Guia marketing movil wsi

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION 4
The Current State of Mobile Marketing 4
IS MOBILE MARKETING RIGHT FOR YOU? 5
Why Do Companies Use Mobile Marketing? 6
Who Should Be Leveraging Mobile Marketing? 7
GETTING STARTED WITH MOBILE MARKETING 8
Get Educated on Mobile Marketing 8
Develop a Mobile Strategy 10
CHOOSING THE RIGHT MOBILE OPPORTUNITIES 12
Mobile Websites 12
Mobile Local Search and Location-based Marketing 16
Foursquare 19
Gowalla 19
Yelp Mobile 20
Facebook Places 20
Loopt 21
Google Places and Google Mobile 22
Mobile Advertising 23
Text Message Advertising (SMS and MMS) 23
Mobile Banner Ads 25
Mobile Video Ads 26
Interstitial Ads 27
Mobile Apps 29
OTHER MOBILE TACTICS TO CONSIDER 33
Mobile Commerce (M-Commerce) 33
QR Codes (The 2D Barcode) 36
MEASURING MOBILE MARKETING 40
What to Measure (KPIs) 40
Tools and Resources 43
LOOKING AT THE BIGGER PICTURE 44
Benefits of Integrating Mobile Into Your Marketing Mix 45
How Does Mobile Fit Into Your Strategy? 46
CONCLUSION 47
Locate a WSI Consultant 48
About WSI 48

Introduction

Over the years, marketers have seen a considerable shift in focus in the
online realm as the digital world continues to evolve. In the early 90s, the
hype was on having a website; everyone wanted be part of the dot-com
blitz. Though having an online presence was important, the concept of
pay-per-click, search engine optimization and other forms of traditional
Internet marketing became critical components to the success of any website.

Not long after traditional Internet marketing reached its peak in popularity, the explosion of social media
transformed the face of Internet marketing. With social networking and social media sites like Facebook,
Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube taking the world by storm, the practice of social media marketing took
precedence.

To no one’s surprise, the world of digital media is shifting again. Now the next big contender is mobile
marketing. Often times, the term “mobile marketing” is linked to the idea of sending advertising messages
to people’s mobile phones. A few years ago, this might have been the case. But mobile marketing
encompasses several techniques; it’s more than just text message marketing. Mobile marketing involves
services like mobile websites, social location marketing, SMS and MMS marketing and mobile apps – just
to name a few. Think of mobile marketing as the umbrella under which these other mobile services lie, all
of which have the potential to help companies bring in new customers and create brand loyalty. (We will
elaborate further on these terms throughout this guide.)

In staying at the forefront of the digital space, WSI has created a complete guide for companies like yours
to stay educated, learn about the various mobile marketing opportunities out there, choose the
opportunities that are right for you, develop a strategy in line with your overall marketing goals and
measure the success of each campaign. If your company is interested in learning about the mobile
marketing space and ready to embark on leveraging some of the opportunities available, picking up this
guide is a step in the right direction.

The Current State of Mobile Marketing
Recent statistics indicate that the use of
smartphones and tablets is increasing at a
rapid rate all over the world. As the mobile
world continues to release updated versions
of their technologies like the BlackBerry,
iPhone or Android phones and tablet PCs like
the iPad and BlackBerry Playbook, more and
more people are harnessing the power of mobile.
The reality is: we live in a fast-paced world where
information travels at the speed of light and
people are accessing this information on their
handheld devices.

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Copyright ©2011 by RAM

According to eMarketer, the amount of Internet traffic coming from mobile devices has increased over the
past year. As of June 2011, 5.02% of all Internet traffic worldwide came from a mobile device, a
considerable increase over the 2.03% of mobile web traffic received just 1 year prior. Mobile web
browsing isn’t going to disappear. The concept of accessing information instantly and straight into the
palm of your hands will continue to grow in popularity. And new technologies will continue emerging to
accommodate this growing demand.

Therefore, it only makes sense that marketers are finding
new opportunities to reach consumers. Worldwide mobile
advertising revenues have increased from $1.6 billion to
$3.3 billion between 2010 and 2011. Statistics indicate that
by 2015, marketers will spend a whopping $20.6 billion on
mobile advertising.

