Mobile

The Intersection Between Mobile and Social Just Became Much Blurrier

Facebook announced “Places”, a tool that allows Facebook subscribers to essentially “check in” to locations and serendipitously discover friends who happen to be nearby. Momentum continues to build in location-based services, Geo-fencing, mobile social media etc.

Why this will work.
Facebook is the all-powerful Borg (for those non Trekkies out there – they assimilate, adapt and propagate). With 500 million subscribers (and reports that 150 million of these are mobile), sheer size makes Facebook the clear favourite. In my opinion, Foursquare, Gowalla, My Town, etc. are officially the underdogs (if they weren’t before). Naturally, Facebook is faced with the issue of privacy, and provided they allow users to self-provision and dictate terms, then chances of success are high. Reaching eyeballs via Facebook Places substantially increases the efficiency of ad dollars and brings us another step closer to the perfect delivery of WHEN and WHERE.

What does this mean from a marketer’s point of view?
The ecosystem has added a slew of new terms that strategists, planners, brand managers, and CMOs,must be aware of for water cooler chats. This announcement could mark the dawn of Facebook mobile monetization where ad products and services will emerge. I suspect Places may be the final straw that pushes those brands that don’t have a mobile friendly destination to get one, as those brands can leverage the open graph API to ensure their brand communities can enjoy a seamless mobile experience. Who knows? Facebook could be the first organization to really marry mobile commerce and social platforms – they have a great Trojan horse model to explore with other products and services. In the near-term, Vortex is anxious to socialize mobile properties and mobilize brand communities. New DIY tools and APIs will strengthen the value proposition for our partners, some simple use cases include:
• Consider a beer or spirit company that uses experiential marketing. Imagine a promotion where X number of people that check in win, or 1 in X who check in to a restaurant/bar are entered to win a trip. Participants earn bonus ballots for socializing their whereabouts via Places and ta-da, we have next generation swarming. Amplify this experience by posting user generated content (such as pictures and video) and let your Twitter followers and Facebook friends see your world on demand.. When boiled down, many marketing fundamentals still apply: LOCATION, EMOTIONS, LTO(limited time offers)/SENSE of URGENCY, SHARED CONNECTIONS and WORD OF MOUTH.

Carriers (and OEMs) could be X-factors in mobile/social media
There is no doubt that carriers and handset manufacturers want in on the action. Geo-fences and location-based alerts are on their radar, as they battle the perception that their place within the mobile ecosystem is simply as dump pipes and dummy terminals. Arguably carriers and manufacturers have some tricks up their sleeve. A Canadian trial called OneAPI could allow carriers to get in the game by providing client-side information all accessed through a web API. OneAPI has the potential to be a total game changer as it offers SMS+ MMS aggregation, billing services, and targeting, and with the right partnerships, could offer a location-based experience that is as seamless and accessible, if not more so, then one offered by Facebook. (Click HERE for more details about ONE API.) http://www.gsmworld.com/oneapi/

Brady Murphy

The Future of Mobile is Now

When it comes to seeking immediate gratification for personal communication and entertainment, mobile technology is the new norm. From tots to boomers, all age groups and 75% of Canadian households use mobile phones. For teens and tweens unable to afford data plans, the iTouch and other wifi-enabled devices offer a quick internet fix and addictive applications.

So as marketers, how do we stay on top of trends and reach target audiences quickly and easily?

The answer lies in pint-sized form: mobile marketing. Canadians are very interested in communicating with their friends through mobile. At LIPSO Systems Inc. we have learned that in addition to providing multi-channel solutions, data driven consumer insights are what matters to customers the most.

In 2009, 35.3 billion peer-to-peer text messages were sent in Canada, which is a 70% increase from 2008. As this trend grows, year-over-year commercial marketing campaigns become more integrated with mobile solutions to extend branding efforts into the social media landscape and reach consumers anywhere and anytime.

Beyond texting, Canada’s overall wireless revenues totalled $15.9 billion in 2008, and half of all phone connections in Canada are now wireless. Most interesting of the Canadian mobile trends are voice revenues, which are declining per subscriber, while the industry still grows in double digits. 2009 saw a 35% growth rate thanks to data plans, which are now housing hundreds of thousands of app options, interactive games and mobile versions of users’ favourite websites.

When it comes to hardware, Canadians are shelling out for top-of-the-line iPhones, Blackberries and exploring the open-source movement with various devices supporting the Android operating system, making wireless phones among the fastest growing consumer products in Canadian history. Thanks to all this data use, the retail industry is seeing a significant bump in web traffic. 46% of North American consumers use their mobile phones to compare prices while they’re shopping in stores, and mobile web shopping has increased 40% in the U.S. since October 2008.

While these numbers are compelling and speak to the need for all organizations to explore opportunities on mobile platforms, the underlying reason to integrate mobile into your marketing communications strategy is the same reason we rely on media relations, events, in-store promotions and print advertising.

As a nation of storytellers, Canadians’ history has been marked by challenges to overcome geography, adverse weather and other political and cultural differences to tell our stories. Over the past twenty years Canada has established itself as a leader in communications networks and technology, and it is no surprise that Canadians are eager to receive information, interact and transact on their mobile phones.

Christian Trudeau, President, Transcontinental Marketing Communications
LIPSO

Mobile Commerce & Retailers

A previous post of mine talked about the rise in retailers focusing on mobile marketing strategy to increase their awareness, drive traffic to stores and keep customers engaged via their mobile device. The mobile ecosystem is evolving extremely quickly and I’d like to continue the theme of retailers but will take this opportunity to focus in greater detail on mobile commerce.

