Posts tagged ‘Mobile Marketing Best Practices’

December 29th, 2011

Mobile Marketing 101: How to Get Started in Mobile Marketing Quickly and Easily

Are you interested in learning more about mobile marketing? Would you like to understand how to use mobile marketing to drive new customers to your doorstep? If so, then you’ll want to watch the video below which provides 5 steps on how to get started in mobile.

Included in the video are tips on how to become a mobile marketing Power User — that is, someone who uses mobile well enough to understand the differences between an app, a mobile website and a location-based advertising campaign.

Many of these tips are covered in-depth in the new book I’ve written with Jeanne Hopkins, V.P. of Marketing at HubSpot. The book is called Go Mobile (affiliate link) and we spent hundreds of hours researching and analyzing all the tools in this fascinating new marketing channel. We’ve distilled our findings down to 256 pages of essential information outlined in the book.

Go Mobile is available at Amazon, Books-A-Million, Barnes & Noble and other fine bookstores, so be sure to order your copy today.

In the meantime, check out the video below. It’s packed with great tips to help you get started in mobile marketing right away.

Can’t see the video? Click here to watch it on the 60 Second Marketer YouTube channel.

Posted by Jamie Turner, Founder of the 60 Second Marketer and co-author of “How to Make Money with Social Media” and “Go Mobile.” He is also a popular marketing speaker at events, trade shows and corporations around the globe.

CategoryGeneral Marketing, Mobile Marketing | CommentNo Comments »

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August 14th, 2011

45 Best Mobile Apps for Business

By some estimates, there are more than 400,000 iPhone apps and more than 300,000 Android apps on the market today. That makes it very difficult for the average businessperson to weed out the bad apps and focus on the good ones.

Well, I have some good news.

I’m currently writing a book called Go Mobile with Jeanne Hopkins, who is the Director of Marketing at HubSpot.

In the process of doing research for the book, we’ve narrowed down what we think are some of the best apps to improve productivity, provide news and information and help you connect with customers and prospects.

Here’s our list of the 45 best apps for businesspeople. It’s not a complete list, so if we missed any of your favorites, let us know in the comment section below.

 

News and Information Applications

ABC News Mobile:  This application is for all those who love to be in the know.  You can receive text alerts about breaking news, watch video, listen to podcasts or read articles all on your mobile phone.

CNN Mobile: Interested in staying up-to-date on the latest news from around the globe? CNN Mobile gives you the ability to read the latest stories and watch CNN live on your smartphone.

Google Books: Interested in re-reading the Declaration of Independence or Dante’s Inferno?  Download Google Books to your smartphone and you’re ready to roll.  I’m reading Ben Franklin’s Autobiography on Google Books right now and it’s fascinating.

Google Maps: What would men do without Google Maps?  They’d have to ask for directions, which, of course, will never happen.  Fortunately, Google invented their Map app for guys (like myself) who are too stubborn to stop and ask directions.

There are hundreds of thousands of smartphone apps. Which ones are best for business? Here's our list.

The Huffington Post:  The mobile version of this popular news and opinion online newspaper features breaking news, blogs and original content.

Kindle: You can use your smartphone to preview books that you might like to buy later.  Clean and customizable, the app permits you to preview the first chapter, as well as to add bookmarks, notes, and highlights.

MobiTV:  Missing your favorite TV shows is no longer an issue.  With MobiTV you can watch shows whenever and wherever on your mobile phone.

NPR News: Even if you can’t catch all of the news from NPR at home or in the car, you can still start your day with NPR News for your smartphone.  You can listen to national news stories on demand, or allow the app to use your smartphone’s GPS to pinpoint local content.

Stitcher: This mobile application lets you get your news on the go by streaming up-to-date audio content about business, sports, politics and entertainment.

The Weather Channel:  The Weather Channel’s app and the mobile version of weather.com provide up to date weather information, text alerts, animated maps and more.

Windows Live Messenger:  You can chat with your friends on Windows Live Messenger on the go with their mobile application.

 

Productivity

CamCard: Let’s you scan business cards and automatically add that information to your phone’s contact list and/or your Outlook or Gmail account.

Evernote:  After you create a text note, photo or audio note, you can synch them to your pc or to the web.

Instapaper: Through Instapaper you can save Web articles you browsed on your iPhone for later reading, using a browser bookmarklet.  The Instapaper Website reformats your saved articles (sans Flash ads and clutter) for quick reading on the desktop.

Yammer: Yammer brings together all of a company’s employees inside a private, secure enterprise social network.  This enterprise platform lets businesses set up a Twitter-like service allowing for the open exchange of ideas, links, and documents within enterprise communities.

