posted by Elaine
Dean Rizzuto of Metzger Associates and Zena Weist of EMBARQ did a great job of outlining an underutilized application by marketers – the mobile phone.
The most salient point of the presentation to me was that sometimes simple marketing using SMS is the most poignant way to reach people. After two separate unsuccessful trips to Cherry Creek Mall to pick up the iPhone (I mean really? Four hours in line for something that will still be available in a week?), it’s hard not to get caught up in the hype that the iPhone is the only device that matters. The iPhone (or Guy Phone as Dean referred to it) is a highly touted option but represents a limited sample of the 86 percent of the US population 13 and older who own a mobile device.
It was also great to hear from Zena how EMBARQ is using Twitter as a customer service tool to stay on top of customer feedback as it’s happening. If you’re unsure about Twitter, Gwen Bell had a great point to use Twitter first as a person before you use it as a CEO or company. You get a better handle on the lingo and that @ is a way to reply to someone and # is put before a location. Two other companies who are doing a great job with Twitter are Comcast and Zappos.
Global mobile ad marketing spend will be $16 billion by 2011, so in three short years marketers need to have a solid handle on effective mobile marketing. Dean and Zena clearly outlined the three ways that mobile marketers need to incorporate to be successful.
- Permission (opt-in)
- A clear way to opt-out
- Designed to offer the consumer more choices/more convenient means
The recent launch of Loopt, a location based device on the iPhone that notifies your friends of your GPS locale clearly brings these three elements home. Loopt is quickly racking up criticism where people feel they haven’t opted in, are getting spammed for invites and can’t figure out how to opt out. To avoid major snafus like Loopt, the Mobile Marketing Association is a great site to check out if you’re getting started in this space.
2 responses so far ↓
1 nuance intelligence » Blog Archive » Watching the Media Wave Break // Jul 18, 2008 at 12:05 pm
[...] Monday afternoon at the New Media Summit, hosted by Metzger and [...]
2 bluebookadvertising // Sep 6, 2008 at 5:39 pm
I can most definetely agree that SMS text message is an excellent way to reach people. After all the message goes screaming out at about 8000 miles an hours and the little beep beep that hits our mobile device gets our attention every time.
Exicting stuff for an Advertising Company looking to help businesses target an Opt-In consumer that would love getting a percentage off or savings at their favorite retail store or restuarant.
Posted by Mike Thompson
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