Academic Review: Mobile Marketing Messaging via SMS Versus SMTP/Email Channels

Michael Becker, EVP Business Development, iLoop Mobile, Inc.
February 20, 2007
Over the last few years marketers have shown an ever increasing interest in reaching out to and communicating with their customers and prospects via the mobile channel, i.e. employing mobile marketing within their marketing mix. Mobile marketing initiatives include everything from simple text messaging alerts (weather, sports, news, horoscopes, etc.) to intelligent real-time interactive sessions between the marketer (brand) and its customers via text messaging, multimedia messaging, Bluetooth alerts, location aware services, voice/IVR, the mobile internet, device resident portals, and much more. Mobile marketing initiatives are discovered by consumers either through Mobile (Carrier On Device Portal, Mobile Internet Sites, etc.) or Mobile Enhanced Traditional Media channels (TV, Radio, Print, In Venue Screen, IVR, etc.). The most common element of any mobile marketing initiative today is text messaging, which is also referred to as SMS; however, after talking with many marketers it is clear that there is some confusion around text messaging and an alterative messaging method--specifically SMTP/Email. This article compares the practice of messaging via the SMTP/Email and SMS channels and highlights which channel should be used for commercial mobile marketing traffic and why.
Comparing Two Common Messaging MethodsTwo common, but very distinct, messaging channels to send messages to a mobile subscriber’s phone are SMS and SMTP/Email.
Sending a message via SMTP/Email Channel:Sending a message to a mobile subscriber via the SMTP/Email channel is straightforward. Many mobile operators have setup an email gateway within their network to support person to person messaging. In order to send a message via the SMTP/Email channel on a mobile operator’s network you address the message with the following syntax: 10DIGITMOBILEPHONENUMBER@MOBILEOPERTERATORSMTPEMAILDOMAIN.com (Visit a mobile operator’s web site to see if it supports this form of messaging and what its messaging address syntax is). For example, to send a message to a T-Mobile subscriber in the United States you would address the message as follows: PHONENUBER@tmomail.net, e.g. 5551112222@tmomail.net. This message can be sent to the mobile subscriber via any standard email client, e.g. messaging via the mobile phone, Microsoft Outlook, Hotmail, Gmail, etc.
Sending a message via SMS Channel:Sending messages to mobile subscribers via SMS (Short Message Service) is equally a straightforward process, however it requires a slightly different one. In order to send a commercially approved SMS to a mobile subscriber marketers must have a relationship with a messaging aggregator (like mBlox, Singlepoint, or OpenMarket, see http://www.usshortcodes.com/csc_aggregators.html for a list of aggregators) or application provider that has contracted with an SMS aggregator (see http://www.usshortcodes.com/csc_applicators.html). SMS messages are addressed using short codes and the mobile subscriber’s phone number and are routed through the mobile operator network. See MMA Academic Review Article Understanding the Common Short Code: Its Use, Administration, and Tactical Elements (http://mmaglobal.com/modules/article/view.article.php/552) for additional details on the common short code and messaging process.
The following figure shows the message flow for these two messaging methods.
Figure 1: SMS and SMTP/EMAIL Channel Messaging Flows2
The SMS channel and SMTP/Email channel are very different. Many marketers are attracted to the SMTP/Email channel due to the fact that there is a perception that there is no messaging cost, unlike SMS, they perceive the channel to be free. However, as shown in the table below, messaging cost is just one element that must be considered when considering the “cost” of messaging. Other elements to take into consideration are Coverage, Carrier interoperability, Bi-directional traffic support, Message delivery reliability and receipts, Message formatting control, Message form, OperatorID lookup support, Premium billing support, and Allowance for commercial traffic.
SMS Channel
SMTP/Email Channels
Coverage
Regional and Global coverage is supported
Operator specific, many operators do not have SMTP channels.
Carrier interoperability
Single addressing mechanism with participating carriers (i.e. common short code and aggregation channels). Message flow works across regional carriers (each country has slightly different, but similar, practice)
None
Bi-directional traffic
Message traffic is bi-directional, marketers can send messages and subscribers can reply.
For the most part message traffic is one way, subscribers cannot reply (which obviously causes problems with any renewal or opt-out support) and means the channel is not compliant with MMA Best Practices or carrier requirements.
Message delivery reliability & receipts (Quality of Service)
Inherently reliable, employs store & forward mechanism and retry to guarantee message delivery. Relatively prompt. Provides delivery receipt.
There are no delivery guarantees, slow; moreover, an operator may shutoff the channel at any time. No delivery receipts are available.
Message formatting control
Standard based
No standards
Message form
Supports message concatenations.
No standards
OperatorID lookup, i.e. ability to look up subscriber carrier to ensure message delivery and routing through operator network(s)
Available
Not available
Premium billing support
Available
Not available
Messaging costs
In the United States, standard rate wholesale messages rates typically $0.01~$0.05/message. Support for Free-to-end-user messaging models (i.e. marketer covers consumer’s messaging charges) are expected to be available Q2 2008 in U.S. Standard messaging rates vary by country, see http://www.clickatell.com/pricing/message_cost.php for example global SMS rate card.
Free to marketer, data and messaging charges to consumer.
Commercial Traffic Allowance
Yes, mobile carriers support SMS channel for commercial/mobile marketing traffic.
No, mobile operators do not support this channel for commercial traffic; it is designed for person to person traffic. Violators run the risk of having their services blacklisted and face carrier sanctions.
The distinction as to which channel should be used for commercial mobile marketing messaging is clear—only SMS should be used. Not only is the SMTP/Email channel strictly designed for use for person to person traffic, it is not reliable enough for commercial mobile marketing messaging due the broad number of items listed above. . To learn more about this topic see the Mobile Marketing Association Consumer Best Practices documents as well as individual carrier guidelines published by mobile operators through their developer sites and messaging aggregation partners.

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Customer Experience and Mobile Marketing