 

Financial Tools

Bloomberg Mobile: Use this app when you’re on the go to access financial news, stock quotes, company descriptions, market leaders and laggers, price charts, market-trends analysis, customized lists of stocks, and more.

CNNMoney: With breaking business stories and complete in-depth market coverage in a customizable format, CNNMoney provides real-time reporting of financial news and analysis, as well as data and charts.

Expensify: Takes some of the hassle out of creating expense reports by allowing you to report expenses as they happen while you’re on the move.

iStockManager: For continuous access to – and control over – your TD Ameritrade account, use iStockManager. You can get equity and option trading, streaming data, real-time balances and positions, news, and more on your mobile device.

XE Currency: Convert the currencies of more than 180 countries at up-to-the-minute rates. The app saves the last conversion just in case you may need to repeat it offline, too.

 

Organizers/Time Savers

1Password: To maintain your usernames and passwords on your iPhone in one place, try 1Password.  The mobile app syncs with the desktop version, as well.  If you wish, you can use it to store other personal information, too, such as your Social Security number and credit card numbers.

Barcode Scanner: Barcode Scanner handles bar codes – including 2D QR codes – and lets you look up the associated product or URL for instant price checks and comparison shopping.

Craigsphone: Search and browse Craigslist posts near your current GPS location, and bookmark relevant listings, with Craigsphone.  The app also has tools for posting your own listings with photos and maps.

PageOnce: Use PageOnce to track credit card transactions, check your bank account status, monitor frequent-flyer miles and itineraries, and get alerts when bills are due and itineraries change.

 

Utilities

Analytics App: Full mobile service for your Google Analytics data.  You can check everything from reports to specific data, and the tidy interface makes it even easier to navigate than the web-based service.

AntiDroidTheft: If you lose your phone, AntiDroidTheft turns on remote GPS tracking so that you can determine its location.  You can also trigger the phone’s camera to shoot an image that might help you locate the handset.

AndroZip: The powerful AndroZip File Manager works with archives, including 7ZIPhone, BZIP2, GZIPhone, RAR, TAR, and ZIPhone files.  You can use it to create GZIP, TAR, or ZIPhone archives, too.  Free.

Fring: Really cool mobile app that lets you place free calls or chat with anyone from your Skype, ICQ, Google Talk, MSN, Twitter, or SIP contacts.

SmrtGuard: Can remotely track – and lock – your smartphone if it goes missing.  The Pro version lets you perform automatic wireless backup and restore.

Soonr: Need to access your PC directly from the handset?  Enter Soonr, a free mobile client that brings remote PC access to your phone:  search files, view documents, check emails, run programs and more.

Talk to Me: Originally, Talk To Me translated only English, French, Spanish, German, and Italian, with its speech-to-speech functionality.  Now it has many other languages from which to choose.

Vlingo: Replaces every instance where you have to type on your smartphone with voice commands.  It covers your phone’s basic messaging functions, voice calls, Facebook updates, and personal notes.  On Android and BlackBerry, the app will even read your incoming messages to you.

 

Social and Location-Based Applications

Bump:  This is a terrific application that allows you to exchange contact information, photos, social networking information and calendar events just by “bumping” your phone with another Bump user.

Facebook: You can update your Facebook page on the fly with their mobile version.  You can even update your Facebook Places profile, which lets people know where you’re eating, drinking, relaxing or just hanging out.

Foursquare: Ready to “check-in” to your favorite restaurant, bar, mall or retail store?  If you do it enough, you’ll become Mayor or be eligible for discount coupons.

Google+: This is much like Facebook, only better. (Seriously.) If the cluttered atmosphere of Facebook drives you a little batty, click this link and accept our invitation to join Google+.

Gowalla:  Much like Foursquare, Gowalla allows you to share your location with friends, all the while accumulating digital souvenirs that may be redeemable for real life rewards.

Hootsuite: Using HootSuite, you can manage your Facebook and Twitter accounts within an elegant, clean user interface.  HootSuite stands out from other social network managers for its extra features:  You can schedule updates, set columns to monitor keywords and hash tags, and translate updates in other languages                  .

LinkedIn: Ready to exchange LinkedIn contacts just by bumping your phone?  Or perhaps you want read someone’s profile while you’re waiting for them at a restaurant.  If that sounds enticing, then this application is for you.

Loopt: Allows you to connect with your friends by sharing your location and status with friends.  With Loopt, you can find your friends on a map and view their photo and status updates in real-time.