Mobile commerce means different things to different people, depending on who you’re talking to. I’ve come across the following definitions of Mobile Commerce:

• PSMS (Premium SMS) where a user’s mobile bill is invoiced due to a user sending a premium rated SMS to a short code (MO) or by the user accepting a subscription type billing for alerts.
• NFC (Near Field Communication) where an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) equips handsets with Hardware/Software that facilitates a wave and pay type of solution. (May also use RFID – Radio Frequency Identification, Bluetooth, enhanced SIM cards)
• Other often used terms are Mobile wallets, where users can use third party providers like PayPal to facilitate transactions.
• Mobile banking is another popular term that gets thrown into the mix, however M-Banking has very little coverage in this post.

The M-Commerce I’m talking about is payment of products or services via credit card (debit card) using an encrypted mobile internet protocol to facilitate purchases. You’ll also hear the term PCI DSS compliant in this mix (for those not familiar with this acronym, it means Payment Card Industry Compliance Data Security Standard). It’s designed to mask/encrypt the credit/debit card information.

Our discussions with retailers have yielded some thought provoking information, most significantly that consumers are making purchases from their mobile devices on NON mobile friendly e-commerce sites. Not surprisingly the benchmarks for time on site is lower, bounce rates are higher, basket size is lower and drop-off is higher when comparing the experience to established e-commerce portals. Nonetheless the major point here is that PEOPLE ARE BUYING!

This begs the question of the ROI (the Hard ROI not media ROI) of developing a commerce portal that is mobile friendly where benchmarks narrow. To me, this seems like one of the easier business cases to build especially considering the enormous momentum of web friendly handsets, affordable data fees, and increased propensity by consumers to use their Credit Cards on mobile devices.

Mobile marketing will reach new heights because transactions will close communication and campaign loops to purchases. Now we have scenarios where end of the season clearance sales will live inside mobile portals. It’s also worthy to recognize other channels of mobile marketing that will benefit from commerce like SMS. Reward your loyal SMS subscribers with first to know and exclusive offers and alerts of discounted items. Use mobile display banner ads and yield exceptionally high click through rates of featured items and convert to checkout. Develop mobile friendly versions of emails for those consumers who read e-newsletters on handsets. Explore affiliate mobile networks (and cross retailer downloadable applications) and pay the content owners or application owners upon conversion to sale. I’d like nothing better than to see SMS joke of the day ads replaced by “Be the first to own an iPad! Click here”.

Some thought starters…

Go to your webmaster and ask him/her to pull the web reports on types of browsers accessing your site. Parse the data and look at bounce rates of mobile browsers vs. traditional browsers. Take a quick audit of your page views accessed through mobile browsers, what information is being viewed? Some of my guesses are Store Locator/Maps, Store Hours, Specials and Price Comparison tools.

Pull the report from your email CRM activities, see how many page views are coming from Mobile browsers – and then look at your newsletter on your handheld.

Start asking for mobile numbers and opt-ins from your sign up section of your website – you’ll be shocked at how many consumers are willing to give up their mobile number.

Look at using web to mobile tools like “send to my mobile” for online flyer/catalog searches that will send wish lists, product information, mobile coupons, store address etc. direct to you via a shortcode (or by updating your native application through the PUSH API).

Tag offline media like flyers, FSIs, POS, print, newspaper, OOH with mobile messaging calls to action and start changing impressions to interactions and now transactions.

If your site has e-commerce does your commerce provider have the ability to use webservices? You’ll need to decide on a transcoded (operation of changing data from one format to another, such as an XML to HTML, so the output will be displayed in an appropriate manner for the device) mobile site OR to build from scratch (potentially using a mobile internet middleware solution) optimizing navigation and content for groupings of mobile handsets based on form, feature and function. Do NOT compromise on user experience.

The advent of mobile transactions will better equip marketers to assess the dollar value of a mobile number, which in my mind is critical for next generation mobile strategy. Our industry must move beyond last of the budget and end of the year throw in experiments. Above all focus on utility, don’t think of mobile as native application, OR messaging, OR mobile web, OR mobile advertising – these are all ANDs.

Finally don’t build your mobile strategy on an island – it must integrate and fit within your overall communication plan.

Brady Murphy

Mobile Marketing Draws Foot Traffic During Back to School

Chances are that you don’t know what your 14 year-old is saying most of the time. Neither do we. But what we do know is that a whopping 85 per cent of teens own mobile phones before they reach the age of 16 (Teens & Mobile Phones). Of these, 57 per cent believe that their mobile phone significantly improves their quality of life (Why Back to School Marketing Should Include Mobile). They send an average of 2,899 text messages per month (Breaking Teen Myths)—which represents about one-and-a-half 500-word essays per day—just to their friends. Ignoring the most important communication and consumption medium amongst teens will be a sure-fire way to fall behind the pack.

The marketing world is changing, and connecting this demographic with your brand is the next evolutionary step to reach your customers. Adopting a properly designed mobile strategy has been proven to increase foot traffic to stores and generate sales. Other than the holiday season, the Back to School shopping cycle ranks as the largest revenue producing period for the retail sector. Over $1.5 billion was spent on children’s clothing, accessories and stationary in Canada while more than $7.6 billion was spent stateside in the third quarter of 2008 (Back to School, by the Numbers). Although parents are paying for the goods, the purchasing decisions are strongly influenced by the kids. The demand is there and the medium is established; the onus is now on the retailers.

If you visit your local mall or school, you would be hard pressed to find a student without a mobile phone. Teens and tweens carry their mobile phone with them everywhere they go, as a necessity for communication and an expression of their social status. For a brand to reach this critical demographic, it must include mobile communication in its marketing mix. There are a variety of benefits a mobile Back to School campaign has, including:

1. The ability to draw foot traffic to stores and retailers, therefore increasing sales. Retailers can use SMS alert with mobile coupons to drive traffic (some retailers have traffic counters to measure lift post alerts), other transaction enabled mobile sites use display mobile ads to increase traffic and convert clicks to sales.