Jared Braiterman PhD, JaredResearch, andMichael Becker, EVP Business Development, iLoop Mobile, Inc.
March 23, 2007
For more information, or to discuss this article in more detail, please contact Michael Becker at research@mmaglobal.com
In a very short period the mobile phone has rapidly become an essential communication channel used daily by billions around the world and it is poised to become a dominant channel for marketing as well. The use of the mobile phone as a marketing channel has already developed into a multi-billion dollar industry, yet mobile marketing today is still in its infancy. There is still much that needs to be done to enhance mobile marketing services, including the refinement of the user experience. Designing effective mobile marketing campaigns requires a renewed focus on customer experience. This academic review discusses how marketers, designers and technologists can benefit from a decade of experience in web design for personal computers, as well as early signs of a new wave of ubiquitous computing in which mobile phones will play a key role.
The mobile phone is the most ubiquitous communication channel on the planet, far surpassing fixed line telephones and internet connections. According to Ahonen & Moore (2007) there are 1.3 billion landline phones, 1.5 billion television sets, 1.4 billion credit cards, 850 million PC users, 1.1 billion internet users,1.5 billion email boxes used by 800 million people, and a whopping 2.7 billion mobile subscribers, two thirds of which (1.8 billion) are active text messaging users. The mobile phone is used for voice communications, messaging, information gathering, entertainment, shopping, commerce, and enables a wide range of other services. Ensuring user interactions on the phone are simple and error-free are both required elements for the success of individual marketer's campaigns, as well as for the future success and emergence of the mobile phone as a marketing and advertising platform, a platform that one day will not just complete but change the nature of traditional media channels like television, radio, outdoor, web and print.
Pertinent Areas of Research
There is a large body of knowledge, from a number of different disciplines in the past decades which can be leveraged for the creation of useful, usable and desirable digital services. These fields of knowledge include human factors (Salvenry 2006), software and web usability (Braiterman 2000, Kuniavsky 2003)design anthropology (Holtzblatt and Beyer 1998, Ito 2005), cognitive psychology (Norman 1988), human computer interaction (Shneiderman 1998, Dix et al 1998), interaction and persuasive design (Rosenfield & Morville 1998, Fogg 2002), and ubiquitous computing (Weiser and Brown 1995, Norman 1998, Greenfield 2006)
The cornerstone of digital design work can be found in the early work of man to machine interfaces for the workplace. Ergonomics, a synonym for human factors, literally means the “study of work.” Beginning during the Industrial Revolution and accelerating during World War II, human factors focused on complex machinery and specialized users, long before the web and software became widespread in the workplace in the 1980s and 1990s. Human factors in the 1940s and 1950s focused on airplane cockpits where operator error could lead to catastrophic accidents (Meister 1999). Human factors pioneered the study of “human technology” for well trained operators and contributed to industrial design’s appreciation of human physical and mental limits.
Technology spread from specialized work to general work with the rise of software as a tool that all workers were expected to use. With the changing user group, the field of human factors became less focused on preventing disaster and more focused on increasing productivity and reducing training time and costs (Salvenry 2006). Technology, both machine and software, rapidly become an essential tool for all workers. Incentives for businesses to focus on the human side of office technology include the cost of training, manuals and support services in the shift from analog to digital workplaces.
Learnings from these technology waves of human factors and usability research contributed to the development of spatial interfaces, cognitive models, information hierarchies, error prevention and new ways of measuring learning time and productivity.
Web 1.0 and Interactive Customer Experience
The rise of the internet as a mass phenomenon in the 1990s signaled a shift in technology from it primarily being used by workers in offices to also being used by consumers for entertainment, information gathering and leisure activities. And the reverse is also occurring now, where consumer technologies, such as personal digital assistants, Instant Messaging and text messaging, are now being brought into the workplace by consumers and changing the way work is performed. Technology has left the exclusive halls of the trained specialists and entered the realm of the general population, which is comprised of people of all ages, interests and backgrounds. Unlike enterprise machinery and software, web use has been largely voluntary, with no opportunity or expectation for web businesses to proactively train novice users, rather many users needing to learn and experience the technology on their own.
Lessons from web usability and customer experience include reducing barriers to entry, designing for intuitive and appealing interactions, clear and consistent navigation, ensuring that web commerce is trustworthy, and focusing on metrics such as traffic generation, conversions, and sales (Rosenfeld and Morville 1998, Kuniavsky 2003). Leading companies such as Amazon used qualitative and quantitative methods to examine the shopping experience and constantly iterate, improve, and personalize their services with the objective of improving sales and the bottom line. All these lessons are applicable to the mobile space.
Heuristic Guide for Mobile Marketing
The mobile phone is a new and unique medium. In addition to the far smaller screen size and processing power than a personal computer or television, mobile phones occupy a distinctly different place in consumers’ lives. One anthropologist describes the essential features of mobile phones as "personal, portable and everyday" (Ito 2005). Unlike other media or computers, the mobile phone is within reach for a large portion of every day, regardless of time our place.
Given this unique nature, when it comes to consumer experience design for the mobile channel, the following are some customer experience heuristics that apply to mobile marketing and ones that marketers should consider when developing their programs:
1. The customer is in control. Since all activity is voluntary, customer’s objectives, goals and emotions must be taken into account from the call to action, to the interaction on the handset and the results of user action. Industry best practice and regulations require mobile marketing to follow strict opt-in policies.2. Keep it simple. The interaction must be straight-forward and simple; for instance IDC notes that users only have an 8 to 10 second attention span with some mobile initiatives (IDC 2007). Moreover, a number of opt-in methods have been developed to streamline the interaction with mobile marketing initiatives, including short codes, IVR, QR Codes, the # method, as well as the ** method. A number of these various opt-in methods have been developed as a way to reduce the cognitive burden and ergonomic constraints of the ten key pad. For instance, in Japan, QR codes make mobile content available with a single click of the camera phone. Multiple steps only increase drop-off rates.3. Have clear use cases and user flows developed. It is critical to consider all the use cases, i.e. methods how and reason why people will want to use your service. In addition, you should develop user flows for possible paths people may take while interacting with the service or marketing campaign. For instance, you must consider if the program is premium rate or standard rate (i.e. will the subscriber be charged for participation), which opt-in methods will be supported, is double opt-in required, how help requests and privacy inquires will be handled, in addition to the standard flow of your service, like a poll or vote. In the United States, in order to have your campaign approved by the mobile operators you must submit detailed use cases and user flows along with your commercial services application request. See figure 1 for an example user flow of a basic poll program via text messaging.
Figure 1: Basic Text Messaging User Flow
4. Make it persuasive. Since all activity is voluntary, make sure that the offer contains real value for the customer, whether it is downloading a favorite song, video or game, communicating with close friends or virtual communities, or accessing abundant computing from a mobile handset for local services, navigation or entertainment.5. Integrate into the users’ environment. It is not impossible to teach users about new interactions, but it is far easier to leverage existing practices and mental models. Most users will be using services designed by others during most of the day, so stick with conventions and standards when possible. 6. Continually iterate the user experience. Use qualitative research and quantitative metrics to constantly improve interactions and results. Web usability claims that small samples of users can identify 80% of usability problems (Nielsen 2000). Traffic, drop-off, and conversion rates can be monitored to see how small changes have large impacts. Many mobile marketing technologies are well suited to help with meeting this goal, since they can be used to adjust mobile marketing initiative interaction sequences in real-time.
Ubiquitous Computing is on the horizon
It is important that we grasp and learn from today’s mobile marketing, since mobile marketing today is in its infancy and we can establish a solid foundation and best practices. We are not far off from the world being truly mobile in terms of complete mobile ubiquity, with many potential new services and complexities. Ubiquitous computing imagines a world in which computing will be truly mobile, abundant and everywhere, with sensors and displays embedded into everyday environments. Examples include RFID, open IP internet on mobile devices, biometic identification, smart furniture, EZ pass and FeliCa cards, metered parking spaces with sensors. In this new world, the mobile phone is not merely a device for voice and text communication and the mobile web, but also for interacting with increasingly intelligent environments. Early proponents of ubiquitous computing at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center advocated what they termed “calm technology” to integrate augmented reality without creating information overload and constant disruptions (Weiser and Brown 1995).
Text messaging as asynchronic communication, and other mobile marketing models in use today, gives an early indication of communication on the periphery of user attention. However, there is still much to learn. As the mobile phone becomes ever more capable, new modes of alerting, communicating and informing must also be developed and the user experience transformed beyond current input devices, output displays and overall capabilities. Customer experience in mobile environments must be studied and refined to take full advantage of this very powerful medium.

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Hispanic Mobile Telephony Trends

