SMS Broadcasting

EDITOR'S NOTE: There is no better time to get involved in Mobile Advertising! Visit our website for complete details on how you can offer SMS text message advertising or our new App4Ads, available with SMS, or without, for world-wide use! ~Susan Gifford DeLeon

In a new survey commissioned by Luth Research on behalf of the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), it was found that 60 percent of respondents have noticed an ad that allows a mobile response, and 39 percent have noticed at least one within the past week.

The survey, entitled the “June 2010 U.S. Mobile Consumer Briefing,” is the MMA’s monthly survey of U.S. adult consumers about their mobile marketing behaviors and opinions. The results stem from a “demographically representative sample” of more than 1,000 U.S. adult consumers and was conducted June 28 through July 2. The survey asked consumers questions about the usage of their mobile phone and some of its features, including the make of their device, their carrier, preferred mobile response mechanism and when they last noticed an that allowed a mobile response.

The results show that Apple iPhone owners and young adults ages 18-24 are the consumer groups most likely to have seen an ad with a mobile response option. The survey also found that 70 percent of mobile users who noticed ads with a mobile response capability saw them on TV, with desktop and laptop PCs being the next most common media channel, followed by radio.

“The Consumer Briefing shows that the mobile channel is a highly effective way for brands and others to obtain responses from U.S. adults,” said Peter A. Johnson, vice president of market intelligence, MMA, and author of the study. “This effectiveness includes extensive reach across all adults and within certain demographic groups, such as young adults and Hispanics. But brands and agencies should pay close attention to which media outlets offer the best mobile response opportunities.”

Other finding of the survey include the following:

>>Among those who noticed a mobile response ad on TV, one third responded. Asians, Hispanics and adults ages 35-44 were the most likely to use their mobile phone to respond to a TV ad.

>>Response was highest in the media outlets with the lowest ad awareness. At least half of those who noticed mobile response ads in the cinema, in a print newspaper, in a print magazine or through direct mail had responded.

>>Texting a keyword to a short code and calling a number were the top preferred methods of mobile response. Texting a keyword was most likely to be preferred by young adults ages 18-34, and adults ages 45 years and older significantly preferred calling a number.

>>Asian mobile phone users were most likely to prefer sending an e-mail response, while Hispanic mobile users were most likely to prefer texting a keyword.

Smartphone makers have a reason to celebrate. Research firm IDC said it expects the smartphone market to grow 55 percent this year, a greater increase than its previous prediction.

IDC said it now expects handset vendors to ship 269.6 million smartphones this year, compared with the 173.5 million units shipped in 2009. The estimate is 10 percent higher than IDC had previously estimated. The research firm said the introduction of several new smartphones--including Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone 4, Research In Motion's (NASDAQ:RIMM) BlackBerry Torch and the HTC Evo--caused it to increase its forecast. The smartphone market also will be crowded by more phones running Google's Android platform, IDC said.

Overall, IDC said it expects the wider handset market to grow 14.1 percent in 2010, or 1.5 percent higher than its previous forecast. Last year the market fell by 2.8 percent, according to the firm.

IDC also predicted that in 2014 Android will blossom from 16.3 percent market share today to 24.6 percent in 2014. Appple's iOS will drop from 14.7 percent this year to 10.9 percent in 2014. According to IDC, Symbian, BlackBerry and Microsoft's platform will still make up 60 percent of the market in 2014.

As Harry McCracken of Technologizer notes, however, these long-term predictions should be taken with a grain of salt. In 2006, IDC failed to predict the 2010 picture because it did not account for the rise of the iPhone or Android.

-Phil Goldstein

The huge potential of mobile will be realized this holiday season as brands go all in ramping up their multichannel marketing strategy during this crucial, challenging time of year.

Mobile calls to action featuring SMS keywords and short code or mobile bar code can make holiday-themed traditional media actionable and measurable. Savvy retailers can get the word out about holiday sales via SMS, the mobile Web and branded applications, while brands can use various forms of mobile advertising to achieve their holiday-specific goals.

“I suspect when we all look back—and we will—to try to understand when mobile moved from interesting to nice-to-have to the heart of an all-channel brand program, it will be Christmas 2010 we all nod knowingly and nostalgically about,” said Thom Kennon, New York-based vice president of strategy at Wunderman, part of WPP’s Young & Rubicam Brands.

