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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.
Tags: Facebook, iPhone, iPod Touch, marketing strategies, mobile advertising, mobile advertising campaigns, mobile coupons, mobile marketing, mobile phone, mobile phone advertising, mobile social networking, mobile users, search ads, SMS, social networking, steve madden, Twitter, WAP
Technorati Tags: Facebook, iPhone, iPod Touch, marketing strategies, mobile advertising, mobile advertising campaigns, mobile coupons, mobile marketing, mobile phone, mobile phone advertising, mobile social networking, mobile users, search ads, SMS, social networking, steve madden, Twitter, WAP
Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.
Alright people. For one last time, one freaking last time, I’ll try to clarify some of the most common misconceptions about mobile advertising.
What is mobile advertising?
It’s time to come out of the cave, pal. Even my granny knows about it. Mobile advertising is nothing but ads on your mobile phone – as simple as that.
Oh dear god, why do they send me ads?
To help you take part in the space research program sponsored by the NASA. Okay; I’m kidding. Ads on mobile phones serve the same purpose as ads on TV, magazines, newspapers, radio, and the internet. All these ads want to sell you something.
Ugh; can you explain further?
Sure I can. You see, you take your mobile phone with you no matter where you go, don’t you? You get ads on TV, you see ads on magazines and newspapers, and you have ads all over the internet. However, there is a fundamental difference between these ads and mobile ads. The response rate for the former is not so impressive. The reason is – you can always skip those ads. You can change the channel during an ad break, you can simply overlook an ad in a magazine, and you can easily block ads in the internet using your browser. However, with mobile phones, the response rate is very high as people will surely check out text messages and attend calls. In other words, an ad on a mobile phone will never go unnoticed.
What the hell? How can they send me ads without my permission?
Relax bro. No one is going to send ads to your mobile phone without your permission. This is precisely the reason why they’ve come up with something called the opt-in facility. What this means is – you can opt in to a mobile advertising campaign any time you want. If you don’t like it for some reasons, you can easily opt out of it any time you want. Easy as 1-2-3.
But why would I say yes to mobile ads, even if I had the choice to opt out any time I want?
Good question. See, mobile ads are not sent by loonies on a random basis. There is something called targeted advertising which makes things better. When you opt in to a mobile advertising campaign, you’ll be usually asked about your interests, likes and dislikes, brands you like, products you use, and a whole bunch of such questions. Using this data, mobile advertisers will be able to send relevant, targeted ads to you.
For example, if you’re a big foodie, an advertiser can send a discount coupon for a big Mac. If you’re a fitness freak, he can send you a WAP link to a site which discusses the latest trends in fitness and bodybuilding. In other words, the ads you get on your mobile phone will match your interests so you can make use of the information one way or the other.
All that is fine. I don’t want mobile ads. Now what do I do?
That’s cool. If you don’t want mobile ads, don’t opt in to any mobile ad campaign. Strictly say no to them. If you’re already a part of a campaign, simply opt out of it.
Do I only get promotional offers and discount coupons via mobile ads?
No, there are more interesting offers. How does free talk time sound to you? Or how about free text messages? Hell, there are companies that pay you to get ads on your mobile phone. There are companies which offer such things for real. Virgin does that, Blyk does that, and a number of other operators are contemplating on that. If you have doubts, check out this, this, this, this, and this.
Oh that’s nice. But I read in XYZ website that mobile ads are intrusive, a threat to privacy, etc?
Screw them. What do you think? The telecom industry is highly competitive. They just can’t afford to annoy their customers. Especially in this age of internet, they just can’t afford to make a mistake for they’ll be ripped apart by thousands of websites and blogs.
But I’m still not convinced?
Well; I think this story will convince you. China Mobile, the biggest mobile operator in the world, was made to eat humble pie due to mobile ad spam. So, I repeat, operators will not take the risk of annoying their customers with spam ads.
But what if operators all over the world made a pact and started sending ads no matter what?
What if the sun exploded? What if aliens popped out of your PC? What if George Bush got elected for the third time? What if Paris Hilton became a professor in Harvard?
See, these what-ifs are endless. Most importantly, they’re not gonna happen. So, stop thinking like a fiction writer.
Phew; so there it is folks. Hope that clarifies all your doubts about mobile phone advertising. Now, tell me. What more could I do to convince the so-called experts who constantly spew hate-filled passages about mobile advertising without any basic understanding?
Tags: Blyk, China Mobile, discount coupons, free talk time, free text messages, George Bush, mobile ads, mobile advertising, mobile advertising campaign, mobile phone, NASA, Paris Hilton, promotional offers, rant, targeted ads, Virgin, WAP
Technorati Tags: Blyk, China Mobile, discount coupons, free talk time, free text messages, George Bush, mobile ads, mobile advertising, mobile advertising campaign, mobile phone, NASA, Paris Hilton, promotional offers, rant, targeted ads, Virgin, WAP
Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, Rant.
Okay folks, let me ask you a question.
You’re a billion dollar automobile company, you’ve just released a new, peppy edition of your car which appeals mostly to youngsters, and you want to grab the attention of young car enthusiasts all over the country. What do you do?
