Posts tagged ‘mobile media best practices’

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 | CommentNo Comments »

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January 29th, 2011

A Step-by-Step Guide on Taking the Mobile Media Plunge

We know how you feel, you just got done spending a ton of time, money and effort into figuring out how social media works and how best to incorporate it into your businesses’ marketing and communications efforts and frankly, you’re exhausted.

Let us be the first to congratulate you on a hard fought victory.  But now is not the time to get complacent and rest on our laurels.  Now is the “year of mobile.”  A lot of forward thinking companies, ad agencies and technophiles are already out there using mobile media to attract attention to their companies, grow their customer bases and just plain generate revenue.

These are the primary mobile media operating systems used by consumers around the globe.

Getting Started with Mobile Media

Over the next couple of months, our team will walk you through what you need to know to stay ahead of (okay, maybe just with) the curve on this new technology and how you can use mobile media to your advantage.

You’re most likely very much aware of the fact that the big topic (technology) on the lips of businesspeople, bloggers, baristas and basketball players alike, is mobile media.  Its’ everywhere!  And that’s true because each year, more and more people are carrying mobile phones.

A report from eMarketer, predicts that by the end of 2011, 80% of the U.S. population will own at least one mobile phone. That’s a ton of people who are always connected and can always be reached no matter where they are.  The problem being that since mobile is such a new technology the rules are constantly being written, over written and rewritten on a daily basis.  So where to start?  That’s where we come in.

We are going to start you off today with

  • Some definitions of the basic types of mobile communications
  • Tips on how you can start to familiarize yourself with how mobile works

Types of Mobile Media Communications

The simplest and most basic form of mobile media is the text message, formally known as Short Message Service (SMS).  Because any mobile phone, smartphone or otherwise, can receive and send text messages, this is the most commonly used form of media when it comes to mobile advertising and it currently accounts for the largest potion of mobile ad spending.  It provides the greatest reach to the most users and its simple to create.

Moving down the ladder one rung to the second highest category of mobile ad spending we arrive at Mobile Banner Ads. Although, due to the rising popularity of smartphones and predicted advances in mobile browsers and networks, some marketing professionals think that Mobile Ads will overtake SMS in total ad spend in the next year or two.  Just like online banner ads, mobile display ads are sold on the basis of a cost per click (CPC), cost per acquisition (CPA) or cost per thousand impressions (CPM) and takes a mobile user who clicks on the banner to that advertiser’s mobile website.

Which brings us to our next type of mobile media: Mobile Websites.  Mobile websites differ from their desktop counterparts in that they have been specifically designed for the smaller screens of mobile devices and are more streamlined.  CNN is a good example of a company with a great mobile website that we at the 60 Second Marketer like a lot and visit on a regular basis.  Their mobile site is easy to navigate and it loads very quickly; the two must-haves for a company considering going down the path of developing a mobile website for their business.

Mobile Search is recognized by advertising professionals as one of the most popular mobile internet activities amongst all mobile users.  Searches can be performed on your phone through a number of providers like Google, Yahoo, Bing!  Your mobile phone might even have a search function/program built into its operating system.  Mobile search works in pretty much the same way as desktop Search Engine Marketing (SEM), where advertisers bid for certain keywords in an auction-based marketplace for their search ad to appear in a desired rank order.  This is a very simple type of mobile marketing that, at its most basic, can be set up and launched in a matter of a couple of hours.

Anyone out there that is carrying an iPhone, Blackberry, Android or other type of smartphone should know what a Smartphone Application is at this point.  Mobile apps can provide direct access to information in the form of directions, entertainment via a game (we wished we invented Angry Birds or Farmville) or can be a mobile social media application, like Facebook or Foursquare.  Bank of America’s mobile banking app that allows you to check your account balances and transfer funds as needed is an excellent example of a branded smartphone app that is not only useful but also serves to drive brand awareness with each use.

The last type of mobile media we want to introduce you to today is Mobile Video. According to industry reports, video is currently receiving the lowest percentage of mobile ad spending, but this relatively new mobile advertising medium, like mobile banners, will become more prevalent as mobile devices and networks continue to improve.   Mobile video ads are typically ten seconds long and are automatically played prior to (called, pre-roll) the video you selected to watch on your device.  This works much the same way as the advertising you see on Hulu.com before you view the video selected.  Advertisers like mobile video because, although your device has lots of functionality, you can’t multi-task while watching a video on your iPhone.