Mass Text Message:  Text up to ten friends with just one click by downloading the Mass Text Message app and creating custom groups of contacts.

Qik:  A new, faster way to share videos with all of your friends, Qik allows you to record and instantly upload videos to the internet or stream live video straight from your phone.  You can also 2-way video chat or send  video mail.

Skype:  Verizon Wireless users can now use Skype through their phones with free Skype-to-Skype calling and IM without using their mobile minutes.  Users with other carriers can get a Skype To Go number that they can reach from any mobile phone.

Twitter: You don’t have to be sitting behind a desk to update your Twitter status.  The mobile version lets you stay connected wherever you are.

Yelp:  This application can give you restaurant reviews on the fly.  Better still, their augmented reality mobile application lets you look through your mobile screen and places tags with reviews over the restaurants on that street.

YouTube:  You can now check out the latest YouTube craze straight from your mobile phone.  You can search for and watch videos or record and upload your own videos.

Did we miss anything on our list? If so, just provide the name, description and URL of your favorite mobile phone apps in the comment section below.

 

Jamie Turner is the co-author of How to Make Money with Social Media. He is the Founder of the 60 Second Marketer and is also a popular marketing speaker at events, trade shows and corporations around the globe. His next book, Go Mobile, will be published by John Wiley & Sons in 2012.

CategoryMobile Marketing, Mobile Media | Comment1 Comment »

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June 8th, 2011

60 Second Book Review: The Third Screen by Chuck Martin

When I first grabbed The Third Screen (Amazon affiliate link) by my friend Chuck Martin, I thought, “Okay, I’ll take a quick spin through this over the weekend and write a review of it on Monday.” Now, 14 days later, I’ve gone through the entire book and dog-eared so many pages of good, useful information that it’s hard to know where to begin my review.

Chuck’s premise, embraced by most marketers these days, is that mobile media is the third big revolution involving a screen. The first two — TV and the PC — changed our lives dramatically. The third screen — mobile — is going to be just as important as the first two.

The Third Screen by Chuck Martin is filled with in-depth information about mobile media and mobile marketing.

The book is written to appeal to people who are taking a deep dive into mobile media. While there are plenty of tips and techniques to digest here, there’s also a lot of in-depth research and information about how people interact and use their mobile devices.

Case in point — about halfway through the book, Chuck talks about in motion research. “With in motion research,” he says, “you can look at your customers’ patterns of movement, including where they go and what they’re likely to do; that information helps you determine how to best serve them.”

Hmmmm. Interesting. Tell me more.

“Research using location and movement of mobile devices can provide marketers with additional insights and context about their customers’ behaviors. Following are some of the findings of the Mobext study (which tracked consumers using their mobile devices):

  • Those who preferred Dunkin’ Donuts were 33% more likely to dine out than those who preferred Starbucks.
  • Those who shopped at Walmart were 60% more likely to dine out compared with Target customers.
  • Of Target customers who dined out, about 25% went to a restaurant before going to Target, while 25% went to a restaurant afterward.
  • The average frequency of fitness activities for those who went to quick-service coffee or doughnut locations was 50% higher than those who did not visit those types of locations.”

The information above is just one example of the fascinating ways marketers are using the third screen to improve their understanding of consumers and their behavior patterns.

If you’re looking for a quick and easy way to get a superficial understanding of mobile media, this book probably isn’t for you. But if you’re looking for an in-depth book that’s packed with new and relevant information, you’ll want to take a deep dive into Chuck Martin’s The Third Screen.

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Posted by Jamie Turner, Chief Content Officer of the 60 Second Marketer, the online magazine of BKV Digital and Direct Response. Jamie is also the co-author of How to Make Money with Social Media.

CategoryGeneral Marketing, Mobile Marketing | CommentNo Comments »

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June 2nd, 2011

Is Mobile Marketing Right for Your Business? Fill Out Our Mobile Marketing Score Card to Find Out.

Is mobile marketing right for your business?

That’s a question on a lot of people’s minds lately. After all, with the advent of smartphones, iPads, mobile apps, mobile search and other mobile marketing techniques, a lot of people are asking themselves, “Is mobile marketing right for my business?”

Is mobile media right for your business? Take this quiz then click on the question mark to join the discussion on our LinkedIn Discussion Group.

With that in mind, I came up with a handy scorecard that I sent out to all 5,900+ subscribers to the 60 Second Marketer e-newsletter last week. (Huh? You’re not a subscriber to our free e-newsletter yet? Well, c’mon. Hop to it.)

