Boosting Sales With Mobile Marketing

If you've had any doubts about the effectiveness of mobile marketing, think again. According to recent studies, not only has mobile marketing already proven to show results, but sales are expected to jump by over 50% within the next 2 years alone.

Consider that last year mobile marketing generated an estimated $139 billion in U.S. sales. This figure takes into account both business to business and business to consumer sales.

The association claims the “MMA Mobile Marketing Economic Impact Study” released last month, is the first comprehensive study of U.S. economic performance across the mobile marketing industry.

So, how can small business owners take advantage of this profitable opportunity?

For many small businesses, this could include focusing on making sure you have a mobile friendly presence. It could also include focusing more attention on social media marketing, much of which is accessed via mobile devices by your customers.

Read more about this at SmallBizTrends.com!

Is Your Business Keeping Up With Mobile Marketing?

It's becoming increasingly important for businesses to get onboard when it comes to mobile marketing. With the consistent increase of those accessing the Internet using smartphones, it's just a matter of time before those without a solid mobile marketing strategy are left in the dust:

The year 2013 will see an increase in the number of people who only access the Internet through their mobile devices, whether tablets or on smartphones. It’s more convenient for people to use their mobile – it’s already switched on and is always with them. For businesses this opens up numerous opportunities for mobile commerce.

But it doesn't stop there:

Retailers will continue to incorporate mobile solutions into their sales strategy by offering special discounts, mobile coupons, mobile shopping etc. with targeted advertising. This trend will further grow in 2013 with retailers looking at new ways to attract and retain customers.

* Mobile Apps – The mobile apps have exploded in 2012 with app stores promoting thousands of different applications. This trend will continue in 2013. Mobile apps are very important for mobile marketers to target the type of applications based on the popularity of apps.  The app Internet market was recently estimated to be worth $2.2 billion, according to Forrester Research, which also who predicted that the market will expand by 85 percent. Marketers will increase in-app advertising to generate more revenue in the coming year.

* Cloud – Cloud storage and cloud-based services will become more important in the 2013 and beyond, allowing users to access and share information anywhere. Users will be able to capture and edit data from multiple channels such as desktop, phones and tablets and any changes are automatically pushed to other devices. Consumers were the first adopters of this technology, and now it’s quickly being adopted by business.

To read more, visit Mobile Marketing News.

Mobile Marketing That's Mobile - Engage With Brands In A Taxi

The taxi industry has been dragged into the 21st century by companies like Uber and Hailo, with their e-hailing apps. And now there's more. If you've ever been in the back of an NYC taxicab you're familiar with the video screens. A new program is going to up the ante for mobile marketers looking to engage there:

Taxi riders in New York, San Francisco and other cities will soon be able to use their smartphones to engage with brand content appearing on video screens inside the cabs using either NFC or QR code technology.

Passengers will see video or static messages on the enhanced media screens inside taxis and will be prompted to either tap their phone against the frame of the screen or point their phone at the screen. The program is will begin rolling out to taxis on June 1 and is expected to be available in 5,000 taxis by Sept. 1

Some key details:

Riders with an NFC-enabled smartphone will be able to tap their phone on the video screen’s frame to instantly download rich user content such as music, videos, mobile apps, promotional information, coupons, maps and tips. Users without an NFC-enabled phone will be able to snap a picture of the QR code that appears to access the same content. The content will be location-specific and users will be able to share the campaigns with friends through social media.

Read more at Mobile Marketer.

Are You Comfortable Emailing & Texting With Your Doctor?

There's an interesting story over at The Altantic regarding how comfortable different groups of Americans are when it comes to communicating with their doctors via email and text message. The gist:

The average American writes a novel's worth of email every year. They also read a novel's worth of trend stories about how all we do is text -- how 15 million texts sent every minute are destroying the art of conversation, rotting our souls. Still, only about one in ten Americans has ever emailed or texted with their doctor. The formal in-office face-to-face patient-doctor dynamic is largely sacrosanct.