5 Tips on How You Can Get Familiar With Mobile

We know you’ve read a lot here today when probably all you really wanted to read were our tips on how you can familiarize yourself with the basic types of mobile media.  So, without further ado, here’s your “homework assignment” for next time.  Feel free to pick three or four from this list, the more the merrier:

  1. Send a text message to Google. How you ask? Send a text as simple as this, “Starbucks. 30326″ to the number 466453 (that’s Google spelled out on your keypad).  Wait about 5 seconds and you should receive a text message back from Google with the address for the two or three closest Starbucks locations to the zip code 30326.  The text is billed to your account like a regular text message and doesn’t cost anything extra.  Got unlimited texts? Even better!
  2. If you have a smartphone go to a mobile website that you visit often on your computer. We like the mobile versions of CNN.com and ESPN.com.  Once the page loads fully (and hopefully quickly) scroll around and find a mobile banner ad.  Take a look at who’s ad it is, what it says and what it looks like.  Click it and see what happens.  Again, this doesn’t cost you anything.  Where does the mobile banner take you?  Do this on a couple of different mobile banners you come across and compare user experiences.
  3. Point your mobile browser to a website that you often visit on your home computer. Compare it side by side to the full version of the website on your computer screen.  Notice the content that has been included on, or more importantly excluded from, the mobile version of the site.  Do this with a couple of different types of sites.  Remember, the shorter the load time the better.
  4. Already on Facebook? Only use Google to search online?  Have an account on Padora? Well guess what.  All of these sites have great mobile applications that you can download for free and use on your mobile device.  Again, compare the functionality of these mobile apps against their full sized counterparts on your computer.  The best mobile applications are very simple and have a couple of core functions.  With the Facebook app you can update your status wherever you go and the Pandora app lets you listen to the Bon Jovi station you secretly love but are embarrassed tell your friends you created.
  5. Getting familiar with mobile video may require a bit of patience depending on how fast your device can load and play videos, so consider this homework assignment extra credit. Go back to CNN.com on your mobile and scroll down until you see links for some of their videos.  Find one that interests you and click through on the links to play it.  Take note of the video that should play pre-roll to the video you’ve selected.

That’s all for today.  Class dismissed!  We here at the 60 Second Marketer would like to leave you with a brief parting thought — The quickest way to figure out how to properly utilize mobile media in your company’s communication efforts is to start using it yourself as much as you can.  To borrow a quote from Mark Twain, “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”

Stay tuned here for more information about trends in mobile media, mobile marketing best practices, companies who are using mobile in creative and effective ways and much more.

Posted by Matt Luber, Mobile Media Analyst, the 60 Second Markter, and graduate student at Emory University.

CategoryMobile Marketing, Mobile Media | CommentNo Comments »

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November 11th, 2010

101 Top Mobile Media Applications

Are you looking for a list of the top mobile media applications? Then you’ve come to the right place. What follows is a list of the top 101 mobile media applications divided into 11 different categories.

As mentioned in the book I co-authored with Jeanne Hopkins from HubSpot called Go Mobile, the next big thing is mobile media. If you’re interested in connecting with customers, differentiating your brand, distributing coupons inexpensively or any of the other uses for mobile media, then you’ll want to take a spin through the list below and download the applications that are most relevant to your business.

Mobile Media

Looking for a list of 100 top mobile media applications? You've come to the right place.

Special thanks go out to Nicole Hall at Mobilize Worldwide, Matt Luber at Emory University and Sylvia Driver at BKV Digital and Direct Response, all of whom helped research and organize the list.

Top 101 Mobile Media Applications for Business

Social 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.

eBuddy:  Have friends on MSN, AIM, Facebook, MySpace and more?  eBuddy lets you chat with all of them on one integrated platform.

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.

Gowalla:  This location-based service allows you to explore some of the fun and interesting attractions in the world’s great cities.

Hipstamatic:  This app, available on iPhone and Droid, allows you to take cool pictures with different lenses, flashes and films to achieve a unique look.  You can then share your photos with people on Facebook and Flickr or enter your photos into the Hipstamatic photo contest.

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.

Photobucket:  The Photobucket application lets you upload photos and videos from your Windows Phone handset to your Photobucket account.

Skout:  This mobile dating site enables your cell phone’s GPS to find profiles of other uses near you.  You can browse profiles and even use the site’s chat feature through your mobile phone.

