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Market Your Business on Mobile Devices

 

Mobile marketing is relatively new, it is a means of marketing on a mobile device.
 Google Places

Google Places, allows business owners to add a brand new listing to Google’s local database.
Grab the #1 spot in Google and receive lot’s of free traffic to your website or blog.
Can you make money online blogging? Using Plugins can put your blog on steroids?
Affirm yourself as the expert and create back links to your site by posting on Twitter and Facebook.
 Mobile Pages

Size does matter when it comes to Mobile landing pages. Get your message across on one page.
Video eMail

Gain a competitive edge by sending out video emails. People trust people who they have already seen.
 QR Code

QR is the abbreviation for Quick Response. Include QR codes on business cards, websites, etc…
Yelp

Yelp is a Web 2.0 company that operates a social networking, user review, and local search web site for local businesses.
 YepText

Yeptext is a text messaging service that lets you instantly text customers, friends, colleagues, group, etc.,


How to Build a Mobile Website

Whatever you do, don‟t ignore this vast market that even now threatens to dwarf internet access via computer.
Marketing Tools

Drive more traffic to your
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Posted by Fay Castro - April 5, 2011 at 1:05 pm

Categories: Mobile Landing Page, Mobile Marketing, QR Code, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media, Text Messaging, Video emails, What's In It For Me?, WordPress Website   Tags:

Mobile marketing is not a difficult

Mobile marketing is not a difficult process. In fact, it’s quite simple. If you can build and run an email list, you can definitely run a mobile marketing campaign.

The elements needed in a mobile marketing campaign are simple enough to set up. It’s almost exactly like managing an email list. You gather leads, then contact those leads with offers.

But mobile marketing requires a different approach to email marketing, and you need to remember this. Don’t use hard sell tactics like you might in an online campaign, because people don’t like receiving marketing messages on their phones. This is especially true for people who have to pay for incoming text messages or use prepaid minutes to get your messages.

Instead, offer significant value of some sort with every message you send.

The key to mobile marketing is offering enough value to make any charged they incur worth it, and getting people to pay attention to your messages and then take action!

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Posted by Fay Castro - July 13, 2011 at 7:59 pm

Categories: Mobile Landing Page, Text Messaging   Tags:

Legal Issues in Mobile Marketing

Just like email marketing has the CAN-SPAM Act and telemarketers have very strict rules to follow, mobile marketing has its own set of legal hassles you have to worry about.

Contrary to popular belief, the CAN-SPAM Act actually applies to both email marketing and text marketing. It is illegal to purchase lists of mobile phone numbers and start sending out text messages without permission.

So not only is unsolicited text messaging a way to upset the public, it’s also a recipe for huge fines!

You must get people to opt-in to your mobile marketing list, and you must offer them a way to opt out. You must get “express prior authorization” before you send a commercial message to a device, and you must have a clear and easy way for them to get off your list.

The “express prior authorization” can be orally or in writing, but you can’t tell people “you will receive these messages unless you tell me to stop sending them”. They must specifically opt in.
One way to get people to opt in is by getting them to send a text message. Once they have sent a text message to you or your system, you are legally free to respond. But you must still be careful!

If someone sends you a text message that says:

“I want more information about your shoe locator service.”

You cannot legally start sending them messages about gardening supplies and golf clubs. You can only send them messages related to their original request. You can get around this by adding a message to your marketing letting people know you may send them additional related messages if they don’t opt out.

 

Marketing to Children

 

The U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Act protects the privacy of children, and it applies to anyone who runs any type of web service, including websites and text messages.

The laws regarding marketing to children are complex, but you must ensure you obtain “verifiable parental consent”, let parents or guardians know they can view their child’s personal information, and make sure you have security in place to guard their contact information.

If your company sells anything that would be considered “adult material”, you should have some sort of age verification. This includes any kind of erotica, adult toys, dating, gambling, cigarettes, alcohol, violent video games, and other material that should not be provided to children.

Privacy Issues

U.S. privacy laws are convoluted and difficult to understand, but there are a few things you can do to improve your privacy policy. Be sure people can choose how their information is shared, explain who has access to their data, and tell them how you will enforce your policies.