Larry Upton, edioma, Inc. (Editor: Michael Becker, iLoop Mobile, Inc.)
May 1, 2007
For more information, or to discuss this article in more detail, please contact Michael Becker at research@mmaglobal.com
Hispanics account for approximately 15% of the US population, the fastest growing ethnic minority, and in some border states (e.g., Texas) will represent a majority of the population by 2010. The Latino demographic, with over 42 million constituents, represents the third largest US consumer purchase block after White and African Americans. As a result, advertisers will spend a projected $6B in 2007 trying to reach this fast-growing segment (French, 2007).
On the whole, this same purchasing power extends to Hispanic Internet users. There were approximately 16.7 million Hispanic Internet users in 2006: that number should reach nearly 21 million by 2010 (eMarketer, 2006). Equally important, the number of Hispanic Internet users under the age of 35 is projected to grow to 12.1 million by 2010. As a comparison, the median age of the US population is expected to be 36 in 2010, while the Hispanic median age will be just over 27 with over one-third under the age of 18. As most online marketers know, it’s this 18-34 year old age bracket that spends the most on mobile content.
However, similar studies indicate that Hispanics, especially first generation immigrants and those who are Spanish dependent, access the Internet far less frequently than White, African Americans, or English-speaking Hispanics. In fact, findings from the Pew Group (Fox and Livingston, March 2007) indicate only 29% of Hispanic adults have home broadband connections, compared with 43% of White adults. This difference is driven primarily by the fact that Latino internet users are less likely than non-Hispanic white internet users to have any kind of Internet connection at home (79%, compared to 92%). Pew likewise found that 78% of Latinos who are English-dominant and 76% of bilingual Latinos use the Internet (compared with 32% of Spanish-dominant Hispanic adults), while 76% of U.S.-born Latinos go online, compared with 43% of those born outside the U.S. These statistics paint a compelling picture where mobile versus traditional Web access for the Hispanic population is concerned, and should serve as incentive for providers of both Spanish-language mobile content, as well as mobile advertisers looking to target the Latino population.
In fact, recent studies from Forrester Research and the Mobile Marketing Association show that the Hispanic market segment use the mobile phone more than other demographic groups (Young 2005; MMA 2006) These insights were further supported by a January 2007 study commissioned by edioma, a provider of mobile language assistance solutions, and conducted by Galloway Research of San Antonio, Texas (http://www.gallowayresearch.com). The purpose of the research was to determine Spanish-dependent mobile phone user preferences and trends related to wireless carrier choice, data usage patterns, proclivity toward 3rd party mobile application purchase, and interest in e-learning products.
During a six-week period commencing December 15, 2006 Galloway placed over 9,000 calls to mobile phone users throughout Dallas, Houston, El Paso, and the Rio Grande Valley. Galloway then narrowed down potential candidates and conducted over 225 interviews of 12-15 minutes each, posing 40 questions to each respondent. The research methodology employed resulted in a statistical sample accuracy of approximately 90%.
The findings for this study should be of particular interest to both mobile content and mobile advertising providers:
* 32% of respondents use T-Mobile as their wireless carrier, followed by Cricket/Pocket/Metro PCS (21%), Sprint-Nextel at (27%), and Cingular (11%).
* Over 75% subscribed to their wireless service on an annual basis, while 23% indicated they purchased minutes/data on a pre-paid basis.
* 34% of those questioned access the Internet over traditional means at home or work, the majority of which (48%) surfed the Web less than 3 times per week.
* Over 48% of persons interviewed were interested to receive more information on learning English over their mobile phone.
* Average price users were willing to pay for a mobile language instruction service was approximately $21.50 per month.
* Over 73% of respondents indicated they would be willing to watch a 2-3 second advertisement on their mobile phone in exchange for free/discounted English lessons.
Although based on research conducted in a single market (Texas) these findings are indicative of national trends. According to a recent study by Yankee Group, Hispanics average 15% higher ARPU, 21.5% more minutes of use per month than the average user, and spend 35% more per month on data services than the average user (Amoroso, 2006). Based on such research, it appears that that low-cost or advertising-subsidized mobile language instruction services may offer consumers a unique means to not only improve their quality of life and access to information, but also represent a highly attractive medium for mobile advertising.
Unlike traditional content, language instruction programs (if properly designed) can offer valuable insight into the “back-end demographics” of a mobile customer. Statistics indicate that a consumer who downloads a situation-specific phrase kit, e.g., “On the Jobsite,” likely shares certain key personal demographics (e.g., 18-40 year old male) as others who download the same package. In addition, an advertiser may surmise from the language instruction path (base to secondary), what the end-user’s native language might be, while the mobile number itself and inherent GPS capability contained within most handsets lends into ascertaining current location and base market. Thus a properly developed language assistance program might provide the four “golden demographics” to a potential advertiser: gender, age, language, and location.

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Academic Review: Relationship Power Line Enhanced Transaction to Relationship Marketing Continuum and Insights into the Changing Practices of Marketin

Michael J. Becker, EVP Business Development, iLoop Mobile
August 25th, 2007
For more information, or to discuss this article in more detail, please contact Michael Becker at research@mmaglobal.com
Over the last quarter century there has been an undercurrent of activity that has affected the direction, role and practice of marketing. The practice of marketing is going through a metamorphosis. Not a simple paradigm shift, i.e. a shift in marketing standards and norms, as many proclaim (Peppers & Rogers 1995; Bejou 1997; Brodie et al. 1997; Gronroos 1997; Zineldin 2000l Watson et al. 2005), but an Isoquantic shift (Myers 1998). John Sculley, former CEO of Apple, coined the term Isoquantic shift to recognize the effect technology is having on business, it refers to “...a significant technological advancement that dramatically changes the way people do things and completely re-orients people’s concepts of how things are done” (Myers 1998, p11). Marketing is certainly faced with an Isoquantic shift, one that will significantly change how the marketing function works and what will be expected of it. This article provides an overview of the drivers behind this shift and introduces a conceptual model, the Relationship Power Line Enhanced Transaction to Relationship Marketing Continuum, which can be used as a framework to ground future discussions on how marketers can respond to their changing role within an increasingly more diverse market and points the appropriateness Mobile Marketing practices within this context.
The role of marketing is shifting. Prior to what is commonly referred to as the dawn of the Information or Digital Age, i.e. before computers, databases, the Internet, mobile phones, etc., marketers were primarily responsible with helping companies promote and sell mass-market consumer goods to a broad, generally anonymous, audience (Dwyer et al 1987). In other words, they focused on Transaction Marketing, and their primary goals were to capture market share and generate as many discrete transactions as possible with as many people as possible. However, since the dawn of the Information Age, things have changed and so has the practice of marketing. Many interdependent catalysts can be singled out as being behind this change. For instance, globalization, reliance on services (e.g. services accounted for 67.8% of U.S. GDP in 2006 (US Dept. of Sates 2007)), the hyperfragmentation of media channels and hypercompetition (Becker 2005), introduction and maturing of new technologies (Berry 1983; Berry 1995; Bejou 1997; Zineldin 2000; Brohman et al. 2003); and the increasing power consumers have within and over the commercial exchange process (Fournier 1997; Hagel III & Rayport 1997; Watson et al. 2005). In addition to the above catalysts there is one more that must be called out; that is, the fact that consumer attention is becoming a scare resource. Consumers are bombarded with advertising, messaging, choice, channels and more and their attention is limited (Parvatiyar & Sheth 1998; Mitchell 2001). Getting through the market cacophony and into a consumer’s circle of awareness is becoming increasingly difficult.
Many marketers have responded to this difficulty by employing Relationship Marketing, a term coined by Leonard Berry in 1983, and a practice founded in the earlier works of Levitt (1960), Arndt (1979), Bagozzi (1974, 1978), Day and Wensley (1983), Dwyer, Schurr, and Oh (1987), Levitt (1983), and Mancneil (1978) who all emphasized the importance of a consumer centric focus to marketing practices and the fact that long-term buyer seller relationships are critical for firm longevity. Bejou (1997) notes that customer relationships don’t, or should not, stop at the initial sale but rather continue on.
A significant body of literature has developed over the last 25 years around the topic of Relationship Marketing and a number of themes have emerged, including Service Marketing (Berry 1983; Berry 1995; Bejou 1997; Gummesson 2002); Database Marketing, Customer Relationship Management; One-to-One Marketing and Mass-customization (Peppers & Rogers 1995); Permissions Marketing (Godin 1999); Strategic Partnership Management; Customer Loyalty (Reichhel & Sasser 1990); Supplier Relationship Management; Internal Marketing (Gummesson 2002); and other generalized themes. Out of all this work another theme, the understanding that the consumer is not the only relationship that marketers must manage, has also emerged. For instance, Morgan and Hunt (1994) identified 10 key constituents that marketers must form relationships with in order to achieve success and Gummesson (1987, 2002) identifies 30 key relationships that marketers must maintain and points out that firms need not only full-time markets but part-time markets as well, i.e. all customer facing employees are marketers in some fashion.
The different forms of marketing that are discussed above, i.e. Transaction and Relationship Marketing (in all its forms) are not mutually exclusive. Rather, Transaction and Relationship Marketing form the two poles for the Transaction to Relationship Marketing Continuum (Jackson 1985; Gronroos 1990). This continuum, however, is not continuous; rather it is interrupted by an Intent Barrier. The Intent Barrier symbolizes the need for marketers to align their rhetoric and actions with their intent and if they do not they run the risk of either damaging a profitable future with their customers or wasting resources with customers that will never turn a profit (Jackson 1995; Fournier et al. 1998; Mitchell 2006).
The Transaction to Relationship Marketing model can be further enhanced with the Relationship Power Line™, a line that represents which party has the locus of power and control over the relationship—the marketer or the consumer. Historically, with traditional Relationship Marketing, i.e. those practices referred to above (CRM, Database Marketing, One-to-One Marketing, etc.), the marketer has almost total control over the timing, content, and related factors that formulate the marketer to consumer relationship. As noted, however, in recent years consumers are gaining more and more control over these factors and the consumer is gaining more control and power over the marketer to consumer relationship. In fact, two new models have emerged to describe customer centric control rather then marketer centric control, Customer Managed Interaction (CMI) and Vendor Relationship Management (VRM). Watson (2005) defines CMI as “A Customer directed interaction with a firm in which the customer manages the content, mode, and timing of data exchange in order to meet the customer’s goals,” while VRM is defined as “the reciprocal of CRM or Customer Relationship Management. It provides customers with tools for engaging with vendors in ways that work for both parties” (Project VRM 2007).The following figure provides a visual depiction of the discussion above, with the Transaction to Relationship Marketing Continuum depicted along the horizontal plane and the Relationship Power Line defined along the Vertical plane, and both interrupted by the Intent Barrier.

