May | 2009 | Marketing with New Technology

Maximizing New Media Today to Build Your Brand for Tomorrow and Beyond May 31, 2009

Posted by StrategicGrowth in FaceBook, Marketing Plan, Strategic Growth Concepts, Twitter, Web 2.0.
Tags: advertising, Facebook, marketing, Marketing Plan, marketing strategies, small business, Strategic Growth Concepts, Twitter, Twitter marketing
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With all of the new media options available today to promote your business, sometimes the hardest part of developing an effective marketing strategy is thinking thru the ways in which each option can be maximized to promote your business. Many of the options available, such as Twitter and Facebook, are still new enough that no one really has all the answers on using them to the best advantage, so new ways of utilizing them are being discovered every day. It’s exciting, and intriguing and challenging – especially for those with creative minds who are adept at finding useful ways to take advantage of new technology.

Many people with analytical minds actually spend a great deal of time trying to predict the future of such new media technology in order to determine its longevity and value. One recent analysis developed by the great minds at 24/7 Wall Street resulted in an article predicting ‘The Ten Ways Twitter Will Permanently Change American Business’. It’s an excellent article which I encourage you to read, and while reading, think about it in terms of how their thoughts might translate into useful applications for your business.

Right now marketers are in the unique position of being able to utilize the many, many new technology tools available today – at no cost, or low cost – and to help build the standards for how those tools are used in the future. This unique opportunity will allow firms that take advantage of the current situation to be ‘the leaders at the table’ in the future. If you want to establish such a leadership role for your business and your brand, now is the time to use all your creativity, all your strategic planning capabilities, and all the new technology resources at your disposal to establish that brand and its leadership role. Learn everything you can about the new media tools available, and use them in every way you can to promote your company. We at Strategic Growth Concepts will continue to do our part by providing you with information you need to help you in that endeavor, and we’re available to consult with your business whenever you need us, just contact us via our website or email at info@strategicgrowthconcepts.com.

Let Your Voice Be Heard by Your Customers May 28, 2009

Posted by StrategicGrowth in email marketing, FaceBook, Social Media, Twitter, Web 2.0.
Tags: email, email marketing, Facebook, marketing, MySpace, phonevite, podcasting, Social Media, Twitter
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Technology keeps evolving and providing small businesses with additional ways to communicate with our target audiences. Now there is an Application that will allow you to record a voice message and have it distributed directly to your connections via Twitter, Facebook, or MySpace, as well as email and telephone. It’s less complicated than developing a podcast or a video, and yet highly effective at communicating a message – even while on the move – and it provides distribution options including direct-to-telephone which cannot be achieved thru other methods.

This type of application has many potential uses for small business, including:

send an email invitation to a seminar with an actual voice invitation from your company’s CEO
it lets a public relations manager in the midst of handling a company crisis convey a message to all necessary staff at the corporate office at one time and they can listen to it at their convenience
your CEO can dictate a new corporate policy for immediate implementation and distribute it via email (or telephone)
you can describe a new product or service to all your Twitter, Facebook and/or MySpace contacts
many, many additional uses that can benefit your company.

Read the article below from Mashable for a complete description of the application and how it works.

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by Ben Parr, Mashable

When you need to send a voice note or a dictation to multiple contacts, Phonevite has always been a strong option. However, while it does have an iGoogle Gadget, Phonevite has mostly been limited to voice-to-phone sharing.

That was until today, when Phonevite opened the social media floodgates of its voice services. Starting today, you can not only send voice messages to your friends via phone, but you can also share recordings via Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, email or just embed the audio directly to your website.

Once you have made a voice recording (either via a recording browser app or via phone), the recording will appear in your recording inbox. Now, however, you’ll see five small icons at the bottom for each of the key social services and embeds which you can use to distribute your content easily.

Facebook will post to your wall while Twitter will create the ready-to-share tweet. This makes it simple to send audio to all of your friends instantaneously. And of course, you can still send it to their phone if you need to send it directly.

Social media is an effective mass-communication tool, and Phonevite has tapped into its raw power to dramatically increase the potential of its products. Phonevite is no longer just for voice notes, but for rapidly distributing podcasts, interviews, and calls. It’s up to users and Phonevite, though, to tap into the potential possibilities.