A privacy policy is very important, so it’s a good idea to get a lawyer to write your privacy policy. This will help ensure you’re within the law, giving you protection if someone ever initiates a lawsuit claiming you violated their privacy.

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Posted by Fay Castro - July 12, 2011 at 7:24 pm

Categories: Mobile Landing Page, Mobile Marketing, Text Messaging, What's In It For Me?   Tags:

Getting Mobile Phone Numbers

The first thing everyone wants to know when getting started in mobile marketing is where to go to get a list of cell phone numbers to start a campaign.

That’s just asking for trouble. You can’t just buy a list of cell phone numbers and start blasting out messages willy-nilly! You’ll have millions of people angry with you, and you aren’t likely to get many results that way.

You could even get into legal trouble if you aren’t careful!

There are a few companies that claim to offer cell phone lists, but I can’t speak to the validity of those lists. I highly recommend doing your research if you decide to rent or purchase a list. Make sure you know exactly what you’re getting into, ask for references, look for reviews, and scrub the list against the national Do Not Call registry.

It’s a much better idea to build your own list. Give people a reason to opt in to your list. This is called “permission based marketing”, and it’s highly effective. If people give you permission to contact them, they will pay more attention to you and they aren’t as likely to get upset when they receive marketing from you.

Some of the top SMS marketing companies and services include:

 

Always do your research before going through these companies. Some

may be better than others.

Remember, shortcuts are rarely profitable. While you can try bulk SMS

marketing services, renting lists, or buying massive lists of numbers, I

don’t advise this. Grow your own list by using a service to build a list of

people who truly want to hear from you.

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Posted by Fay Castro - July 11, 2011 at 3:25 pm

Categories: Mobile Landing Page, Mobile Marketing, Text Messaging, What's In It For Me?   Tags:

Target Market Research

 

Market research is your first task. This is true with any type of marketing, so ideally you already know a bit about your target market. You need to figure out a few things before you get started.

1. Who is your target market?

2. What does your target market want?

3. How can you deliver them what they’re looking for?

In order for mobile marketing to be effective, it must offer participants something of value to them. Cause an emotional reaction. You can’t simply send out a marketing message and expect people to respond to it.

People are inundated with marketing messages all day every day. They see them in magazines, newspapers, online, on television, in the mail, on billboards, and even on busses and benches. Marketing is everywhere, and people have grown tired of it.

In order to get through to people, you must do things differently. You have to reach into their psyche, stir emotion and deliver what they want. A solution to their problem, or relief from their pain.

• “What’s in it for me?”

While they may not be thinking this, in these exact words, it’s the one thing people are actually focused on every time they read any type of marketing material. In fact, this is even true when people read personal messages. Most people don’t really care what their friends and relatives are up to unless it directly affects them in some direct way.

What I’m saying is that the average person doesn’t care if their friend broke a nail or their Aunt Marge’s cat just had seven kittens in a single litter. They’ll send their condolences over these minor issues, but they’re on the other end of that message rolling their eyes and sighing and wondering what they are going to eat for dinner. So sad but true.

The truth is, people are very self-absorbed. There’s nothing wrong with that, per se. It’s absolutely natural, and all humans are programmed to be that way as part of their survival instinct.

This actually makes marketing a lot easier, because you can use this simple trait to cut straight to the heart of the matter and deliver a marketing message that will get results!

Using “What’s in it for Me”

In order to fully take advantage of the WIFM principle, you have to figure out what your target marketing is thinking and feeling. You have to understand their needs and deliver something they really want. Remember: People buy products on emotion.

And I’m not talking about the product you’re offering. Forget about the offer for now. Rather than direct marketing, you should use indirect marketing.

What does that mean, exactly?

Well, with direct marketing, you might send a text message that says something like this:

“Hey! Did you hear Harrad’s Shoe Emporium is having a sale? All sneakers and sandals are 50% off today only!”

Okay, some people would respond to a 50% off sale. That kind of message would be hard to ignore. But chances are you won’t be able to match such a drastic price reduction, and getting people to pay attention to your direct marketing message may be difficult.

Using indirect marketing, you would need to come up with something original, useful, and exciting (stir emotion) to get people to pay attention. For example, you might offer a special FREE service to get people to visit your website or come into your store.

