Steve Madden’s Plan to Enter the Mobile World

Optimistic predictions about mobile advertising are not new at all. You can find a whole bunch of experts claiming that the mobile phone will become the most sought-after advertising platform in the future. However, when something that validates these claims happens, it surely is exciting.

Steve Madden, a San Francisco based retail shoe brand, has been bitten by the mobile bug and is considering shifting its focus on mobile phone advertising. Jared Horowitz, who is in charge of the business development section of Steve Madden, has stated that it has become an integral part of their digital business.

As of now, only 0.5% of Steve Madden’s revenue is generated by mobile users. The company, however, is hopeful that the revenue will increase significantly in the coming years if they develop a mobile optimized site and drive traffic to it by running innovative mobile advertising campaigns. So, to prepare themselves for the mobile juggernaut, they have come up with a long list of plans. They include

• Developing a mobile optimized WAP site which is easy to navigate.

• Adding lots of interactive features to the site like click-to-call functionality (to help people get in touch with sales persons directly) and mobile social networking functionality (to help people share their favorite stuff with their friends via email, Twitter, or Facebook).

• Adding a Store Locator feature to help people find the nearest Steve Madden store.

• Developing an application for the iPhone and iPod Touch to make it easier for iPhone users to reach the site.

• Setting up multiple revenue streams with mobile web display ads, mobile search ads, and in-app display ads.

• Introducing SMS offers and mobile coupons to engage potential customers.

• Devising innovative mobile marketing strategies to target potential customers.

According to the numbers revealed by the company, the non-optimized site of Steve Madden got more than 55,000 visitors via mobile devices in the month of February. There were more than 300,000 page views and 450 purchases. If they go ahead with the plan and implement the ideas they have come up with, they will be able to get a lot more visitors in a short span of time. More traffic, needless to add, will result in more revenue, which is always good news for any company. It should be interesting to see where Steve Madden goes from here.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

0 comments.

Google’s Holiday Gift To You - Mobile Coupons

The holiday season has started. People are gearing up to buy lots of stuff. Businesses are preparing to increase their sales by offering plenty of offers, discounts, and more. In this situation, what can a company like Google do to help a customer like you? Very simple – they can help you find the best offers in town. And how do they plan to do that? The answer, again, is very simple – mobile coupons.

That’s right folks. Finding the best deals in town this holiday season has become a lot simpler. Holiday season sales, discounts, deals, and offers – you can find it all on your mobile phone in the form of mobile coupons. You can simply show these coupons to the retailer (or wholesaler depending on who offers the discounts) and redeem the offer.

So, what actually happens is

1. A local business, an electronics showroom for example, adds a mobile coupon to Google Local Business Center listing.

2. You go to google.com on your mobile phone and search for some good deals on DVD players.

3. The Place Page shows that a showroom nearby offers a 10% discount on Blu-ray players and gives three Blu-ray discs for free.

4. You get a message which says that you should show the coupon on your phone at the participating business to redeem the offer.

5. You go to the showroom, show the mobile coupon, and buy the DVD player at a discount and get all the free stuff.

6. You walk away with a big smile on your face.

Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? What this means to you, and millions of other mobile users, is that you do not have to go through newspapers, magazines, and billboards looking for the best deals this holiday season. You can get all the information you want on the go right on your mobile phone. It is a lot more convenient and saves a lot of time as well. So, get ready to shop till you drop.

Categories: Google, All things mobile phones.

0 comments.

IAB Releases Mobile Buyer’s Guide at Mobile Conference

The IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) released a first-of-its-kind Mobile Buyer’s Guide for mobile marketing agencies at the IAB Marketplace: Mobile Conference on Monday.

The guide explains the medium of mobile advertising in detail and offers valuable information for mobile marketers to help them create and run mobile marketing campaigns successfully. The guide contains everything you need to know about mobile advertising – key terms and definitions, an overview of the U.S. market, a look at the key demographics, tips to create and run mobile marketing campaigns, and a number of examples to illustrate the intricacies involved in such campaigns.

You can take a look at the guide here.

Personally, I think this is a great initiative by the IAB. Though a lot of experts predict a big future for mobile advertising, it is still in its nascent stage and an unbelievably huge number of people are completely unaware of its potential. This kind of a detailed guide will definitely help people understand the value of advertising on mobile phones.

