Mobile marketing blog

UK on-line shoppers are suffering from a lack of confidence in e-commerce vendors. A recent Office of Fair Trading (OFT) report found that over 30% of Internet users don't shop on-line, 20% clearly stating they don't trust on-line vendors.

It's obvious that some UK shoppers do not trust vendors with their card details and even more won't store their personal information on-line. The OFT report does show that in recent years on-line consumer confidence has improved but doesn't full explain what caused the negative shift in confidence in the first place. On-line shopping cannot be fully realised with current attitudes.

John Fingleton, chief executive of OFT, said "On-line retailing is the future for many businesses and increasingly important to the economy... If consumers are not confident on-line, demand will grow at a slower rate. So we must tackle these concerns right now if the on-line market is to grow at its full potential,".

So what could have caused this lack of trust? The media has covered countless data protection flaws on-line in recent years, from Monster's database leak to Facebook profiling users personal data, news coverage has developed an awareness of database hacking and unbecoming marketing through social media.

One positive reaction to the OFT's findings is that on-line vendors are asking their hosts the right questions and doing all they can from the ground up to secure their users data, after all a major vendor like Amazon being hacked would prove to be a costly mistake.

What can we do to boost Internet consumer confidence?

1. Buy an SSL certificate and secure order and account pages
2. Display authority and card trust logos clearly
3. Show existing customer testimonials
4. Offer a free trial without taking any card details (if applicable)
5. Offer a money back guarantee
6. Increase visibility of terms and conditions
7. Where applicable have real photos of directors and personal information

Contact me if you have any other questions of suggestions, best of luck.

The term "Marketing mix" refers to the 4 P's of marketing; Price, Place, Promotion and Product. When marketing you need to build a long term strategy and often it helps to think about the mix and, just like in baking, the mix of ingredients is essential to the results.

Here is how each element of the marketing mix breaks down:

Price
Giving your customers the right price is always important, some things however cannot be lowered in price for example, wages, license fees and marketing tools. If you cannot get your prices any lower then you can still focus on value, spend less time focusing on the price and more time telling people why it is valuable - for instance we offer SMS advertising as a Value Added Service and we tell our customers about the money they can make and the customer experience improvements they will see.

Place
Location is a very important thing, having a shoe shop in an industrial estate is a mistake, having it on the high street set apart from competition is perfect. The same applies to the Internet, find a niche market either by geo-targeting or buying the right domain name, for instance if there is a demand in the UK for widgets make a website specifically for the UK and buy a domain like ukwidgets.co.uk.

Promotion
This refers to your promotional strategy and execution, very often this is a large part of any marketing campaign so requires more attention. Spend time researching what has worked for other similar industries and assess current trends and buzz to determine what works best for your products and services. Mobile marketing can help build market segments for targeted promotions, its easier than ever to profile subscribers in a natural way. Publishers use text the editor and campaigns, radio broadcasters use text the DJ and opinion poles, event organisers use viral promotions and retailers use loyalty schemes and discount SMS vouchers. However its done, the targeting process has been completely automated and prices are lower than ever.

Product
Adapting your product range or services to meet customer demands is a smart move, the best way to keep up with your customers is to speak to them. You could try email, setting up special events and other more direct approaches. I have always found cold calling to be a bit of a turn off, mobile marketing is highly appropriate because it reaches them wherever they are, it is less obtrusive than cold calling and the open rate is higher than traditional methods such as email.

It is expected that a huge proportion of SME's will adapt their marketing mix to include SMS, those that are strong innovators and get to grips with the technology early on will be the most successful.

The marketing mix should not be the same for all businesses, different products and industries require a different ratio. Contact us if you have any further questions or comments and good luck.

The Liverpool based Telemedia show, sponsored by Mobile Marketing Specialists - Piri ltd, boasted a range of speakers offering suggestions and solutions to combat the decline in media monetisation during the recession, and in my opinion they delivered just that.

The fact that so many media consumers spend their spare time glued to the TV, laptop by their side and a mobile in reach proves that media is centric to our personal life. Professionals too are becoming more and more reliant on media peripherals and terminology, bizarrely during the introductory talk when asked who owned an iPhone the majority of the left spectators raised their hands, and when asked the same about Blackberry's the right side raised their hands, a select few roughly central to the room owned both. What does this prove, is it a coincidence or do birds of a feather buy the same brand and sit together?

I sat through a number of talks regarding Mobile, media, UGC and CRM concepts.

CASE STUDY How the FT uses apps to drive people to online subscriptions

Panel and Speaker
Stephen Pinches, lead product development manager, FT.com
Panel
Rick Gleave, head of interactive & mobile, Trinity Mirror Group
Oli Roxburgh, MD, Bluestar Mobile
Paul Wright, digital director, Lifestyle, Bauer Media
Gary Corbett, commercial director, Oxygen8
Chair
Mark Challinor, european director, INMA

A presentation outlining mobile application and mobile web initiatives employed by FT.com and their outcomes. It was clear from their statistics that mobile websites were the way to go, considering the expected shift from desktop to mobile web consumers and the low cost of development. FT.com demonstrated some great interactive apps too.

NEW CHANNELS: Engaging consumers through Social Networking and UGC

Panel and Speakers
Tom Weiss, CEO, TV Genius
Andrew Yates, chief executive, Artesian Solutions
Panel
Steve King, technical director, Jigsaw
Ivan Ali-Khan, head of digital, Virgin Media
Chair
Paul Maidment, business development director, BBC Worldwide

Although the presentations for IPTV and Artesian Solutions were largely a sales pitch there was a measure of useful information. Better still the panel thrust full force into a heated debate, the arguments largely were about giving people enough choice, building systems to deliver content to the user in a relevant way and how users searching Google feel like they are trying to take a sip from a fire hydrant.

