooming database for email and mobile marketing is the result of savvy efforts such as this.

Private Stores Playbook for Pizza Sales

But, it isn’t just the large pizza chains who are trying to earn a larger slice of the super-size Super Bowl pie.  Local pizza restaurants like Main Line Pizza in Wayne, Pennsylvania, are also getting into the act.  Last year, single location store Main Line Pizza offered a Super Bowl party platter via its text message marketing and received an 11% return rate.

“That blew me away,” said Robert Saionz, owner of Main Line Pizza.

“It has been very effective,” said Jennifer Saionz who handles the marketing for Main Line Pizza and creates the text message promotions.

Jennifer said that the 84444.com text message marketing company that it uses has packages as low as $45 per month for up to 1000 text messages, thus making mobile marketing the most inexpensive advertising that it does.

Main Line Pizza builds its database through store-front signage, stickers on its pizza boxes, and by offering an immediate 10% discount for any new customer that opts-in to its database and shows the text message.

Taking Action on Super Bowl Pizza Sales

Super Sunday is the biggest day of the year for many things: hours spent watching television; dollars wagered; pizza sales.  While it’s probably too late for your restaurant to purchase a $3 million spot in the Super Bowl, there’s still time to set up a text message marketing promotion to have a spectacular Super Sunday in pizza pie sales.

 

Text message marketing by radio stations has been a big part of our business at Advanced Telecom Services and 84444.com. That’s why Radio Ink magazine asked us to pen an article about the types of text messages that radio stations use.

Read the article in Radio Ink about radio text message marketing by Advanced Telecom Services’ president Bob Bentz.

Reaching her requires an opt-in

Text message marketing is just one element of the mobile marketing pie.

Sure, there are sexier forms of mobile marketing like apps.  Smartphone users love apps and when they are well done, they can offer some cool and crafty features.  Apps can also keep consumers coming back for more.

It is the ubiquity of text messaging that makes it such a powerful element in the mobile marketing universe.  In addition to having a mobile optimized web site, businesses need to offer text message marketing.

Text message marketing is an inexpensive way to reach consumers with any kind of mobile phone in a way that is immediate and time-sensitive.

Text messaging is a great way to promote immediacy to your message.  You can reach the consumer when he or she is most likely to buy.  A restaurant, for example, can send a text message at 11:30 am just when people are starting to get hungry at work.

Building a Database for Text Message Marketing

But, the key to any text message marketing program is the opt-in.  Obtaining the opt-in from a consumer is the heavy lifting part and the most daunting part of text message marketing.

“We often get people calling our office and wanting to send a text message to all of the citizens in Chicago, for example,” said Bob Bentz, president of Advanced Telecom Services.  ”But you need to obtain a bonafied opt-in before you send anybody a promotional text message.”

Once you get an opt-in, usually through an interactive text message promotion, you can send broadcast text messages to that consumer in the future.  A legitimate opt-in can also be created via other means.  Advanced Telecom Services, for example, provides a widget for companies to insert on its web site to obtain an opt-in.  When the consumer opts-in via the widget, the consumer information is transferred directly to the 84444.com do-it-yourself text message marketing web site.

“The open rate for text alerts is extremely high,” said Neil Strother of ABI Research.  ”If you can get enough phone numbers and set them up on text alerts, it can be very effective, but you need to send a limited number out to ensure that they are relevant.”

At 84444.com, we continue to tell our customers of the importance of using embedded links in their text message marketing reply and broadcast messages.  An embedded link is nothing more than including a URL in the text message.  When an embedded link is used, the consumer with a smartphone can simply touch it to access the content; if he has a feature phone, he will need to go out on the mobile web to obtain the content contained within the URL.

If there was ever any doubt that a lead from a mobile web site was of higher quality than one to an internet web site, check out the statistics on click through rates from mobile sites versus internet sites.  Unfortunately, banner ads on traditional internet web sites are becoming increasingly invisible.

Entertainment seems to work best when the marketer promotes on a mobile web site.

performed worse.

Are you a member of a text message service and don’t want to receive the messages any more?  It’s easy to unsubscribe.  Just reply with STOP and you’ll no longer be part of the database.  This work for both premium SMS and standard rate services like those offered here on 84444.com.

One of the great things about our 84444.com platform is that it automatically removes your subscriber if they reply with one of the keywords like STOP.  This makes it easy on you to spend your time marketing the services and not bothering with manual removal of opt-out customers.

 

Short codes enable retailers to keep in touch with customers and prospects via text message marketing.  Short codes enable the retailer to establish two way conversation with the people that matter the most–the customers.

It is important to remember several factors when considering a text message marketing program for your retail store.