Why are marketers leveraging mobile marketing in their
businesses? What are some of the benefits of mobile
marketing? The pros and cons of mobile marketing will be discussed in the next section, but according to a
recent study*, worldwide advertisers stated the following key reasons why they use mobile marketing:

 78% said they use mobile because more consumers have access to smartphones
 61% said they like the ability to target certain demographics based on devices
 42% said they like the attractive ad formats

* Data is from the June 2011 Google and the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) report titled "Global Perspectives: The
Smartphone User & The Mobile Marketer" conducted by Ipsos and TNS Infratest.

If other companies out there are using mobile marketing, it might be wise for yours to take a look at this
new phenomenon and determine if it’s the right opportunity for you as well.

Is Mobile Marketing Right For You?

Before we discuss whether mobile marketing is right for your
company, let’s first define what it is. According to the Mobile
Marketing Association, it’s “a set of practices that enables
organizations and businesses to communicate and engage with
their audience in an interactive and relevant manner through
any mobile device or network.”

As mentioned, mobile marketing is more than just sending
text messages to your customers. There are a number of
strategies that fall under the umbrella of mobile marketing, which
will be discussed in further detail later on. For now, let’s talk
about whether the concept of mobile marketing in general is
right for your company.

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Why Do Companies Use Mobile Marketing?
There are several reasons why companies choose to embark in the mobile world to further reach their
customers. Below are just a few reasons marketers have leveraged mobile marketing.

People Consider Their Mobile Phones Personal
Many people use their mobile phones to store contact information, appointments, reminders and personal
notes. People take pictures using their mobile phones and customize various settings on their phone
(wallpaper, ringtone, theme, etc.). Also, generally people don’t share their mobile phones. So
communicating to your customers via their mobile devices is an effective way to increase the
personalization of your marketing message. With that said, privacy and permission are very important for
all marketing campaigns especially involving a mobile device.

People Always Keep Their Mobile Phones Around Them And On

Think about the things you grab just before you leave the house: wallet,
keys, mobile phone. Think about the things you keep close to you throughout
the day: your mobile phone. Also think about the last time you turned your
mobile phone off. During meetings, outings and even while they sleep, people
generally put their phones on silent or vibrate. Rarely do people turn their mobile phones off unless they
need to reset it, pop out the battery or change the SIM card.

What does this mean for marketers? Mobile campaigns can be read within minutes of being received. But
marketers must be sensitive to the timing of their messages. Nobody wants to be woken up at 4 AM with a
marketing message to their mobile device.

People Can Make Payments Through Their Mobile Phones
Every mobile phone has a built-in payment system: the SIM card. Billing can be done
through the user’s mobile network. With the popularity of ringtone downloads, game
downloads and data usage, people have developed the mentality that they must pay for
content through their mobile phones. The expectation that mobile content is free has
been lessened. But marketers must understand that even though consumers are willing
to pay for content and downloads via their mobile device, clear communication that
charges will apply must take effect.

People Can Easily Share Mobile Content
Much like how email has the “forward” option, mobile phones gives users the ability to forward messages
to their friends with a click of a button. There is great viral potential with mobile marketing and if the
message/offer is compelling enough, users will share your message/offer with their friends. With the use
of text messaging, BlackBerry Messenger and other instant messenger systems on the mobile device,
people are communicating with their friends using their cell phones more than traditional communication
channels. Therefore, mobile marketing campaigns have the potential to go viral because users can send a
message to their mobile contacts simultaneously within minutes.

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People’s Response to a Mobile Campaign Can Be Easily Tracked
Much like how Internet marketing offers exceptional tracking and
measuring capabilities, so does mobile marketing. Since every activity
in a mobile marketing campaign is tracked to a single phone number,
engagement can be easily measured. Though some mobile networks
may limit the amount of data they are willing to share with marketing
companies, activity can be traced back to individual mobile users.

Consider the number of people who rely on their phones and how
important they consider their phones as part of their way of life. Mobile marketing allows companies to
capitalize on this fact, while increasing customer engagement, brand loyalty and profits at the same time.

Who Should Be Leveraging Mobile Marketing?
Mobile marketing offers companies new and exciting ways to expand the reach of their messages and
touch more customers. The return on investment could range between new leads, more sales, increased
repeat sales or more customer interaction. But who should be leveraging mobile marketing? How can you
determine if your company is ready to tap into the mobile realm? Below are some ways to help you come
to that conclusion.

