Category: Mobile

iPhone apps might be the hottest thing to hit marketing since “viral videos.” But like viral videos, iPhone apps aren’t the right solution for every marketing goal. Before getting started, consider these six reasons to build an iPhone app:

Reason #1:  iPhone users are your target audience.
Of 300 million Americans, about 7 million use iPhones. If your company’s target audience is aligned with iPhone users, great. However, if your audience represents only 10% percent of typical U.S. consumers, then your iPhone App audience might be only 700,000 users.

Reason #2:  Your audience will discover your app.
There are over 150,000 apps in the iTunes App Store. These days app shoppers have no way to find an app, unless news sources write about it, or it becomes popular enough to make the iTunes hot list. You’ll need a way to make your audience aware of your app, like direct marketing, and link directly to its iTunes Store page.

Reason #3:  Your audience wants your app.
Most apps sell fewer than one thousand copies – because most apps are useless. But, if you can create an app that fulfills your audience’s existing mobile needs, you’re ahead of the curve.

Reason #4:  You can build your app within 90 days.
If you have a great app idea and don’t build it within 90 days, somebody else will. There’s no scientific reason for this parallel-idea phenomenon, but it’s reality. So, build your first version fast, then plan on releasing updates as you add additional features.

Reason #5:  Your app will be hard for others to replicate.
If your app is successful, other developers will copy your app and try to steal your audience. Consider creating an app that leverages your company’s proprietary data, or is so technically-advanced that most developers don’t have the ability to copy it.

Reason #6:  Your audience will use your app more than once.
Most iPhone apps are only used once. 95% of iPhone apps are used for less than fifteen days. Conversely, the best apps are used over and over. Every time your app is used, it offers brand-impression value, and the opportunity for users to show it to friends, thereby promoting it virally – which is the ultimate goal of any app.

In summary, iPhone applications offer an incredible opportunity to marketers, but make sure the development time and money invested in your app is well-spent.

Having a mobile strategy and presence does not need to be a difficult proposition. Sometimes the simplest tools can add big benefit. In a recent article on the website Mobile Marketer, Dan Butcher identifies the six trends affecting mobile marketing and commerce.

The trends are:

• increased Smartphone sales and usage
• dramatic increase in mobile Web usage
• mobile commerce adoption grows
• mobile search becomes essential
• multichannel marketing mix expands
• market fragmentation continue

To anyone who has an iPhone or other Smartphones, these trends seem obvious as we reflect on our own behavior and map them back to consumers at large. 

Mobile strategies are multifold and depend on your business, marketing, and revenue goals. But as marketers, we must understand the need to respond to these trends and to use the platform to meet our objectives. This will not always involve the development of a ground-breaking strategy or the launch of an iPhone app that is featured in the store, but can be as simple as enabling our current sites to be useful and readable in a Smartphone’s form factor.

Strategies will evolve as we understand user behavior and must take into account how, when, and where consumers interact with their devices. Much as TV marketing strategies are different from online/web/pc-based strategies, mobile device users have different goals and must be communicated in a unique way.

Apps are a key element of mobile marketing, but are still very nascent as marketers understand how to interact with consumers.  For now, utility is the name of the game. Top apps (as is true with websites) make it easier for consumers to do something, not just to be entertained. 

The lowest hanging fruit is to launch a mobile-enabled version of your site or elements of your site. With the proliferation of Smartphones, more consumers are using their mobile devices to visit websites for commerce and information. Thus, it should be an integral part of all marketing efforts to have a web presence which allows consumers to interact with the brand in a manner specific to the smaller real-estate available on the browser. 

A great example of this is the mobile version of the VW site. This site simplifies those tasks which a mobile user would be most interested in: reviewing car models, finding a dealer, and contacting road-side assistance. This is all designed for the form-factor of the phone and offers a very unique and valuable experience to the consumer, which is a different from the experience of going to the main VW website from a Smartphone.

The trends will only continue as the adoption of mobile is ramping faster than desktop internet did and will be bigger than we think. 

JCPenney recently began testing POS mobile coupon redemption in the Houston metro area, claiming to be one of the first U.S. retailers to instate such a program. Accessible to consumers through the mobile coupon fulfillment service Cellfire, these coupons can be scanned directly from the phone screen at the register.

In an article published on mobilemarketer.com, Dave Owens, the development director for emerging digital media at JCPenney, talks about the company’s mobile initiatives. From the source:

“We recognize that this is where the customer is ultimately going, and we want to make sure we’re there and ready when the adoption curve ramps up. Mobile is a convenient way for consumers to shop JCPenney and redeem coupons and we want to support that need. The biggest thing is immediacy, because it puts the consumer in control. Its a competitive advantage to have a coupon right on her phone, which provides true immediacy and a discount offer she didn’t have to plan for.”