2. Personal connection with teens via their most prized possession which is always on them. Mobile opens up a static channel where the user can always be reached in a medium where they are open to hearing marketing messages and are consistently using. Brands benefit from the connection with increased awareness and recall, not to mention the associative innovation benefits.

3. Remarketing ability (Holiday Shopping and more). When one campaign door closes, another campaign window opens. One of the primary benefits of utilizing SMS in a marketing campaign is capturing mobile phone numbers in the form of an opt-in list that can be used for subsequent marketing campaigns. It is imperative that dialogues continue and proper value exchanges are served to those loyal mobile users. We must strive as an industry to quantify the value of a mobile number. Without assessing a value, mobile will be reduced to one-off tactical tests which only industry laggards can afford to invest in.

Now more than ever, brands need to reach back-to-school shoppers in new, innovative, and most importantly, relevant ways. A long-term strategy is the key to raising brand awareness which will translate to increased sales.

Brady Murphy

The iPad has arrived. Now what?!

Today, as I was riding in on the subway, reading the New York Times on my new iTouch, I stumbled upon an article about Apple's launch today (Wednesday Jan. 27) of its tablet product, or iPad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_zI21XEo0Q

Being an Apple fan from way back I couldn't help but feel a sense of real excitement. It got me reflecting on how much the Apple brand has meant to me over the years. And I'm not alone. The excitement that's building up in the media and among the Apple Faithful is almost palpable and very real.

I bought my first Mac (Mac Classic II) back in 1993ish. I was working at an agency and wanted a way to be able to work on those weekends when I was going back home to Kingston to visit the folks. The idea of a portable computer was exciting. Imagine, being free to take your computer anywhere. It was only 14 or 15 lbs. Oh, you PC people chained to your desks. How quaint.

Then when the first Apple notebooks came out, I was fortunate to be working on the Apple account and helped develop a launch campaign for them. (Best. Account. Ever.) The objective, as outlined in the brief, was to get the public over the mental hump of being able to work anywhere. Imagine sitting in a park or in a coffee shop clicking away on your laptop computer. Why, you could even work from home!

Then of course, the iPod changed everything. The recording industry, advertising, interaction (or lack thereof) between people in public places...everything. The iPhone then revolutionized how we think of what a phone is and what it can do. People could earn money and express their creative by developing Apps. We were now all working for Apple.

Walk into any mall where an Apple store exists and you'd think they were giving stuff away for free in there.

And now the anticipation for the iPad is reaching a fever pitch. People can taste it. The article in the NYT suggests that it's going to do for newspaper publishing what the iPod did for music. They're counting on it because we all know where the newspaper industry is headed. But will our collective love for all things Apple mean that we'll be willing to pay for things like the Star or the NYTs online through the Slate, when so much of the same information can be found on free sites elsewhere.

That's just one fascinating question we as marketers should be watching and reading about -- probably on our iPads.

Bryan Tenenhouse

Setting the Record Straight: Wireless in Canada

This opinion piece by Ken Engelhart, Senior Vice-President, Regulatory, Rogers was first published in the National Post on Thursday Nov 12 - we think it's worth sharing here.

Canadians in recent years have been reading about studies that claim our communications sector is slipping below world standards. The latest study to reach that conclusion was performed by no less an institution than Harvard University's Berkman Center. It is time for a rebuttal. I believe that Canada has great communications networks and internationally competitive prices.

It is often argued erroneously that Canada has a poor take-up of wireless services. The statistic commonly referred to in support of this notion is the penetration rate for wireless services. This measurement takes the total number of wireless phone subscriptions in a country and divides it by the total population. According to this measurement, Canada trails most countries in the OECD.

About 66% of Canadians have a cell phone and we are badly behind countries like Greece where 200% of the population have a cell phone. The foolishness of this measurement should be apparent already. 200% of a population does not exist. What these figures indicate is that there are two phone subscriptions for every man, woman and baby in Greece. In Canada, and in most advanced countries, most adults and teenagers have a cell phone. In Greece however and in many European countries, many people have one cell phone and several subscriptions.

Because Europe is on the GSM system, people have multiple SIM cards that they put in and out of their phones, depending on where they are and what time of day it is, to get the best price or service. These multiple SIM cards are generally a sign that there is something wrong with the cell phone market in that country. They certainly are not a good measurement of the take-up of phone service in an economy.

The best measurement is minutes of use per capita. A report by Merrill Lynch on Sept. 28 showed Canada to be the eighth best in the world using this metric. It is sometimes noted that the U.S. has a much higher level of usage than Canada and this is true. However, the point I am trying to make is that we are well ahead of Britain, France, Germany, Spain and most other countries in terms of the usage of wireless phone service.

More confusion exists with respect to wireless pricing. Many of the studies that the press describes involve "basket" analysis. For example, a study might look at the price of a "basket" of services such as 300 minutes of voice calling and 200 text messages. The latest study of this kind was a recent OECD study. The OECD study showed that the U.S. has the highest prices in the world. Clearly this finding is absurd. The U.S. wireless market is the envy of the world and has the lowest prices. Something is clearly flawed in this OECD analysis.

The OECD uses very small baskets even for their "high" users. The average Canadian uses almost twice as many minutes per month as the OECD's "high" user. Since North American wireless packages are much larger than even the "high" OECD basket, the OECD study erroneously shows that Canadian and American prices are high.

The standard and correct way to compare prices among countries is to take total voice revenue and divide it by total voice minutes. On this statistic (called "average revenue per minute"), Canada has some of the lowest prices in the world. Canadians pay on average 8 cents per minute for phone service. The cost is 12 cents in the U.K., 14 cents in France, 15 cents in Italy, 16 cents in Germany and 24 cents in Japan. (It's just five cents in the U.S.) Canada has very low prices internationally. This is particularly impressive given that we have much more network capacity per customer than most countries including go the U.S.