Figure 1: Power Line Enhanced Transaction to Relationship Marketing ContinuumCLICK TO ENLARGE IMAGE
In addition, the figure above highlights additional variables, such as time, communication style, relationship type, and trust which significantly influence the various styles of marketing.
Conclusion
We are entering a new era of marketing, one where the traditional rules and models are losing their effectiveness and one where customers have awakened to their new found power and control. It is not the purpose of this article to go into detail regarding the two new themes presented here, the Relationship Power Line or Intent Barrier, or to define CMI, VRM, and the various forms of marketing along the traditional Transaction to Relationship Marketing Continuum. Rather, the intent here is to raise the awareness of the changing face of marketing. As for the practice of Mobile Marketing within the framework describe here, much work needs to be done. It is evident from academic research, stories in popular press, and industry case studies that Mobile Marketing, i.e. marketing through the Mobile Channel, can be used for numerous forms of marketing, and the unique and personal nature of the mobile phone brings to the forefront the issues of relationship control, trust, communications styles, and more. The customer, our markets, and marketing are changing and marketers must take heed of this in order to thrive today and in the future.

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Academic Review: What is in the data? Leveraging Mobile Ad Network Data

Michael Becker, EVP Business Development, iLoop Mobile Inc.
October 24, 2007

AdMob, one of the world’s leading mobile advertising networks, recently released the September 2007 AdMob Network Metrics Report (AdMob 2007). This report provides details on mobile advertisement impressions generated through the AdMob global mobile advertising network. Key metrics derived from this report include 1) where the AdMob traffic is coming from and 2) which mobile handsets are generating this traffic. Why is this data important? Both these figures are key forensic data points for understanding the nature and changing landscape of consumer mobile services adoption. While, admittedly, the AdMob data can not be assumed to be a representative sample of all mobile usage around the world, it can, however, be used as a compass of market movement and is useful to look at as long as one keeps some margin of error in mind when attempting to generalize the data for thoughts toward broader market implications.
In looking at the AdMob data we find a few key data points, including ad impressions broken down by country:
North America: 44.2%
Asia: 22.3%
Western Europe: 9.3%
The data supports the industry’s assumption that the U.S. market is a relatively important market to go after, but it also shows Asia to be an increasingly important market as well. Delving into the data a bit deeper, for the month of Sept. 2007, we see that 42.2% of AdMob ad impressions came from the U.S., 10% from India, 6.9% from South Africa, 5.4% from the United Kingdom, 3.9% from Indonesia and all other countries falling into the 2% and below range, again, important data for companies to help focus their strategies.
Additionally, important data points from the AdMob report include handsets metrics, which AdMob derives by detecting and reading the User Agent Profile (UA Prof.) from the mobile handset when the mobile handset pulls the ad form AdMob’s network. Below are lists of the top 10 mobile handsets detected on the AdMob ad network for the month of Sept. 2007. The top 10 handsets worldwide represent 19.9% of the market, while in the United States they represent 37.2%. Motorola and RIM take the first four slots in both the worldwide and U.S. cases. It is also interesting to note that Samsung is playing a more prominent role in the United States than it is worldwide, and Nokia does not even make the U.S. list, while Sanyo, LG and Danger do not make the worldwide list.
Table 1: AdMob Network Metrics Report Sept. 2007. Top 10 Handset Worldwide and in United States
Worldwide Handset Penetration
United States Handset Penetration Providing a good customer experience on the mobile phone is critical to developing and maintaining consumer adoption and acceptance of one’s mobile services. Therefore, leveraging data like that provided by AdMob is helpful, since this data can assist a solution provider in understanding which handsets to focus on first when tailoring and testing its mobile services to serve its target market. For instance, in the U.S., one’s mobile solutions better work on Razrs and Blackberries or you’ll have a problem.
Knowing the handset model is not enough, however, to ensure you’ll have a great service. In addition to knowing what handset a consumer has, it is also important to know the capabilities of the handset. Some phones, especially SmartPhones, can have a tremendous number of features. Handset functionality can be derived from a number of sources, including handset manufactures, carriers, open-source initiatives like WURFL, as well as from commercial sources like Mobile Research. Many companies also support extensive internal testing groups to develop their own phone profile databases as well as to refine the information derived from the sources named previously. Finally, a number of industry associations, such as the Mobile Marketing Association, dotMobi Mobile Advisory Group and others are looking into developing device profile initiatives. By taking video as an example service to explain this concept of handset capability, one can derive some interesting knowledge from the AdMob report. Both static download and play as well as streaming video business models for serving video are hot topics in the industry right now and the AdMob data provides some helpful insight as to whether or not the market is ready for video services. According to the AdMob report 52.7% of mobile handsets that pull an AdMob ad support download and play video (compared to worldwide numbers of 59.2%) while 15.8% of United States subscriber’s phones support streaming video, which is significantly lower than worldwide penetration of 35.6%. These numbers are up significantly from last year in the United States; in 2006 only 32% or less of phones supported download and play video and streaming video was far less than what it is today. So, these numbers are encouraging for those service providers wishing to offer video.
Surprisingly, however, even if you know what phones people use and the features the phone supports, this will not guarantee market acceptance and applicability of your service. For example, only about 5% of the market consumes video on their phone with any regularity (Steele 2007). Moreover, in order for video services to work a consumer must have an active data plan with their phone subscription, not just a data capable phone. Today, only about 60% of consumers use data services (some report the number as low as 14%~30%), although this number is increasing rapidly (Becker 2007).
Consumers actually report using very few features of their phone. For instance, the 2006 MMA Attitudes and Usage Study reports that consumers on average use only 4.8 features of their phone, with the top four features being Call waiting, Text Messaging, Speaker Phone, and hands free (MMA 2006). Simply because the phone supports a certain function, does not mean that the service is ready for prime time or mass market consumer channels. There are a number of key variables to consider when launching a mass market service, such as (Becker 2007; Becker 2006):
Interoperability, a term used to designate whether or not a service can work across carrier networks (or even on a particular network), e.g. can consumer’s easily share video clips to name just one example or can they view a streaming video clip to name another. Video still has many interoperability issues. For example, T-Mobile in the United States has not enabled off-portal video streaming, and most Verizon Wireless phones do not support clickable links in a text message (a common method of content propagation), although this is changing with many of the latest Verizon Wireless handset supporting this feature.
On-deck Vs. Off-deck support, will the service only work from the carrier’s branded portal (On-deck) or will the service work throughout the rest of the ecosystem, such as from a mobile enhanced TV show, newspaper, magazine, web site, IVR session, mobile Internet site, outdoor media, etc.
Standards & Guidelines, do industry standard, guidelines, and best practices exists, such as those published by the Mobile Marketing Association, to help regulate the industry.
Business models, have the business models matured across all spheres of the ecosystem in order for all those providing value within the solution value chain/cluster to be in position to maintain a viable business.
Consumer adoption/acceptance, has consumer adoption and acceptance reached a critical mass for a particular solution, moreover, have consumers adopted/accepted the necessary periphery services required to sustain the services in quesitons. For instance, in order to use mobile data services, like video, consumers must have first activated and chosen a data plan (i.e. metered vs. unlimited) as noted above.
Handset adoption, as discussed, consumers must have a handset capable of supporting the application in question. On average consumers change their handset every 18~36 months; therefore, even if we ignore all the other variables, if a service requires a handset with a particular software or hardware feature that has just been released it may take some time for that handset to reach critical mass in the market for the service to even have the chance of being mass market applicable (obviously there are a number of variables that can and will effect this construct).
The following image shows a current mapping of key mobile marketing channels and services and where they are aligned with the variables discussed. In order for an item to be “mass market” it must have full market penetration of all the above variables, if it does not than if falls somewhere along the scale to the left of mass market. Voice and SMS services are very much in line with the mass market constructs, while mobile internet is on the low end of mass market constructs and many of the other up and coming mobile services are still within niche market classifications since they are not fully mature within one or more of the variable constructs discussed.
The mobile market is maturing at a rapid pace, and data from sources like AdMob is incredibly valuable. As noted, however, the AdMob data is specific to AdMob, meaning these numbers are a by product of the company size, expansion plans, the fact that most of their traffic is derived from when people “surf” mobile internet sites in English, etc., and; therefore, the data is not necessarily representative of the entire industry. However, when one triangulates the AdMob data with other industry reports one finds that the AdMob data is in accordance with general industry trends and thus going forward may be a useful indicator for general market movement. Leveraging the data and operationalizing this data with the constructs above is critical for services success

