Mobile Web Usage Is Exploding

A recent Internet Trends presentation by Morgan Stanley forecasted that "50% of web traffic will come through mobile devices within 5 years." In fact, based on the rate of adoption, it is projected that the number of users accessing the Web via mobile devices will exceed desktop devices by 2014. A column I wrote at the end of last year cited 2009 as the year mobile search took off. And, I think my concluding statement in that column appears to be proving true: "And if 2009 was the year that mobile took off, look for 2010 and beyond to be the years that mobile search reaches its pinnacle." All of the research and data points surrounding mobile Web adoption rates seem to signal that not only will mobile search be exploding, so too will all forms of mobile Web activities.

Google Is a Huge Proponent for Mobile

Mobile is a huge area of focus and innovation for Google at the moment and they are clearly advocating for marketers to make mobile an important consideration both now and for the future.

I was at a conference last week hosted by Google and one theme that was woven consistently throughout was the importance of mobile. For innovation in the online space, Google is the company I often look to first. So, if Google has identified an area as "hot," then I very well should be thinking about it too. Needless to say, its strong emphasis on mobile helped solidify a fact that I already knew – mobile is the digital channel to watch.

Here are some of my key takeaways from the conference as it relates to mobile:

• Everything you do online, you should do in mobile
• Create a mobile site version/optimize your site for mobile
• Search is still the "Web's killer app" (and will continue to be a killer app on mobile)
• Have a mobile search campaign and customize your messaging to the mobile audience
• Develop mobile "use cases" - what are the key problems/needs and what kind of mobile app/service/content is a solution for that problem?
• Optimize for each screen (various mobile devices/plaftorms, iPads, etc.)

Google Search Innovations Focus on Mobile

At the conference, Google also spoke briefly about the evolution of search and many of its new search innovations. Not surprisingly, many of its more recent innovations are for mobile search products.

I wanted to cover a couple of these mobile search innovations that I think marketers should know about – if they don't already.

Voice Search

If you own an Android phone, you are already familiar with this feature. But for those who don't, essentially this function enables you to search via a vocal query versus a text query. Meaning, you speak into the phone, and Google queries its index based on what you say (versus what you type). This increases users' ability to search "on the go" and get results more quickly than typing. As fast as you can think it, you can see it.

Google Goggles

Over a year ago, I examined developments with "visual search" – the ability to search by using a picture as a query versus a text query. At that time, more niche companies were dominating the space but it was only a matter of time for Google to come out with an offering. Google Goggles lets you take a picture of an image with your phone, and then search based on that image. From landmarks to businesses to book titles, if you see something you like and want more info, you can now snap a photo and access relevant search results instantly.

All of these innovations will help propel mobile search forward by making it easier, quicker, and more relevant. And as more and more users become more comfortable with searching the Web from their mobile devices, marketers will be increasingly left behind if they don't have a well thought-out mobile presence. So if you aren't considering mobile as part of your search marketing plans, get going already!

Top 10 Vital Factors for Email Marketing Success:

How to Generate Results in a Tough Economy


Date: Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Time: 2:00 PM EDT | 11:00 AM PDT

Email continues to be a powerful staple even in the current recession-effected marketing world. It’s still the foundation of any successful online marketing effort. Without effective email marketing, a company’s entire online marketing strategy can crumble like a house of cards.

Today, there is a complicated landscape of shifting customer expectations, challenging new technologies, evolving government regulations and other issues that old-school email marketers never had to face. How do savvy marketers navigate all of this and keep pace with their competition in a rapidly changing multimedia marketing environment?

The key is staying current in online marketing best practices --- and understanding how to employ them consistently in an evolving environment. In this free one-hour Webinar, email marketing expert, Andrea Scarnecchia, will share today’s top 10 vital factors for getting the most out of your email marketing campaigns now.

You’ll walk away from this valuable Webinar with actionable next steps to help you develop and maintain exceptional email campaigns that produce results and support your entire marketing mix. We’ll discuss the top 10 most critical elements and how to put them into action. We break them down into three digestible categories:

1. List building and maintenance - How to continuously build, nurture and maintain an effective opt-in list when faced with the challenges of a churn rate of up to 30%.
2. Messaging and design – Developing email campaigns that create relevance, encourage engagement, render well across various email clients and mobile devices, and generate measurable results.
3. Deliverability – Staying on top of best practices and legal requirements so your email messages are delivered to the inbox every time.

Mobile Social MarketingMobile Social Marketing:

People are more active on social networks from their mobile phones than they are from their computers. A recent study by Nielsen shows that more people are using social networking applications on their smartphones than are using sports apps, shopping apps, music apps, or a long list of other types of apps. The only mobile apps that are more popular than social networking apps are games, news, and navigation. But that brings up an interesting point: social networks offer games, news, and in some cases even maps and navigation. With the ability to integrate Facebook and Twitter with just about everything, are social networks poised to be the next giant in the mobile space?
http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/1734413/mobile-social-marketing-bbf-4evr

Email marketing secrets

Email marketing secrets

5 Ways That Gmail’s New Priority Inbox Will Affect You

Google announced on Monday that it will be rolling out a new feature to all Gmail and Google Apps users’ inboxes called Priority Inbox. Although by name this sounds very different from Hotmail’s new interface, at a basic level it appears to be a similar idea: Give the inbox owner a better view into the email they want the most.

