Delaware Casino Uses Traditional Advertising to Attract Twitter Followers
July 17, 2009: summarized from PRWEB -- Last week Dover Downs Hotel & Casino posted a billboard along Route 50 near Washington, D.C. instructing passers-by to "follow" the company on the social networking site Twitter.
While the company's other billboards feature more traditional contact info, such as a phone number or Web address, this billboard targets users of one specific Web site exclusively.
Anyone over 21 who subscribes to the company's updates on Twitter receives instructions on how to obtain free slot play credits at the casino.
Gloria Hammelef, Senior Director of Marketing at Dover Downs Hotel & Casino, was prompted by recent media coverage to begin exploring the different ways Twitter can be used to connect with new and current customers.
"Twitter has become, for us at least, a great way to interact with a vocal and vibrant segment of our customer base," says Hammelef. "We've been able to reach out to people via Twitter who might have been unaware of us otherwise."
Dover Downs Hotel & Casino began using Twitter in the beginning of June and as of this writing the company has over 370 followers and has "tweeted" (updated their profile) over 800 times.
To further connect with Twitter community, Dover Downs Hotel & Casino will host the September edition of the Delaware Tweetup at a restaurant in the hotel. The Delaware Tweetup is a gathering of Twitter users from Delaware for networking and charity fundraising.
Follow Dover Downs Hotel & Casino on Twitter by visiting the casino section of their Web site and following the link to their Twitter page.
Read more at: http://tinyurl.com/naebfg
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Hey, Marketers ... What's So Bad About Mobile?
July 17, 2009: summarized from The Wrap -- The "year of mobile" has been long-predicted and hotly debated by industry insiders, but in 2009 mobile marketing in entertainment is still pale blue rather than red hot.
Forrester's latest interactive forecast describes mobile as "one of the most anticipated, least adopted interactive channels in the mix." And although entertainment marketers are active in mobile marketing, they are not the biggest spenders.
eMarketer estimates that movie studios will shell out more than $16 billion on advertising in 2009, climbing to $18.6 billion in 2013. An increasing share of this spend is heading to the digital sector -- $1.2 billion in 2009, and an estimated $2.7 billion in 2013.
But mobile advertising budgets represent a tiny segment of that amount -- roughly 10 percent -- and an even smaller piece of the overall marketing budget -- about 1 percent.
So why isn't entertainment a more prominent player in the mobile arena?
TV is still king. Mobile is an afterthought. Some studio honchos dolling out dollars to interactive departments are not themselves early adopters to technology. So the mentality is: "If I'm not using this, then how viable is it?" Many have spent their entire careers budgeting buying for broadcast TV, believing it to be the most effective way to get butts in seats, sell DVDs and drive tune-ins. Think about how difficult it must be for them to change their tactics this late in the game -- especially when what they love to buy is on sale.
Much like online, mobile buys are still primarily used in promotions. But if mobile marketing continues to be an afterthought, budgets will remain small. And let's face it, the entertainment industry is still playing catch-up in the digital space, never mind mobile.
Fearing the leap from traditional to digital. From a traditional marketing perspective, some studio executives believe mobile is an unproven medium. Marketers are hesitant to put time, money and resources into something that may not pay off. But mobile reporting is improving and, nearly everything that can be tracked in an online banner can now be tracked in a mobile ad unit. More case studies, research and benchmarks are available to tout results and prove effectiveness.
An example of great mobile integration by a studio is the Paramount Pictures/Millennial Media execution of the "Eagle Eye Mobile Challenge" supporting the release of "Eagle Eye." The campaign integrated mobile web, voice response, text messaging and viral activation, to give users an authentic experience reflective of the film's plot. Results exceeded expectations with an exceptionally high conversion rate.