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Academic Review: Overview of Customer Managed Interaction Marketing System Concept and Mobile Marketing’s Fit

Michael Becker, EVP Business Development, iLoop Mobile, Inc. April 24, 2008
Over the last quarter century there has been an undercurrent of activity affecting the direction, role and practice of marketing. The practice of marketing is going through a metamorphosis. Not a simple paradigm shift, i.e. a shift in marketing standards and norms, as many proclaim (Peppers & Rogers 1995; Bejou 1997; Brodie et al. 1997; Gronroos 1997; Zineldin 200l; Watson et al. 2005), but an isoquantic shift, “...a significant technological advancement that dramatically changes the way people do things and completely re-orients people’s concepts of how things are done” (Myers 1998, p11). Marketing is certainly faced with an Isoquantic shift. Customers are beginning to wield significant control over the commercial interaction with marketers (Locke et al. 2000; Grossman, 2006; Haven et al. 2007) and new marketing systems, like customer Managed Interactions (CMI), are emerging to contend with this shift (Mitchell, 2001; Watson, 2004; Watson et al. 2005; Mitchell et. al., 2006).
CMI is an emerging concept; in fact there appears to be no commercial CMI Marketing Systems available as of early 2008. Watson (2005) defines CMI as “a customer directed interaction with a firm in which the customer manages the content, mode, and timing of data exchange in order to meet the customer’s goals.” In the above definition,
Content refers to the information shared between customer and marketer, including a customer’s personal identifiable information (PII), non-personally identifiable information (Non-PII), behavioral data and interests, etc. (hereafter referred to as “customer information”) and marketer commercial information
Mode refers to the method of interaction, such as email, telephone, text messaging, multimedia messaging, Internet, mobile Internet, etc.
Timing refers to both the time and location the interaction takes place
Data Exchange refers to the process by which the customer information and marketer commercial information are shared between marketer and customer.
Goals refer to the value the customer expects to obtain in return for engaging in the interaction and for sharing customer information to trigger this action.
The following figure details a high-level overview of the CMI Marketing System.
Key players in the CMI Marketing System include the customer, the marketer and the trusted intermediary. The customer is the consumer of information, services or goods in relationship with the marketer, either anonymously, and indirectly, through a trusted intermediary, or directly via traditional direct marketing systems (like telemarketing, direct marketing and related marketing systems). The trusted intermediary is a new market player that has yet to emerge. The trusted intermediary securely pulls customer information from a customer’s Personal Knowledge Bank (PKB) and brokers this information, either anonymously or not, between the customer and the marketer. The PKB is a database which contains all the customer information. It is owned by the customer and hosted by the customer, the trusted intermediary or a third party. Customer information is entered into this PKB either directly by the customer or automatically as the customer interacts within the CMI Marketing System.
Mobile marketing & Possible factors influencing acceptance of CMI
Mobile marketing will play a key role in the future of CMI Marketing Systems, in that the mobile channel will be one of, if not the, primary interactive communication mode used by consumers to interact through the trusted intermediary and in certain instance directly with the marketer. What makes the mobile channel unique is that it has so many sub-modes to leverage, including text messaging, multi-media messaging, Bluetooth, email, voice, mobile Internet and related internet protocol enabled services. Furthermore, each of these sub-modes can be modified and enhanced with a number of periphery services including location, commerce, near field communications and more. The growth of the practice of mobile marketing and the industry’s success in eliminating the friction currently within and between many elements of the mobile marketing process are key factors to the future success of mobile enhanced CMI Marketing System(s). In addition, a number of other factors may influence the emergence of CMI Marketing System(s), including privacy (O’Malley et al. 1997; Deighton 1998; Deighton 2002; Salls et. al. 2003; Bloom et al. 1994; Fletcher 2003; Zavagno 2004; Hann et. al. 2005; Mitchell 2006), trust (O'Malley et al. 1997; Milne and Boza, 1999; Siau and Shen 2003; Chellappa and Sin 2005; Hurley 2006; Mitchell 2006), customer influence over the marketing process (Hagel & Rayport 1997; Deighton 1998) and the customer desire to own customer information and reap direct value from it (Locke et al. 2000; Grossman, 2006; Haven et al. 2007). Finally, the efficiency, or lack there of, of current marketing systems will impact the growth of CMI Marketing System(s) (Fournier et al. 1998; Peppers & Rogers 1995: Hagel & Jeffry Rayport 1997; Mitchell 2001; Brohman et al. 2003; Watson et. al. 2004; Mitchell 2006).
Conclusion
We’ve learned much about the mobile channel in recent years and there is so much more to learn about the future of marketing and the impact systems like CMI will have on the practice of marketing. There are many questions to answer, including: What factors may significantly influence customer, marketer and trusted intermediary willingness and intentions to participate in a CMI Marketing System? What role, will privacy and trust play in influencing these players to participate in a CMI Marketing System? Will customer demographics; such as, gender, education, ethnicity, age, and economic status, play a role in customer intentions to participate in a CMI Marketing System? What goals might a customer desire to achieve when engaging in a CMI Marketing System? What incentives may influence customer intentions to participate in a CMI Marketing System, and how might these incentives vary across different market segments? Which of the mobile modes will be most effective for CMI engagement? These are just a few of the numerous questions that must be tackled for CMI to mature and emerge. It is important for marketers to understand and appreciate the emerging trends like CMI, strive identity more questions and to find the answers, and prepare for the day when the customer is in total control of all interactions.

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Academic Review: Are presidential mobile campaigns at the tipping point? An interview with Doug Busk, mobile technologies advisor to political campaig