How to Make Mobile Marketing Effective for Your Company May 26, 2009

Posted by StrategicGrowth in mobile, Mobile Marketing.
Tags: advertising, cellular phones, demographic targets, marketing, mobile advertising, Mobile Marketing, mobile phones, small business, sms marketing, SMS messaging, text marketing, text message marketing, The Mobile Marketing
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As with all new media when it first debuts, there is a learning curve involved with mobile media; ie: how often it should be used, how to use it most effectively, what types of messages are most effective, the rules of use, etc.

To add to your information arsenal, I wanted to provide you with access to the article below from The Mobile Marketer who blogs on all things mobile. The article provides a good overview on the use of mobile marketing and how to make it effective for your firm. For additional information on Mobile Marketing, or to learn how we can help you develop a Mobile Marketing campaign for your firm, please contact us via our website or email us at info@strategicgrowthconcepts.com

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Posted by The Mobile Marketer

When Constructing Effective Text-Message Marketing Campaigns

SMS (Short-Message-System aka “Text-Message-Marketing”) requires different rules of frequency and message content than other types of digital messages.

Because of “number portability,” which allows cell phone users to take their digits with them when they change carriers, a mobile number has a much longer shelf life than an email address. Thus mobile phone lists—100 percent opt-in, of course—are far less likely to “go bad” than email lists. Marketers do not need to send messaging campaigns to phones nearly half as often as they do to email addresses, because they don’t need to curb turnover in their mobile contacts lists.

From what I’ve seen, text messaging frequency works best at only two or three times a month. Marketers really should avoid sending daily text message campaigns, a practice that will cause their lists to dry up faster than government funds after a nationwide bailout.

SMS marketing needs to be handled delicately, with extremely targeted messages, and by dangling “carrots” in front of consumers that are delicious enough to prevent them from unsubscribing. Consumers need to feel that your marketing texts are worth the potential five to 15 cents it could cost them to receive if they don’t have a data plan. Your message, for example, could have a substantial discount or offer to make it worthwhile for the consumer. A text with a legitimate coupon code, and discount expiration date, adds a sense of urgency to the marketing message.

Indeed, from what I’ve seen with the marketers I work with, coupons combined with text messages are an awesome combo! This makes sense; consider that if the average person receives a text, he or she immediately checks to see who it is from.

If it’s from a company offering a discount, advertising a promotion, or simply giving a product update, the consumer will most likely read it, even if it’s just for the sake of deciding whether or not to reply STOP or END. When customers see that your marketing SMS messages offer them value, they’ll decide to keep receiving them—and to keep spending money with your business.

New Technologies Work Together to Grow Brands May 23, 2009

Posted by StrategicGrowth in FaceBook, mobile, Mobile Marketing, Strategic Growth Concepts, Twitter.
Tags: blogging, BlogTalkRadio, Facebook, marketing, Mobile Marketing, mobile phones, new media, new media technologies, podcasting, small business, Strategic Growth Concepts, Strategic Growth Concepts for Small Business, Twitter
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I’ve noticed an interesting trend in my research and review of new media technologies now available to aid small businesses in developing their brands. The trend is that more than ever before the developers of these technologies inherently understand that their ability to expand use of their product relies on that product’s ability to interact/inter-connect with other new media technologies. Examples of this include:

YouTube providing the capability of downloading videos directly to Facebook
WordPress and other blog technologies enabling Twitter to feed into their platforms
Facebook and Twitter entries being made from mobile phones
Twitter and blog postings feeding directly into Friendfeed
many, many additional examples in the wide variety of new media being used today.

And now there is a new example, BlogTalkRadio being accessible via mobile phone.

For those of you unfamiliar with BlogTalkRadio, it’s a free, Web-based radio talk show platform that lets any user with a phone and a computer host a live, interactive radio show, with no downloads or extra equipment needed. Upon completion of the live broadcast, each show is automatically archived as a podcast. Many small businesses utilize BlogTalkRadio as a way of enhancing their brand and expanding consumer awareness of their companies. Click HERE to listen to broadcasts from our show, ‘Strategic Growth Concepts for Small Business’ as an example.