Mobile Marketer, AdMob, Mindshare, ESPN, HBO, NBC Universal, Nestle, AIG, Deutsch, IKEA, CNN Digital, Verizon Wireless, Microsoft, Pandora, Citi, and Nokia Interactive Advertising were some of the names involved in the conference. The future of mobile marketing was discussed in detail and the general feeling among both business owners and marketers was that mobile marketing as a medium is poised for huge growth.

Some of the important points raised at the conference include

• The click through rates of mobile display ads are five to ten times more than the click through rates of banner ads on websites.

• Online advertising has reached a point where almost every other website is filled with ads and people have started ignoring a majority of those ads. Advertising on mobile phones, on the other hand, is still in its nascent stage and a lot of consumers show interest in it.

• Microsoft, which has been trying really hard to dominate both the online and the mobile space, has had very good success with mobile ads so far. Compared to their online ads, mobile ads have performed exceptionally well so far. As a result, Microsoft is planning to invest a lot of money in mobile advertising.

• At the time of recession, mobile phone advertising can help businesses irrespective of their size. Mobile advertising campaigns are easy to create, easy to manage, and give excellent results. The response rates of these campaigns are usually way higher than the response rates of traditional advertising methods.

• A lot of companies have yet to try mobile coupons, location based advertising, and other types of mobile marketing which give very good results. However, experts believe that the situation will change slowly as more and more people are becoming aware of the potential of advertising on mobile phones.

Based on what I have seen and heard so far, I am of the opinion that mobile advertising, as a medium, will break through to the mainstream in a few years from now. What do you guys think?

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

0 comments.

Popeye Chicken’s Mobile Coupon Campaign a Major Success

Check this out folks; this is easily one of the most amazing news I’ve heard from the mobile marketing industry lately.

Popeye’s Chicken recently ran a mobile coupon campaign in Wichita, Kansas to promote its three-piece chicken dinner. The campaign, which was developed by Ping Mobile, was a super success with a response rate of nearly 54%.

The campaign was simple. It asked customers to text the keyword ‘POPEYES’ to 74642. On doing so, the customers got a message from Popeye’s Chicken. The message had a mobile coupon which the customer can use to get a free two piece chicken dinner on buying a three piece chicken dinner and a medium drink. The customers were also given a choice to join the Popeye’s Chicken VIP Club to get more such offers right in their mobile phones.

Over 750 people responded to the campaign and more than 50% of them have opted in to join the VIP club to receive more such offers in the future. The customers, at the time of opting in, are reminded that they have the option to opt out of the campaign any time they want simply by texting ‘STOP’. This reassures the users that they can opt in and opt out of the campaign any time they want without any hassles.

This is something that I have always said about mobile coupons. Such campaigns are highly targeted, affordable, and, most importantly, very effective. The response rates for these types of campaigns are usually way higher than what you get with traditional marketing campaigns. Mobile advertising, like I’ve always said, is where the future lies for everyone – from big businesses to small ‘mom and pop’ local retailers.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

2 comments.

Unilever to Offer Mobile Coupons to its Customers

In an attempt to test the waters in the field of mobile phone marketing, Unilever has announced that it will offer mobile coupons to its customers. This is a trial run and will go on for four weeks.

The company has stated that the trial run will start this Sunday and will go on for another four weeks. It will be conducted at a ShopRite store in Hillsborough, New Jersey. The company plans to give discount coupons for some of its most famous brands like Dove soap, Lipton tea, Breyers ice cream, and Hellmann’s mayonnaise.

To get these discount coupons, you need to check out the website samplesaint.com and download the coupons to your mobile phone. To redeem these coupons, you can give your phone to the cashier at the store. He will scan the barcode on your phone’s screen, redeem the coupon, and delete the coupon from your phone. To make use of this offer, you need to have an internet enabled phone. This technology has been developed by a Chicago based mobile technology company named Samplesaint.

Marc Shaw of Unilever said that mobile marketing is the Holy Grail that everyone has been trying to figure out. He also said that it is important for businesses to find out what catches the attention of their customers exactly.

Regular readers of this blog know what I feel about mobile coupons. So, this does not come as a surprise to me at all. In fact, if anything, I would say that Unilever is a little late in entering the mobile phone marketing field. But, as they say, better late than never. Depending on the result of this test run, the company might decide to take mobile phone marketing seriously. So, I’ll keep an eye on this test run and keep you guys posted. Watch this space for more details.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

7 comments.

Older »