By Logan BramanContributors: Michael Becker, iLoop Mobile, Inc.; Michael Hanley, Ball State University
December 12, 2007
Introduction
From the trivial to the pivotal the mobile channel is beginning to have an impact on politics throughout the world. As far back as 2001 text messaging has had an impact on politics. Text messaging chain letters were a key part of forcing Philippines's President, Joseph Estrada to step down in 2001 (Wikipedia, 2007). Text messaging networks were disabled in Iran in 2005 and in Cambodia in 2007 by the governments who feared the impact texting might have on elections (Wikipedia, 2007, Text Messaging Blocked 2007). As recently as November 2007, political sound bites have been turned into revenue generating ringtones.
At the Ibero-American Summit in Chile last month King Juan Carlos of Spain chided Venezuelan's President Hugo Chavez by saying, "Why don't you just shut up?". The BBC reports that USD $2 million has been generated from an estimated 500,000 downloads of the "Why don't you just shut up?" ringtone.
International Journal of Mobile MarketingThe MMA International Journal of Mobile Marketing (IJMM), is the world's only journal dedicated to the topic of mobile marketing. Published twice per year (June and December), the journal provides a medium for academics, students and industry professionals from around the world to share their insights and research on how the mobile channel can be effectively used for marketing. The IJMM was award the ASAE Gold Circle Award for Peer Reviewed Print Journals in August 2007. Visit http://www.mmaglobal.com/modules/article/view.article.php/1420 to learn more about the IJMM. The United States political scene is also now being impacted by the mobile channel. As the presidential campaigns take shape the use of the mobile channel is being taken to new levels. The following details a phone interview held December 12, 2007 with Doug Busk, Vice President of Industry Relations at SinglePoint and mobile technologies advisor to political campaigns, including the 2008 presidential election (Hanley, 2007). The interview was derived from Busk's article "Election 2008: The Mobile Tipping Point" (Busk, 2007), which is available in the December issue of the Mobile Marketing Association's award winning International Journal of Mobile Marketing (IJMM), see side bar for more on the IJMM.
Interview ReviewUnited States presidential candidates have increasingly used Web sites, e-mail and other online tools in recent campaigns. According to Doug Busk, the 2008 election will be the first time mobile campaigning will play an important role in the election. Multiple candidates are using text messaging (SMS) for voter outreach and fundraising, but Busk says mobile's ultimate success won't ultimately be determined after the election.
"How mobile might be used and what success stories might come out of it are the wild cards," Busk says. "There's always the possibility that mobile could affect a caucus or could affect turnout in a way that has a demonstrative impact on the end results in a tight race."
Mobile is becoming an increasingly important medium to candidates. Current mobile strategies to reach users who opt in include sending simple news announcements and calls for donations; video and picture messages could be used in the future. Whatever form the messages take, Busk says campaigns are concerned about how mobile efforts successfully affect two goals.
"The campaigns that are using it are very keen to find out one of two things: does it drive votes or does it drive donations," he said. "I think we can safely say that it's not going to be able to drive donations, at least not immediately, but there may well be a possibility of it driving votes."
Donations, while desirable, present a difficulty to mobile campaigns because of complex campaign finance laws. Senator Barack Obama's campaign is leveraging mobile to drive votes. Obama's mobile efforts, which Busk is involved with, have included giving users coupons through text messages to buy items at the candidate's online store, and responding to constituents' texted questions.
"I wish I had been a fly on the wall when the person who texted a question to the Obama campaign got a response back a day later answering their question," he said. "I would have loved to see the look on their face. That's really what excites me, not only about politics but also the power of mobile. It's this wonderful little computing device you carry with you everywhere that can connect you to everyone in the world."
Mobile campaigning has an increasing allure for candidates, but will voters be affected by mobile efforts? According to Busk's article, the answer lies in the past and how other campaign tools like online video have fared.
"It was very hard to predict what the moment was that was going to make online video a campaign necessity, and then it happened with Senator Allen and the macaca incident," Busk said. "We don't know what's going to happen now with mobile."
Despite the uncertainty, Busk is confident something will push mobile marketing into the realm of necessity. The catalyst for the tipping point is uncertain, but Busk said media use and knowledge of mobile, campaign use of mobile and user-generated mobile applications are the three most important areas.
"Between those three areas you have what is effectively the dynamite for the mobile explosion. Something is going to light the fuse," Busk said. "I don't know what it is. It might be a user-generated ringtone that supports or is satirical of a candidate. It might be a flash mob at a particular candidate's event that is organized over SMS."
Whether a proper situation to light the fuse will occur in the 2008 election or the future is the big question. To Busk, the question is easy to answer when the most important factors are considered.
"The number one thing to remember is that we're up to 250 million mobile users in the United States," he said. "With two-thirds of them using SMS on a regular basis and many campaigns leveraging SMS, the opportunity is great for that tipping point incident to happen in 2008. I'd say stay tuned."

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Deschutes Brewery's new mobile marketing tool

Thirsty Central Oregonians gather around the Deschutes Brewery Big Barrel at the Bend brewery Tuesday. The wooden barrel has 16 taps serving eight Deschutes Brewery ales.
The mobile beer barrel served Central Oregonians before heading to Portland, after which it will travel to Seattle, where it will park at the Seattle Oktoberfest on Sept. 21. The huge beer barrel will tour Seattle for six weeks in a marketing effort to promote the Bend beers through word-of-mouth advertising, said Paul Evers, the president of tbd advertising, Deschutes Brewery’s advertising and marketing company. Evers could not disclose the cost to build the barrel, which was designed by a Los Angeles fabricator and finished in Bend, but said it was significantly less than a traditional advertising campaign in the Seattle area — one of the brewery’s largest markets.
Deschutes Brewery President Gary Fish also will travel to Seattle for Oktoberfest, Evers said, along with a brewer and other staffers representing the Central Oregon product.
Future Big Barrel appearances will include local events, charity events and a showing in Portland’s trendy Pearl District to promote the new Deschutes Brewery pub that will open there next year.

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Google's Latitude Has Vast Mobile Marketing Potential

Google launched a new program called Google Latitude this week which is an extension of their popular mobile Google Maps application. Essentially the new system extends Mobile Google Maps to provide real time location information for friends that you have chosen to follow and in turn have allowed you to follow them. Images of friends you are following appear on the map so you can see where they are at any given moment. You can also quickly interact with anyone you are monitoring through GTalk, SMS or Gmail.
I know what you are probably thinking, that is a little creepy. Well there is no doubt that it could be a bit stalker'ish but since it is 100% opt-in it is not so bad in my opinion (at least one privacy group feels otherwise). To increase privacy options Google was smart enough to include the ability to broadly change privacy settings to either stop everyone's viewing of your location entirely or just provide the city you are in. You can even manually select the location you are at instead of having it show automatically - a great option if you need to be appear to be somewhere else or you simply don't have enough connectivity to show your location automatically. Now Google Latitude is undeniably cool but it is far from unique; there are a few other programs that are location aware, more established and have greater functionality such as BrightKite and Dopplr. That said, now that Google has gotten involved the potential of the location-aware landscape has changed. After all, take a moment and consider just what a company with the reach of Google could do with the data it is undoubtedly collecting right now from the travel habits revealed by Latitude users. It sure gets my creative juices working. Here are a few paths Google could take this technology in the very near future:Advertising to the Next LevelAs soon as Google wanted to it could adapt a pay-per-click service for Google Maps where merchants with Google local profiles could pay to get a Latitude user's attention. Then whenever you happened to be nearby a paying merchant you would see their business appear with a certain icon... say a "$" which means the store is having a sale. This could get out of hand if a ton of merchants happened to advertise in the same area but that can easily be dealt with by:
Limiting the businesses that show up based on the map's zoom level - to keep down the clutter.
Rotating the ads to give advertisers play time based on their ad budget just as Google does with Adwords.
Enforce day-parting based on the store hours of each advertising business. This would be a great way to ensure that night-establishments such as nightclubs and restaurants get their fair shake at some map space during the twilight hours when 9-5 businesses are lights-out.Vastly More Personalized Google ApplicationsGoogle could take note of what establishments you visit any given day based on the coordinates of business locations. Using this information along with the description of products/services offered at each location it could internally determine your interests over time. This is especially true if it combines this data with your personalized search data. Now just like personalized search data is, this geo-personalization data collection would have to be 100% opt-in. After all, many people would have no interest having this data collected. The benefit to those that opt-in, however, could be quite significant.Simply put if you were to opt-in to this service Google could alert you to sales in your area on the type of products/services you often consider buying. That equates to you possibly saving money (if it is truly a good deal) and Google looking like the good guy on both sides - by offering the merchant more traffic/business and getting you sale information without any effort on your part.For example, say I am the person profiled using this hypothetical Latitude personalization and Google has determined I am a tech fanatic. It also 'knows' I have been researching new 120hz LCD TVs lately. Well I happen to be near a Futureshop on an unrelated errand and I see on Google Maps mobile a flashing "$" symbol near my location. When I inevitably click on the symbol I find out that Futureshop has a sale for a TV model that I was researching on Google last night. If I choose to I can then visit Futureshop and learn more or keep the sale in mind for another day. As a confessed tech bargain shopaholic this sounds brilliant.Unfortunately one problem really stands out for me; GPS data is purposely inaccurate to some degree. An innacuracy could poison Google's data if it thought I was always visiting a McDonalds versus a nearby book store I was frequenting; I hate McDonalds and the last thing I want is to be notified about a 10 cent faux burger special. As a result, it would make sense to expect some data attrition at Google's end when doubtful data is provided or I suppose Google could occasionally survey opted-in users on where they actually were when data is in question.Google Google GoogleYes I know Google is getting a bit big for its britches. In fact I can hear my Senior SEO, Scott Van Achte right now... "I hate Google now because all I do is focus on it - I want more variety!" Yes I know, Google is all encompassing (especially for SEOs) but rather than fight it I am choosing to be excited about the ground breaking functionality that Google has the real possibility of offering its users on a large scale. Now we just have to wait and see whether expanding Google Latitude gets anywhere in Google's vast queue of projects and priorities.

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Mobile marketing presents opportunities, pitfalls

By Tony SchallerSpecial to Newspapers & Technology
We have all heard the buzz about mobile marketing. But what does it really mean, and how can newspaper publishers tap into this market?
When we first think about mobile phones, we think about how they provide easy, perhaps too easy, access that allows us to communicate and be reached in our busy lives.
We see the use of mobile technology all around us — in our cars, supermarkets, even waiting in line at the bank. And voice is just a part of mobile services. Text usage is ballooning, and as new phones appear with improved display technology, mobile browsers will allow users to access the Web via high-speed broadband and Wi-Fi conduits.
The result is that mobile communications have become an integral part of an extremely diverse demographic base, spanning segments as varied as high-tech professionals to elementary school students. Yet each of these groups, no matter how disparate, share a common thread: their use of cellular phones is based on an impulse-driven, real-time basis.