Canada is in 10th place in the world and first in the G8 in the number of wireline broadband subscriptions per capita. That is pretty good for a country as geographically vast as Canada. However, individual people do not buy wireline broadband services; households do. So the best way to measure broadband is by looking at the number of subscriptions per household. Since Canada has larger households than most European countries, we do much better when looking at this metric. When subscriptions per household are used, Canada's ranking jumps to fifth, sixth or eighth best in the world, depending on the data source. This should be a source of pride for a country that does not have the population density that many of our trading partners have.

Canada's communications companies spend $8-billion to $10-billion each year to compete with each other, in the process making Canadian networks among the worlds' best. Rogers was among the first six carriers in the world to introduce a wireless broadband network operating at 21 Mbps. Our two main competitors, not wishing to be left behind, have followed suit. Canada now has three high-speed wireless networks while the U.S. has none. I think that is something to be proud of.

What is Success for my Mobile Messaging Campaign?

In many ways, mobile can be evaluated similarly to any other marketing initiative. Generally, every marketing campaign is evaluated in terms of efficiency (getting value for invested money) and effectiveness (achieving the objective set for the campaign). In this sense, mobile is no different. We must determine how well the program did when factoring in cost and measuring against objectives – the two evaluated inclusively and exclusively.

However, the evaluation of a mobile campaign is no easy task. It must involve a variety of quantitative and qualitative measurements that assess the program’s efficiency and effectiveness. Mobile is moving away from the early adopter stage to the innovation stage and this shift brings added pressure to demonstrate tangible ROI. These measurements include, but are not limited to:

Quantitative Analysis

• Cost per – Any of the below measures, but forth most, cost per a unique user, per an interaction or in terms of harder ROI cost per acquisition.
• Delivery Measures – Number of messages sent, number delivered, number failed delivery, attrition rates.
• User Messages – Number of unique users, number of interactions, number of repeat users, frequency of interaction, time of users’ interaction, from where users interact, number of replies, number of stop messages, number of inquiries.
• Click Through Rates – When URL links are included.
• Purchase Tracking – Number of people to redeem a coupon or make a purchase.

The metrics used should be determined by the campaign objective and its primary mechanics. For example, if it were a text to win campaign, the number of unique users and total entrants would be the primary value. For a program where it asks users to answer a series of questions through SMS, the same metrics would apply, but equally important would be how much interaction each user had with the brand – i.e. the average user answered three questions.

One of the key benefits of mobile marketing is the ability to track the campaign results immediately and across a wide range of available data. These numbers are a science. They are exact and can be easily reported.

Qualitative

Conversely, a qualitative review is not a science. It is based on an evaluation of the following:

• User Interaction – The amount of time the user interacts.
• User Engagement – The depth of user interaction – how engaged is the user?
• Brand Connection – Link between the brand, campaign execution, and end goal.
• Marketing Mix Integration – How effectively is mobile integrated into the mix?
• Surveys and Awareness tracking – Test and control groups are used to test brand saliency as a result of incorporating mobile.

Factors Influencing Success

After the above analysis, it’s important to review the below factors. These factors will greatly influence the result of the program, not necessarily for better or worse, but expectations must be set based on them. For example, in terms of value proposition, you’re more likely to get more entrants if there’s a car prize versus a t-shirt prize, or if the brand is Bud Light Lime or Steelback.

• Value proposition – win a car or a t-shirt, receive great alerts, entertainment value, etc.
• The brand – premium brands vs. value brands.
• What is required of the user – text a keyword versus answering multiple questions.
• Where is the media with the call-to-action – in an area of downtime or in an active, hustling environment.
• Quality of the execution – street teams, messaging, creative, etc.
• Emphasis of the Mobile call-to-action.

Deciphering the Results

Despite having access to a vast array of accurate and immediate metrics, the application of those metrics are inexact and it’s difficult to benchmark against other campaigns. In traditional media we can easily track results – GRPs, impressions, recall, brand awareness, etc. - however, mobile marketing is not at this point, nor will it be in the future, as the salient value is user interaction and what it can accomplish, something that can not be easily tracked. If anything, mobile marketing is a tool to track the effectiveness of traditional marketing techniques as mobile marketing often complements a campaign, not is the campaign.

Here’s what I mean: Take for example a billboard in downtown Toronto. I am a marketer for a car company and I want to advertise on this billboard for two weeks. My objective is to sell more cars. The billboard goes up, I’m told the weight is 90 GRPs with 15k of daily traffic. Without complex and costly statistical analysis, the billboard’s impact is unquantifiable, and even then nearly impossible to extrapolate.

Take the same situation, but add in a mobile component. As a marketer, we know to sell cars we must push consumers to a dealership, and ultimately try the car. Therefore, messaging will push users to text testdrive to 12345 to schedule a test drive. On average, 10 people text in a day, two of which schedule a test drive. Therefore, we know the conversion from billboard to dealership (not including any residual benefit of long-term marketing initiatives on branding). At first glance, by just comparing the numbers, this would seem like a poor performance, however in reality this is quite successful; however, this can only be determined by evaluating qualitatively as well. Beyond metrics, some of these qualitative are:

• Immediate interaction - Consumers do not need to call a number to engage the brand, they can do it right there on their phone.
• Qualified users – Only those consumers that are interested in the brand will text in. It’s like a two-stage program: Nearly all passer-bys will see the billboard, but to take it a step further, those interested that actually respond to the billboard can engage the brand.
• Not a benefit, but it is very important to keep in mind this is a high value, expensive brand, advertised in a location with no downtime, to an untargeted audience.
• Opportunity for continued dialogue – garnering an opt-in from a consumer in any form is a big win, doing so via mobile is a HUGE win. Assuming your brand has a communication plan in place you know have a direct feed with your consumers anytime and anywhere. Start thinking about EXCLUSIVITY, RELEVANCE and TIMELINESS to your messaging strategy.