“There’s simply a whole lot of consumer spending going on [during the holidays] and mobile is the hero touchpoint to reach and activate consumers at almost every moment of behavioral truth across their shopping, purchase and fulfillment journeys,” he said.

“[Consumers’] mobile phone is with them at every single moment from Halloween through to the January sales—get into their pocket and purse!”

During the holidays, consumers are bombarded with holiday-themed advertising of all kinds.

So how can a brand secure that real-estate ahead of and instead of its key competitors or other consumer alternatives?

The answer will range across a mix of consumer behaviors to trigger—everything from opting into SMS alerts, downloading a coupon application...sharing links with friends, and — here is where advertising is a no brainer — incorporating mobile, local and hyper-targeted keyword search into everything a marketer does this holiday season.

“Mobile media is a great channel to break-through the clutter,” said Maria Mandel, vice president of marketing and media innovation at AT&T Advanced Ad Solutions, New York. “It is unique because you can target your exact audience by demographic, contextual, behavioral and even location-based targeting.

“The holiday season is hectic for marketers and consumers alike — not only is it cluttered and competitive, but it is also a time when it is difficult to reach and connect with consumers.

“Mobile advertising and marketing can be used to effectively reach target consumers with the right offer at the right time and place.”

Store or product locators, discounts, shopping/wish lists, gift suggestions, product information or tips can be great mobile tactics to leverage.

Or even simply adding a mobile call to action makes radio, print, outdoor and in-store media work harder and makes it more trackable.

Mobile alerts, offers and coupons can be a powerful way to reach last-minute shoppers.

Mobile advertising and search can be effectively used to drive product awareness.

“Everyone is increasingly time-constrained — time is the most valuable thing they have, so any way they can save time is important, especially around the holidays when the time crunch is even more intense,” said Paul Gelb, director and mobile practice lead at Razorfish, New York. “Mobile has normally only one ad on a page, whether it is an app or a site, so it focuses more attention than other mediums where there is a lot of clutter.

“Especially for publishers that are looking to maximize revenue during the holidays, on mobile you have more exclusivity and attention-capture due to the lack of ad clutter in mobile media,” he said.

“Given the travel behavior of consumers during the holidays, mobile is an extremely valuable medium for consumers, given that they may not be in front of their TV or interacting with traditional media, but they always have their mobile phone with them.”

Consider how consumers are now using their mobile devices: as a shopping tool for price comparisons, to share purchases with others, as well as a way to consume media and entertainment.

“Fortunately, there is a wide range of mobile advertising opportunities within applications that support the shopping process,” he said.

The main reason that marketers need to include mobile media at holiday time is because that’s where the consumers are, on their phone checking prices....sending photos of a gift idea to their spouse for approval, talking about holiday shopping issues...and checking in from stores on mobile social networks...

“In many cases the consumers that spend the most time doing those activities are also the ones most likely to have more disposable income,” Mr. Lewin said. “Also, consumers that engage with your brand on their mobile devices are more likely to have a favorable brand impression, and purchase intent.

“All of this combines to make mobile media a must for the holidays,” he said.

Mobile advertising has proven to be able to drive brand consideration, intent to purchase or other relevant action.

After exposure to a mobile campaign, increases in purchase intent average five points and even up to as high as ten points for the best-performing campaigns, according to Dynamic Logic.

Like any other marketing medium, cross-promotion and a seamless transition for customers between the different retail channels is necessary.

Site promotion codes should work on all channels, but having special mobile coupons to increase adoption is becoming more common.

In fact, many are predicting a noticeable increase in the use of mobile coupons this holiday season.

This year, shoppers will be willing to spend more during the holidays than last year. However, they will still want to remain conservative in that spending.

A study conducted earlier this year by Harris Interactive, found that nearly half—46 percent—of adult Internet users who own a mobile phone are somewhat likely to try out mobile coupons.

Consumers are starting to get more comfortable with using their mobile phones outside of calls and texting and will be willing to experiment with relevant mobile offers that provide a clear value exchange.

“Also, since social and mobile typically trend close together, having a mobile site with share to social abilities and vice versa is an easy win,” she said. “Retailers can make a splash by thinking creatively about their brand and what the customer would want.

“If you go in with this strategy, the possibilities are endless.”