No uniform operating systems and device specifications. Numerous operating systems and device specifications in the U.S. have made it difficult for third-party ad servers to integrate across a large number of publishers. Just as online ads need to be tested across various browsers, specifications vary across mobile devices. Phones have different display sizes and proprietary browsers that render differently. (The same website viewed through the BlackBerry browser can appear very different on an iPhone using Safari.) There are also differences between cellular network speeds and traditional network speeds; i.e., the 3G network is not as fast as a standard broadband connection.
To reduce that pain point, mobile ad networks and ad servers such as Millennial Media, Quattro, and AdMob allow advertisers to place bigger buys with larger reach and provide integrated reporting and creative services. The emergence of the iPhone has also enabled more than a simple text-based browsing experience.
iPhones allow for greater creative executions with expandable rich media units featuring pristine video such as the ones Focus Features ran for "Burn After Reading".
Perception of high CPM's. Mobile ad CPMs (cost-per-thousand) have the reputation of being pricey, in the $15-$25 range, which makes the cost-per-pixel skyrocket in a mobile marketing plan. Combine high CPMs with skepticism and you've got a big red flag on a plan. But the cost of mobile advertising is correcting itself along with the market, and CPM prices are coming down to a more reasonable $5-$15. This lower rate will help motivate marketers and spur future campaigns.
No one to do the work. Studio and network interactive marketing departments, and ad agencies that support their business, are short-staffed. The folks at the top didn't rise with interactive, and suffer from a lack of understanding of both the workflow process and what is required to make online and mobile campaigns fly.
Changing copy involves redoing numerous versions of ad units which then need to be re-trafficked. All of these efforts increase the chance for error. When audio and video are placed into the mix, the effort/error ratio increases exponentially, causing additional delays.
No phone in the movie? No plan for you! Sometimes if there is no direct product tie-in to technology, marketers don't see a connection. Matt Shaw, director of west coast sales for AdMob, views the studios as being forward thinking and doing exciting things with mobile such as Universal Pictures' "Fast & Furious" iPhone site -- but he scratches his head when folks tell him, "Oh that's not a mobile movie."
With some 60 million unique users in the U.S., mobile is here to stay and the marketing platform those users offer will continue to grow. The question is, When will that day hit Hollywood?
Perhaps mobile marketing during the summer of 2012 will finally make it a red hot one in Tinseltown.
Read more at: http://tinyurl.com/nw5sv2
Forrester's latest interactive forecast describes mobile as "one of the most anticipated, least adopted interactive channels in the mix." And although entertainment marketers are active in mobile marketing, they are not the biggest spenders.
eMarketer estimates that movie studios will shell out more than $16 billion on advertising in 2009, climbing to $18.6 billion in 2013. An increasing share of this spend is heading to the digital sector -- $1.2 billion in 2009, and an estimated $2.7 billion in 2013.
But mobile advertising budgets represent a tiny segment of that amount -- roughly 10 percent -- and an even smaller piece of the overall marketing budget -- about 1 percent.
So why isn't entertainment a more prominent player in the mobile arena?
TV is still king. Mobile is an afterthought. Some studio honchos dolling out dollars to interactive departments are not themselves early adopters to technology. So the mentality is: "If I'm not using this, then how viable is it?" Many have spent their entire careers budgeting buying for broadcast TV, believing it to be the most effective way to get butts in seats, sell DVDs and drive tune-ins. Think about how difficult it must be for them to change their tactics this late in the game -- especially when what they love to buy is on sale.
Much like online, mobile buys are still primarily used in promotions. But if mobile marketing continues to be an afterthought, budgets will remain small. And let's face it, the entertainment industry is still playing catch-up in the digital space, never mind mobile.
Fearing the leap from traditional to digital. From a traditional marketing perspective, some studio executives believe mobile is an unproven medium. Marketers are hesitant to put time, money and resources into something that may not pay off. But mobile reporting is improving and, nearly everything that can be tracked in an online banner can now be tracked in a mobile ad unit. More case studies, research and benchmarks are available to tout results and prove effectiveness.
