Failure to communicate the benefits of receiving mobile marketing material means brands are missing out on the opportunities this channel offers, according to research seen by Marketing Week.
British consumers have a bigger appetite for offers via their mobile phones than those in France, Germany or the US, according to a study of 4,400 handset owners by Velti and the DMA.
The report, Promoting to the Mobile Consumer - shown exclusively to Marketing Week - reveals that 75% of Brits are happy to receive promotions this way, compared to 72% of Americans, 50% of French people and 46% of Germans.
“Mobile is the fastest way to get offers to customers and using it also offers a significant advantage over other channels in its immediacy in both delivery and redemption,” says Mark Brill, chair of the DMA Mobile Marketing Council.
However, Krishna Subramanian, chief marketing officer at mobile marketing and advertising provider Velti, warns: “Brands should actively seek to understand consumer preferences for receiving mobile offers and develop creative campaigns that actively engage the user in content.”
Comparing mobile consumers in the UK with France, the British have a different set of promotional preferences than their cross-Channel counterparts. Text messages are the most preferred method in English-speaking countries, while France has the highest level of acceptance of emails or microsite delivery. French consumers are also twice as favourable towards voice-based promotional messages on their mobile as those in other countries. However, mobile apps are gaining in popularity in all developed markets.
The types of promotions people prefer to receive also varies by country. Money-off is considered the best discount in the US, just ahead of two-for-one deals and is ranked a close second in the UK among two-thirds of consumers.
Mobile offers also have a high pass-on rate, with about three-quarters of consumers regularly sending deals to family and friends.
This figure would be higher in the UK and US if there was an incentive for people to pass on promotions, according to Brill. Consumers are more likely to participate in mobile engagement if there is a clear incentive in it for them, such as an additional benefit for sharing a promotional offer, he adds.
“Word of mouth is still a very powerful method of gaining influence over consumers and brands should not underestimate the power of pass-along offers to extend the reach of their marketing campaign,” advises Subramanian. “Marketers should also focus on creating emotional affinity with their brand, such as VIP access to an event, as opposed to concentrating solely on financial rewards.”
He continues: “Mobile is the most personal of all channels used largely for communication with friends and family. It’s essential, therefore, that marketers gain consumers’ trust if they want to be ‘invited in’. This can only be achieved by following best practice, understanding the needs of their particular audience and meeting consumer expectations.”
In the UK and US, acceptance rates for promotional marketing received over mobile are lower than for promotions in general. But a willingness for these offers to be promoted via the mobile channel is likely to rise over time.
This change will not occur overnight, according to the report, which points out that most brands and network operators still struggle to demonstrate to consumers the benefits of receiving promotional marketing and gaining permission to do so.
Brill warns: “It’s a double-edged sword. It’s clear that consumers are still sceptical about engaging with marketing promotions through their phones.”
To overcome this problem, advertisers and marketers need to do more to demonstrate exactly what is on offer, according to the research, which reveals that about half of consumers either believe they pay to receive offers or are not sure if they do or not.
“Resistance to promotional marketing is often due to the fact that many believe the inbound promotional offers they receive are charged to their airtime account. This misconception affects as many as a quarter of consumers in the US and France, one in five in Germany and one in seven in the UK,” says Subramanian.
“Given the exponential growth potential of the mobile channel, it is important that both advertisers and networks help people understand that promotional benefits offered via mobile are not done at a cost to the user,” he adds.
Advertisers have a significant advantage over mobile operators when it comes to making offers, with consumers in the US nearly seven times more likely to want mobile promotions from brands rather than from their network operator.
“This is surprising as we expected that consumers would want to hear from their network carriers about benefits such as getting a free handset or extra mobile credit or airtime,” says Subramanian. “There is an opportunity for mobile networks to extend and deepen relationships with subscribers through opt-in promotional offers.”
However, only half of networks are making such offers in France, falling to one in five in the US. Permission to receive offers may explain this promotional gap, since network operators can only send service-based messages in Europe without a specific opt-in to marketing. The same is not true in the US, yet three-quarters of those surveyed claimed not to have received an offer from their network in the past month.