-Dan Butcher

With the recent launch of the Latin America common short code initiative, enterprises, small businesses and brand marketers can now reach more than 500 million mobile subscribers via SMS.

A new survey out by Pew Research suggests American adults are just as addicted to text messaging as the younger generation, with the amount rising substantially over the past year.

The survey found that roughly 72% of adult cell phone users send and receive text
messages these days, up from 65% in September 2009. This still falls short of the 87%of teen cell users who text. The research shows teens text 50 messages a day on average, which is five times more than the typical 10 text messages sent and received by adults per day.

“Texting among adults has reached the mainstream and the charge is being lead by African-Americans, Hispanics and young adults,” said Amanda Lenhart, Senior Research Specialist and author the report. “Of course, none of these adult groups hold a candle to teens when it comes to texting, who swamp adults in messages sent per day by a factor of 5.”

For the results, Pew used data from telephone interviews conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International between April 29 and May 30, 2010, among a sample of 2,252 adults age 18 and older. Though the research pretty much tells us what we already knew, SMS has become the primary ubiquitous technology across any age group and any demographic. It's no wonder SMS remains the most used mobile marketing tactic around.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Although I consider myself an ardent iPhone fan, it seemed a natural transition for Android to pose a great challenge to Apple in the smartphone showdown. Their popular presence across multiple carriers with customized handsets *in addition to* their developer-friendly practices -- are helping Google realize great potential from their continuing efforts to soar through the mobile space.
~Susan Gifford DeLeon

Android has reached another major milestone today. Phandroid reports that Quantcast has just put up their new mobile web share numbers. Android saw its greatest gains since November of 2009, and is now up to a whopping 25% of the mobile Internet. That is a 17% jump from this time last year.

The iPhone's share is down to a still-commanding 56%. At this rate, it isn't hard to imagine Android catching up to iOS, if not eclipsing them, within the next year.

-Robert Evans

The United States Tennis Association is using in-stadium mobile marketing tactics to let fans interact via their mobile phones at this year’s U.S. Open.

State Farm is aiming to stop distracted drivers and prevent automobile accidents via an Android widget that sends automated responses to incoming text messages.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Publishers - Give Advertisers a mobile Web presence by featuring them on your own private-labeled APP4ADS, available in standard version for Global use and also with SMS text messaging for use in the USA.

Here is further proof that messages and media on cell phones reach consumers absolutely anywhere, anytime. A recent Samsung Mobile online survey asked people about the ubiquity of the cell phone.

For the professional take on the survey's respondents, 79 percent immediately respond to a work email on their phones no matter what time of day; and 89 percent say it’s important to be readily available to colleagues, supervisors, and clients at all times.

Marketers who wish to have their websites optimized for mobile need to do so if they hope to reach certain consumers at all. Seventy-two percent of respondents say their dependency smart phones has reduced the frequency they use computers; 40 percent feel most productive working from a smart phone outside the office rather than at a desk on their computer; and 32 percent say their smart phones are more important than their computers.

All this falls in line with a report on smart phones and prosumers, conducted by IDC on behalf of Unisys Corp, that we wrote about in June. The Samsung survey takes it further: 29 percent of respondents say they can envision the day that office computers become obsolete, with smart phones taking their place. And 71 percent of office workers with smart phones think companies should automatically supply the phones freely to all employees rather than laptops.

As to the times of day and where they are when they communicate on their mobiles, the salacious details include the following: 72 percent of respondents take cell phone calls while using the restroom; 32 percent, during church; and 10 percent, while in the throes of passion.

For marketing experts, the questionnaire also includes information on the professional uses of smart phones which, thanks to the devices, expand well past business hours.

Revised | Mobile Marketing Watch

The American Red Cross received donations for its Haiti earthquake relief campaign from 3 million unique donors, of which 20,000 opted in to receive ongoing email communications from the nonprofit organization.

The American Red Cross is used to harnessing online, print and broadcast media to raise funds for disaster relief, but the Haiti earthquakes showed that another channel was equally adept at winning quick response from donors: mobile, and specifically, SMS.

“Last year around this time the American Red Cross put together a mobile team focused on disaster services and marketing, so when the earthquake in Haiti struck, it gave us an early edge,” said Jana McAndrew, manager of online fundraising at American Red Cross, Washington.