A recent story in Mobile Marketer discusses BlogTalkRadio’s entre’ into the mobile environment; what’s possible now and where they are taking their platform. Read the complete article HERE; small businesses will likely find this of great interest as an additional way of reaching current and prospective consumers.

If you are interested in learning ways the BlogTalkRadio platform and other new media can aid the growth of your business, please feel free to contact us via our website by clicking HERE to schedule a FREE consultation, or email us directly at info@strategicgrowthconcepts.com.

Mobile Marketing Ideas from National Brands May 15, 2009

Posted by StrategicGrowth in mobile, Mobile Marketing.
Tags: advertising, cellular phones, marketing, mobile advertising, mobile commerce, Mobile Marketing, mobile phones, Strategic Growth Concepts
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As part of our goal to keep our readers informed about the latest developments in new marketing technologies, we are always on the search for examples which showcase these technologies being put to use in ways our readers can replicate. Therefore we wanted to make you aware of some exciting new mobile marketing strategies being utilized by national brands you’ll know. As you review these mobile marketing strategies, consider how they might be adapted to market your business. Examples as follows:

Hyatt Hotels

Catering to travelers on-the-go

Hyatt Hotels & Resorts has launched its Hyatt Mobile Web site for travelers on-the-go, anywhere in the world.

The new mobile site lets guests locate and book a hotel, access reservations and check in or out through any Web-enabled mobile device.

Mastercard

Art Kranzley, chief emerging technology officer fo

MasterCard launches mobile payments

MasterCard has launched a fully integrated on-demand person-to-person mobile payments platform for issuers in the United States, set to go live later this month.

With this new platform, MasterCard’s participating bank customers will be able to offer mobile P2P payments to their customers via MoneySend. The consumer payments platform provides a way to send and receive funds via SMS, mobile browser, mobile applet or an Internet-connected PC.

Reebok

Customize shoes from anywhere

Reebok has launched the very first shoe customization application, allowing users to customize and buy their uniquely designed trainers right from their mobile phones.

Kraft Foods

Kraft’s new mobile site

Kraft Foods is expanding its reach of consumers through the launch of a new mobile Web site, which will be promoted via mobile search and banner ads on Yahoo’s Web portal.

Recipes on the go

With just a few clicks, users can create shopping lists, search their favorite recipes by ingredient or meal category, all by utilizing Kraft’s extensive database of recipes.

Upon choosing a recipe, the consumer immediately accesses the meal’s full ingredient list, preparation and cooking times, as well as the detailed cooking instructions.

Arby’s

The Arby’s Roastburger

Fast food chain Arby’s ran a mobile campaign to promote its new sandwich, the Roastburger.

Alabama consumers were asked to text the word ROASTED to short code 74642 to get a coupon for a free Roastburger.

1-800-Flowers

Mobile’s key to a rosy future

The world’s largest florist and gift shop, 1-800-Flowers.com, is leading the charge this Mother’s Day to ensure that no mom gets left behind.

“The strategy here is to reach consumers who are busy and on the go who otherwise may have not had the time to go online and make a flower purchase this Mother’s Day,” said Kevin Ranford, director of Web marketing at 1800-Flowers.com, New York.

1-800-Flowers asks consumers to text the word SPOTAMOM to short code 356937 (Flower) to get 20 percent off of their Mother’s Day flowers.

1-800-Flowers launches multichannel effort targeti

The text message promo

Consumers who double opt-in are added to a database of names that will be marketed to in the future.

Jiffy Lube

The Jiffy Lube mobile coupon

Targeting young car owners with fickle loyalty, Jiffy Lube in Los Angeles has launched a geo-targeted mobile ad campaign offering coupons for oil changes.

“Instead of waiting for a customer to find Jiffy Lube through the Yellow Pages, or in their neighborhood, they hope to proactively deliver an appealing money-saving offer to an audience that might not be easily reached another way.”

Coupons to your phone

The campaign is designed to reach the 18-24 audience in a new way that speaks to their interests via mobile.