An example of great mobile integration by a studio is the Paramount Pictures/Millennial Media execution of the "Eagle Eye Mobile Challenge" supporting the release of "Eagle Eye." The campaign integrated mobile web, voice response, text messaging and viral activation, to give users an authentic experience reflective of the film's plot. Results exceeded expectations with an exceptionally high conversion rate.
No uniform operating systems and device specifications. Numerous operating systems and device specifications in the U.S. have made it difficult for third-party ad servers to integrate across a large number of publishers. Just as online ads need to be tested across various browsers, specifications vary across mobile devices. Phones have different display sizes and proprietary browsers that render differently. (The same website viewed through the BlackBerry browser can appear very different on an iPhone using Safari.) There are also differences between cellular network speeds and traditional network speeds; i.e., the 3G network is not as fast as a standard broadband connection.
To reduce that pain point, mobile ad networks and ad servers such as Millennial Media, Quattro, and AdMob allow advertisers to place bigger buys with larger reach and provide integrated reporting and creative services. The emergence of the iPhone has also enabled more than a simple text-based browsing experience.
iPhones allow for greater creative executions with expandable rich media units featuring pristine video such as the ones Focus Features ran for "Burn After Reading".
Perception of high CPM's. Mobile ad CPMs (cost-per-thousand) have the reputation of being pricey, in the $15-$25 range, which makes the cost-per-pixel skyrocket in a mobile marketing plan. Combine high CPMs with skepticism and you've got a big red flag on a plan. But the cost of mobile advertising is correcting itself along with the market, and CPM prices are coming down to a more reasonable $5-$15. This lower rate will help motivate marketers and spur future campaigns.
No one to do the work. Studio and network interactive marketing departments, and ad agencies that support their business, are short-staffed. The folks at the top didn't rise with interactive, and suffer from a lack of understanding of both the workflow process and what is required to make online and mobile campaigns fly.
Changing copy involves redoing numerous versions of ad units which then need to be re-trafficked. All of these efforts increase the chance for error. When audio and video are placed into the mix, the effort/error ratio increases exponentially, causing additional delays.
No phone in the movie? No plan for you! Sometimes if there is no direct product tie-in to technology, marketers don't see a connection. Matt Shaw, director of west coast sales for AdMob, views the studios as being forward thinking and doing exciting things with mobile such as Universal Pictures' "Fast & Furious" iPhone site -- but he scratches his head when folks tell him, "Oh that's not a mobile movie."
With some 60 million unique users in the U.S., mobile is here to stay and the marketing platform those users offer will continue to grow. The question is, When will that day hit Hollywood?
Perhaps mobile marketing during the summer of 2012 will finally make it a red hot one in Tinseltown.
Read more at: http://tinyurl.com/nw5sv2
Sorry Google, 'There's A URL For That' Doesn't Have The Same Ring
July 17, 2009: summarized from mocoNews.net -- At yesterday's MobileBeat conference in San Francisco, Google Engineering VP Vic Gundotra said the app store trend is just a fad and at some point powerful browsers will take over as the main mechanism for delivering services to the phone, reports FT.com.
While that may be true, the biggest problem facing Google will not be convincing developers, but consumers. Apple's steroid-enhanced marketing machine has drilled into the public thinking that "there's an app for that," not that there's a URL. Clearly after logging 1.5 billion downloads within a year, Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) is on to something and vigorously training the mobile users of tomorrow. Even if Google is correct for all the right technical reasons, they may face an uphill battle when it comes to perceptions.
It's not that Gundotra didn't make a strong case about using mobile browsers. He argued: "What we clearly see happening is a move to incredibly powerful browsers. Many, many applications can be delivered through the browser and what that does for our costs is stunning." Already, there's some evidence that this could work. The latest technology will let web applications tap features on the phone, including the accelerometer, and already Google has integrated location information.