Evaluate If Mobile Marketing Can Help You Achieve Your Goals

Start by evaluating your company’s goals and determine if the benefits of mobile
marketing (as previously discussed) could help you meet those goals. For example,
if your company is struggling to retain customers and create brand loyalty, mobile
marketing might help you close the gap between existing customers becoming repeat customers. Keeping
your customers in the know about your latest offers and special discounts through the personal touch of a
mobile device can create customer loyalty.

Determine If Mobile Fits With Your Existing Marketing Programs
You can also think about your existing marketing programs and determine where you could enhance your
customer communication strategies using mobile marketing. For example, if your company is currently
leveraging other forms of Internet marketing, such as social media, and looking to tap into new
engagement strategies, mobile marketing might be a step in the right direction. Location-based mobile
marketing can serve as a great asset for companies that are looking to link their social media and mobile
marketing campaigns together. Location-based social networks like Foursquare, Loopt and Gowalla
coupled with the features of today’s smartphones allow people to interact, share and recommend places
based on their physical location.

Creating a mobile friendly website might be a good way to enhance the experience of your current website
visitors. Launching a mobile commerce site might be a nice way to complement your existing eCommerce
website. Later in this guide, we will discuss various mobile opportunities and how to integrate them into
your marketing strategy. When answering the question of who should be leveraging mobile, a good
question to ask yourself is where mobile fits with what you’re currently doing.

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Take Notice of Who Else Is Using Mobile Marketing

If your company is still unsure whether or not mobile
marketing is right for you, take a look at the following stat.
According to eMarketer, several industries are leveraging
mobile in various capacities. For example, 42% of media and
entertainment companies integrate mobile marketing with
their other media campaigns, such as print, TV and online.
Meanwhile, 23% of retail companies use mobile marketing
as a standalone activity. Thirty-five percent of the automotive
industry is in the early stages of mobile marketing and just
experimenting to see how it can fit in their marketing
strategies.

Of those within the travel industry, 30% integrate mobile
with their overall marketing campaigns and another 30%
are using mobile on an adhoc basis. Other industries
mentioned in the study are hospitality and restaurants,
fast-moving consumer goods and financial services.

It’s safe to say that companies of various industries are
already using mobile marketing. Chances are your
competitors are reaching their customers and your potential customers using mobile. If that’s the case,
maybe it’s time for your company to evaluate if it’s the right time to step into the world of mobile
marketing.

Getting Started with Mobile Marketing

Now you understand the current state of mobile marketing and can see that, like the Internet, mobile isn’t
going anywhere. Also, you’ve gone through the steps to determine if the idea of mobile marketing is right
for your company. If you’re still interested in incorporating mobile into your overall marketing strategy,
now it’s time to learn what you need to do to get started. Regardless of what type of capacity your
company will leverage mobile marketing, it’s important to take into consideration the following steps
when getting started.

Get Educated on Mobile Marketing
First things first: your company must get up-to-speed on what’s going on in the
mobile space. A good start is picking up this guide that WSI has put together.
But in order to really understand where mobile fits in your company’s strategy,
you need to get educated on the various mobile marketing tactics out there. In the next section, we will
deep dive into 4 main categories under the umbrella of “mobile marketing” (mobile websites, mobile local
search and location-based marketing, mobile advertising and mobile apps). For now, we’ll walk you
through several steps you can take as an organization to get educated and stay in the know on mobile.

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Step 1: Appoint a Team of Mobile Marketing Researchers
This will be your team of experts who will go out and acquire as much knowledge on the subject of mobile
marketing as possible and bring that knowledge back into your company. If you’ve picked up our WSI
Social Media Strategy Guide, you’ll remember that appointing a team of social media researchers is a key
step in getting educated on social media. The same principle applies here.

In fact, it is advised that your mobile marketing researchers be the same individuals who make up your
social media researchers. Mobile marketing and social media is a match made in heaven, and since both
are fast-moving industries, you’re going to need a team of researchers that can keep watch on emerging
trends in both realms.

Step 2: Enable Your Team of Researchers to Get Educated

There are a number of educational opportunities available that your team
could take advantage of to expand their knowledge. Industry leading marketing
associations and companies often hold conventions, workshops and seminars
that your team could attend. There are several online courses that your team could
complete to learn more about mobile marketing. Some courses are free of charge and
others require a fee. But don’t consider these costs as expenses; look at them
as investments toward your company’s knowledge on the latest marketing trends.