I concluded that the fragmentation of media is a problem that won't go away any time soon, the Internet should be the channel for all media and relevant content should find the viewer not the other way around. There is a fine line between delivering relevant content and spamming people with sales pitches, marketers would do well to take care when targeting new leads.

DATA & CRM: Getting to know you...

Panel and Speakers
Nick Weatherall, Future Publishing
Panel
Tajinder Jagdev, Head of Communications, Media and Entertainment Practice SAS UK
Andrew Yates, Chief Executive, Artesian Solutions
Chair
Paul Skeldon,editor, Telemedia 360 and Telemedia-news.com

Nick from Future gave a detailed and precise presentation outlining a great Mobile Marketing case study, his strategy for monetising SMS was as follows:

1. Use mobile as entry point for competitions, votes and text the editor
2. Give them a chance to opt out
3. Market third party products and services to relevant users

Nick, one of our biggest customers, found that only 0.01% of entrants opted out - meaning that they were willing to receive relevant news and offers direct to their phones. This is an exciting step towards User Generated Content, content that finds you!

All in all the whole experience was very helpful and I met some really interesting people, I have learned a lot about the media's struggle with measurability, monetising content and fragmented delivery mediums. Where will the future of TV lie, IPTV? Sky? and will the publishers still offer on-line content for free in the years to come? One thing is certain, the SMS world will take off in 2010 - its time to diversify and solidify your position in the Mobile Marketing world.

A recent report from Forrester Consulting found that 74% of marketers said they preferred SMS as a marketing tool and 44% of a random internet user population said they would prefer to receive product information and general marketing via SMS. Other finding in the report also suggested that UK based companies are the best at multi-channel marketing strategies and developing relationships with potential customers.

Why might this be?

• SMS is highly measurable
• It is instant
• Messages are of a digestible length
• People have to opt in to messages so are more likely to show an interest in targeted messages

Other reports have suggest that by the year 2013 SMS will be widely used as a compliment to marketing campaigns.

The Text Works will be one of the many companies visiting the Liverpool Docks T360 show. Promoting and discussing all things media, the show boasts good company and speakers. There is an evening opening party on Tuesday 20th October, between 20:00 - 0:00 at the Alma de Cuba, warming the business and networking attendees up and offering an informal social meeting place to speak to old and new contacts and affiliates. Wednesday 21st opens at 9:00 am and carries on until 2:00 am the next day!

We will be attending the day events and taking some pictures throughout. The Text Works will attend to learn, share and promote our mobile marketing solutions as well as make marketing and business contacts to better our products and services. I have often found networking meetings to be both helpful and inspiring and am looking forward to meeting new people within the media industry.

There will be a post show blog on Thursday 22nd October. If you are attending the T360 show I look forward to meeting you and I hope you have a successful day.

For some time now NBC has enjoyed the new found success of their TV hit show Heroes. The series follows the lives of ordinary people gifted with extraordinary powers that corrupts some and purifies others descending them into a good versus evil showdown. Heroes have suffered from low ratings recently triggering NBC to make the leap into mobile marketing.

NBC are using interactive SMS in real time with TV broadcasts as well as offering $25,000 if they solve a mystery using various hints as the story unfolds. The marketing campaign includes:

• graphic novels for mobile handsets
• a game of survival
• various snippets of Heroes
• a micro site

Users could text "HPLAY" to 62288 at any time to start interacting, the number and keyword were promoted during Heroes broadcasts.

Stephen Andrade, NBC senior vice president of digital development and general manager said "Mobile is another device like the PC Web or interactive TV or anything else that can deliver digital content... It's small and portable and for us it makes sense to combine it in our overall marketing plans."

NBC have displayed tremendous marketing dexterity in years gone by and this campaign is no different. They have recognised that email and web cannot completely compliment television. Mobile is perfect as the viewer will have their mobile phone near them while watching the show, SMS is instant and quick to read. The interactive potential of mobile and television has not been fully realised but there is no doubt NBC have taken a huge leap.

Many of us have experienced poor service and inconsistent levels of support as customers. It is increasingly frustrating when you are unable to make any progress, especially when what your working on is time sensitive. This article aims to highlight some of the problems surrounding modern customer service and explain how our mobile solutions can solve these issues in a cost effective way.

Here are the major customer service failures that I have experienced in recent years:

• Poor quality phone and email service
• Language barriers on phone and in text
• Being put on hold due to lack of knowledge or being directed to the wrong department
• Lack of training causing delays
• Lack of manners
• Low customer awareness
• High level of training and manpower can be expensive

Very often this poor service is not a reflection of the products or services on offer and companies are spending a lot of time and resources monitoring and training their customer representatives.

So how can mobile messaging solutions help?

99% of adults between the ages of 18 and 45 have a mobile phone at hand during working hours. Mobile phones allow them to read messages and respond instantly with the added benefit of being able to contact you while on the move. Here are some specific ways that our mobile solutions could improve your customer awareness and increase loyalty:

• Promotional messages sent directly to their phone
• Automatic account verification - mobile phone numbers are unique to each customer
• Offer a two way message flow for standard support enquiries
• Request a callback if no one is available or lines are busy
• Service status enquiries - such as network outages or similar

There are countless other applications of mobile marketing within the customer service industry, many of which are dependant on your specific needs and the type of services you offer.

Speak to our mobile marketing specialists for more information.

How to implement mobile as a support channel

All of our packages allow complete access to our range of messaging solutions. It requires no integration and little training. We offer live demonstrations on request. Once registered you can start using the interface instantly. If you do choose to plug our SMS gateway into you current support systems its as easy as copying and pasting a link.

As an added bonus we have developers available on the phone if your technical team have any questions or experience any integration issues.