And mostly, users don't care what technology they are using as long as it works. When people in the mobile industry talk about browser-based technology, they aren't saying that icons-or shortcuts-on the phone will go away. In actuality, there might be a light-weight widget sitting on your phone's homescreen, much like an icon today-however, it's actively pulling info from the web. For instance, Google's Android operating system is already supporting widgets. The WeatherBug widget displays the current temperature and the expected hi and low for the day-based on your location-right in the icon.
But it's not just marketing hype...Google will have to prove browsers are the best way to go, and some of the challenges of creating a browser environment may be out of Google's hands. It's up to the carrier to provide a strong signal, and without a native experience on the phone, losing a cellular connection or having a weak signal would severely hamper the user experience. In addition, it's not realistic to believe that the browser will eliminate fragmentation (unless Google intends on dominating the mobile browser market). Developers will have to tailor their services to meet all of them, much like they do today for the iPhone's Safari browser. Another complication, which could be an entirely separate post, is distribution. How will you find new services in a browser? Likely, Google's answer is Google search.
To be sure, there's still a ton of kinks to be worked out in Google's plan. But you have to wonder why Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, caved on the matter himself over a year ago. If you remember, Jobs originally had the same idea for the iPhone. "Build for the web," he said. But as we know, applications were launched just a year later, now there's more than 65,000. That's a lot of momentum.
Read more at: http://tinyurl.com/ntjd2j
While that may be true, the biggest problem facing Google will not be convincing developers, but consumers. Apple's steroid-enhanced marketing machine has drilled into the public thinking that "there's an app for that," not that there's a URL. Clearly after logging 1.5 billion downloads within a year, Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) is on to something and vigorously training the mobile users of tomorrow. Even if Google is correct for all the right technical reasons, they may face an uphill battle when it comes to perceptions.
It's not that Gundotra didn't make a strong case about using mobile browsers. He argued: "What we clearly see happening is a move to incredibly powerful browsers. Many, many applications can be delivered through the browser and what that does for our costs is stunning." Already, there's some evidence that this could work. The latest technology will let web applications tap features on the phone, including the accelerometer, and already Google has integrated location information.
And mostly, users don't care what technology they are using as long as it works. When people in the mobile industry talk about browser-based technology, they aren't saying that icons-or shortcuts-on the phone will go away. In actuality, there might be a light-weight widget sitting on your phone's homescreen, much like an icon today-however, it's actively pulling info from the web. For instance, Google's Android operating system is already supporting widgets. The WeatherBug widget displays the current temperature and the expected hi and low for the day-based on your location-right in the icon.
But it's not just marketing hype...Google will have to prove browsers are the best way to go, and some of the challenges of creating a browser environment may be out of Google's hands. It's up to the carrier to provide a strong signal, and without a native experience on the phone, losing a cellular connection or having a weak signal would severely hamper the user experience. In addition, it's not realistic to believe that the browser will eliminate fragmentation (unless Google intends on dominating the mobile browser market). Developers will have to tailor their services to meet all of them, much like they do today for the iPhone's Safari browser. Another complication, which could be an entirely separate post, is distribution. How will you find new services in a browser? Likely, Google's answer is Google search.
To be sure, there's still a ton of kinks to be worked out in Google's plan. But you have to wonder why Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, caved on the matter himself over a year ago. If you remember, Jobs originally had the same idea for the iPhone. "Build for the web," he said. But as we know, applications were launched just a year later, now there's more than 65,000. That's a lot of momentum.
Read more at: http://tinyurl.com/ntjd2j
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Hard Rock Goes Twitter/Facebook
July 8, 2009: summarized from SunSentinal.com -- Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino is now online with Facebook and Twitter, according to a casino news release.
The casino says its Facebook Fan Page seminolehardrockhollywood.com/facebook
gives fans "the direct scoop on concert and sporting event on-sale dates, celebrity appearances and more." Also "the site features exclusive photos and video footage from a variety of events at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Hard Rock Live and Seminole Paradise clubs, restaurants and special events."