You could try something like:

“Harrad’s Shoe Emporium, offers a free service! Visit our website at HarradsShoeEmporium.com to try our shoe locator service to find the exact shoe you want!”

This is a very effective message that could be sent via SMS to existing or to encourage new customer’s to opt-in to your text messaging program.

By offering a free service, you will get many more people to visit your offer than you would through a direct marketing tactic. Additionally, those people will often feel a need for reciprocity. When you give someone something for free, they typically feel a need to return the favor. This is why free samples work so well. It helps improve conversions drastically!

So examine what your target market is looking for and offer it to them. This will get you a lot more attention than simply sending people off to a sales page.

Providing Value

According to a study in 2007 by the Mobile Marketing Association, only one in four people are receptive to receiving mobile marketing messages. It should be no big surprise. No one really likes being “sold” on something.

But people definitely are receptive to things that enhance their lives, WIFM, (“what’s in it for me?”.) This doesn’t seem like marketing, even though it could be the ultimate goal.

There are many ways to provide value when marketing on a mobile device. Below are four ways you can deliver value to prospects in order to get them to be receptive to your marketing messages.

Knowledge

    – Knowledge is power, and by providing really valuable information to people, you’ll grab their  attention. This could be in the form of local information, news updates, tips, tutorials, or other important information that may not be otherwise readily available to them.

Convenience

    –Make someone’s life more convenient and you’ll definitely grab their attention. Reach out to potential customers with a free gift or service, offer to help customers find exactly what they are looking for through your customer service.

Money

    – Saving money through sales, discounts, contests, loyalty programs, coupons, incentives, gifts, and other financial motivators is today even more important than ever. So use discounts and other incentives to lure people in. Contests and giveaways are also very attractive, and have the potential to go viral!

Entertainment

    – Everyone likes to be entertained. You can use games, trivia, funny or interesting videos, and other forms of entertainment to engage and captivate your audience. Like contests and giveaways, these types of entertaining marketing pieces have a habit of going viral!

By providing true value in some way, you can reach people in a way you wouldn’t be able to if your messages were purely marketing in nature. You’ll also have their gratitude and respect, which will translate into more profits in the long run for you.

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Posted by Fay Castro - July 10, 2011 at 1:53 pm

Categories: Mobile Landing Page, Mobile Marketing, Text Messaging, What's In It For Me?, WordPress Website   Tags:

What is Mobile Marketing?

Mobile marketing is a method of marketing that uses mobile telephones.

Most people think of mobile marketing as involving SMS text messages,

but it may also involve voice messages as well. It can even involve using

apps, mobile websites, and even advertisements on mobile television

stations.

 

Marketing to mobile devices requires a different strategy than marketing

through email or other methods. SMS messages are typically limited to a

relatively small number of characters, 160, so you have to be a little more

direct with your marketing message. You have to be more careful about what

you say to get your message across in the right number of characters.

 

Taking advantage of mobile marketing is as simple as building a list of

current and prospective customers and using a simple service to market to

them. There are many online services that will help you build your list, and

you don’t need any special technical skills to perform this function.

 

Basically, if you can send out email marketing messages, you can construct a mobile marketing strategy!

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Posted by Fay Castro -  at 11:46 am

Categories: Mobile Landing Page, Mobile Marketing, Text Messaging   Tags:

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Posted by Fay Castro - July 8, 2011 at 8:55 pm

Categories: Mobile Landing Page, Mobile Marketing, QR Code, Text Messaging   Tags:

10 Ways to Reach your Customer’s on Their Mobile Device

Even the most personal and powerful marketing message doesn’t help your business if it never reaches a person who can absorb the message and respond with a decision in favor of your business objectives. The great thing about mobile devices, like the feature phones, smart phones, and tablets is that they are connected to a single person and they offer lots of different ways to get your marketing message delivered and noticed by the people who use them.

 

Text Messaging (SMS)

Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)

Mobile E-Mail

Mobile Internet Sites

Mobile Applications

Interactive Voice Response (IVR)

Mobile Social Media

Mobile Advertising

Mobile Commerce and Location – Based Enabled Engagements

Mobile – Enabled Traditional Media

 

Mobile Marketing Resources

Mobile marketing standards and technology are rapidly changing, so it’s almost guaranteed that the mobile marketing strategies tactics of today will need to adapt over time. Moreover, more and more people are coming up with new and exciting ways to use all the capabilities with mobile – innovation is occurring on an exponential scale.