For marketers, it seems that mobile phones can be a lucrative channel for offers - if targeted in the right way.
Source: By Tanzeel Akhtar on 5th January 2012.
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Thursday, 5 January 2012
Tuesday, 3 January 2012
R U in Mktng? Do U Txt? No? U Will Soon!
Mobile marketing is still at the upward trend. If you wish to have call-for-action kind of responses, then mobile marketing is the right choice for you. Generally, people "stick" with the mobile phones and thus immediate response could be triggered by the time a text message is received.
Marketers: Do U Txt? If you don’t use SMS — those 160-character messages exchanged on mobile phones — for your marketing now, you probably will before the year 2014. That’s the prediction from market research giant Gartner, which believes t hat global mobile or smart phone access to the Internet will surpass computer access by that time.
Text messages work on everything from the most basic handsets to feature-rich smart phones, so they’re the lowest common denominator in terms of sending immediate information to prospective or current customers. The most popular usage for marketing texts now is mobile coupons and other incentives that drive consumers to bricks-and-mortar retail stores or restaurants.
SMS text messages are usually read within minutes of being sent, so they’re the most likely to trigger immediate action. As Dallas retail consultant Dick Roth puts it: “Got a theme park that’s not full on a sunny day? A restaurant that’s oversupplied with kid’s meals? A store where you need to move a lot of T-shirts to make room for holiday merchandise? Sending a text message to consumers in the immediate area is a great way to get people in the door right away. It’s the 21st century equivalent of a last-minute ad on the local radio station, which is what my father’s generation of advertising experts would have done.”
There are four keys to successful SMS text message campaigns, he adds.
1. Make sure that all mobile communications are permission-based. “Customers have to opt in. Not only are there stiff fines and penalties for spamming mobile users, but customers simply don’t like it, and they will be vocal – online and in person – about their displeasure.”
2. Mobile messages don’t stand alone. They’re part of a multi-channel marketing campaign that includes other digital media like email, social media, web, and traditional media like radio, TV, print, and PR.
3. Compliance with all regulations for your industry, as well as CAN-SPAM and emerging FCC rules.
4. Consider purchasing or leasing a short code to enable consumer interaction with your brand. “A short code allows a host of possible applications, from charitable fund-raising to voting on reality TV shows like American Idol. But they are also the basis for many brand promotions, too.” Information on how to get and use common short codes is available on the Common Short Code Administration website.
Compliance rules for SMS campaigns include:
- Don’t promote the service as “free” if premium fees are associated with the service, even if you aren’t the entity charging the fees.
- All advertising and promotional material must clearly indicate if the service is a subscription, along with an opt-out notice.
- Service pricing information must be clearly and conspicuously indicated.
- Subscription terms and billing intervals must be specified and disclosed to the consumer.
Don’t panic – all of this doesn’t have to be in the basic 160-character text. Just as with Twitter, a short link to a website or landing page with all of the disclosure data can be included in the 160-character message.
Roth adds, “I can’t stress enough how important it is for any SMS campaign to be based on customer subscription or opt-in. Don’t buy lists of phone numbers. Just don’t do it. Other than that, this brand new medium can be as creative and useful as any other, especially when combined with other communication channels.”
Source: By Deb McAlister-Holland on 2nd January 2012.
Marketers: Do U Txt? If you don’t use SMS — those 160-character messages exchanged on mobile phones — for your marketing now, you probably will before the year 2014. That’s the prediction from market research giant Gartner, which believes t hat global mobile or smart phone access to the Internet will surpass computer access by that time.
Text messages work on everything from the most basic handsets to feature-rich smart phones, so they’re the lowest common denominator in terms of sending immediate information to prospective or current customers. The most popular usage for marketing texts now is mobile coupons and other incentives that drive consumers to bricks-and-mortar retail stores or restaurants.