Examples: visits from Kim Kardashian, Motley Crue, Juan Luis Guerra, Pamela Anderson, Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez. There's also a lineup of all Hard Rock Live concerts and events plus view rare footage from additional special engagements.
And current casino promotions for Seminole Players Club members and last-minute hotel room deals.
Seminole Hard Rock's Twitter feed is at seminolehardrockhollywood.com/twitter. They'll tweet out casino, poker, food and drink specials, last-minute hotel deals and of-the-minute happenings on the casino floor, they say. (The bad news, if you're like me, is you follow 300 people, and the Tweets get overwhelming. Gotta learn to filter.)
They also have RSS feeds at www.seminolehardrockhollywood.com and www.hardrocklivehollywoodfl.com.
Read more at: http://tinyurl.com/kvr8hq
The casino says its Facebook Fan Page seminolehardrockhollywood.com/facebook
gives fans "the direct scoop on concert and sporting event on-sale dates, celebrity appearances and more." Also "the site features exclusive photos and video footage from a variety of events at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Hard Rock Live and Seminole Paradise clubs, restaurants and special events."
Examples: visits from Kim Kardashian, Motley Crue, Juan Luis Guerra, Pamela Anderson, Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez. There's also a lineup of all Hard Rock Live concerts and events plus view rare footage from additional special engagements.
And current casino promotions for Seminole Players Club members and last-minute hotel room deals.
Seminole Hard Rock's Twitter feed is at seminolehardrockhollywood.com/twitter. They'll tweet out casino, poker, food and drink specials, last-minute hotel deals and of-the-minute happenings on the casino floor, they say. (The bad news, if you're like me, is you follow 300 people, and the Tweets get overwhelming. Gotta learn to filter.)
They also have RSS feeds at www.seminolehardrockhollywood.com and www.hardrocklivehollywoodfl.com.
Read more at: http://tinyurl.com/kvr8hq
Conn. Casinos Join Forces Against Atlantic City
CM Comment: A joint digital campaign has been launched by Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. Take a look at www.playCTcasinos.com.
July 10, 2009: summarized from Marketing Daily -- Two of the biggest casinos in the world are making an unlikely liaison to boost tourism to southeastern Connecticut, where Foxwoods Resort and rival Mohegan Sun are located.
In a move to get people to eschew New Jersey's Atlantic City, the two behemoths of gambling -- one of which brings in some 14 million visitors a year and has 2,225 hotel rooms that are pretty much always booked -- are for the first time in their respective histories launching an outdoor and digital campaign to tout the area as a major resort and entertainment destination.
Rob Victoria, SVP of consumer marketing at Foxwoods, says the effort will include billboards in New Jersey and the New York metro area. "We are working together because we think we can drive more business to the region by letting the public know we have two incredible scenic resorts, both of which are all-inclusive destinations." He says the effort, with a "Two Worlds Beats One City" that takes a jab at Atlantic City, drives consumers to www.playCTcasinos.com.
Read more at: http://tinyurl.com/nd2ceh
July 10, 2009: summarized from Marketing Daily -- Two of the biggest casinos in the world are making an unlikely liaison to boost tourism to southeastern Connecticut, where Foxwoods Resort and rival Mohegan Sun are located.
In a move to get people to eschew New Jersey's Atlantic City, the two behemoths of gambling -- one of which brings in some 14 million visitors a year and has 2,225 hotel rooms that are pretty much always booked -- are for the first time in their respective histories launching an outdoor and digital campaign to tout the area as a major resort and entertainment destination.
Rob Victoria, SVP of consumer marketing at Foxwoods, says the effort will include billboards in New Jersey and the New York metro area. "We are working together because we think we can drive more business to the region by letting the public know we have two incredible scenic resorts, both of which are all-inclusive destinations." He says the effort, with a "Two Worlds Beats One City" that takes a jab at Atlantic City, drives consumers to www.playCTcasinos.com.