Here's an interesting chart breaking down the comfort-level by various demographics:

Let's dig a bit deeper:

Tech-savvy practices and hospitals are increasingly using remote access systems for patients, where they can log in to a website and get test results or leave messages for physicians, within a secure system, in a limited capacity. That's a good place to start. It keeps all interactions in one HIPAA-compliant place and keeps doctors' personal phones and emails from being overrun by concerned patients. If a busy primary care physician has 1,500 patients, even if each one only emailed him every six months, that would be eight emails 365 days a year.

But some doctors, especially specialists with a smaller patient base who manage fewer chronic conditions, have been able to integrate texting into their practice. There are HIPAA-compliant text and email platforms, and most major insurers are figuring out ways to cover "digital visits.

Read more @ The Atlantic.

Early Evidence Suggests The iPad Won Christmas (Again)

Here's an interesting image put together by A.X. Ian (@axian) showing the frequency of 'first tweets from my new tablet' in the 24 hours following Christmas eve. The iPad family is far in front. Microsoft's Surface barely registers:

Anecodtal data? For sure. Interesting nonethless.

Automate Your Text Message Marketing With Recurring & Drip Campaigns

Over the summer we rolled out recurring text messaging campaigns - a great tool that allows you to send the same message to a Group of Contacts at a given time. Recurring messages like these - which can be customized with frequency and duration options - are great for things you need to send out regularly, such as appointment or meeting reminders.

Last week we added a similar, but even more powerful feature - Drip Campaigns. If you've ever used email marketing software you might be familiar with 'Autoresponders.' That's what Drip Campaigns are like. Simply connect them to a Group of Contacts, set up a series of text messages to go out, each a different number of days after a Contact joins the Group and let us do the rest.

Login to your Club Texting account now to try out these awesome features!

Sort Your Inbox With Folders

Do you have a lot of incoming messages -- replies, Keyword opt-ins, and poll votes for example? We know that sorting through all of those messages can be a bit overwhelming. No longer!  We're excited to let you know that if you login to your Club Texting account right now, you'll be able to start creating folders and sorting messages into them. If you use the API, we'll be publishing documentation on how to create and manage folders ASAP!

Check them out now @ https://app.clubtexting.com/incoming-messages

Obama Cashes In On Text-2-Donate. Romney Far, Far Behind

When the Federal Election Commission permitted text-2-donate campaigns to extend beyond charity to the political sphere there was a bit of uncertainty about how it would work, how payments would settle...and most importantly, who would gain the most from it. It appears, as we head into the homestretch of the 2012 Election the winner of the text-2-donate channel is Obama in a landslide - we're talking 500:1

Last month, Obama’s campaign reported paying $84,655 in fees to m-Qube Group’s payvia mobile payment service, which manages text-to-donate programs for both presidential campaigns. Mitt Romney’s campaign paid just $1,152, Federal Election Commission records show. The fees — a percentage of the total amount raised via text — suggest that Obama outdid the former Massachusetts governor by a more than 500-to-1 ratio among texting donors.

Head over to Roll Call for lots of stats about this exciting new political tool. Visit Club Texting to learn more about Text Messaging For Political Campaigns.

Halloween Marketing Math

According to the National Retail Federation the average American consumer will spend $80 this year on Halloween decorations, constumes and candy. Here's the key quote:

"Seven in 10 Americans (71.5%) will get into the haunting Halloween mood, up from 68.6 percent last year and the most in NRF’s 10-year survey history. Consumers are expecting to spend more too; the average person will spend $79.82 on decorations, costumes and candy, up from $72.31 last year, with total Halloween spending expected to reach $8.0 billion."

If you're in retail and you're already using SMS Marketing, these numbers should have you fired up. A given text message that will take pennies to send might lead to $80 in sales. Fire up those Halloween text messaging campaigns now! Haven't added text messaging to your marketing mix? No worries, Club Texting is free to try and getting started takes seconds. Try us now!

Code Samples For The Groups And Contacts APIs - C#, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby!

Want to use the Club Texting web application alongside our text messaging API? Using the web app in conjunction with our recently released Contact and Group APIs allow you to:

• Send messages inside the app or via API to your Contacts and/or Groups
• Add/Edit/Remove Contacts and Groups of Contacts via API

Ready to get started? We've got code samples for you in six popular languages:

• C#
• Java
• Perl
• PHP
• Python
• Ruby

New to our text messaging APIs? Learn all about them @ the Club Texting Developer Center.