The general idea is that in mobile marketing, the qualitative analysis must be evaluated in tandem with the quantitative results, while considering the factors; only together can they provide a complete picture of the program’s success.

QR Codes Revisited

Recently I attended a digital conference and one of the speakers (a digital agency business development person) talked at length about the future of mobile being QR codes. I was very Canadian like and didn’t challenge his vision, but he is very wrong about QR codes, and this blog post addresses his lack of information. What he failed to realize is that in order for QR code readers (the native application that is stored locally on your mobile) to reach critical mass is that these readers must be pre-loaded by the handset OEM or the carrier. We’ve learned from shortcodes that applications must be cross carrier. It’s a major feat to convince a single carrier, it’s an even bigger hurdle to convince other carriers and device manufacturers to support this application. QR codes, as many people know them (take a picture, send as an MMS or via the app, receive a URL/Offer/Contest Entry) will NEVER REACH MASS unless there’s a movement by the carriers and OEMs to pre-load the apps. Another challenge to the QR code world is that many QR codes can only be read by certain QR code readers. If you’ve installed a reader on your mobile, don’t expect it to work with all codes.

And what about the utility of these readers?

To me the other shocking bit of this unnamed speaker was his example of the best use of QR code readers, which was opening up a URL to a mobile internet site. Really? That’s it! If we can overcome the barrier of installation, surely there must be something better than visiting a mobile internet site. From a consumer perspective there should be more to the app than this. I would agree that a QR code reader that is part of a larger application has a much better chance of having staying power. For example, an application where an office manager can scan a UPS package that informs him/her of the delivery history, a curious shopper that scans in-store POS to have a sample mailed to their home while downloading a recipe, or better yet, have the app detect their location and deliver pricing information from other retailers (though I’m not sure the retailer would like this feature).

What are some alternatives?

Not all solutions require QR codes, many applications can use image recognition technology where the user can simply take a picture of the product. Even better, some technology solutions do not require an application download. I still find it baffling that many brands that have never run an SMS campaign are deciding to use QR code campaigns like Vespa Canada, CBC’s promotion of the show “The Border” and most recently a Microsoft campaign with Canadian Business Magazine. Granted SMS does have limitations, however in this world of precise measurement and accountability, I’d much rather choose a medium with wider adoption than limited QR code reach type campaigns.

For those QR code lovers who will undoubtedly fire back I offer this regarding QR codes:

• If we can get a carrier or large OEM to pre-install readers and build-in more utility than shortcuts to URLs I will get close to jumping on the bandwagon

• QR codes do offer a worthy alternative to expensive shortcodes

• Mobile terminated QR codes are much better use of the technology for mobile tickets and coupons

Mobile Coupons - The Holy Grail for Mobile Marketing?

The mobile marketing industry could be experiencing the perfect storm for 2009. Conditions are ripe for what would finally be considered the year of mobile for North America. There are many conditions, however in my opinion the most relevant are:

1. State of the economy.
Coupon cutting and saving is common practice. 2009 is poised to see the renaissance of coupons where redemptions are expected to rival figures of the early 1990s.

2. Need for innovation.
Marketers recognize this difficult time lends itself to innovation and many marketers would agree that adopting a mobile strategy is a question of when, not if.

3. Sophistication of handsets.
It’s crucial to recognize the mobile industry is more than shortcodes, display advertising and mobile internet sites. The iPhone and recent launch of the Blackberry app storefront are important dates in the early history of mobile marketing. Applications permit advanced functions and features that significantly address what many marketers considered a major drawback of Mobile – utility. Apps use location based information, RSS & XML integration that can scrape live information like price comparison tools but more importantly help brands address content to keep those eyeballs fixated on the small screen.

(Arguably could add other conditions like: need for accountability & ROI metrics, eco-friendliness, & youth marketing.)

Mobile Coupons have a major hurdle to overcome – POS terminals and retailer adoption.

The idea of mobile coupons has been around since mobile marketing started in the early 1990s. The earliest form of mobile coupons (which still remains today) is the “show and save” variety. The concept is simple, a consumer receives an SMS, MMS, or accesses a coupon hosted on a mobile internet site and the till person rewards the user with a rebate with purchase. Coupons can have a static coupon code or in some cases a unique PIN number is delivered. Time stamps on codes can help prevent fraud but typically the retailer will simply serve up an offer that does not erode significant margin on the product. The POS system should have a dedicated static promo code associated with the offer for tracking purposes. In some fortunate circumstances a POS system can access the internet where a unique PIN number can be expired from a shared database. Unique mobile coupons, where a till worker must input a code is typically reserved for longer checkout times. Easier still is rewarding a unique PIN number for an e-commerce transaction. Many e-retailers offer a promo code field prior to checkout. Don’t even think about having a till worker at checkout input a pin number for a low involvement item like a candy bar. Reserve these types of offers where there isn’t a line up at checkout, or if the retailer has a mobile scanning solution in place.

Next generation mobile coupons.

Next generation mobile coupons are scanned directly from the handset. Generally speaking there are two types of codes – 1D and 2D a.k.a. QR codes. (There are multiple types of “matrix” codes such as Microsoft “tags”, which use the colour spectrum to code data as opposed to black and white spaces) Keep in mind these codes are terminated on your handset, like the Air Canada wireless boarding pass. Not only must POS systems be able to scan images from the handset, the systems ideally should process transactions in real-time via an internet connection. I realize this might be asking quite a bit, but it can be done. The technology exists today where a consumer’s physical location can be embedded in a code and tracked back upon conversion. This implies that a purchase can be tracked as granular as individual TSAs (Transit Shelter Ads). How about that for ROI! And no need for a brand’s key account representative to count physical coupons and issue rebate payments to retailers at the end of a promotion. It’s a simple database query of coupon scans from the retailer’s centralized database. This picture becomes more exciting when mobile commerce and mobile transactions are widely adopted. A consumer won’t even need to go through checkout! RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) and enhanced SIM cards tied to a consumer’s credit card will permit a consumer to simply walk out the merchant’s front door.