Comparative shopping. Coupon hunting. Customer service and product reviews. Location-based offers. As the real-time realities of a mobilized world settle in, this sort of instant gratification from retailers will become the norm. Read the full article here.

A couple weekends ago I attended  preDevCamp San Francisco down at Palm’s Sunnyvale offices.

The event gave an opportunity for interested developers to get up to speed on the development for the phones, along with some prizes, pizza & presentations.

To summarize what it’s like developing for the phone, it’s JavaScript. They have a preference for the Prototype framework, which I found a little surprising since development on the framework has been slow the last few years.

The application is structured to provide JavaScript classes called assistants which correspond to the particular pieces of the application, stage, scene, or application. The flow is fairly routine, and the emulator works well. Besides the tight coupling of Prototype, the development was pretty straightforward.

I was impressed.

By the end of the day myself and another developer were able to build a fully functional video poker clone. Not bad for 5 hour sprint, I’d say.

During the applications presentation, a number of  apps that developers had obviously been working on previously were demonstrated. There was a nifty scientific calculator, and a scrabble/boggle mashup game, and a hold-em/scrabble game.

One thing that may be missing so far seems to be the graphics library. There was talk of the HTML5 Canvas tag support being pretty rough, and no other way to do in-depth graphics, so for hard-core game development, that is going to be a problem.

Overall, it seems Palm has a nice platform, in the MojoOS, for developers out there.

With over one billion iPhone apps downloaded to date, it’s no wonder brands are itching to get facetime with consumer smartphones. Tom Martin, President of Zehnder Communications, wrote an article for Ad Age that asks a critical question: Should these branded apps be toys or tools?

While the safe and obvious answer would be “both”, Martin takes the stance that practicality should trump novelty every time. From the source:

Toys (read game-type applications) don’t really do anything to sell your product. And in the case of those silly Facebook apps that let me toss a sheep or buy someone a beer, my total interaction time with the app is mere seconds. Is that really helping to convert me or reinforce my loyalty to your brand? I think not.

Martin goes on to explain that tools don’t get tossed aside. People don’t get bored with tools. They provide solutions, not distractions.

Take the highly practical Bank of America’s ATM locator. Or Kraft’s iFood Assistance app, which sold for 99 cents and made the iTunes Top 100 Paid Apps list. And let us not forget the infamous Burger King “Whopper Sacrifice” Facebook app, which turned out to be one of the most controversial (and innovative) coupon delivery methods of all time.

While this all sounds well and good, the life expectancy of apps is still frighteningly short. According to a report earlier this year from Pinch Media, only 5% of those who downloaded a paid app were actively using it 20 days after purchase. The fall-off was even steeper for free apps. Add an incredibly crowded app marketplace to this consumer finickiness and odds for success start to drop.

So brands are left wondering whether they are “sinking the boat” on bad bets or “missing the boat” by letting opportunities pass by. I say build something practical and let the market tell you if it’s a tool or just another toy.

Even in these slash-and-burn times, rays of hope exist in this business. AdAge wrote an article today that took an optimistic look at online coupons, marketing analytics, mobile, and more. A patchwork from the source:

Online Coupons According to ComScore, coupon sites were the fastest-growing online category in November by traffic, up 32% from October to 35.6 million. Coupons.com got about a quarter of that, or 8.5 million visitors, up from 8 million in October and 6.5 million a year ago. The company has seen its redemption rates increase 1% to 17% in the last year. (A newspaper coupon’s average redemption rate hovers around 1%.)

Marketing Analytics Speaking to analysts in November, Nielsen CEO David Calhoun said he still can’t hire enough analysts to keep up with demand, which is increasing, thanks to the economy. “There is a lot of attention being paid to market-share shifts, pricing analytics, the kinds of things that can sort of keep everybody’s heads above water during this tumultuous time,” he said.

Mobile Location-based advertising (Loopt in partnership with CBS will launch its advertising platform this year), in-game mobile advertising and mobile-video services are examples of emerging areas…According to estimates, mobile marketing will grow from $708 million in overall revenue this year to $2.2 billion in 2012—a compound annual growth rate of 26%.

Coupons. Analytics. Mobile. Three of our very favorite subjects. Good to know we’re onto something.