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Posted by Fay Castro - June 27, 2011 at 2:26 pm

Categories: Mobile Marketing, Text Messaging   Tags:

Using the Power of the Mobile Wallet

Mobile commerce, as is a growing field that enables consumers to use their mobile device for payment in a physical retail environment, thus turning the mobile device into a mobile wallet. Yes, people carry traditional wallets around two, so they are just as mobile, but not nearly as convenient as having all of your purchasing power available in your phone. Some of the leading mobile wallet players in the market include Western Union (www.WesternUnion.com ), Golden Mobile with its GoMo wallet offering (www.gomowallet.com/ ), to name just a few.

 

Accepting mobile integrated payments

At its core, mobile integrated payment is simply the payment for goods or services within a mobile device:

It can be an encrypted bar code that enables a money transfer. A barcode performs the same function as a numeric code, except it can be scanned by an optical reader at the point-of-sale. Special Web services and dedicated software programs can create bar codes. Any mobile commerce company is capable of creating a bar code, and incorporating a barcode into a mobile display is the same as incorporating any other data.

 

Offering mobile loyalty programs

A typical loyalty program involves going to the retail store that hands you a punch card or ask for your phone number in order to track your purchases so the store can reward you with a discount of freebie when you have reached a certain level of purchases.

A mobile loyalty program is similar to a traditional loyalty program, except that loyalty points or purchase the units are collected on the mobile phone. Loyalty units can also be redeemed through the mobile device, using a form of mobile integrated payment through and auxiliary system such as a website.

 

Setting up a loyalty program is just like implementing a mobile marketing program. Here are the steps:

  1. Build a mobile database of willing customers (in this case, loyal customers).
  2. Establish a unit/reward system and set up a system that allows your customers to accrue points on the mobile phone.
  3. Distribute rewards based on consumer activity.

 

Selling mobile gift cards

Mobile gift cards can be sold just as physical gift cards are sold, or they can be sold online or through the mobile device itself. Apps can facilitate the gift card distribution and redemption process (in fact, they are gift card apps available in the iTunes Store).

The gift card is accomplished through a barcode or a numeric code – for example, the visa and Neustar’s 2D bar code program is based in gift cards – and is powered by a platform that links the two functions. The process of creating mobile gift cards also allows retailers and gift card providers to streamline their gift card development and distribution system. Fifth third, and electronic payment and great, debit, and gift card processing services provider, is using Transaction Wireless’s wGiftCard suite of products to targeted national retailers and restaurants, as well as local and regional merchants. The mobile channel allows the search cross – brand aggregation.

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Posted by Fay Castro -  at 2:18 pm

Categories: Mobile Marketing, Text Messaging   Tags:

Advantages of Mobile Advertising

Mobile has the potential of greater reach than any other medium because the majority of the population is carrying a mobile device and increasingly using mobile media like SMS, mobile Internet, and applications. Research firms like Insight Express (www.insightexpress.com ) also point out that mobile generates better brand awareness and overall purchase intent and online media advertising.

Relevance, if your product or message within your ad campaign is not targeted to a relevant audience, the ad campaign will be ineffective. Increasingly, ad networks are able to adjust the content and type of an ad to take many factors into account, such as the consumers physical location, type of phone, bad direction of travel, their stated preferences and interests, their demographic profiles, and past and current behaviors. By taking all this information into account in real time, advertisers are able to ensure that your ad is placed in front of people who are interested in what you have to offer.

Unlike other forms of advertising, mobile advertising can reach users while they are interacting with the brand or product.

Rich media ads: Rich media ads take banner advertising to the next level and are supported on only the latest smart phones and mobile devices. A rich media ad unit may include text, images, videos, animation, and audio that may expand to full – screen, float on the screen, or perform any number of other interactive and visual gymnastics. In addition, rich media ad units may leverage the advanced capabilities of the latest mobile device, like location detection, interaction through the touch screen, or unique motions of the device (like shake it).