Step 3: Have Your Researchers Educate the Rest of Your Staff
Once your researchers acquire knowledge on the latest mobile trends and
tactics out there, what works and what doesn’t work for other companies
and how mobile can be brought into your company, the next step is to
educate the rest of your staff. This doesn’t necessarily mean educating every
single staff member at your company. Obviously the accounting department
won’t need to know how to use mobile marketing to achieve your business
goals, but the marketing department definitely will.

Book a training session for your researchers to educate your marketing (and potentially your sales)
department. You’ll likely want to have 2 different levels of training. The first one can be a basic high level
training session to educate your entire department on the benefits of mobile marketing. The second
session will need to be an in-depth hands-on workshop whereby your researchers will educate key team
members who will then implement and manage your company’s mobile marketing campaigns. Again, it is
recommended that your mobile marketing team consist of the same individuals as your social media team,
as described in our WSI Social Media Strategy Guide.

Step 4: Document All Findings and Store in a Shared Environment
The last thing you want to do is keep all intelligence with a single person and then
lose all that intellectual property if that person leaves your company. An
important step (one that many companies forget) is to document all educational
materials and file those documents in a shared environment.

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This way, the knowledge that your company invested in by sending your researchers to various training
events and workshops won’t be lost should your researchers ever leave your company.

Another important tip is to have your researchers sign an acknowledgement stating that all education that
your company sponsors is the intellectual property of your company, and that your employees are not
permitted to apply this knowledge to any other company (direct competitor or not).

Develop a Mobile Strategy
Careful planning is only half the battle when it comes to implementing a successful mobile marketing
strategy. If your company is serious about mobile, take the following steps into consideration when
developing your strategy.

Determine Your Marketing Goals

Now that you have a basic understanding of mobile marketing and how it
can help your business, determine how mobile can work to help your
company where it is weakest. Think about the specific marketing goals that
you would like to achieve. Are you looking to make it easier for customers
to view your website on their phones? Do you want to cultivate stronger
customer relationships? Are you trying to increase your newsletter sign-
ups? Do you need to increase awareness of your brand or spread the word
about upcoming promotions?

Remember to keep your goals SMART – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely. You can
save a great deal of time, money and resources by determining clear marketing goals and thinking about
how mobile can help you achieve those goals.

Define Your Target Audience
Not every customer will be suitable for your mobile campaigns. It’s not as easy
as saying that the mobile-savvy segment of your market will be the target
audience for your mobile campaigns. Think about what you sell and who you
sell it to. Zero in on your customers’ profile, including their age, gender,
location, interests and purchasing history.

Research your market as much as possible. If you have a stronger understanding of your audience, you will
be able to select the right mobile approach. When you break down your target audience into segments,
you will better target your mobile campaigns to ensure maximum results.

Establish Your Tone and Organizational Voice

The next thing you need to do is define your tone and establish your organizational voice. Since mobile
marketing and social media are closely related, the same voice you use to speak to your audience in the
social media world will transcend into how you speak to people through mobile marketing.

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Much like social media, mobile marketing allows you to expand the reach of your
messages and communicate more personally than traditional communication methods.

Your organizational voice is heard through other marketing channels as well, such
as your advertising brochures, news releases, website content, emails and direct
contact between frontline employees and customers. Maintaining consistency is key.
Your voice should reflect your company’s overall goals, authority and mission, while
speaking to your target audience in a way they will best understand.

Create Compelling Offers and Campaigns
The customer is at the center of all marketing. A fundamental question you need to ask yourself before
starting a mobile strategy is “What do my customers want in the palm of their hands?” When people think
of their mobile devices, they’re thinking with a selfish mindset – I want what I want when I want it. They’re
not interested in anything else. When it comes to mobile, people want 1 of 4 things: entertainment,
information, a good deal and/or a connection.

Creating compelling offers and campaigns catered around your customers’
wants is key. This is where defining your target audience is important.
Capturing information on your customers will help shed light on the types of
marketing messages and offers you will communicate. For example, if you
operate a local spa and your audience consists of young females, you could
offer special discounts on facials and focus your messaging around the acne
improving benefits of a facial.