Don’t ignore
Newspaper publishers and advertisers cannot overlook the opportunities presented in this new paradigm. This use of mobile technology, whether it’s sending a message or playing a game, is accelerated by the convenience of the device as consumers strive to occupy their idle moments.
These so-called “micro-boredom” moments occur in three- to six-minute intervals during the time a consumer is using his or her cell phone.
And these intervals, which can occur anywhere from five to 20 times a day, represent a significant opportunity for a publisher to exploit readership and advertising consumption.
Indeed, if done correctly, mobile marketing brings with it the opportunity to reach a large demographic of the population in an immediate and thoughtful manner.
But these opportunities also come with challenges. At a minimum, content providers must keep in mind that their news and information will be consumed only during those micro-boredom moments when consumers have some time to spend.
As a result, articles and information must be concise, perhaps inviting consumers to read further via URLs that can be accessed later in the day.
Content must also be timely and ideally, have some urgency based on the user’s own personal preferences or interests. Even better: text messages that update an ongoing news event.
Publishers and advertisers face the challenge of relevancy and privacy. Mobile users will want to see value in the content or advertising they have selected to receive.
All mobile products, incorporating content and/or advertising, must also provide a means for the consumer to easily decline receiving similar items in the future.
Effective offerings will be the ones that ideally fit the needs and requirements of the mobile user. They must also be tailored to satisfy other requirements, such as the age and gender of the user, or the time of the day or week when the message is sent.
Advertisers have other factors to consider when designing their messages. Should their ads include click-to-call, click-to-URL or click-to-map location options?

Changing displays
What about display size and screen resolution? An advertiser’s banner ad that displays properly on a high-resolution Web may not be quite as appealing when displayed on a mobile screen.
Clearly, mobile marketing offers intriguing rewards for advertisers and publishers. The number of mobile devices shipped (more than 1 million each day worldwide), combined with the number of slots available to advertisers, has created a powerful medium through which marketers can reach consumers.
The collective challenge will be for providers to ensure that consumers enjoy a positive experience with respect to the content they are receiving, whether it’s news, entertainment or advertising.
That means information that consumers can easily manipulate and decide whether to keep receiving, and information that’s relevant to their needs and interests.

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Mobile marketing pays off

Link Mobility more than doubled its delivery of messaging services last year using Ericsson’s Internet Payment eXchange (IPX).
Link Mobility provides applications for enterprises and organizations to reach users by sending a voice, text, fax message or a link to a mobile portal. Using IPX, the company can have a large number of mobile messages sent and delivered securely and quickly. IPX also facilitates payments with a single interface and direct connections to mobile operators. Johan Wästlund, Link Mobility’s CEO, says IPX is a great service in terms of quality of delivery and payment administration. “We are a small company, but thanks to IPX we have been able focus on developing our applications and taking care of our 350 enterprise customers.” He adds that Link Mobility is unique in the sense that it can provide a high volume of services while maintaining high quality.The company works primarily in the Nordic countries but with IPX its services can be delivered globally. Customers include leading Swedish retail companies such as Bokia, KappAhl, Team Sportia, ICA and KF, the gas company Preem and the Swedish bank SEB.Mobile marketing is Link Mobility’s most popular service, often used by retail companies to reach customers and club members with attractive offers and discounts via SMS and mobile portals.“Companies have previously been using e-mail to reach customers directly but today the mobile phone and text messaging are becoming increasingly popular,” Wästlund says. “We went from sending 15 million mobile text messages in 2007 to 39 million in 2008.” The past year’s growth has made Link Mobility Sweden’s leading targeted SMS service provider.Link Mobility is not the only company benefiting from this growth. Studies show that retail companies experience an average 7 percent increase in customers in their stores and 4 percent increase in revenues shortly after a targeted SMS with an attractive offering has been sent out. Operators have also seen volume benefits from these types of messages.Many companies have started to use mobile messaging to communicate with their employees. Link Mobility has an application used to inform employees of urgent IT problems. “It can also be used for an alarm to inform employees if something is wrong with a product they have in stock,” Wästlund says. “By sending a mobile message with this type of urgent information, companies can reach their employees faster and more efficiently than ever before.”He adds that mobile internet is taking messaging services one step further, making them even more attractive. “For example, if you are waiting for the bus you could send a text message to the bus company asking when the next bus is coming,” he says. “They could then locate you to find out which bus stop you are at and send you a text back to let you know when the next bus will show up.”Wästlund believes it will also become more attractive to make these services more personal, to focus on a specific target group or individual,” he says. “Transaction services from banks, where the user could for example get withdrawal notifications on the mobile, have great potential.”

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Madison, we have lift-off

Advertising on mobile phones finally seems to be getting through
MARKETERS have often claimed that mobile advertising is taking off. But this time they could be right, recession or not. Global numbers are hard to come by, but a leading mobile-advertising firm, AdMob, says the number of advertisements it has delivered worldwide has tripled, to 4.5 billion, in the past 12 months. Why? Because many of the obstacles that have held mobile advertising back are going away.
One is hardware. For years, surfing the internet on a phone was a pain, because screens were too small and the controls too clunky. But a new generation of “smart” phones such as Apple’s iPhone, Google’s G1 and the BlackBerry Storm have solved this problem. They have touch-screens large enough to display the web properly—and advertisements, too.
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Faster networks and lower rates also help. Having to wait for an advert to download, while being charged for the privilege, was unlikely to inspire warm feelings about the product being advertised. But with download speeds increasing and flat-rate “all you can eat” data plans, mobile services and applications are becoming more popular—and, increasingly, funded by advertising.
Perhaps most importantly, marketers are starting to work out which types of advertising work on mobile phones. Simple text-messages and banner adverts still dominate, but a more interesting idea is to spread the word using several channels. Amobee, a start-up, allows customers to insert adverts not just into text messages and mobile-internet sites, but also into games and other programs that run on handsets.
Another promising approach is to trade services for attention. Some of Amobee’s customers let people send free text messages if they allow them to insert advertising. Blyk, a mobile operator, offers subscribers—who must be between 16 and 24 years old—217 free text messages and 43 minutes of free airtime per month as long as they agree to receive six ads every day. A year after its launch in Britain, Blyk has signed up 200,000 subscribers—twice what it had aimed for.
Yet another approach is to combine mobile services with real-world events. This summer Phonevalley, a mobile-marketing agency owned by Publicis Groupe, an advertising conglomerate, offered a service that set up a teleconference between friends when their football team scored. It was sponsored by Puma, a sportswear-maker.
Advertising on mobile phones, like that on social-networking sites, presents risk and opportunity. The risk is that it can seem intrusive, since it appears in an intensely personal context. But that is also what makes it so attractive to advertisers—provided they can target their audience without seeming insensitive.

