Blyk to expand its market further

Blyk is one company which I’ve written a lot about in this blog, even at the risk of sounding like a paid blogger. But then, that’s me. If I like something – it might be a concept, a company, a person, or whatever – I’ll write about it.

The success story of Blyk is one of the most talked about stories in town right now. When the company first announced that it will offer free talk time and free text message facility to customers who opt in to mobile ads, not many thought it was a good idea. But then, it reached its target of 100,000 subscribers in the UK in just six months. The company’s customer base is full of young people who don’t mind getting targeted, relevant ads on their mobile phone. Now, thanks to this great success, Blyk has announced its plans to expand its virtual empire further.

The company will soon start its operations in Germany, Spain, Netherlands, and Belgium. If you remember, it announced its plans to further expand its network quite some time back when it got the much-needed funding from Goldman Sachs and Kuwait’s Industrial Financial Investments Company.

In my opinion, Blyk has set an example, a precedent for operators around the world. If you know your target customer segment and target them properly with the right plan, you will almost always succeed.

Categories: Blyk.

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Some good news for mobile marketers

Finally, here’s some good news for mobile marketers. Access 360 Media’s latest report says brings up a few points which I think will be very reassuring for mobile marketers.

1. Once people subscribe to text message alerts from marketers, they stick to it. The number of people who unsubscribe after getting alerts for some time is very less. In fact, it is only around 4%.

2. The response for mobile marketing campaigns has been very high. On an average, 2 to 4 percent of mobile users click on the ads they get to know get more information. This is way better than the response rate from online ads, which is somewhere around 0.01%.

In my opinion, these two facts prove a point. The one which I’ve been telling again and again and again in this blog. Get your customer’s permission, send useful, relevant ads, and give them the choice to opt out of it any time they want. Rest assured, your mobile marketing campaign will be a success.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

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Cell phone advertisers target teens

What to wear for the prom? What’s hot and what’s not this season? How to say no to alcohol on the prom night? Well; teens can get all this info and more right on their cell phone.

Since teenagers are the ones who spend a lot of time on their cell phone, cell phone advertisers have started target them by offering lots of cool stuff through text messages, WAP links, and more. Now, they can subscribe to ad campaigns and have lots of cool tips, offers, and other things delivered right on their cell phone. They could get fashion tips, news about the latest model jewelry, WAP links to cool mobile sites, discount coupons on famous beauty products, and more. Cell phone advertisers say that teenagers don’t mind getting relevant ads that they find useful and respond to them pretty regularly.

Advertisers find it easier to create a following for their products through cell phone advertising. As these text alerts and ads are delivered only to people who are interested, they are most likely to respond to them. So, the response rate is pretty high in this kind of interactive advertising.

I think it’s a nice arrangement. Teens get what they want and the advertisers get what they want. However, I think advertisers should not send a gazillion ads to their teenage subscribers just because they’re open to it. They could easily get fed up. Also, a lot of teenagers don’t have a regular disposable income and depend on their parents for their cell phone bill. As an advertiser, you sure don’t want to make these parents see red when they come to know how much their son or daughter is spending on text messages. So, a small number of relevant, useful ads at regular intervals could be the perfect recipe to attract a lot of teens.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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Pringo partners with NINJA Mobile

Pringo, the social networking solutions provider, has joined hands with NINJA Mobile, a mobile advertising specialist, to make its applications more appealing to mobile users by introducing new features.

From now on, mobile users will be able to access websites built on Pringo’s platform better than ever. They will be able to view content, post new content, and share their favorite content on the go with their friends through their mobile phones. Also, advertisers will now be able to send targeted, relevant ads, including video content, to users through the social networking sites built on Pringo’s platform.

This, in my opinion, benefits all three parties involved in the equation. First, the website owner will be able to monetize his site better, advertisers will be able to reach their target customer base better, and the end user will find it easier to access social networking sites from his mobile phone.

Mobile social networking is making its presence felt fast and companies like Pringo have realized its importance and started working on it. If you remember, Pringo signed a similar deal with a mobile marketing firm called Mozes some time back.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones, Mobile Social Networking.

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Sugar Mama and a few musings on incentive based mobile advertising

A few days back, I was chatting with a couple of my friends and out of nowhere we got into the topic of incentive based mobile advertising. As you know, there are some companies which pay you to get ads in your mobile phone. In case you don’t have any idea about this, I suggest you check out this, this, this, this, and this.

One of my friends brought up a valid point – what if they mishandle our personal information? I’d give it to him. After all, you give your personal information like your email id, mobile number, likes and dislikes, and preferences (to get targeted ads) to the company. So, such a doubt from my friend is completely understandable. I, however, brought up another point, which sort of clarified his doubts.

I talked about Virgin Mobile’s Sugar Mama. Sugar Mama has a loyal subscriber base of 700,000 people. Now, that’s no small number by any means. The concept of Sugar Mama is simple. Now, you need to understand why Virgin has had this kind of success with Sugar Mama.

First, people trust Virgin. Virgin has a strict privacy policy and they state clearly that your information will be used only for the aforementioned purposes and will not be sent to any third party under any circumstances. So, you can be sure that your information will never be misused.

Second, it’s a fair deal after all. You get ads. They are not normal banner ads or something, but they are interactive in nature. So, you are supposed to answer a poll or take a survey. It hardly takes you a minute to do so. In return, you get one minute of air time – free of cost. Sounds like a fair deal to me, what about you?

Third, you don’t get spammed. They get your preferences for a reason and that is to send you targeted, relevant ads. So, you’ll always be able to relate to those ads and make use of them. For example, a diehard rock music lover will never be asked to choose his favorite pop album in a poll. So, you can be sure of getting ads that suit your tastes.

As a result of all this, what have you got? A mobile advertising plan which has got a good user base of 700,000 people and growing. So, the moral of the story remains the same. Give people something useful and they’ll be with you.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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