On the other hand, if you own a bed and breakfast and your customers are mature couples, you could
offer weekend discounts and tailor your messages around the quiet neighbourhood around your bed and
breakfast. It’s important to know your audience, understand what they are interested in, create offers that
would appeal to their interests and communicate in a way they would best understand.

Choose the Tools Right For You

The type of marketing messages and offers you decide to use will help you
determine the tools you need to get your messages out there via mobile. An
important question to ask yourself when choosing a mobile marketing tool is
whether the technology has been designed to meet your specific goals. You
will also want to evaluate the tracking capabilities of the tool, such as how it
measures user activity and engagement; how the data is crunched to provide
you with a summary of results; what type of reports can be generated, etc.

You should also look at the ease of use of each technology you choose to use. If there are mobile
campaigns that require in-house management, ensure that your team can use the tools without
complication. If you are leveraging external resources, ask about the supplier’s training and support
programs. Another thing to remember is budget. A mobile marketing campaign is as costly as you make it.
Depending on whether you employ a do-it-yourself campaign or an in-depth strategy requiring the
assistance of a professional, you can find the right tools that suit your budget.

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Choosing the Right Mobile Opportunities

As previously mentioned, the concept of mobile marketing encompasses a number of different techniques
all involving creative ways to reach customers through their mobile devices. In this section, we will deep
dive into the 4 main categories of mobile marketing: mobile websites, mobile local search and location-
based marketing, mobile advertising and mobile apps. Let’s first start with mobile websites.

Mobile Websites
In this day and age, mobile phones are being used as frequently as computers. Statistics and trends
indicate that Internet browsing is moving from computers to handheld devices, meaning a mobile website
is a great way to share your company information and engage customers. So if your company is looking for
an opportunity to reach new customers and enhance the experience of your current customers, a mobile
website is a good idea.

In fact, if your company is looking to embark into the world of mobile marketing and you aren’t sure where
to start, we recommend that you consider creating a mobile version of your website at a bare minimum.
This way, you can ensure your audience can access your website and company information on their
handheld devices at any time.

A Mobile-Friendly Website Can Work for Any Company

With more and more people accessing websites on their mobile devices, it makes sense that companies of
all sizes and sectors consider launching a mobile-friendly website. Almost every website can benefit from a
mobile version, such as:

 eCommerce sites – If you sell products online, why not give customers the opportunity of
purchasing from you anywhere anytime from the palm of their hands?
 Local businesses – If you operate a local business, offering your customers a convenient way to
visit your website is a good way to enhance customer engagement.
 News-driven sites – If the main purpose of your online property is to provide news updates to
your audience, offering a mobile-friendly version allows your audience to easily access up-to-
date information right in the palm of their hands.

Mobile Friendly Websites Focus on the Customer

Creating a mobile-friendly website isn’t just taking your current website and
trimming down the content to fit on a smaller screen. A true mobile-friendly
website is friendly to its audience. This means focusing on the customer.
Think about the typical cell phone user; they’re distracted, impatient and
multi-tasking. Usually when people are on their cell phones, they’re also
doing something else – whether it’s having dinner, watching TV, working on
their laptops, sitting at their desks, walking through a shopping mall, etc.

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A mobile user needs and expects to receive instant and concise information right when they want it, so a
mobile-friendly website must focus on what mobile users really want.

Many websites have already launched their own mobile-friendly versions designed to only display the
most important information or services – suitable for those accessing the website from their cell phones
(ie: m.facebook.com, m.gmail.com and m.twitter.com just to name a few).

How to Design a Compelling Mobile Website
Since mobile websites are designed to fit the smaller screens of handheld devices, pages are simplified,
unnecessary images are removed, and content that can be slow to load (such as video) is limited. When
designing a compelling mobile-friendly website, marketers should remember to consider their on-the-go
customers, who are looking to access relevant content on their mobile devices quickly. Here are some tips
to remember when designing a mobile-friendly website:

Avoid visual clutter. Keep your mobile site simple to ensure pages
load quickly. This means removing unnecessary elements that could
slow down the loading time. The screen of a mobile phone is small as
it is; you don’t need to cram unrelated promos, links, buttons and
images onto your mobile site. Prioritize your content and decide what
should be front and center on your mobile website. Only use images
that help get your message across.