Walking before running.

The previous description is based on an optimal scenario of retailer infrastructure, consumer adoption and a brand with a major emphasis on innovation. In the spectrum between “show and save” and mobile commerce there are other options for brands and retailers to explore mobile coupons. In my opinion loyalty programs offer worthwhile consideration. Here’s how I envision loyalty programs leveraging mobile coupons:

Step 1 – associate the unique loyalty card number (like a Shoppers Drug Mart Card) to a mobile number, achieved by having the consumer complete a form with both number fields. Or, urging the consumer to submit a text message (via a shortcode) with their card number.

Step 2 – offer rewards and coupons through your channels with mobile coupon calls-to-action. For example, DOVE can have a 50% coupon advertised in Chatelaine Magazines where consumers claim the coupon by texting “DOVE” to a shortcode number (OR have a user click on a display banner ad from the big screen where the user must input their mobile number)

Step 3 – when a consumer purchases the item at Shoppers Drug Mart and the consumer’s loyalty card is scanned the rebate is applied and the receipt reflects the coupon. Close the messaging loop by triggering an SMS, email, or application update with a “thank you for redeeming your Dove coupon”

Homework.

Our company discovered that mobile coupons could be scanned by trial and error by visiting brick and mortar retailers. If you’re a marketer and believe in the value of mobile coupons, then I encourage you to try one of our demo codes. Next time you’re at checkout at a retailer that scans UPCs try this coupon. Text OFFER to 12345 or go to http://www.vortexmobile.mobi/movie.aspx. The UPC code will not be setup to actually work, however listen for a BEEP, that’s a sign that the scanner actually read from the phone. Good luck!

Writing an Email that gets Read

As BlackBerry smartphones become the device of choice for the business user, consider this - their small utilitarian screen and basic font means your beautifully formatted email is being read by someone in a busy, frenetic environment, and being evaluated or rejected in a milli-second.

That's because more than 60% of senior executives carry one and use it primarily to view and send emails. Consider these pointers to help ensure your message has the best chance of being understood.

1. Use the right font size. “Based on what we’ve seen, using 8-point fonts seems to work,” says mobileStorm CEO Jared Reitzin. “In the end, you want to make the body text a small but viewable size.”

2. Keep subject lines short, using only key words, such as “Action Item” and “Reminder,” and for time-sensitive events such as webinars, “Filling Fast.”

3. Put the *subject* first in the subject line. For example, if your email is for a Search Engine Optimization white paper, “SEO” should be the first thing they read in the subject line.

4. Use codes to communicate the desired response: 411 (for your information), 611 (response in 24 hours please) and 911 (Urgent request).

5. Make the message scanable. Since the majority of senior executives in organizations have a mobile device of some sort, accept that busy people don’t read -- they scan. That's why it's so important to grab the reader's attention with a strong call to action, then bullet points of key content.

Worst case scenario - they can always call you if they roll their eyes after reading your email. For more tips and tricks on effective email writing habits, visit HowToDoThings.com.

The Kindle. Yawn?

I’m still catching up on my year-end reading. You know, all those magazines that come out with their Year In Review issues. They’re stacked on my nightstand like so many left over holiday cards, begging to be read or recycled.

The best of the bunch is the Newsweek with Obama on the cover. It had a brief mention of something that caught my eye -- Jeff Bezos’ brainchild, The Kindle. It’s described on Wikipedia as “… an e-book reader, an embedded system for reading electronic books (e-books), launched in the United States by prominent online bookseller Amazon.com in November 2007.”

Most reviews are glowing. You can carry a whole library around in your briefcase. Amazing. Apparently, it’s even been endorsed by the big “O” (Oprah, not Obama), making it to her Favourtie Things List of ’08.

You can’t get it in Canada yet. But when I asked several of my U.S. friends how the Kindle has captured the imagination of our neighbours to the south, the response was something close to a tree falling in a forest.

So here are the tough questions: With a nod to Malcolm Gladwell, why hasn’t it tipped? Why isn’t it, according to my U.S. friends, dotting subway cars and park benches and restaurants like ubiquitous iPhones, iPods, and dare I say it, real books? Where are the cool commercials with U2 or Feist singing its praises? Why aren’t there spoofs about it on YouTube? Why aren’t the “Millennials” snapping them up? And will Canadians be a better market for the Kindle when it does arrive on our shores?

Perhaps the secret is revealed in Newsweek’s backhanded compliment… “Amazon’s electronic reader is awesome, but the early adopters skew old, while kids opt for point-and-click.”

That excerpt is interesting for two reasons. Early adopters? The Kindle has been available since 2007. Would the iPhone be considered a success if it took this long to capture the imagination of its intended audience? I'm not talking about just dollars and cents here. There was the day before the iPhone launched in Canada. And there was the day after, when it seemed everyone on the TTC had one or was looking over the shoulder of the person next to them who had one. Can an e-book reader capture the imagination in the same way as an “e-music player”? There's a very specific difference today between capturing the collective imagination and selling units. Arguably, the former is much harder to do and predict than the latter.

And ‘skews old’? I guess Oprah viewers don’t influence the zeitgeist anymore the way some think they do.

The day will come when Canadians will be able to get their hands on a Kindle. The question is, will the “right” target audience (Millennials?) want one?

So from a business perspective, can Amazon continue making and selling them if they remain the technological equivalent of a television series like “NCIS”? It’s there, and by some measure successful, but does anyone care?