• Mobile interaction is not a stand alone activity for a retailer.  You need the right marketing mix.  A savvy retailer leverages his print, radio, television, online, and outdoor advertisements by making them come alive and become interactive with short code marketing.
• It is vital to respect the mobile subscriber’s right to privacy.  An effective short code marketing plan will always gain permission from the consumer through an effective opt-in before sending broadcast text messages in the future.
• Under no circumstances should a retailer purchase a list of cell phone numbers despite the opt-in claims that may be made regarding the list.  The last thing you want to do is alienate potential customers with unwanted and unsolicited promotional text messages.
• Broadcast text messages should always offer some value to the consumer.  Simply sending a reminder of your retail store is not enough and may cause consumers to opt-out of your program.
• The Mobile Marketing Association recommends that a retailer send no more than 2 purely promotional messages per week on average.

Radio stations have a real opportunity if they choose to use it:  sell text message marketing services to its advertisers.

Radio stations can earn more money with text message marketing.  This is the premise of the new article by Bob Bentz that is in RadioInk Magazine.

Check out Bob’s article at Radio Ink.

And start earning more revenue for your radio station today with radio mobile marketing by following Bob’s helpful hints.

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.

North Pole – Who’s the greatest businessman of all-time? 

No, it’s not Henry Ford, nor is it John D. Rockefeller.  Bill Gates?  Donald Trump?  Richard Branson?  Mark Zuckerberg?

Give me a break.

The greatest businessman of all time is, without a doubt, Santa Claus.

Think about it.  His customers return year after year.  He has a factory that churns out toys 24/7 with little overhead.  He has loyal employees; of course, there aren’t a lot of jobs in the world in this tough economy, so imagine how hard it is for elves these days. 

Santa Claus has a promotions department that secures prime visibility in crowded malls and gets him grand marshal positions in parades all over the world.  He also has a public relations staff that writes songs, poems, and even produces movies and television shows with him as the star.  His stamina is amazing and there are no banned substances in his body, unless you count thousands of chocolate chip cookies!

He’s an advertising genius.  Just watch TV in December and see how many commercials he’s on.  I’ve seen him drinking Coca-Cola for years now and am still amazed how he can balance himself on that Norelco razor after all the junk food he eats!

And talk about customer service.  It’s the best in the world.  No waiting on hold to talk to his telemarketers with an Indian accent named “Bobby.”  He knows what you want, often without your even telling him.

But, sometimes I think Santa Claus is slipping a bit the past few years.  He hasn’t really embraced html5, smartphones, social networking, or any new technology very well.  I think he’s one of only about 15 Americans that don’t have a Facebook account. 

His workers still use basic tools from the pre-Industrial Revolution.  His mode of transportation still involves harnessed livestock that takes a treacherous route around the world.  Call the ASPCA!

And, don’t tell me one animal with a light bulb on his nose is innovative.  His ordering process is downright archaic.  I mean, who writes letters any more? 

What Santa Claus needs is mobile marketing.  Worldwide, 5 trillion text messages are sent each year, but how many of you have ever received one, or sent one, to the North Pole?  Even Verizon can’t hear you now at the North Pole. 

Did you know that 18% of those 5 trillion text messages are considered commercial text messages?  Don’t you think a broadcast text message would be a great way for Santa to get rid of some of his closeout inventory?  I hear there’s a warehouse at the North Pole that still has half a million eight-tracks and cassette tapes in it!

Did you ever watch the late news on television on Christmas Eve?  There’s usually some cheesy graphic there with a picture of Santa flying over some other country.  In the eastern United States, I think he’s usually in the Czech Republic during our 11 o’clock newscast. 

Well, I’m an insomniac and I often stay up late multi-tasking on my laptop while watching the History Channel or ESPN—even on Christmas Eve.  I would love to get a text message to know when Santa is getting close to my hometown so I can get to bed on time.  If Southwest can notify me of its flight arrivals by text message, I would think Santa could announce the progress of his reindeer with all those clever little engineers he has on staff.

Ordering is another issue.  How many of you still have envelopes and stamps in your house?  It’s been so long since I sent a letter that I have no idea how much it costs to send a letter.  How much postage do you need to put on a letter to the North Pole anyway?  It’s not even on the USPS.com web site; I checked.  Plus, there’s the issue of the post office losing your snail mail which happens an awful lot this time of year. 

By the way Santa, I’m still waiting for the Benz I asked for last year.  I knew I should have sent my Christmas list by Fed Ex.

With text messages, we could send in our Christmas lists to Santa Claus through a short code, say 72682 (S-A-N-T-A).  With an easy-to-use mobile marketing solution like this, Santa could confirm receipt and even tell you if you’ve been…bad or good. 

Maybe that’s what happened to my Benz.

Bob Bentz is president of Advanced Telecom Services which provides a do-it-yourself mobile marketing network 84444.com to advertising agencies.  He is a father with two children and he still believed in Santa Claus until last year when his Benz never arrived.