Greasing palms
The text message ad copy is appended to user-requested text message content and messages such as “20 percent off Jiffy Lube Oil Change! Reply JIFFY” or “Save $7 on a Jiffy Lube Oil Change! Reply JL.”

Jiffy Lube taps LCW Wirelessâ€™ Cricket Perks mobi

Follow the Oregon Trail to Jiffy Lube

Customers who reply to the ad will receive a text message with a coupon code for redemption, and an invitation to find their nearest Jiffy Lube location by replying via text message with their ZIP code.

Nike

Train, train, train

Sportswear maker Nike has extended its Nike Training Club program to mobile to target active women on the go.

The idea of the new app is to get consumers to train like an athlete with the Nike Training Club. Essentially, app users have access to a personalized training program.

Target

Target’s mobile app

Target Corp., the No. 2 mass merchandiser after Walmart Stores Inc., has made its debut on the iPhone with the launch of the Target Gift Finder application.

Users can search for gifts by personality, price, gender and age. The application allows users to buy any of the merchandise found on http://www.target.com using their credit card.

Subway

Subway is known for its subs

Subway is letting its customers place orders via their mobile phone, before they even get to one of the fast food chain’s locations.

The service lets customers order ahead via the Web or through a text message to skip the line at quick-serve restaurants. Diners get a text back confirming when their order will be ready.

Cold Stone Creamery

A Cold Stone mobile coupon

Cold Stone Creamery ran a mobile coupon program during the holidays to get consumers in-store and ultimately drive sales.

“The strategy for this client’s campaign was to enable the measurement of responses to a spot, track redemption and utilize a new medium which had never been used by the brand to promote their products before,” said Shira Simmonds, president of Ping Mobile, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.

Viewers that texted in recieved a message that said, “Show this msg @Cold Stone Creamery & get a FREE Love-It ‘Create Your Own’ when buy 1! Use Code: PLU#17. valid@participating locations. Hurry, expires 1/31/09!”

Also, participants were sent a message with an option to opt-in for future promotions. It said, “Reply YES 2 get more Xclusives from Cold Stone Creamery+Cox! Mx4msgs/mo. std txt rts aply. Reply YES Now!”

American Airlines

Upwardly mobile

American Airlines is targeting mostly mobile customers with a new service that recognizes callers inquiring about upcoming journeys.

The service, called “Remember Me,” is based on caller ID technology to help American Airlines AAdvantage loyalty program customers when they call in for information such as departure gate and flight times. The technology will cut down the response times to calls made.

With Remember Me, the response time is reduced to between 25 seconds and 30 seconds, according to AA.

We hope the many and varied national brand mobile marketing ideas showcased here have given you the start of an idea for how mobile marketing can benefit your business. For additional information on Mobile Marketing, or to learn how we can help you develop a Mobile Marketing campaign for your firm, please contact us via our website or email us at info@strategicgrowthconcepts.com

Mobile App’s Impact on Consumer Marketing May 9, 2009

Posted by StrategicGrowth in mobile, Mobile Marketing.
Tags: cellular phones, GPS targeted marketing, marketing, mobile advertising, mobile applications, mobile commerce, Mobile Marketing, mobile phones
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As the proliferation of mobile apps becomes more prevalent, so to will consumers’ use of mobile devices to replace desktop and laptop computers. Since these mobile devices will typically always be carried “on the person” of the consumer, marketers are presented with an extraordinary opportunity to explore GPS-targeted marketing programs to promote their firms and products.

To gain additional insight into the evolution of the mobile applications market and the opportunities they provide, please review the following article: Click HERE.