7 Reasons To “Mobilize” in '09

In my last post, I discussed several recent news items from the mobile sector that provided reasons for optimism about the continued growth of mobile in 2009. I also highlighted a couple of the benefits mobile can bring to marketers looking to deepen consumer engagement with their brand and deliver ROI while budgets are under increased scrutiny.

This post picks up on that theme and I’ve outlined 7 reasons why mobile should earn an increased share of budget even if other activities are being trimmed back.

1. Scope of Opportunities

Throughout this post I’ll highlight different types of mobile interactions and there are a couple that will keep coming up. The point I want to make is that there are dozens of ways marketers can mobilize their brand. The key, ultimately, is to find the right touch point for your target audience. Importantly, if I could crib a line from the CMA’s recently released mobile marketing white paper , “the opportunity is, quite literally, in hand” (Disclosure: A Vortex colleague & I contributed to the paper).

2. Make the Passive Active

One of the fundamental benefits of mobile is the ability to add interactivity to static media. You can add a SMS or mobile internet call to action and activation to your campaign for a fraction of the campaign’s budget. What you’ve accomplished is to turn an awareness building effort into an opportunity for consumer action. You can let consumers passively view your TV, radio, print or OOH media or you can give them an opportunity to respond and extend the brand interaction.

3. Always On, Always With

This is a common mantra of the mobile industry, but it’s only because it’s so true. Mobiles are such a highly personal device. They are, in many respects, an extension of a consumer’s person and personality. Wireless penetration is above 80% in most urban centres. SMS and mobile internet use are growing aggressively as is mobile use outside the traditional 18-25 demo. The modern consumer is known to be a media multi-tasker. You can be sure whatever they are doing; their mobile phone is not far away. How are you capitalizing on that?

4. The ‘self-selected’ consumer

I’ve previously talked about the ‘self-selected’ consumer, but it’s worth mentioning again. Mobile is 100% permission based marketing. There is no such thing as mobile marketing spam. When consumers engage your brand via the mobile channel they are actively opting in. In one move, you’ve gone beyond awareness and acceptance and stimulated consumer action.

5. Relevance. Customization

Along with being permission based, another of mobile’s strengths is the ability to provided customized, relevant experiences. We’ve found that assigning unique keywords to different media can provide an experience that is relevant to when, where or how a consumer interacts with your media. Downloadable applications or contextually relevant mobile internet sites can help you push content based on consumer preferences or respond to consumer needs ‘on the go’. Interactive voice calls can create personalized peer to peer interactions or act as platform for extending celebrity endorsements.

6. Consumer Conversion

When a consumer engages your brand via the mobile channel, you have a tremendous opportunity to convert that action towards other brand objectives. Each mobile channel has different conversion opportunities and to review them all requires more space then a blog post allows.

The bottom line is, given its highly personal nature, the mobile channel is an immensely powerful tool for creating or leveraging loyalty. Deliver a coupon and drive consumers to retail or online e-commerce. Help consumers discover the latest deals or comparison shop. Provide sign up tools for events or product demos. Take the interest a consumer has shown in your brand and build a bridge to your ultimate objective – more sales.

7. CRM Potential

Along with the prospect of immediate conversion, mobile offers marketers a new channel for CRM opportunities. It amazes me how few companies have a mobile field when asking consumers for information. This is a ridiculously easy way to build a database of mobile numbers which can be integrated into your CRM activities. Sending information or service alerts, mobilizing ‘flash mobs’, distributing coupons to ‘VIP’ customers are just some examples of how you can leverage the mobile channel to build deeper customer relationships.

So will your New Year’s resolutions include more mobile?

Bears, Bulls and Mobile Marketing

Despite widespread uncertainty in the economy in general, it seems to be a bullish time for the mobile sector. Several announcements in recent weeks indicate ongoing optimism about continued growth and increased opportunities for marketers using the mobile channel.

• Leading mobile advertising network AdMob has secured $15.7 million in funding from Sequoia Capital. This is the same Sequoia whose CEO recently gave a presentation on the downturn in the digital space entitled R.I.P Good Times.
• RIM has announced an application store for 3rd party developers to build apps for the Blackberry a la the iPhone app store (which itself has seen over 200 million app downloads so far).
• Mobile web results are showing returns that are outperforming the internet. And there's lots of traffic there too: AdMob serves 5 billion mobile ad impressions, while Yahoo has 20 million unique consumers every month in the U.S.
• 8.9 billion SMS messages were sent by Canadians in the first half of 2008 compared to a total of over 10 billion for all of 2007.

Okay, so there’s your optimism for continued growth. What does all this mean for marketers who are likely to be asked to trim budgets and be placed under increased scrutiny to deliver positive campaign ROI?

The Self-Selected Consumer
As mobile marketing is permission-based pull marketing, all of your interactions are with a self-selected consumer. They’ve taken the first and most important step of actively volunteering to participate with your brand.

Responding to an SMS call to action, downloading a widget, mobile coupon or ticket, clicking through on a mobile display ad or visiting a mobile internet site all require the consumer to ‘opt-in’ to your brand message and experience. What that means is higher brand recall and the opportunity for easier conversion of purchase intent or marketing message acceptance.

Responsiveness & Relevance
One of the great strengths of mobile is the ability to deliver situationally relevant information to consumers at the point of interaction with your media executions. You have to capitalize on the consumer’s self-selection.

Instant gratification via SMS contests is the low-hanging fruit but you can also use SMS tips & trivia or voting interactions, IVR calls or MMS content to create an extended brand experience.

Smartphone platforms such as the Blackberry or iPhone take this one step further with location-based services, Google Maps mash-ups, streamed content and the easy delivery of mobile coupon solutions. And with higher than normal click through rates, mobile advertising conversions to specially designed mobile internet sites offer great content delivery solutions.