Gmail’s filters will look at the email you read or reply to most often and prioritize that as your most important email, and display at the top of the inbox. Gone are the days of inboxes being sorted by date. Instead, Gmail users have a view showing them what Gmail’s filters think is most important to them. Users will have the ability to fine-tune things by telling the filters if messages are a higher or lower priority than where they were originally put.

What does this mean to you as a sender? Here are five ways.

First, it’s important to note that this covers more than just @gmail.com addresses. Google Apps hosts all sorts of personal- and enterprise-level domains, so the impact to your particular email list is hard to judge.

Second, this just reinforces the need for marketers to stay relevant to their subscribers. With Gmail’s filters, if a subscriber has been opening your messages, then it’s more likely that your future messages will show up on the top of the inbox. Better yet, if your subscribers are interacting with your messages — by replying or clicking — then they are telling the Gmail filters that your messages are important to them. On a similar note, this is not the time to over-message your subscribers, as that will more likely end up with several messages going unread and bumping you to the bottom.

Third, it’s important to make sure you encourage your subscribers to add you to their address book. Knowing you’re a priority sender puts you higher in the inbox.

Fourth, if you aren’t already talking with your customers through social media, then give it a try. Social media is a great way to get your customers engaged with you and your brand. This will carry over to them wanting to read your emails as well.

Fifth, take a deep breath and relax. If you’ve been marketinging effectively all along, then you are probably all set. If, on the other hand, you have low open and click-through rates, then it may be time to reconsider your strategy to say relevant to your customers and keep them engaged. It’s never too late to start.

Why is SMS 160 characters?

SMS system is designed for short bursts of data services such as numerical pages. To avoid overloading the system over the standard forward and reply operation, the inventors of SMS agreed on a maximum 160-character size of the message. 160 characters, but is not fixed. Limitation of extension may vary depending on network, phone model and wireless service provider. Some phones do not always allow time to write a 160 character limit has been reached. You must send the message before continuing. However, a number of services will automatically break any message that is sent in packets of 160 characters or less. So, you can write and send a long message, but will be delivered as several messages

7 Ways to Make Your Social Media Marketing Work Harder

Social media has reached a tipping point; it's now a part of every marketer's arsenal. However, while roughly eight out of 10 marketers use social media, only three of them believe that it's effective, according to Junta42/Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs' just released B2B research. Social media accounts for roughly one out of every five minutes spent online, as tracked by Nielsen. Put together with ExactTarget's consumer-focused findings, which show that Twitter followers are more likely to purchase and recommend brands once they follow them than are consumers on Facebook, and you've made the case to add social media to your marketing mix.Since integrating social media into your marketing mix helps expand your reach, increase sales, and build your fan base, it's important to maximize your social media marketing's efficiency.
http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/1733635/ways-make-your-social-media-marketing-work-harder

T-Mobile Hikes SMS Rate: What Is Impact on Marketers?

Take a deep breath, folks. There's no Twitter tax, and it's not the end of SMS marketing.

Yes, T-Mobile plans to up the rate it charges businesses to send text messages to its subscribers by a quarter of a cent per SMS, according to one service provider.

For large mobile marketers, it's not a big deal. For smaller businesses, maybe, maybe not.

Success Story – SMS marketing helps McDonalds

Marketing products to mobile phones using SMS messages has been proven to increase sales, according to a test study carried out in Sweden. Named e-street, the project signed up 2,500 mobile phone-users in the town of Lulea to receive SMS messages of special offers from 150 local organizations. After the volunteers were sent an SMS for a McDonalds burger offer, 25 per cent of the targeted users took up the offer. The McDonalds in question broke its turnover records during the test period and it jumped to the top of the McDonalds league table in Sweden.

Benefits of Mobile Marketing

Mobile marketing is a new addition to the media mix, with great opportunities for

* Anytime, anywhere communication that is direct and immediate.
* Can be targeted to particular audience groups based on age, profession.
* Cost effective
* Huge potential for viral marketing as customers tend to forward messages.
* Can be easily integrated in cross-media including TV, print and radio.

SMS as a cheap and effective marketing tool

Everyday across the world several billions of SMS are sent and most of them carry personal messages sent mostly by youths for staying in contact with their friends. But in the recent years, the popularity of SMS has increasingly spread in business sectors also. Larger companies have adopted SMS as a cheap and effective marketing tool as it delivers the company's message to its audience.

The major areas where SMS marketing is used are banks, drink firms, entertainment and leisure venues. Along with SMS, the MMS, which includes picture messaging, is also increasingly becoming an essential marketing tool by these organizations. This is possible after the development of needed software and tools that allows your SMS and MMS from your desktop through a web-based service or by using downloaded software. Through SMS marketing you can send large number of SMS at one time.

http://www.articlesbase.com/technology-articles/advantages-of-sms-marketing-410222.html#ixzz0zTw0xSQH">