“We had incorporated mobile into our marketing and fundraising efforts, so we weren’t starting from scratch,” she said. “We had already integrated mobile into our strategy planning and formulated our thought process on how to use mobile for fundraising, and that helped with our quick response to the Haiti earthquake.”

In addition to its SMS initiatives, the American Red Cross is in the process of mobile-optimizing its Web site and has launched campaign-specific applications.

Why Haiti changed everything for mobile
Thanks to SMS-savvy consumers and support from partners, the Red Cross raised more than $32 million to help victims and survivors of the earthquakes that devastated this Caribbean nation.

Incredibly, 95 percent of the consumers who texted in to the Haiti campaign were first-time donors to the American Red Cross, per Ms. McAndrew.

Many industry executives and analysts believe that the response to the Haiti disaster was the mobile giving tipping point.

In fact, the success of the American Red Cross and other nonprofits organizations in fundraising and outreach via SMS in the wake of the Haiti earthquake showcased the power and potential of the mobile medium as a whole.

While the American Red Cross ran a Text2Give mobile giving initiative in response to Hurricane Katrina, the organization received exponentially more mobile donations in response to Haiti.

“What changed from last year and the previous year compared to now is having millions of dollars coming through this channel,” Ms. McAndrew said. “The explosion of mobile phones among the general public is obviously a huge factor.

“We expect that mobile giving will become an increasingly significant venue for raising funds, but mobile is also a key enabler of how we communicate with the public,” she said.

Texting opted-in donors
In addition to fundraising, SMS is invaluable as a communications channel that nonprofit organizations can use for outreach and CRM, to issue calls for volunteers and to collect data about their supporters.

Ms. McAndrew said that approximately 20,000 donors responded to the call-to-action by sending a text message with their email address, giving the Red Cross the go-ahead to contact them via that channel as well.

While SMS donations are currently capped at $10 per text, there is no limit to online donations.

“Capturing that additional contact information from this audience is key, because we’re going to use the email channel to convert them into repeat donors that hopefully give bigger gifts,” Ms. McAndrew said.

-Dan Butcher

NEW YORK - The Red Cross received donations for its Haiti campaign via SMS from 3 million unique donors, of which 20,000 opted in to receive ongoing email communications from the nonprofit.

Foster’s Treasury Wine Estates used brand and product marketing in its SMS campaign to stand out from competitors and sell more wine.

The USA Bid Committee launched a multimedia petition to bring the FIFA World Cup to the United States featuring a mobile effort in conjunction with Major League Soccer.

The Primetime Emmy Awards has added mobile to its repertoire with a new SMS program that engages television audiences in the run-up to its 62nd annual ceremony on Sunday, Aug. 29.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Cash in on the Mobile Coupon trend by creating a Coupon App for your local area. See our Adking.com for more info.
Mobile Coupons are becoming big business, as one German marketing company can prove.

Kuffer Marketing GmbH recently announced that its iPhone mobile coupon app, dubbed “Gutscheinbuk” or “Voucher Book", was downloaded 50,000 times in the first three days after launch — or an average of once every 15 sec. In no time at all, the app rose to become one of the Top 5 apps for Germany in the Apple App Store.

To be fair, “Voucher Book” was already a wildly popular coupon-based Website in Germany that offered a simplistic approach to offering money-off coupons, but its mobile success is still worth mention. The site had been around for the past four years and currently boasts over 7,500 active coupons that are now available via its iPhone app.

The simplistic nature of the app both from a retailer’s point-of-view and the end-user is what’s helped catapult the app to the top. A retailer that uses Voucher Book can manage its own coupons using a variety of metrics –- selecting distinct offers to be sent at different times of day, or in different cities for example. As a user, you can simply open the app and select what kind of voucher you’re interested in and Voucher Book delivers anything that’s useable within a short distance of them.

Overall, the app’s success is a boon to mobile coupons in general, which are just now starting to catch on in a big way. Whether it’s a traditional method like Voucher Book or the “Groupon” model, mobile coupons are here to stay.

McDonald’s, MasterCard and Whataburger are the initial sponsors of the just-launched mobile marketing program of the National Football League’s Houston Texans.

...Mobile is the best medium to get a brand noticed and achieve specific marketing goals during the holiday season...

