Mobile Marketing Revenue to Rise with TV Streaming

mini TV with Smart View from Samsung

A recent study released by Juniper Research predicted that the number of smartphone users who will be watching TV on their smartphones will increase to 240 million by the year 2014. As the number of people streaming live TV through their mobile devices increases, the number of opportunities for businesses to make money through mobile marketing efforts will also increase.

The digital television industry has undergone some major changes over the past few years. As smartphone technology has improved, the number of consumers who are using these devices to watch video, including live television, has increased.

Consumers now have choices in when and what they watch. They no longer necessarily have to be at home at a set time to watch a TV show, which means that the mobile websites and mobile web development need to be innovative in their efforts to reach out to consumers in this market.

Short mobile ads definitely have a place for this target market. The viewer will likely expect to see some mobile campaigns and advertising, just as he or she does when watching a standard television broadcast, but the ads should be kept short. Mobile device users will be more likely to view the ad in its entirety if it is not too time-consuming to watch.

I think the concept of mobile marketing to streaming TV customers will be a lucrative mobile phone marketing opportunity for companies looking to tap in to this ever-growing market.

Picking a Mobile Partner: Would You Let a Surgeon Operate After 4 Months On the Job?

By: Carrie Chitsey

3Seventy booth at NRA 2012 Show

The 3Seventy team just returned from the Food & Beverage industry’s biggest trade show, the 2012 National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago, IL.  There were thousands of attendees, food samples as far as the eye could see, and master chefs showing off their talents.

However, the biggest thing that everyone was talking about was mobile marketing. From every point-of-sale (POS) system company advertising their new mobile POS, to QR codes for restaurants, text message marketing, and over 20+ loyalty app companies, it is clear that mobile is the next big thing for the food & beverage industry.  However, a few things stood out to me from an implementation point of view:

1. There is a larger need for education about mobile that needs to take place with restaurant owners. The corporate and larger franchise groups know they need to get there, and have done research on mobile to ask appropriate questions.
2. The independent restaurant owner isn’t a marketer and struggles with social/email marketing programs. So, for him or her to stay tuned to the newest technologies like mobile is a real struggle. This restaurant owners needs ease of use and results.
3. A large number of vendors/exhibitors at the show were showcasing technology that wasn’t truly mobile and had not been developed to mobile web or application best practices.
4. The majority of the QR codes on products, booths, and even show material didn’t go to a mobile website. The majority went to a traditional website and a few went to a responsive mobile website.

There is a large interest in mobile in the restaurant industry, which is a double edge sword. Mobile is projected to generate billions of dollars in a few years and this attracts a lot of opportunists to the space looking to make a quick buck. Before selecting a mobile partner, there are several critical questions you need to ask during the evaluation phase:

1. Are they using 5-6 digit numbers or 10+ digits numbers? Ask to see an example of their keyword and short code for yourselves. Your text messaging campaigns need to come from a short code (only 5 or 6 digits) and adhere to the proper mobile compliance and regulations.
2. Does the message have STOP or HELP in it? Does it allow you to reply with either of those words and get a confirmation message back?
3. Does the partner offer two way messaging? What I mean by this is you text a keyword PIZZA to a keyword 375275 and you get a message back. This message allows you to respond A, B, C, D and when you respond instead of getting a confirmation message (just text back) you receive another question that allows you to again respond to a questions with A, B, C, D again.
4. How long has the company been in business and what type of clients do they have? You will find a lot of the companies have been in business a very short time and don’t have a good client portfolio on a national level.
5. Ask the company if they own their SMS platform or if they are merely reselling another company’s technology. Find out about the company that built the technology and research them too.

The bottom line is that, in order to be successful in mobile, you must find a partner with experience, thought leadership and technology ownership in order to build successful campaigns and a long term strategic relationship. After all, you wouldn't pick a surgeon after 4 months on the job, you shouldn't pick your mobile partner that way either. The life or death of your mobile initiative depends on it.

QR code advertising needs to offer interactivity to consumers

As QR codes grow in popularity among marketers, there has been a growing debate over their effectiveness and longevity. These small square codes can be placed on displays, print ads, on letterhead and business cards, and other locations where they can be viewed and scanned by the customer's smartphone. QR codes for business can be an effective mobile marketing approach if once the code is scanned, the customer is taken to a mobile website, a video or some other location where they can have an interactive experience.

One solution for QR codes in advertising for small businesses would be to link the QR code to a dedicated mobile website or other mobile engagement platform, which will provide information about a special offer or a promotion to the viewer. Part of setting up the mobile marketing campaign should be to look at it from the customer's point of view so that the link the QR code is pointing to makes sense.

As long as the customer is being directed to a link that provides information that he or she will find interesting and relevant, a company is more likely to be able to use this mobile marketing strategy to get the customer to take action, which will ultimately lead to a sale. For example, if the QR code placed on in-store advertising points to a mobile landing page listing related products, the customer who is interested in one item may well end up adding to his or her order. This is a practical way that QR code marketing and QR code advertising can drive sales.