SCVNGR: This location-based service app gives you the opportunity to win prizes and discounts when you check-in at certain locations. Think Foursquare, but with a twist.

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.

WHERE: You can use WHERE to get exclusive daily deals and to find awesome new places in your city to eat, drink, play or simply hang out. If you like Foursquare, Gowalla and SCVNGR, you’ll love Where.

WordPress, TypePad or Drupal Blogging Platforms:  Interested in writing a blog from your hammock, your sailboat or your private island?  You can do it with these mobile apps.  (But first you have to buy a hammock, a sailboat or a private island.)

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.

News, Information and Entertainment 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.

AccuWeather:  Downloading the Accuweather app allows you to view your two-day forecast based on your GPS coordinates.

AP Mobile:  The Associated Press mobile app helps you keep up-to-date with what’s happening anywhere, in your hometown and across the globe.  AP Mobile offers the world’s news at your fingertips.  Personalize your news to meet your needs.  You can select local news from your trusted local newspapers and broadcasters.

At Bat:  Created by the MLB, At Bat offers one free live streaming game per day, game schedules and highlights, breaking news, and background audio playback so you can listen to the game while using your phone for other things.

Caffeine Finder:  The name says it all.  Perfect for people who need their daily (or hourly) fix.

ESPN Mobile:  Recently named Mobile Marketer’s mobile publisher of the year, ESPN’s offering of mobile media applications has something for every sports fan including games, articles and live TV.

Fast Food Finder:  Wouldn’t it be great if there were an app called “Healthy Food Finder”?  Until then, there’s Fast Food Finder.

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.

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.

Layar Reality Browser:  The Layar Reality Browser is an AR (augmented reality) app that overlays information about such subjects as restaurants, public transit options, and apartment-search information on the view from your smartphone’s camera.  You can even see the tweets from people posting to Twitter within your camera’s field of view.

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.

Pandora:  Are you a music lover?  Then you’re probably already familiar with Pandora.  Pandora allows you to create your own radio station based on your specific tastes.  Check out the Liberace Channel!  (Kidding.)

Planets:  Essential for any aspiring astronomer, this app is a 3D guide to the solar system featuring constellations, moon phases, and sun rise and sun set times.

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.

Realtor.com:  The application lets you access over 4 million real estate listings and helps you find local listings based upon your location.  You can view pricing information, property details, multiple photos and more for each listing.

RunPee:  Have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the movie?  Check RunPee to find the best time to go without missing any of the good parts.

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.

Viigo:  This application allows you to check on news, weather, sports, entertainment and other stories you’re interested in.

Weatherbug:  The location-aware WeatherBug app has detailed weather forecasts, radar maps, temperature maps, satellite views, and a cool sliding interface.  You can configure it to appear as a home-screen widget, too.

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.

Games

Angry Birds:  This addictive game, where you get revenge on the green pigs who stole the bird’s eggs, has reached the #1 spot for paid apps in over 60 countries.

Brain Trainer:  Playing one or more of this apps 7 different “brain games” for just minutes a day can help increase your mental abilities and memory.

Doodle Jump:  Guide Doodle the Doodler up a piece of graph paper using tilt controls, pick up jet packs, avoid black holes and blast opponents using nose balls.

Tap Tap Revenge:  Similar to Guitar Hero, this game tests your rhythm as you tap out beats and shake left and right as the arrows fall.

Words with Friends:  This crossword game allows you to match wits with your friends or one of the millions of people in the Words with Friends community.

Culture/Fun

Britain’s Got Talent App:  This popular app allows fans of the show to view video, backstage footage, gossip and photo galleries.  It also features an X buzzer so you can X your friends when necessary.

Fandango:  This movie-lover essential allows you to search movie show times, buy tickets and watch trailers.

Happy Hours:  Displays the best food and drink deals going on near you at any time each day.  You can filter results in a number of ways including by day, time, location, type of cuisine and special features like free wi-fi and outdoor seating.

Instagram: 9 million people have downloaded Instagram, which is a free way to make and share photos from your smartphone. Find out what all the fuss is about and start shooting your own photos.

Magic 8 Ball:  Can’t make a decision?  Download the Magic 8 Ball app and all of your answers will just be a few shakes away.

RunKeeper:  You can track your workouts in a fun, easy to understand way with RunKeeper and then share them with friends.