Mobile calls-to-action featuring an SMS keyword and short code...can make holiday-themed traditional media actionable. Savvy retailers can get the word out about holiday sales via SMS, the mobile Web and branded applications, while brands can use various forms of mobile advertising to achieve their holiday-specific goals.

In the fourth of a series focused on mobile marketing during the holidays, Mobile Marketer’s Dan Butcher interviewed Paul Gelb, director and mobile practice lead at Razorfish, New York. Here is what he had to say:

With so much noise and holiday-themed advertising starting around Thanksgiving and even before, how can a brand use the mobile medium to get noticed during this period of very competitive media?

There are numerous ways mobile—more than any other channel—can really get a brand noticed.

The first thing we’re seeing with our clients this year is that we’re thinking about mobile and the holidays during back-to-school, driving downloads of branded mobile applications as a set-up to transition to the holidays, so the consumers have downloaded the app and the connection point has already started with a significant audience

When it comes to downloads of our branded applications, we take a multipronged approach, which is not necessarily media-oriented, such as having a branded app that is inherently valuable to the user.

The features, functionality and content of the app is key to driving downloads.

When creating an app, consumer insight is important, keeping in mind the business objective or value you want to communicate to users and finding how mobile can uniquely address that need so they keep it on their dashboard and won’t delete it.

Mobile is integrated and coordinated at every level with what we’re doing...

Another way we have seen brands capture attention during the holidays is to create in-store experiences that integrate mobile.

We’re seeing more and more that people are willing to pay more and go out of their way to shop based on experiences, which are more valuable at times than even the products themselves.

Everyone is increasingly time-constrained — time is the most valuable thing they have, so any way they can save time is important, especially around the holidays when the time crunch is even more intense.

Mobile has normally only one ad on a page, whether it is an app or a site, so it focuses more attention than other mediums where there is a lot of clutter.

Especially for publishers that are looking to maximize revenue during the holidays, on mobile you have more exclusivity and attention-capture due to the lack of ad clutter in mobile media.

As part of the shopping push during holiday season, we are seeing more and more luxury brands getting involved in mobile as well as social, where they may have been a bit slower to adopt it than other retailers.

Now luxury goods manufacturers that are not engaged in mobile marketing are the exception rather than the rule.

Given that many people are traveling and away from the TV and their PCs during the holidays, and the fact that people need to do more in less time, how can mobile address these types of general advertising challenges?

Given the travel behavior of consumers during the holidays, mobile is an extremely valuable medium for consumers, given that they may not be in front of their TV or interacting with traditional media, but they always have their mobile phone with them.

When the WiFi-only iPad first launched, we found 80 percent of ad impressions in hotels and airports, when on-the-go consumers are more likely than ever to interact with mobile media.

Why is mobile advertising significant/necessary for marketers during the holiday season?

We really live in a time of attention scarcity and time scarcity, and that is only amplified during the holidays.

Mobile, as the most functional device, can really provide incredibly valuable experiences, save consumers time and provide an incredibly favorable brand impression for those who leverage mobile marketing tools effectively.

It offers the ability to capture and pull people’s attention in via mobile media.

In 2008 during the holiday time, there was no viable data on mobile’s impact on shopping and sales, but in 2009, we saw an explosion of data and information about how consumers are really integrating mobile into their holiday shopping patterns.

It will be extremely interesting to see that trend continue this year.

-Dan Butcher

Congratulations to Nancy McNulty for winning our August 2010 drawing for Win-100. Win-100 awards one monthly winner $100 plus another $100 to a charity of the winner's choice. Winners are drawn from registered members of our App Users Network. Nancy was opted in to textc4c.com. Her comments about the app: "Love It!".

No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Note: Charity beneficiary for August 2010 is Sharing & Caring Hands, Minneapolis, MN. Click the headline for the link.

When mobile marketing veteran Vibes Media recently deployed a mobile campaign for ice hockey team Pittsburgh Penguins, it hit a milestone: 1 billion SMS messages sent on behalf of clients.

Congratulations to Todd Kobelenske for winning our July 2010 drawing for Win-100. Win-100 awards one monthly winner $100 plus another $100 to a charity of the winner's choice. Winners are drawn from registered members of our App Users Network.

No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Note: Charity beneficiary for July 2010still unidentified at this time.