In what will be an ongoing effort to educate our readers about mobile media, we started you off last week with some information on mobile media basics. The homework assignments (we assume) you completed were meant to give you a baseline knowledge of some of the capabilities of mobile media and get you thinking about how you might utilize this new technology for your business.  For those that missed our first mobile media post, you can find it here – http://tinyurl.com/4wd7g8x.

To further enhance your knowledge about mobile media, we want to present to you today some examples of companies across a variety industries who have already embraced mobile and are using it in interesting ways. We must give full disclosure that we do not have data on how these initiatives performed in terms of revenue generated, engagement levels or leads generated. Rather, this post is meant to show you just how powerful mobile can be and get you thinking about how to apply it to your business.

Use Your Phone To Buy Your Next Coffee

Starbucks recently launched a smartphone application  that allows you to pay for your next cup and croissant just by holding up your phone for the cashier to scan. Their mobile payment application available on the Blackberry and iPhone is built upon their previous mobile app, called Starbucks Card Mobile, that allowed Starbucks card holders to access their account balance, reload their cards via credit card payment and locate the nearest store location. Now, the application has been updated to include a payment feature that when selected, displays a bar code on the screen of your phone that the cashier can scan on their POS system. The app “talks” to their network and deducts the cost of your tab from your Starbucks card account. We’ve used this ourselves already and its cool factor is very high. Not to mention extremely convenient and way faster than paying with cash or a card. Now those unbearable three minutes you wait in line for your morning caffeine fix will be a bit shorter. Look for McDonald’s to start accepting mobile payments within the next year too.

Get a Roadside Assistance Without Knowing Where You Are

AAA continues to enhance their customer service value by adding some incredible features to the new release of their smartphone application for the Android. By using your phone’s built in GPS receiver, AAA customers can simply press a button on the application and have roadside assistance find you, even when you don’t know where you are. You can also input some basic information about your vehicle (make, model, year, mileage) into the application and find out how much it would cost to replace your car battery and select if you want AAA roadside assistance to bring you a new one. Another feature of the application allows you to search for the closest AAA approved repair shop and find a rental car should your own set of wheels become out of commission.

Compare Prices While You Compare Prices

Although this is somewhat “old” news when it comes to mobile technology and applications, we really like this one and want to make sure everyone knows about it. Amazon has great mobile applications for all smartphone platforms that lets you easily search the mobile version of their site (that is easy to use and loads quickly), make purchases and review their items “recommended for you”. They also have a fantastic application for the iPhone that lets you scan the bar code on that coffee maker you are thinking about buying or that new cookbook all your friends are talking about while you are in the store aisle and compare prices for it online and see who’s got the best price. And of course, the new Amazon app lets you purchase the item right then and there or save it to your wish list so you can complete the purchase later from home if you prefer. You can download the new application for free here – http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=aw_ppricecheck_iphone_mobile

Check-In To Donate To Charity

At the recent Winter X Games in Aspen, Colorado, Sports Authority conceived of a great way to generate donations for one of the charities that they and the X Games’ supports – Boarding for Breast Cancer. Attendees at this years X Games could check-in to the Sports Authority tent at the game via Foursquare, a location-based social media network. Every time someone checked-in to their tent via Foursquare, Sports Authority donated $1, up to $1,000 per day of the event, to support the charity’s fight against breast cancer. This was a great initiative, in our opinion, for two different reasons. Sports Authority and Foursquare were both able to build brand equity and goodwill for themselves by giving to charity in a way that made sense for those in attendance at the X-Games. The attendees who checked-in to generate the donations probably felt pretty good about what they were doing; they “gave” to charity, it didn’t cost them anything and all they had to do was do what they are used to doing — use their mobile.

Parting Thoughts

This week your “homework” assignment is to think. Think about why the companies mentioned above have captured the attention of the mobile media world. Think about what we can learn from their examples. These companies have followed, what we believe, are the three fundamental rules to running a successful mobile initiative. They have:

• Made It Simple – In all four examples,  the functionality of each application is focused on only executing a handful of tasks. Users must not be overwhelmed with an instrument panel that resembles the cockpit of a jumbo jet. If you can’t look at the home screen of an app and immediately know what it does, that’s probably a bad sign.

• Made It Relevant – Mobile initiatives, whether run via an application, mobile search, SMS, etc, must not ask your audience to do something they are not used to or uncomfortable doing. Starbucks knows they have a loyal following of card users who want to grab their coffee in as little time as possible, their app cuts that time down even further. The AAA application helps to lower the stress level associated with needing roadside assistance by knowing exactly where you are, even when you don’t. Amazon has made a living (or killing, depending on who you ask) by finding their customers the best prices on anything, and now you can do it anywhere. Finally, Sports Authority realized that the Winter X-Games crowd are early adopters of all things tech related and thrive on instant gratification. What better way to spread good karma than with a simple click of a smartphone?

• Made It Magnetic – If you can successfully follow rules one and two, this third one should more or less be a byproduct of the two. There is an actual and/or perceived benefit to the users of these mobile applications.  By providing a clear benefit to the user, they will keep coming back for more; they’re going to buy more, come into your store more, use your service more and sing your praises to their friends.  And we all know how powerful word of mouth advertising is…

Until next time, may your track balls scroll true, your touch screens remain clear and your auto-corrected texts not be embarrassing.