Simplify your navigation. With mobile websites, take the “less is more” approach. Make sure
popular information and services are easy to find right on the home page of your mobile
website. Remove anything else that is best left on your main website. Optimize your navigation
by allowing for more spacing between links and making buttons larger. It may mean creating a
whole new mobile navigation design catered to those not using a mouse.

Use a single column. When it comes to mobile websites, a single-column structure is most
effective. One column will help manage limited space on a smaller screen and also help you
easily scale between different device resolutions when it comes to flipping between portrait and
landscape views.

Use touch-friendly buttons. Remember to consider touch screen
phone and tablet users. Links and buttons should be simple, clean and
“finger friendly”. A quick way to frustrate a touch screen user is to
make an important link so small that it’s difficult to click on with the tap
of a finger. In this case, it might be wise to make important links
accessible via a button, rather than hyperlinked text. You may have
to make the clickable area around your links larger and put more spacing between links.

Stay away from Flash. Not all phones support Flash or JavaScript, so stay away from them on
a mobile-friendly website. A Flash-heavy website with a complex navigation may look attractive
on a traditional Internet browser, but it will likely render an error message on a mobile device.

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Don’t forget about the swipe. Aside from ensuring you have
touch-friendly links and buttons on your site, remember to consider
the swipe feature and how this can be implemented in your mobile
site. Technology is evolving and your company must evolve with it.
It’s time to move from the point-click mentality to a touch-and-
swipe approach.

Limit scrolling to only one direction. Think about how you react when you have to scroll in
multiple directions on a regular Internet browser. On a mobile device, the experience is even
worse because there is higher potential to scroll the wrong way. So make sure your mobile site
only scrolls one way – it offers a better user experience and simply put, it doesn’t annoy your
customers.

Focus on the user. This tip cannot be stressed enough. The last thing your company wants to
do is attempt to be all things to all people. Define your target audience and zero in on their
needs and wants. Focus your mobile website on how to make their experience with your brand
easier by presenting them with important information in a convenient and easy-to-digest
manner.

Give People the Option of Visiting the Full Site

Some of your mobile using customers may want to just access information from your standard company
website depending on the type of device they have. A lot of highly advanced smartphones and tablets such
as the iPhone and iPad may not experience any issues rendering standard websites. For this reason, you
should give mobile visitors the option of visiting your standard website.

Add a link in the footer of your mobile site that reads “Visit full site”, which directs visitors to your regular
site. Also, it would be a good idea to give visitors the option on your main website to go back to your
mobile site without having to use the “Back” button. This way, both mobile device users and desktop users
have access to both sites.

What About Audio and Video?

Multimedia elements like audio and video are great ways to capture the
attention of mobile users. Although bandwidth and loading time issues exist,
you shouldn’t stop using these highly engaging forms of content on your
mobile website. The key is to carefully select what types of multimedia to
use and use them in moderation. As previously mentioned, steer clear of Flash
formats and other closed formats that do not render well on some devices.

Pay careful attention to the file size of the multimedia you use; ensure that you are using a file size that
won’t slow down the loading process on a mobile device. Another best practice to remember is never set
the file to download automatically. These should be requested by the user for bandwidth savings. Lastly,
don’t auto-play your multimedia files. This is just plain annoying and isn’t recommended even outside the
realm of mobile marketing.

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Test Your Mobile Website
Testing is standard practice prior to launching any website or landing page, and
your mobile website is no different. To ensure your mobile website will render
properly on various popular mobile devices, testing is key. But with so many mobile
technologies available today, how can testing be simplified for your company?

Testing will involve installing the developer SDK for the mobile platform (ie: iPhone
SDK or Android SDK) and using web-based emulators to view other mobile
platforms. (SDK refers to a software development kit that allows third parties to
create applications that can run directly on the platform – a tool that can be used to
test mobile websites.) Here are some tools that you can use to test your mobile website:

 iPhoney – This is a free iPhone tester that allows developers to test images and code in a pixel-
perfect Apple-Safari powered environment.
 W3C mobileOK Checker – This is a web-based automated validation tool that checks how
mobile-friendly your website is.
 iPad Peek – This web-based tool allows you to see how your website renders on the iPad. For
best results, use Apple Safari or Google Chrome.
 MobiReady – This is another online testing site that allows you to enter a URL and the tool will
perform a set of evaluations of the page to determine how mobile-ready the site is using
industry best practices and standards.