Simple. You do mobile marketing.
Ford did the exact same thing in India when it released its new Ford Ikon Music Edition car called the iKool. Ford used the services of MindShare, a mobile marketing company, to come up with a creative mobile marketing campaign for iKool. MindShare contacted Nokia and made an agreement to advertise on Airtel Live!, the WAP site of India’s leading mobile operator, Airtel. Airtel is part of Nokia Media Network and it readily agreed to this arrangement.
MindShare created an innovative, content rich WAP site for Ford iKool. Mobile users around the country were served with banner ads through Airtel Live!. Those who clicked on the banner ads were taken to the iKool WAP site where they had the chance to download mobile games, wallpapers, ringtones, and many more.
The response rate for this mobile marketing campaign was a terrific 8.58%. Especially, two content pages – “Services For You” and “News & Sports” – saw a phenomenal click through rate of 14%, which is unseen before.
Ford has actually set an important precedent, as far as I’m concerned. I still remember, when Ford came up with its new model called Fiesta in India about a year and a half back, it mostly relied on TV ads and newspaper and magazine coverage. Now, just within a couple of years, things have changed so much that it went straight to a mobile marketing company to get the job done. And the result was there for everyone to see, right?
Tags: Airtel, airtel live, automobile company, banner ads, car enthusiasts, click through rate, ford iKool, iKool, marketing campaign, marketing company, mindshare, mobile marketing campaign, mobile games, mobile operator, music edition, Nokia, response rate, ringtones, WAP, wap site
Technorati Tags: Airtel, airtel live, automobile company, banner ads, car enthusiasts, click through rate, ford iKool, iKool, marketing campaign, marketing company, mindshare, mobile marketing campaign, mobile games, mobile operator, music edition, Nokia, response rate, ringtones, WAP, wap site
Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.
Retail giant Tesco recently stated that it might consider taking its mobile advertising campaign to the next level soon, thanks to the positive response from its customers. The mobile division of Tesco, Tesco Mobile, has been running a trial WAP advertising portal since May 2007 and its growth has been impressive. Month after month, the portal grew enormously and last December, the portal had 30,000 unique visitors, which is very impressive. So, based on these results, Tesco Mobile has decided to embrace mobile advertising big time.
The click through rate (CTR) of the banner ads served at the portal was around 3% to 7%, which is again very impressive. The portal had a strong female user base which accounted for most of the clicks on the ads served. Most of these women are married and are responsible for household budget. So, naturally, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) such as toiletries, kitchen accessories, and cleaning products were the most preferred ones among the ads served.
This again has proved the fact that when served with the right ads in the right manner, people are willing to give mobile ads on their phone a try. The only thing that matters is – relevancy.
Tags: advertising campaign, banner ads, cleaning products, click through rate, fast moving consumer goods, household budget, kitchen accessories, mobile ads, mobile advertising, mobile division, relevancy, retail giant, tesco, Tesco Mobile, toiletries, unique visitors, WAP
Technorati Tags: advertising campaign, banner ads, cleaning products, click through rate, fast moving consumer goods, household budget, kitchen accessories, mobile ads, mobile advertising, mobile division, relevancy, retail giant, tesco, Tesco Mobile, toiletries, unique visitors, WAP
Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.
In a move to enhance its mobile web presence, NBC Universal has signed deals with Verizon Wireless, Research In Motion, and AT&T. So, from now on, mobile phone users will be able to access NBC Universal content through 60 WAP sites that cover a wide range of brands including NBC, NBC Sports, USA Network, Sci Fi Channel, Bravo, MSNBC, Astrology.com, Universal Pictures, and CNBC.
All these mobile sites from NBCU will be available on the application sites of Verizon Wireless, Research In Motion, and AT&T and mobile users can access these sites via their carriers’ menus. NBCU believes this move will drive a lot of traffic to its ad-funded mobile websites.
NBCU has joined hands with JumpTap, a leading mobile advertising company, to take care of its ad network. JumpTap will be in charge of mobile advertising campaigns on all the WAP sites under the NBCU network.
NBC Universal has been eyeing the mobile web market for quite some time now and by joining hands with such big names in the market, it has laid the foundation pretty well. It is also worth remembering that NBCU signed a similar deal with Alltel Wireless last year.
Tags: Alltel Wireless, Astrology, AT&T, Bravo, CNBC, JumpTap, mobile advertising, mobile advertising campaigns, mobile web, mobile websites, MSNBC, NBC, NBC Sports, NBC Universal, Research In Motion, Sci Fi Channel, Universal Pictures, USA Network, WAP, WAP sites, web presence, wireless research
Technorati Tags: Alltel Wireless, Astrology, AT&T, Bravo, CNBC, JumpTap, mobile advertising, mobile advertising campaigns, mobile web, mobile websites, MSNBC, NBC, NBC Sports, NBC Universal, Research In Motion, Sci Fi Channel, Universal Pictures, USA Network, WAP, WAP sites, web presence, wireless research
Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones, Mobile Web.
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