Unless you’re still rocking the Zack Morris cellphone, you’ve probably been propositioned by a commercial interest to opt into their mobile marketing program.

In an article published on AdAge, Rita Chang tackled the topic of whether mobile is a direct-response or branding channel. She asserts that “mobile’s ability to draw an instant response and identify highly qualified and engaged prospects through capabilities such as click-to-call and click-to-SMS makes the medium ideal for driving action.” More from the source:

In mobile’s brief lifetime, marketers have experimented with the medium both as a brand-building and a direct-response channel, with no major proof points having emerged on either side. The case for using mobile as a direct-response channel, however, could resonate more in the present climate, as marketers—under pressure to show results—may shift the objective from consideration to clicks.

Chang later explains why she thinks that mobile is not ripe for branding:

For now, the screen is too small and the multimedia capabilities are too limited to deliver a rich, branded experience. Though smart phones are on the rise, the vast majority of consumers still use their handsets for voice and text.

Right on, Rita. Our post Do you want fries with that? Text “Yes” to 8008 gives a prime example of why mobile marketing is a fit for direct-response marketing.

Mobile Tuesday, anyone? Before you throw up your arms in promotion-induced disgust, think about the sense it makes. Hundreds of millions of consumers scrambling for holiday bargains in a hard-luck economy—all with cellphones in their pockets. From AdAge:

The concept was born out of research showing that the Tuesday after Thanksgiving is a slow shopping day, as are many Tuesdays throughout the year, said Tanya Penman, founder-CEO of Mobigosee. Armed with that knowledge, the firm aims to encourage shopping with a mobile circular of sorts every Tuesday. An advertising campaign, including radio and outdoor media, will support the launch in 10 cities, in addition to an online presence.

Plans for Mobile Tuesday were well under way earlier this fall, with a major car company, as well as several well-known luxury brands and retailers signed on, Ms. Penman said. But those companies began pulling the plug on the program in September, putting off plans until next year.

Now Ms. Penman is attempting to launch Mobile Tuesday with just three marketers onboard: McDonald’s, Finish Line and RedTag. The company is hoping to attract additional retailers with couponing strategies, in which Mobigosee is paid only when the mobile coupons are redeemed.

For more on the latest/greatest in mobile marketing, check here, here, and here. Oh, and here.

Quick—think of a coupon cutter.

Did you envision a scissor-wielding elderly woman sitting at her kitchen table drinking a tall glass of Metamucil that was purchased with a $1 off coupon?

Then shame on you! Consumers from all demographics use coupons, especially in this hard-luck economy. And businesses are pursuing a quicker and more cost-effective coupon delivery methods than newspapers: mobile. After all, is there a better way to reach the spend-happy teen and young adult demographics?

QRS Magazine published a superb article on the use of mobile coupons in the fast food industry. The author Stephen Gray touches on the mobile coupon logistics and how this channel can be integrated into marketing programs

While at home or in the store, consumers can be presented with opportunities to opt-in to text messages or to download a Web mobile application. Call-to-action options can be to send or “push” a text message just before noon to increase lunchtime traffic with an exclusive offer on a meal or enter a sweepstakes. Marketing messages can be presented multiple times on in-store signage, broadcast media, or on printed coupons sent via mail to drive opt-in behavior. In other words, mobile marketing is a welcome complement to the entire marketing mix.

We’ve dug into this topic before (here and here) and want to know what you think about. Have you opted-in to any mobile marketing programs? See any potential boons or busts in this growing channel?

As more and more snore-inducing cellphones get traded in for bombastic iPhones, Blackberries, and other smartphones, marketers must consider what people see when opening up their email on the go. Emails that look great on laptops may be a disaster on smartphones.

So how can you design and write emails that work in both channels? Loren McDonald of Silverpop recently wrote a terrific article on MarketingProfs about 11 tips for making your email marketing smartphone compatible. From the source:

“Design for the preview pane and initial mobile screen. Use your most valuable real estate, the top 2-3 inches of your message, for your most important content.

Alt text. Use descriptive alt text (HTML text that displays when images do not render) with all images, as the text will show in some email environments when images are blocked.

Use fixed-width tables. This ensures that your email won’t expand when images are blocked. Also, make sure you specify image height and width.

Keep emails to less than 600 pixels wide. This eliminates the need for users to scroll and ensures that your email won’t have ads overlaid on your content from email services such as Gmail.

Use text links, not image links. Image-based links will create a mess in most mobile environments and will not render when images are blocked in a PC environment.”

For those out there rocking smartphones, have you seen emails come through that worked well with your screen? Any that didn’t work?