Global New Media Trends and Using Them to Grow Your Business May 8, 2009

Posted by StrategicGrowth in email marketing, mobile, Mobile Marketing, Social Media, Twitter, Video Marketing, Web 2.0.
Tags: advertising, cellular phones, demographic targets, email, Facebook, Internet, LinkedIN, marketing, mobile advertising, Mobile Marketing, mobile phones, Nielsen, small business, small business owners, Social Media, social networks, Strategic Growth Concepts, Twitter, Twitter marketing, Video Marketing, viral video, Web 2.0
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A recent report issued by The Nielsen Company, a global information and media company active in more than 100 countries, provides a comprehensive overview of the status of new media in today’s marketing environment. Some highlights of the report include:

Online display advertising’s share of revenue has plateaued at 20% of total online ad spend in the U.S.
Despite online video’s persistent positive buzz, actual usage is averaging around six minutes per day in the U.S.
Packaged goods manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies and telecommunications firms, three of the largest historical spenders on traditional media, are moving online at a pace we haven’t seen before, even as the recession continues to deepen.
Access to social networking sites via mobile devices almost tripled during 2008, largely due to rising smartphone penetration and improved network speeds. Increasingly consumers are turning to their phones for a wide range of online content.
The pace of new online users has significantly slowed down, and the story has become about how much time people are spending online and what they’re doing while there.
Americans spend the most time online during the average month (about 2 hours per day).
The U.S. online population skews more to the age 50+ than the other countries listed in the study.
It is rare to see segments grow from BOTH an audience and an engagement standpoint, but we are seeing exceptional growth in these areas over the last couple of years in both video and social media sites.
While Member Communities (Facebook, MySpace, etc) have been garnering impressive audience numbers for the last five years, video audiences have been growing at meteoric rates.
From a time spent perspective, Member Communities surpassed email for the first time in February 2009.
From February 2008 to February 2009, the viewers of online videos grew 10%, the number of streams grew 41%, the streams per user grew 27%, and the total minutes engaged with online video grew 71%.
The reach of Member Community (social networking) sites is highest in Brazil (80%) but growting fastest in Germany (from 39% to 51% in one year).
The steady upward march of micro-blogging site Twitter will likely be the biggest online media story this year.
In the U.S., the mobile Internet audience grew 74% between February 2007 and February 2009.
More than 12 million U.S. mobile subscribers access their social networks over their phone.
As consumers look to do more on their phones while maintaining or perhaps decreasing their overall wireless spend, we expect that consumers will continue to warm to the idea of ad-supported mobile content.

This information is extremely valuable to marketers and small business owners as it enables companies to see areas of tremendous opportunity where they can maximize their firm’s brand awareness among target audiences. Click HERE to review the complete Nielsen report and determine how it can be utilized to your company’s benefit. Should you need assistance sorting thru the options to develop the best marketing strategy for your firm, please contact us to schedule a FREE initial consultation.

Mobile Advertising Up 26% From 2008 May 6, 2009

Posted by StrategicGrowth in mobile, Mobile Marketing.
Tags: cellular phones, mobile advertising, mobile commerce, Mobile Marketing, mobile phones, small business
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Clipped from BitBriefs @ http://bitbriefs.com

Mobile advertising growth has slowed sharply over the past few months but is expected to reaccelerate next year, just as a growing number of cellphones built with Google Inc.’s (GOOG) Android software are expected to hit the market. U.S. advertisers are seen spending $229 million on mobile ads this year, up 26% from $169 million in 2008, according to a report by Brian Wieser, global director of forecasting for Magna, a unit of Interpublic Group of Cos.’ (IPG) Mediabrands division. Magna’s last forecast in July 2008 projected mobile ad spending would increase 43% to $298 million in 2009. Still, Wieser said despite the slowdown over the past several months, mobile ads remain one of the fastest growing emerging mediums on Madison Avenue. Magna predicted that mobile ad spending could nearly double by 2011, reaching $409 million. Read more at www.smartmoney.com

For additional information on Mobile Marketing, or to learn how we can help you develop a Mobile Marketing campaign for your firm, please contact us via our website or email us at info@strategicgrowthconcepts.com

Another Interesting Social Media Application May 1, 2009

Posted by StrategicGrowth in mobile, Social Media.
Tags: case studies, cellular phones, Loopt, mobile phones, small business, Social Media, social media strategies
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Learned about another new social media application today called “Loopt” that is specifically designed for use on GPS-enabled mobile phones and then conveys the information to other social media applications. Seems to have some very interesting features that have potential to help users drive income if used effectively. Found a great article from one small business user putting it to use in her real estate business. See the article HERE.