Read more at: http://tinyurl.com/nd2ceh
Facebook's Own Estimates Show Declining Student Numbers; Now More Grandparents Than High School Users
July 6, 2009: summarized from ReadWriteWeb -- How fickle are kids these days? Just when all the grown ups started figuring out Facebook, college and high school users have declined in absolute number by 20% and 15% respectively in a mere six months, according to estimates Facebook provides to advertisers that were archived for tracking by an outside firm. Facebook users aged 55 and over have skyrocketed from under 1 million to nearly six million in the same time period. There are more Facebook users over 55 years old today than there are high school students using the site.
The dramatic change in user demographics was picked up by iStrategyLabs today. Anyone can go through Facebook's self-serve advertising program and see the user demographics numbers the company estimates now; iStrategyLabs captured that data six months ago and saved it for comparison. The changes have been dramatic.
Read more at: http://tinyurl.com/l9w2s5
The dramatic change in user demographics was picked up by iStrategyLabs today. Anyone can go through Facebook's self-serve advertising program and see the user demographics numbers the company estimates now; iStrategyLabs captured that data six months ago and saved it for comparison. The changes have been dramatic.
Read more at: http://tinyurl.com/l9w2s5
Common Mobile Marketing Questions
July 9, 2009: summarized from ClickZ -- We're always fielding great questions from clients. Here are some topics that come up so frequently that they apply to just about everyone.
How much of my digital budget should I devote to mobile?
Mobile isn't exclusively a digital channel. Just because your BlackBerry makes beeping sounds and the screen is composed of pixels doesn't mean the rules of digital are the only ones that apply. You should use digital to complement your print, out-of-home, radio, local, and even TV advertising. Consider using mobile as the response mechanism for campaigns that appear in static media; also think about mobile as a way to reach consumers at times and in places that TV and online can't.
Mobile display advertising as part of campaign should be at least $150,000. Anything below that as a line item in a well-sized campaign will achieve limited reach, low interaction rates, and minimum effectiveness, among other things. Throwing $10,000 or $15,000 into a plan for mobile just produces one-off initiatives that rarely achieve returns or indicative results that provide a basis for future investment.
Do I need a mobile strategy?
No, you need a brand strategy with a plan for determining mobile tactics. The most effective mobile marketing happens when you've found the right roles for mobile in your strategy for reaching, motivating, providing value to, and interacting with consumers. Mobile is really an indicator of customer behavior. Consumers who can be reached through mobile behave in ways that require different tactics than other channels. Those tactics then require different creative approaches, messaging, and functionality. Figuring out the roles for mobile essentially comes down to determining when interactions, sharing, sight, sound, motion, discovery, or transactions are better served by allowing a consumer to do those things through a device equipped with Internet access, location-awareness, text messaging, data input, and other capabilities. And figuring out how mobile will improve and complement a campaign gives it options that aren't possible through other channels in your plan.
I thought by now our customers would be paying for things with their mobile phones and I'd be able to text message everyone walking by my stores. What's going on?
Before those things become commonplace, a myriad of technical, privacy, security, and infrastructure obstacles must be resolved. But there's probably more going on than you think, and I'd like to see more brands and services adapt and build on the ones that do work to provide more functionality and service to customers.
Lots of tests are being run in almost every conceivable area of mobile-based convenience, including coupon serving, debit and credit transactions, dynamic shopping lists, and a breathalyzer that connects to the local cab company.
One example of a service available today is travelers using bar-coded airline tickets that reside on their mobile devices. The trick is airlines have the types of readers that can scan the screen of a mobile device; not all scanners can (retail stores have the same limitations with coupons). Also, airlines are working with the Transportation Security Administration to make the service work with federal laws and airport security standards. That's only one example, but it can apply to many other behaviors and customer services. Marketers should be thinking about how to adapt the capability.