Measurement
The ability for marketers to track campaign effectiveness in the mobile channel is robust enough to warrant a lengthy post of its own, but consider the following scenario:

A retailer has a SMS call to action integrated into their media. Different media executions (whether by media type or place) have their own keywords. Consumers entering the keyword are delivered a SMS with a link to a mobile internet site where they can download a mobile coupon. The mobile site also contains brand content, sign up for future brand/product info and a store locator with mapping features which could tell Smartphone users the closest retail location to them. That downloadable coupon is tagged with a unique identifier which will be validated at the point of redemption.

You now know when the consumer interacted with the media and conversion rates to site visits/downloads, which media generated more interactions & interactions by time of day, mobile site page views, types of handsets consumers are using to visit your site, the # of coupon downloads, conversions to purchase and purchase value per consumer.

Best of all, you’ve delivered highly relevant information to a qualified consumer and converted that to a verifiable sales lift.

That’s why I’m bullish on mobile.

The 8 Different Mobile Consumer Segments

Last month I had the opportunity to participate at CTIA in San Francisco and spent a day on the “mobile strategies” tract.

One of the more interesting presentations was from Pankaj Asundi who is the VP Multimedia and Content at Ericsson Inc.

He presented his view on consumer segmentation models for mobile which I thought would be useful for any planner looking to better target the mobile component of their marketing campaign.

Just like any other marketing channel, the more you know about who you are targeting, the more effective your call to action message can be.

There are essentially 8 consumer types:
1. Careerist – The believe that to say ahead of the game you need the best tools. They are 25-39 years old. Their bills are paid for by company. They have limited free time and mobile is key part of day to day life. Knowledge is power… and time is money!

2. Experiencers – They are all about new experiences, possessions, technologies etc… They are early adopters.

3. Pioneer Youth – I want it all from my mobile… and now. Second best is not good enough. Always texting. 15-24 years old

4. Mainstream Youth – They want the latest gadget so that they can belong. They aren’t necessarily technical experts. 15-24

5. Mainstream Materialists – Gadgets and mobile are fashion accessories – anything that will make them look good. 25-29 years old. They live for today and not tomorrow. Use more for show than communication

6. Basic phoners – They use their mobile to call only. Many have mobile phones as emergency backups. They likely don’t know how to text message. 40+ years old.

7. Family phoners – need good reason to adopt new technology. They are happy with what they’ve got and they mostly use their mobile device to stay in touch with family.

8. In touch organizers – my mobile keeps me connected. 30-64 years old. These are parents who juggle busy professional and social lives, organizing their family, friends, and local community. Average tech users - competent but not experts

Want to learn more about how to to entice the mobile consumer more effectively? I’ve posted a related article here that you may find of interest.

Optimize Your Mix: Five Lessons from Email Marketing

I am frequently approached by senior marketers – from across industries – who confide in me that they are grappling with how to achieve an optimal ‘marketing mix’ in light of all the available new media and traditional media. They want to build on their history of success in one medium or technology platform (e.g. mobile, print, web) and leverage all marketing media.

As someone who has seen many marketing and technology trends over the last 13 years, I have identified some consistently powerful lessons that, while drawn from permission-based email marketing, can be applied to improve marketing results across all platforms. These five lessons include:

1. Always Deliver Relevant Content and Segment

Technology has progressed to the point where recipients can choose key components of the marketing information they are to receive – including method of contact, content, timing and frequency. When customers and prospects have control over what marketing information they want, when they receive it and how it arrives, they are dramatically more likely to act upon a marketing campaign’s call-to-action.

2. Collect Your Customers’ Permission: They Demand It

Because gathering permission helps marketers build a positive brand experience and engage with customers, it has become a fundamental to all marketing campaigns – online and offline. The Do Not Call List is another demonstration that securing customer permission is every marketer’s obligation and responsibility. Furthermore, Canadian privacy legislation (PIPEDA) mandates permission is gathered.

3. Test. Measure. Test. Measure.

There are four key lessons regarding measuring and testing:

• Campaign metrics need to be tied to specific business goals at the onset of any campaign. For example, ‘brand reach’ can be linked to the number of new subscribers and successful initiatives to build referrals.

• Use campaign-specific and company-established benchmarks in addition to industry-wide stats.

• As technology and campaigns progress, the meaning and importance of metrics evolves. For example, at one time, email open rates had been held out as the key measure of campaign success. However, with image-blocking software and the popularity of preview panes, the focus has switched to achieving specific conversions.

• As marketing technologies have evolved to allow for variable delivery options, so too has the ability to test several component parts of each marketing campaign. In email marketing, that means the ability to test subject lines, copy, personalization and the specific offer.

4. Focus on “Relative Time” Rather Than on “Absolute Time”

Marketers have long recognized that timing can make or break a campaign. The challenge however is the tendency to seek a ‘perfect time’. Throughout the year, email marketing studies are published that point to a particular day of the week and/or time-of-day as ‘the best time’ to reach out to customers and prospects.

However, because marketing is about establishing, nurturing and enriching relationships, choosing the right times to optimize a campaign’s results involves addressing several items such as: when the previous communication was delivered, the nature of the communication and the time-sensitivity of the message.

5. Integrate with Business Applications

Whether you are leveraging call centres, point-of-sale tracking or any other media, integrate the flow of appropriate data into business applications so that the effectiveness of each campaign can be tied to key metrics such as revenues and acquisition costs. One of the reasons that email, for example, is poised to become an even more powerful marketing tool is because it can be easily integrated into business platforms such as Customer Relationship Management systems and Content Management Systems.

As senior marketers, we are all working towards one common goal: creating and sustaining a positive experience to acquire and retain customers. These lessons, drawn from permission-based email marketing, allow every marketer to harness and optimize their marketing mix.

I welcome hearing any lessons that have helped you optimize your marketing mix - share here on the CMA Blog, or feel free to contact me directly at president@thindata.com.