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.

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.

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.

Facebook Buys Instagram For $1 Billion Dollars. Why It Makes Sense...

While the entire tech world comprehends the news that Facebook is buying photo-sharing app Instagram, check out this sharp analysis from Dan Frommer:

Pretty sweet deal for the Instagram team. But it’s also a brilliant move for Facebook.

Why?

• Not only does it now own an insanely fast-growing (and arguably, the most exciting) social network…
• …And the (tiny) team that built it.
• But Facebook just took down its no. 1 threat, too.

 

Read more at SplatF.

Mobile Barcode Scanning Tripled in 2011

QR Codes and other forms of mobile barcodes continued to grow last year. Widespread adoption is still far off (if it ever arrives), but more and more Americans are scanning QR Codes with their mobile phones. Check this chart:

Let's put that chart in perspective:

2011 saw a 300% growth in barcode scanning compared to 2010, and a 1000% increase over 2009, according to [download page] a report released in February 2012 by Scanbuy.

Read more at Marketing Charts.

Americans Spent Their Holiday Vacation Downloading A Lot Of Mobile Apps

Smartphones, specifically iPhones and Android phones are on the march - and it appears that they had a wildly successful holiday shopping period:

It’s been announced by mobile analytics firm Flurry that more than one billion mobile applications were downloaded during the week between Christmas day and New Years day, shattering the one-week record for mobile app downloads by a long shot.

Read more at Mobile Marketing Watch.

62% Of Young Mobile Phone Owners Go With Smartphones

Some new data out from Nielsen shows just how far smartphone adoption has gone among younger mobile phone owners (via MMW):

62 percent of mobile adults aged 25-34 report owning smartphones. And among those 18-24 and 35-44 years old the smartphone penetration rate is hovering near 54 percent.

And what mobile phones are they using? Androids and iPhones.

Overall, smartphone adoption is hovering around 43%. What does that mean for businesses? Text message marketing is still the only way to market to all mobile phone owners.

Missing The Point Of The iPhone 4s Announcement

There's been a ton of coverage about today's announcement from Apple of the iPhone 4S - and the lack of an announcement of an iPhone 5. We think most (but not all) commentators aren't paying enough attention to the now free iPhone 3GS (with contract). Think about how many people have Android phone not because they are really interested in an Android phone, but because every carrier has a basket full of free Android phones. Now, when someone walks into an AT&T, Verizon and Sprint store (pending confirm on Sprint 3Gs availability) and they can get a free iPhone 3GS. Yes, it isn't one of the plethora of '4G' questionable battery life Android devices and it is an older product - but we wonder how many consumers will take a free, older iPhone 3GS that runs iOS5 over a free Android running who knows what version of Android.

And we're just talking about the United States.