Start Small for Mobile Business Apps Success

As businesses think about how to engage customers with mobile business apps, it is best to start with a targeted scope. Rather than trying to introduce several mobile apps for business at once, a better choice is to focus on developing a limited number of them and making sure that they are working well before expanding the program. This way, you can determine what is working with your target audience, what is not, and adjust it before building more features or new apps.

One of the key features that you will want to keep in mind when developing mobile apps for business is that mobile users likely have an even shorter attention span than desktop computer users. Efficiency is important here, and you will want to make sure that your mobile app presents information quickly and clearly to increase the overall customer experience and usability.

As mobile phone owners become more sophisticated in using these devices, they come to expect that their experience will be a personalized one. The mobile apps your company is developing should have the capability to learn user preferences without the user having to set preferences.

When designing mobile business apps, make sure that you are designing them to be a good fit for the user's device. If the app is going to be used with an iPhone or Android based phone, it should work well with a touch screen. Blackberry owners routinely use keypads and trackballs with their devices, and mobile apps for them should incorporate these input options.

3 Must Haves on Your Restaurant Mobile Website

Mobile websites are meant to provide users with only the information they are looking for when they are on the go. Many restaurant goers decide where they'll eat while out doing activities with friends and family, and you want your restaurant's website to rank high on search results and deliver an optimal user experience once they arrive. Google recently stated that 66% of all local searches were for restaurants, making it more critical than ever in order to reach those that are looking for your business.

After researching the top searched items, both online and mobile, we have determined there are three must-have pieces of content on your mobile website in order to differentiate it from your competitors. These are the items users indicated are most useful when deciding where they will have lunch or dinner. 

1. Online menu - Consumers want to be able to research products and services before they purchase, and this is no different when they select a restaurant. The top searched items were for products, services, and menus, so it is important to have a sampling of your menu available for search. You can also add daily or weekly specials to the website which keeps content fresh and improves search optimization (SEO).

2. Turn-by-turn directions - This seems fairly straight forward, but many restaurants don't include this on their mobile websites, and traditional sites on the mobile are almost impossible to navigate maps and directions, especially if they are in Flash. One of the unique benefits of a mobile website is the ability to add your restaurants location coordinates on the site and give the users the option to plug it into their map function on the phone. From there, they will receive turn-by-turn directions to your location.

3. Click to call/Text to reserve - Another must-have on your mobile website is the ability for customers to reach you quickly and easily. This can be done with a click to call button that connects them to you with one touch. Restaurants can go one step above an integrate SMS or an online reservation system in their mobile website to allow customers to research, review, and reserve their dinner plans within a few minutes.

These are the foundations to an effective mobile website. In order to create a unique and effective mobile website for your restaurant, it is important to look at your goals and determine what additional functionality should be added beyond the basics to reach your customers. It is clear that consumers are searching, the question now becomes, "can they find you?"

Getting Started with SMS Marketing

SMS marketing is an effective way to stay in touch with customers. To get the maximum benefit, businesses need to approach mobile as a whole a determine its overall strategy, from building their database to executing SMS messaging. The options you choose will depend on the type of business you are running and what kinds of SMS promotions, offers and information your customers will want to receive. You will also want to figure out how you will encourage customers to opt in to your SMS campaign and what the process for allowing them to opt out will be.

Once you have a basic idea of what you want to accomplish, you will need to determine what strategies you will use to build your list. I would suggest using multiple text message marketing strategies to reach this goal, such as inviting visitors to your website to sign up and instructing your staff to mention your SMS marketing program when they are communicating with customers.

Offering an incentive to customers who sign up for your SMS promotions list is a good way to encourage them to take action. The incentive can be a mobile coupon, a free service, or a special report your target market would be interested in receiving.

When you are sending out SMS text marketing messages, you will want to make sure that the content is relevant to your customer base. Treating your list members as VIPs by giving them advance notice of sales and extra special offers will encourage them to stay on your list.

Best Practices for Mobile Engagement Focuses on Building Relationships

When I think about best practices for mobile engagement, the word "relationships" comes to mind. This form of mobile marketing allows companies to reach out to customers and connect with them directly to their handheld devices. To me, this implies a more personal relationship than putting an advertising message on a billboard or handing out brochures.

Instead, the text message is one that is more personal in nature. Mobile engagement marketing and other cell phone marketing messages can be sent to targeted groups with offers and other information that they will find interesting. Used properly, this mobile marketing strategy has the potential to increase sales and foster customer loyalty.

Like any good relationship, mobile engagement marketing needs to develop over time to work out well for both parties involved. The business will need to conduct itself in a respectful manner if it wants to keep the customer engaged.

Sending out text message advertising at a rate of one or two per month is a great way to keep the company name firmly focused in the customer's mind while ensuring that the customer doesn't feel bombarded with SMS text marketing messages. I think that another important factor to keep in mind when sending out mobile marketing messages is that the customer should be receiving offers that are not only relevant, but also limited to a certain amount of time. Having a clear call to action in your mobile engagement platform is an important part of getting the recipient of the text message to visit the business or place an order.