 

Placing ads in mobile search

(If you want to learn the basics of placing search engine ads in general, we suggest you read Pay Per Click search engine marketing for dummies by Peter Kent, published by Wiley.) Here are the key factors to remember about mobile search:

Mobile searches are usually optimized for location. Search providers like Google, Yahoo!, One search, and Microsoft with its being service have optimized their search program to take into account a user’s location.

Mobile users have access to mobile questions and answer services. These services allow users to pose questions to the service. Automated on live agents answer the questions.

Mobile directories are friendlier than web directories. Mobile directories search, but the local Yellow Pages, help people find local services nearby. Mobile directives so listings and are optimized for small screens. When listing on a mobile search directory, make sure your listing points to a mobile website.

 

Choosing targets and formats for your mobile ads

Before placing any mobile advertisement, and you should make sure your ads are going to reach the right people – the people who are most likely to buy from you! Here are three questions you need to answer before you talk to at an agency, make any placement decisions, I’ll spend any money:

Am I trying to reach everyone or a specific group? If you are targeting a specific group of people, you’ll need to know which website, applications, and phones they use. Publishers can give you this information. Make sure you ask for it before placing any ads.

How do I want people to engage with my ad? If you just want people to see your ad, you have more choices than if you need people to be able to click through and complete a purchase or share the ad on through social media. You should choose actions that move your audience closer to completing one of your goals.

How will I know that my ads achieve my goals? Decide from the onset how you’ll measure success and how you’ll track and qualify your results. Your publisher on networking give you a variety of data points that demonstrate your advertising performance.

Analytics: Make sure your integrated a mobile analytics package such as Google analytics (www.Google.com/analytics), Omniture (www.omniture.com), AdMob (www.admob.com), or Bango (www.bango.com) to track the traffic on your properties and the success of your programs.

 

Inviting action on your mobile ads

Your action must be mobile-friendly. For example, if your mobile and as someone to touch or click the add in order to visit your website, your website had better work properly on the mobile phone that person used to touch or click the add.

Your actions must help you reach your goals. For example, if your mobile ad asks someone to watch a video, that video had better include enough information and incentives to invite and purchase if you’re trying to use the video to help sell a product.

 

Mobile is a location-aware media. That means your ad can invite location-based actions without requiring a quick touch, such as asking someone to walk into a store and show the ad to the person behind the counter.

Asked them to submit a form: Use a mobile form to enlarge your mailing list, take orders, or collect survey information. Mobile forms shouldn’t be too long because screens and keyboards or small. The simpler, the better.

Invite click – to – call: Click – to – call can happen two ways – directly from an ad, are redirecting to a landing page that customers opt to dial. For an immediate response, click – to – Call from the ad is the way to go because it immediately ask the user to touch and automatically dial the phone number.

Display a coupon: Use mobile ads as coupons to capture comparison shoppers on – the – go or to enable a discounted purchase on their mobile website.

Promote a store locator map: Mobile ads can be set up to utilize GPS so you can direct shoppers to specific locations such as product display of VIP parking lots.

Offer an application download: If you build an application, mobile ads are a great way to drive people to install the application on their phones.

Show a video: Only certain phones are capable of displaying video on the handset. Typically publishers and ad networks are able to tell clients which handsets are mobile – capable. The video must be formatted to fit mobile specifications.

Make mobile commerce: Allowing an immediate purchase as part of your call to action requires the consumer to provide credit card or payment information. To enable this action, you need a mobile application or a secure mobile site.

Go social: Direct people to your social media site to become fans are asked people to share your mobile ad with friends.

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Posted by Fay Castro -  at 1:22 pm

Categories: Mobile Landing Page, Mobile Marketing, Text Messaging   Tags:

Mobile Marketing Unveiling the possibility

We’ve become a mobile society, worldwide. People around the world are on the go, and nearly everyone has a mobile phone or mobile device of some kind to help them connect with people, information, and businesses from anywhere. Sure, people are still making and receiving phone calls with their mobile phone, but increasingly, there also texting, searching the web, downloading applications, consuming content, responding to ads, spending money, and generally value for themselves and marketers, not just with phones but with a wide range of devices.

The mobile device is increasingly becoming a cornerstone of our mobilize society. In fact, for many people around the globe, a mobile device has become their primary communication and commerce tool.

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Posted by Fay Castro -  at 10:05 am

Categories: Mobile Marketing, Text Messaging   Tags:

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