SMS text messages are usually read within minutes of being sent, so they’re the most likely to trigger immediate action. As Dallas retail consultant Dick Roth puts it: “Got a theme park that’s not full on a sunny day? A restaurant that’s oversupplied with kid’s meals? A store where you need to move a lot of T-shirts to make room for holiday merchandise? Sending a text message to consumers in the immediate area is a great way to get people in the door right away. It’s the 21st century equivalent of a last-minute ad on the local radio station, which is what my father’s generation of advertising experts would have done.”
There are four keys to successful SMS text message campaigns, he adds.
1. Make sure that all mobile communications are permission-based. “Customers have to opt in. Not only are there stiff fines and penalties for spamming mobile users, but customers simply don’t like it, and they will be vocal – online and in person – about their displeasure.”
2. Mobile messages don’t stand alone. They’re part of a multi-channel marketing campaign that includes other digital media like email, social media, web, and traditional media like radio, TV, print, and PR.
3. Compliance with all regulations for your industry, as well as CAN-SPAM and emerging FCC rules.
4. Consider purchasing or leasing a short code to enable consumer interaction with your brand. “A short code allows a host of possible applications, from charitable fund-raising to voting on reality TV shows like American Idol. But they are also the basis for many brand promotions, too.” Information on how to get and use common short codes is available on the Common Short Code Administration website.
Compliance rules for SMS campaigns include:
- Don’t promote the service as “free” if premium fees are associated with the service, even if you aren’t the entity charging the fees.
- All advertising and promotional material must clearly indicate if the service is a subscription, along with an opt-out notice.
- Service pricing information must be clearly and conspicuously indicated.
- Subscription terms and billing intervals must be specified and disclosed to the consumer.
Don’t panic – all of this doesn’t have to be in the basic 160-character text. Just as with Twitter, a short link to a website or landing page with all of the disclosure data can be included in the 160-character message.
Roth adds, “I can’t stress enough how important it is for any SMS campaign to be based on customer subscription or opt-in. Don’t buy lists of phone numbers. Just don’t do it. Other than that, this brand new medium can be as creative and useful as any other, especially when combined with other communication channels.”
Source: By Deb McAlister-Holland on 2nd January 2012.
Friday, 30 December 2011
Australia - 78 Million Texts to Celebrate
To all my dearest-s, Happy New Year 2012!! Are you actually worrying that your text messages are unable to reach promptly before 1st January 2012 or hoping that you can text at once to all your friends, families, colleagues and etc? Heee here we are for you! =) Look for us and wait no more!
As 2012 rockets into life, Telstra is anticipating Australians to send more than 78 million text messages to each other on Near Year's Eve and New Year's Day - up 4 million on 2011.
Maryanne Tsiatsias, Telstra Director of Consumer Marketing said last year Asutralians sent 74 million SMS and 1.4 million picture messages.
"As champagne corks pop and glasses clink across the country, people will be furiously sending text and picture messages to welcome in the New Year," she said, adding 11pm - midnight on December 31 was the busiest hour for messaging," she said.
"To ensure customers can keep in touch, Telstra will be closely monitoring the performance of the network throughout the New Year period, in particular at key holiday and celebration locations.
"While customers may experience some short delays in getting calls or messages though during this period of time, we encourage them to be patient, wait a few minutes before trying again," she said.
Source: By Daily Examiner on 30th December 2011
As 2012 rockets into life, Telstra is anticipating Australians to send more than 78 million text messages to each other on Near Year's Eve and New Year's Day - up 4 million on 2011.
Maryanne Tsiatsias, Telstra Director of Consumer Marketing said last year Asutralians sent 74 million SMS and 1.4 million picture messages.
"As champagne corks pop and glasses clink across the country, people will be furiously sending text and picture messages to welcome in the New Year," she said, adding 11pm - midnight on December 31 was the busiest hour for messaging," she said.
"To ensure customers can keep in touch, Telstra will be closely monitoring the performance of the network throughout the New Year period, in particular at key holiday and celebration locations.
"While customers may experience some short delays in getting calls or messages though during this period of time, we encourage them to be patient, wait a few minutes before trying again," she said.
Source: By Daily Examiner on 30th December 2011
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