Shazam:  Often find yourself wondering what song is playing right now?  Shazam not only identifies the song, it also allows you to purchase it straight from your phone.

Wikihood:  Wikihood blows away many traditional travel guides by organizing and displaying all of the Wikipedia information for any place in the world.

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.

Shopping

Amazon:  If you’re at a trade show or in a meeting and someone mentions a great new business book, wouldn’t it be great to order it right at that moment?  With Amazon’s free mobile phone app, you can order it on the fly.

eBay:  No need to lose a bidding war because you’re on the go.  With eBay mobile you can search, buy, pay and check the status of your eBay activity on your phone.

Scoutmob:  This website allows you to get coupons for local stores and restaurants sent to your phone that you can redeem by simply showing the cashier the text message.

Shopkick:  This app allows you to collect Kickbucks for simply walking into stores or scanning products in the store with your phone.  The Kickbucks can then be redeemed for cool prizes like giftcards, iPads, music downloads and more.

ShopSavvy:  You can use your phone’s camera to scan any bar code and receive a list of prices and inventory information for the same product at local stores and online retailers, ensuring you get the lowest price every time.

Mobile Browsers

Opera Mini:  The Opera mobile browser is available on a wide variety of phones, and works well on both touch screen and keypad phones for a good user experience regardless of device type.

Safari:  Safari’s mobile browser was created by Apple for the iPhone and is the only browser currently available to iPhone users, though the Skyfire browser is pending approval in the app store.

Branded Apps

Barclay’s Waterslide Extreme:  Barclaycard allows you to interact with their latest TV commercial, in which a man takes a waterslide home from work, by downloading an iPhone app where you too can take a waterslide through the city, racing to get the fastest time.

Bank Of America:  Mobile banking now available from BofA.  Check balances, pay bills, transfer money and locate BofA ATMs and banking centers.

Delta: Want to track the status of your flight and check-in using a 2D code? Then you’ll want to download the Fly Delta app. It’s a great way to stay connected when you’re on the go.

Domino’s: There are over 500 billion possible combinations of pizza you can order through the Domino’s Pizza app. Hard to believe, but it’s true. Surprisingly, the app is an incredibly easy way to order pizza. Brilliant.

Kayak:  Kayak.com’s branded app that lets you easily search for flights, hotels, car rentals.  Includes trip itinerary and flight tracker information.

Netflix:  Part of your existing Netflix unlimited membership.  Get Netflix on your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch.  Instantly watch TV and movies streaming from Netflix.

Travelocity:  The application lets you check flight and hotel information from your mobile phone.  You can check flight status, airline schedules, and Airport delay information from the FAA.  The application also grabs your GPS co-ordinates to find local hotels and lets you read reviews, check room rates, and even make a reservation from your handset.

Virtual Zippo® Lighter:  This realistic virtual lighter sways with you as you move and even reacts when you try and blow it out.  You can choose from several different lighter images or customize your own.

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.

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.

Dragon Dictation: Need to dictate an email or memo while you’re mobile? Dragon Dictation is an amazing tool that almost never misses the mark.

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.

Gas Buddy:  Locates the most affordable gas station closest to your present location in both the United States and Canada.  Includes maps and a “price freshness” guide to let you know when prices were last updated.

HubSpot Website Grader: Interested in finding out how your mobile website (and your regular website) stacks up against the competition? This incredible FREE tool from HubSpot analyzes how effective your website is at generating traffic, inbound links, and leads. It’s an indispensable tool for anyone who runs or owns a mobile or traditional website.

Line2:  Brings a second line to your phone (with a special number).  Calls on that line connect as free or cheap VoIP calls over a Wi-Fi or 3G data connection, but they can move to a cell network (which costs you plan minutes) when such connections are unavailable.

Penultimate: If you’re looking for a handwriting app for your iPad, look no further than Penultimate. It’s a terrific app that gets better all the time.

Photoshop.com:  Adobe’s Photoshop.com Mobile gives you an arsenal of tools to use on your Android phone.  You can crop, rotate, color-correct, or change images to black-and-white with a beautifully intuitive interface.

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.

SPARQCode Scanner: Looking for the best QR code/2D code reader around? Then check out SPARQCode. It’s the fastest scanner we’ve come across.

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.

Wi-Fi Analyzer:  Want to find the least-crowded Wi-Fi channel?  Wifi Analyzer shows a graphical representation of Wi-Fi SSIDs’ signal strength, plus which channels are being used.