The mobile scorecard is designed to help you figure out if mobile marketing is right for your business. (When I say “mobile” I mean the use of mobile ads, mobile search, mobile apps, mobile websites, mobile catalogs or SMS to connect with customers.)

The scorecard won’t provide a bullet-proof answer, but it will give you a directional sense of whether mobile is right for you.

Just answer the questions below and keep track of your score.

Here goes:

  1. Customer Demographics: The median age of my customer is under 45 years old (Yes, +10 points. No, -5 points.)
  2. Business Category: My company has multiple bricks-and-mortar locations (Yes, +5 points. No, +0 points.)
  3. Business Category: My company sells only B2C (Yes, +5 points. No, +0 points.)
  4. Marketing Dependency: My company spends more than 5% of revenues on marketing and advertising (Yes, +10 points. No, +0 points.)
  5. Customer Demographics: My typical customer lives in a city with a population of more than 200,000 people (Yes, +10 points. No, +0 points.)
  6. Company Revenue: My company generates more than $10 million in revenues per year (Yes, +5 points. No, -5 points.)
  7. Industry Competition: Generally speaking, my industry is very competitive and I’m always trying to find ways to differentiate my brand (Yes, +10 points. No, +0 points.)

If you scored between 35 and 55, you should definitely begin investing in a mobile media marketing program.

If you scored between 15 and 35, you should probably begin investing in a mobile media marketing program.

And if you scored below a 15, you’re off the hook — no need to invest in mobile media right now.

How’d you do? Share your score with other people on our LinkedIn Mobile Media Discussion and see how you compared.
If you like what you read today, you can have these blog posts delivered to your in box each morning by clicking here. Or, you can sign up for our free weekly e-newsletter by clicking here.

Posted by Jamie Turner, Chief Content Officer of the 60 Second Marketer, the online magazine of BKV Digital and Direct Response. Jamie is also the co-author of How to Make Money with Social Media.

CategoryMarketing Best Practices, Mobile Marketing | CommentNo Comments »

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February 5th, 2011

Top 5 Mobile Marketing Myths

On the first Thursday of every month, we conduct an online training seminar called the Social Mobile Roundtable.

In this Thursday’s Social Mobile Roundtable, Nicole Hall with Mobilize Worldwide did a terrific job of  outlining the Top 5 Mobile Marketing Myths.

Her research came from sources as wide-ranging as Forrester, Nielsen and InsightExpress. Here’s what she covered:

Myth #1: Everyone Has An iPhone

  • Only about 25% of the population owns any kind of smart phone
  • Blackberry, Android and iPHone are in a dead heat for market share
  • Android has grabbed 41% share of smartphone users who have purchased a phone in the past 6 months, compared with 27% for Apple and 19% for Blackberry

Myth #2: You Need an App for That …

  • With the rise of HTML5, the functionality and feel of mobile websites is nearing that of Apps
  • You will need an App is you want to take advantage of GPS, augmented reality and other features
  • But if you just want to provide consumers with a way to connect with you via mobile, a mobile website is fine for that. (Did we mention that Mobilize Worldwide builds mobile sites?)

Myth #3: Mobile is the Internet, Just Smaller

  • People use mobile differently from how they use the internet
  • They use mobile to find information quickly, compare prices and make decisions
  • People on PCs are more likely to surf social networking sites and play games
  • Search is twice as prevalent on mobile web than on a PC
  • 1/3 of all searches on mobile are local and 70% of searches lead to action within one month

Myth #4: Mobile is Only for Big Companies

  • 75% of all marketers are planning to add mobile to their marketing mix this year
  • 3 simple ways to get into mobile:
    • Get involved with location based services such as Foursquare, Gowalla and Facebook Places
    • Optimize your website for mobile
    • Make sure your company contact information is up-to-date and claim your business listing on Google

Myth #5: Mobile is Just for Teenagers

  • The average age of a person who sends text messages is 35
  • The number of baby boomers texting and shopping using their mobile phone to shop nearly doubled between 2007 and 2009
  • 35- to 44-year-olds are the most likely to have downloaded an App in the last 30 days

If you’re interested in staying up-to-date on the latest tools, tips and techniques in the world of social media and mobile media, then you won’t want to miss next month’s Social Mobile Roundtable. You can register by clicking, “Yes, I want to attend next month’s Roundtable!”

Posted by Jamie Turner, Chief Content Officer of the 60 Second Marketer, the online magazine of BKV Digital and Direct Response. Jamie is also the co-author of How to Make Money with Social Media.

CategoryGeneral Marketing, Mobile Marketing, Mobile Media | Comment3 Comments »

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