I can't wait until we can use our mobile devices to control our other appliances, machines, and transactions. Who wouldn't want to control the applications we love to use on our PCs, DVRs, thermostats, nanny cams, digital content, Twitter feeds, and so on, and make them work together -- all from the one device that you have in your hand most of the day? The infrastructure and systems interoperability isn't there yet, but it will be. And it will happen sooner if we initiate programs that creatively use mobile interactions to make customer experiences better.
The great news is that none of the questions we get are about why a brand should use mobile. With so little denial, it seems that interest, understanding, and motivation are high for mobile. Now we just need to convert the high awareness to more specific spending and initiatives.
Read more at: http://tinyurl.com/noda2p
How much of my digital budget should I devote to mobile?
Mobile isn't exclusively a digital channel. Just because your BlackBerry makes beeping sounds and the screen is composed of pixels doesn't mean the rules of digital are the only ones that apply. You should use digital to complement your print, out-of-home, radio, local, and even TV advertising. Consider using mobile as the response mechanism for campaigns that appear in static media; also think about mobile as a way to reach consumers at times and in places that TV and online can't.
Mobile display advertising as part of campaign should be at least $150,000. Anything below that as a line item in a well-sized campaign will achieve limited reach, low interaction rates, and minimum effectiveness, among other things. Throwing $10,000 or $15,000 into a plan for mobile just produces one-off initiatives that rarely achieve returns or indicative results that provide a basis for future investment.
Do I need a mobile strategy?
No, you need a brand strategy with a plan for determining mobile tactics. The most effective mobile marketing happens when you've found the right roles for mobile in your strategy for reaching, motivating, providing value to, and interacting with consumers. Mobile is really an indicator of customer behavior. Consumers who can be reached through mobile behave in ways that require different tactics than other channels. Those tactics then require different creative approaches, messaging, and functionality. Figuring out the roles for mobile essentially comes down to determining when interactions, sharing, sight, sound, motion, discovery, or transactions are better served by allowing a consumer to do those things through a device equipped with Internet access, location-awareness, text messaging, data input, and other capabilities. And figuring out how mobile will improve and complement a campaign gives it options that aren't possible through other channels in your plan.
I thought by now our customers would be paying for things with their mobile phones and I'd be able to text message everyone walking by my stores. What's going on?
Before those things become commonplace, a myriad of technical, privacy, security, and infrastructure obstacles must be resolved. But there's probably more going on than you think, and I'd like to see more brands and services adapt and build on the ones that do work to provide more functionality and service to customers.
Lots of tests are being run in almost every conceivable area of mobile-based convenience, including coupon serving, debit and credit transactions, dynamic shopping lists, and a breathalyzer that connects to the local cab company.
One example of a service available today is travelers using bar-coded airline tickets that reside on their mobile devices. The trick is airlines have the types of readers that can scan the screen of a mobile device; not all scanners can (retail stores have the same limitations with coupons). Also, airlines are working with the Transportation Security Administration to make the service work with federal laws and airport security standards. That's only one example, but it can apply to many other behaviors and customer services. Marketers should be thinking about how to adapt the capability.
I can't wait until we can use our mobile devices to control our other appliances, machines, and transactions. Who wouldn't want to control the applications we love to use on our PCs, DVRs, thermostats, nanny cams, digital content, Twitter feeds, and so on, and make them work together -- all from the one device that you have in your hand most of the day? The infrastructure and systems interoperability isn't there yet, but it will be. And it will happen sooner if we initiate programs that creatively use mobile interactions to make customer experiences better.
The great news is that none of the questions we get are about why a brand should use mobile. With so little denial, it seems that interest, understanding, and motivation are high for mobile. Now we just need to convert the high awareness to more specific spending and initiatives.
Read more at: http://tinyurl.com/noda2p
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