Wi-Fi Finder:  A must-have for travelers, Wi-Fi Finder is a directory of paid and free Wi-Fi hotspots in over 280,000 locations in 140 countries.  You can filter results by provider or by location (restaurant, café, and so on).

Did we miss anything on our list? If so, just provide the name, description and URL of your favorite mobile phone in the comment section below. We’ll acknowledge your contribution with a link back to your site in future updates.

Posted by Jamie Turner, Chief Content Office of the 60 Second Marketer, the online magazine for BKV Digital and Direct Response. Jamie’s books, How to Make Money with Social Media and Go Mobile are available in bookstores everywhere.

CategoryMobile Marketing, Mobile Media | Comment17 Comments »

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November 9th, 2010

How to Make Money with Mobile Media

If you’re like many people, you’re finally wrapping your mind around social media. You may be thinking, “At last, I finally get Twitter and understand Facebook and see how LinkedIn can be used for business.”

Who knows? You may have even read How to Make Money with Social Media and figured out how to set-up, launch and run a social media campaign that generates a positive ROI.

Given everything you’ve learned about social media over the past 12 to 18 months, you might be ready to take a little breather. And that’s understandable. After all, in addition to learning social media, you were also trying to do your day job.

This short, 25-page guide is designed to give you a quick, content-packed overview of the mobile media marketplace.

It’s a lot to ask.

Well … brace yourself. Because no sooner have we all wrapped our minds around social media than mobile media hits the big time.

Mobile Media Comes of Age. It’s safe to say that almost everyone reading this blog post has downloaded an iPhone, Android or Windows app. And the chances are that you may have used Foursquare, Yelp or Gowalla on your Smart Phone. And if you’re an advanced user, you’ve probably even snapped a QR code and experienced that whole shebang.

Despite that, you may still not completely understand how to use mobile media to grow your business. After all, it’s one thing to use Foursquare, Yelp or Gowalla, but it’s an entirely different thing to understand how to think strategically about using mobile media to connect with prospects and customers.

I have some good news. I’ve written a short, 25-page introduction to mobile media for the Financial Times Press called How to Make Money with Mobile Media. It’s a quick, but content-packed introduction to mobile media that’s perfect for marketing directors, entrepreneurs, sole proprietors, CEOs or just about anybody who is interested in using mobile media to grow their sales and revenue.

Here’s a snippet of some of the great content that’s included in How to Make Money with Mobile Media.

Before we dive further into how you’re going to use mobile media to connect with your consumers, it’s important to understand how consumers are using mobile media to connect with businesses. For example, Yelp allows customers to get restaurant reviews from their mobile devices. This is perfect for the consumer who is visiting an unfamiliar city and wants to check out the reviews of a restaurant prior to walking through the door.  As if that weren’t engaging enough, Yelp also has an augmented reality application that allows users to point their smartphone viewer down a street and have tags pop up over the restaurants on that street. That gives potential diners the ability to look through the viewfinder of their smartphones at a live image of the street and to see ratings and reviews of the restaurants on that street.

Consumers are also getting more comfortable with QR codes. The Smithsonian Institution used QR codes to enhance the experience smartphone users were having in their Natural History Museum. In the museum’s exhibit on early human Neanderthals, they encouraged visitors to snap a QR code that would link their smartphone to an application called MEanderthal.  The MEanderthal application superimposes an image over a photograph of the users to make them look like cavemen from 30,000 years ago. In other words, people visiting the exhibit could snap the QR code, superimpose a Neanderthal’s facial features over their own, and then share it with friends at the museum or even email it to others.

Chili’s found an interesting way to use mobile media to attract customers. The popular location-based smartphone application called Foursquare was used to provide coupons for free cheese dip for people who checked in at a Chili’s location. That’s pretty cool, but what made this even cooler was that Chili’s sent the same coupon to people who checked into other Foursquare locations nearby. In other words, they sent coupons for free cheese dip when people checked in to any store within 200 yards of their Chili’s locations.

As mentioned previously, LinkedIn allows people to exchange contact information by simply “bumping” their phones together. By using Near Field Communication technology, LinkedIn enables smartphones to exchange data between devices over a 10-centimeter (around 4 inch) distance. Bump accomplishes the same thing, only it allows consumers to exchange contact information, photos, social networks, and calendar events, too.  So, as you can see, there are a lot of terrific ways consumers are using mobile media to connect with the brands they love. This leads us to our next question: How are you going to use mobile media to connect with your consumers?