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The convergence of digital signage and mobile marketing

Over the past year, a tremendous amount of buzz has been generated by the convergence of digital signage and mobile marketing. Advertising agencies and ad networks want to know what convergence means for the future of their enterprises.
Mobile technology will soon be at the center of all cross-media advertising convergence. Look at the numbers and you'll understand why mobile is already on everyone's mind: The number of mobile subscribers worldwide rose from 11 million in 1990 to 2.6 billion this year; that number is projected to rise to four billion by 2010. And almost all mobile phones are capable of receiving ad content in one form or another.
Before you decide on a mobile strategy for digital signage, you should understand two things: how mobile marketing works to your benefi, and how to determine the optimal configuration for your digital signage network.
If you're familiar with mobile marketing, you probably know that it's next to impossible for mobile carriers to push ads directly to subscribers. Meanwhile, mobile Internet is still in its infancy compared to online advertising. As a result, mobile ad content still relies on other forms of media in order to be distributed. But here's the key: As soon as mobile content takes up residence in a mobile phone, it produces a long-lasting effect.
A merger that makes sense
The key to understanding the changing landscape of advertising lies in the simple fact that mobile ad content forms a symbiotic relationship with digital signage. It does this by solving some of the deficiencies associated with digital signage, such as information recall, distance of influence and lack of long tail marketing opportunities. On the other hand, digital signage is an excellent medium for generating leads from the natural traffic found in public venues.
In addition, mobile increases consumer engagement by offering a tangible benefit on the spot. Before consumers are willing to take part in any commercial activity, they want to know, “what's in it for me?” Consumers want answers to these questions:
• Can you deliver the information I need right here? Right now?
• Can you save me money?
• Can I get something for nothing?
A clear call to action in the digital signage ad encourages viewers to respond to content that captures their interest. Viewers are given the option of calling in or sending a text message to receive product information and coupons on their mobile phones. Offering prizes for advertiser-sponsored sweepstakes and trivia games increases consumer engagement; few people understand the crucial role that prizes play in subliminally training consumers to look for deals on digital signage screens.
Planning a mobile strategy
Sweepstakes promotions create a win-win relationship for consumers and advertisers. For example, a franchise that has store presence in shopping malls is sponsoring a trivia question on the malls' digital signage network. Shoppers participate by calling in or sending a text message with the correct answer. All participants immediately receive a $5 coupon as SMS to their mobiles. Trivia winners have a chance to win an iPod in a weekly drawing. The iPod winners are notified by SMS after each drawing.
The coupons get consumers into the store even though the trip wasn't on their original agenda. Although most participants will not be winners, the weekly iPod drawing creates the opportunity to stay in contact with customers by sending them a "Thank you for participating" message as SMS. In addition, every SMS communication creates the opportunity to include a promotional message and a link to a mobile landing page. The goal, of course, is to create as many marketing opportunities as you can.
An optimal mobile marketing strategy must have the ability to:
• deliver content to ad viewers' mobiles immediately
• communicate with opt-in customers for future promotions
• provide a mobile site that customers can access for future offerings
• deploy text-to-win, voting, polling, surveys and trivia games
• collect marketing data such as demographic information, signage site response rates and ad effectiveness

What kind of resources do you have to invest to implement this type of cutting-edge campaign? Less than you think. Thanks to next-generation software technologies, many components of mobile campaign deployment are fully automated, including: (1) mobile content delivery, (2) winner selection, (3) mobile alerts and notifications, (4) mobile Internet site creation, and (5) capturing of response data from consumers. With the software automation, new campaigns can be created in minutes and deployment cost can be kept to a minimum.

Content access: An important consideration

The final element to consider is the choice of methods for content access. A content access channel makes it possible for consumers to send coupons and other information to their mobile phones. The most widely used channels are text messaging and interactive voice response (IVR).

IVR allows consumers to call a voice number and enter an ad code to receive content as SMS. Text messaging allows consumers to receive content as SMS by sending a short-code keyword. Some mobile marketing software platforms offer both access channels. You can use either channel independently or combine these two channels in your mobile marketing strategy. The strategy you choose will determine your deployment cost.

Research shows that text messaging is most popular among younger demographic groups. Older audiences are less likely to know how to text message — and therefore less likely to participate in text message campaigns. On the other hand, everyone knows how to call a voice number and enter an ad code from a keypad. An additional benefit of IVR is that the use of short-code keywords requires advertisers to pay a monthly fee; IVR ad codes incur no charges. Unless you're running a campaign that targets a younger audience, always use IVR as your access channel.

Short term goal

What does this mean for the future? The answer is clear: Digital signage networks will increasingly equip their ads with mobile response capability. Now is the time to start planning your mobile strategy. One suggestion is to work with a provider who can help you set up a test campaign. Once you're familiar with the process, you'll discover how easy it is to merge these two applications, especially since no hardware or software integration is required.

According to a recent survey, mobile is the most important emerging media, followed by digital signage. Due to their symbiotic relationship, the convergence of digital signage and mobile responses is sure to give rise to a powerful and effective advertising medium.

http://bluespotmedia.ning.com/

Why the Mobile Web MUST Survive

By Kim Dushinski • April 24th, 2008
Much has been said about the death of the mobile web since Mowser’s founder Russell Beattie announced he was closing down his company. The reaction has been everything from agreement (here) to saying the mobile web is misunderstood, complete disagreement (here, here , here and here) and a lot of conversation about how the iPhone has/will change everything (including here).
My take on the mobile web is that it MUST survive. Not because any of us in the mobile industry need it to, but because the ultimate customers (the everyday guys and gals on the street using their phones to access the Internet) do.
While I do absolutely love the iPhone commercials and think the marketing team behind them is brilliant I also think they are confusing a lot of folks. They make it seem like people want to browse the Internet on mobile in the exact same way they do when they have a life-size (not pocket size) computer. I just don’t think that is true.
Think about it for a second, the reason a person goes online with their mobile is to find something or do something specific because they ARE mobile. If they had access to a full sized computer monitor and a keyboard their fingers actually fit on, they would use it. Maybe they do have access to a full sized computer, but think that jumping online on their phone will be quicker. This means they are looking for something specific, not leisurely browsing or researching. Consumers need to find that something and be able to consume it easily.
Make no mistake about it, I’m not saying the mobile web is WAP, far from it. The mobile web at its best is sites like m.redbook.com, m.tvguide.com, mobile.allrecipes.com and tarotreading.mobi. These sites are designed specifically for consumers to use them while they are mobile. The best features of their sites that people want are there, ready to be consumed easily via mobile. Ta Dah – this is the mobile web.
As Giff Gfroerer, i2SMS commented amid all this discussion:
Simply put, one can not put their entire Internet site onto what people see when they pull up their site from a mobile web browser. Figure out what content your consumers will need from their mobile device and make that front and center.
Yes, that’s it. I couldn’t have said it better myself.
It will be even better when consumers don’t need to choose a specific mobile URL but will automatically be directed to the proper content for how they are consuming it. And if they want the full site on their mobile to be able to choose that too. That is the future of the mobile web as I see it.
It is our job as mobile industry professionals, marketers and businesses to help consumers get what they want and need as quickly as possible whether they are using an iPhone, smartphone or flip phone. It really isn’t about what phone anyone is using, it is about the experience they have. If we want that experience to be good then the mobile web must survive.
http://bluespotmedia.ning.com/

Major Food Companies Increase Use of Internet, Online Coupons and Mobile Marketing

The large major food companies have increased the testing and use of new tech media over the last 12 months. By new tech media, we mean the use of online coupons, website marketing, mobile marketing and coupons, viral marketing, and all forms of internet advertising including search, banner ads, and other forms of web advertising. Food companies have been one of the more consistent advertisers on traditional media like cable television, print and Sunday newspaper supplements. More and more they are turning to non traditional media to test its effectiveness in reaching their target consumers.
The reasons for this increased usage are three-fold.
First, there is an overwhelming concern that traditional media is becoming less effective.The increased usage of TiVo (TIVO) and other recording devices suggests that many viewers are not watching the traditional television commercials. The same theory applies to use of Sunday newspaper coupons. As more and more consumers are time starved they are less likely to use or view the advertisements and coupons from traditional media.
Secondly, traditional media are by their nature mass media with only minimal targeting capabilities. More and more companies are looking to target their advertising to their key demographic groups. It hardly makes sense to advertise baby food to a household that has no children. Food companies are looking for ways to more effectively spend their marketing dollars and the new tech media generally has better targeting capabilities.
Third, the new tech media tends to appeal to younger, more affluent consumers. These people are especially tough for food marketers to reach because of their busy lifestyles and increased use of new media and decreased use of traditional media. These consumers are also the baby boomers of the future, so getting them now can lead to many years of brand loyal purchases.
Their are many examples of recent successful programs.Kellogg's (K) Corn Pops "gotta be connected" used an integrated platform of website and mobile to promote its brand. Kraft (KFT) sends e-mail dinner suggestions to mobile users. Kroger (KR) is testing a mobile coupon for shoppers through its loyalty card program. Online coupon sites are growing dramatically with more traffic and more coupon advertisers from the large food companies like General Mills (GIS) and Conagra (CAG). Smartsource.com (a subsidiary of News Corp. (NWS)) is thought to be the # 1 online coupon site, but there are many others including coolsavings.com, couponcraze.com and redplum.com (a division of Valassis (VCI)).
Growth in these new tech media will surely continue, but whether they take a large piece of advertising dollars from the traditional media will depend on their results and long term cost effectiveness.
http://bluespotmedia.ning.com/