If you’re in business, then you should be in mobile media. After all, a recent research study found that consumers who leave their homes without their wallets usually won’t turn around, but if they leave their home without their mobile phones, they’ll almost always turn around.

If that’s not enough to tell you that mobile media is the future, then I don’t know what is.

Check out How to Make Money with Mobile Media. It’s under five bucks and can be downloaded instantly.

Isn’t your business worth that much?

P.S. I don’t make any additional money from the sale of these guides. Why? Because I haven’t gotten my act together enough to set up the affiliate links. But in the future when I have anything tied to an affiliate link, I’ll always let you know.

Posted by Jamie Turner, Chief Content Officer, the 60 Second Marketer, the online magazine of BKV Digital and Direct Response.

CategoryMobile Marketing, Mobile Media | Comment1 Comment »

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August 24th, 2010

An Introduction to the Next Big Thing — Mobile Media

Michael C. Robinson, who helps run the Integrated Marketing Summit with Shawn Elledge, recently submitted a video blog to the 60 Second Marketer about mobile media.

In his video, Michael discusses location-based mobile applications such as Gowalla, Foursquare and Yelp. Michael’s 60-second video is definitely worth checking out. With that in mind, here’s an excerpt from “How to Make Money with Social Media” that will serve as an introduction to Michael’s video.

The six most common ways companies use mobile media to connect with prospects and customers:

  1. SMS (Short Message Service): Neilsen estimates that SMS, usually referred to as texting, is the most common phone-based activity among U.S. cell phone users of all ages. That said, some people feel as though SMS for marketing purposes is equivalent of Mobile Media 1.0.  Will Smart phone technology will soon overwhelm SMS as a marketing tool? Who knows. But for now, it’s still a viable mobile media tool for marketers.
  2. Mobile Websites: The most sophisticated marketers have a sub-domain set up specifically for mobile phones. So, for example, when you type www.ESPN.com into your smart phone, the ESPN site actually figures out that you’re visiting the site from a mobile device and re-directs you to a sub-domain (e.g., www.m.ESPN.com). That way, your experience from a mobile phone is different from your experience at your computer.
  3. Mobile Ads: Research indicates that mobile ads perform about five times better than internet ads. The most common mobile ads are simple text links and graphical banner and display ads. Banner and display ads are sold on a cost-per-click (CPC), cost-per-acquisition (CPA) and a cost-per-thousand basis (CPM). CPC means you only get charged when someone clicks-through on your ad. It’s the same model that a paid search campaign on Google, Bing or Yahoo uses. CPA means you get charged each time you acquire a lead from your mobile media ad. CPA programs are great if you know how much a lead is worth to your company and what percentage of leads you can convert to a sale. And CPM means you get charged based on the number of times your ad is served up. Typical rates for a CPM program are about $6 to $20 per thousand times your ad is delivered to a mobile device.
  4. Bluetooth Marketing: This is a form of on-demand mobile marketing that targets users based on precise geographical location. So, for example, if you’re standing within 100 feet of Joe’s Pizza, you might receive a free coupon, wallpaper, ringtone, video or audio file that prompts you to visit Joe’s and order a pizza. (Might we suggest a double pepperoni on thin crust?)
  5. Smart phone Apps: The primary smart phone platforms include iPhone, Android, Palm and Blackberry. The best way to use apps for marketing is to create something that’s either functional (e.g., a calculator), entertaining (e.g., a game) or provides some sort of social connectedness (e.g., an app just for your community). Many applications are fee-based, but more and more companies are giving away Smart phone Apps as a way to stay connected with customers and prospects.
  6. QR Codes: These  are the two dimensional barcodes that can be found in print ads, in-store posters and even on the jacket cover of our book. They were initially used for tracking parts for vehicle manufacturers, but are now used in magazines, newspapers, signs and even T-shirts to send  people to a web page, download an MP3, dial a telephone number or send an email message. Some people are even putting them on business cards so people can download contact information directly into their contact database.

Okay, now that that brief summary introduction to mobile media is behind us, let’s check out Michael’s 60-second video about Gowalla, Foursquare and Yelp, shall we?

CategoryGeneral Marketing, Mobile Marketing, Mobile Media | Comment2 Comments »

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