Promote Your Mobile-Friendly Website
After taking into consideration all of the above best practices in
creating and launching your mobile site, now it’s time to get the word
out there to your customers. What’s the use of having a mobile
website if you don’t drive any traffic to it? Promoting your mobile
website is an important step in its success.

A good place to start is by optimizing your mobile site with the right meta tags and keywords to help
search engines better find your site. Though the mobile web may not rely as heavily on search engines for
browsing as the conventional web, it is still good practice to implement optimization techniques on your
mobile site. You can also add your site to the many mobile-only web directories out there (ie:
themobilist.com, jumptomobile.com, greatsites.mobi, cantoni.mobi, etc.). Being listed in a mobile web
directory could help drive traffic to your site. Here are some other ways you can promote your mobile site:

 Tell your customers about your new site when they do business with you
 Add a link or a QR code on your business card (QR codes will be discussed in more detail later)
 Include a link in your email newsletters
 Add a link to your email signature from which you conduct your day-to-day emails
 Blog and tweet about your mobile website
 Share the news on other social media pages, such as Facebook or LinkedIn
 Offer mobile-only promotions and offers to generate more mobile interest

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Regardless of the size of your company or which industry you operate in, a mobile-friendly website is a
good starting point if you’re ready to embark on mobile marketing. It allows you to connect with those on-
the-go customers by giving them the ability to visit your website from their mobile phones.

Mobile Local Search and Location-based Marketing
Mobile local search is a technology that allows people to access the
Internet on a mobile device to search for local businesses and services.
According to eMarketer, an estimated 91 million US consumers will use
the Internet on a mobile device at least monthly by the end of 2011, and
research shows that much of the searches will be for local content (Mobile
Users Expand Their Search Habits, eMarketer, August 1, 2011). This means
businesses have an opportunity to reach local customers, who are
potentially searching for their products or services on their mobile devices.

As previously discussed, having a mobile-friendly website is an important step in
the right direction when it comes to launching an effective mobile marketing
strategy. But what’s the next step? Like any standard website you launch, to
ensure success you must follow it with a well-designed search engine marketing
strategy. What good is a website if you’re not driving any traffic to it? The
same is true in the mobile world. A good mobile local search strategy will bring
traffic to your business.

Mobile Search Marketing Tips
Mobile SEO is a term that’s becoming more and more popular as businesses realize the importance of
generating traffic to their mobile websites. Here are 5 mobile search marketing tips to keep in mind.

Practice basic on-page optimization techniques. Though
SEO for mobile websites is different than a standard website,
there are a few basic principles that you can apply. Some basic
on-page optimization techniques that should be kept in mind are
title tag optimization, meta tag optimization, heading tags and
URL optimization.

Make it easy for people to visit your mobile site. Typically, mobile searches are
performed on a 3G connection by people who are on the move. If your web pages take too long
to load, people will likely hit the “Back” button and try a different website. If your site doesn’t
contain the most important information front and center, then people will try another site.
Including features like click-to-map or click-to-call telephone numbers are good ways to make it
easy for people to contact your business and drive foot traffic to your brick-and-mortar store.

Don’t neglect to create a mobile sitemap. By creating a mobile sitemap, you will be giving
mobile crawlers a hand in discovering new content on your site. Also, remember to include a link
to this new sitemap in your Robots.txt file.

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Submit your site to mobile search engines. This is a “must do” in order to have your
mobile site indexed at all. Some major mobile search engines to consider are:
 Google XHTML http://www.google.com/xhtml
 Google Mobile http://www.google.com/mobile/
 Yahoo! Mobile http://mobile.yahoo.com/search
 MSN/Bing http://home.mobile.live.com/Home.mvc
 AOL Mobile http://mobile.aolsearch.com
 ABPHONE http://www.abphone.com

Claim your place page. This is especially important for local businesses. In order to ensure a
map shows up with the location of your business at the top of the universal results page on a
smartphone, you must claim your place page (Google Places, Bing Business Portal, etc.)

Location-based Marketing – The Buzz Around So-Lo-Mo

With sites like Foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt, Facebook Places
and Yelp growing in popularity, people are connecting,
sharing, interacting, meeting up and recommending places
based on their location. For this reason, many businesses
are starting to incorporate location-based marketing
techniques in their strategy – a smart move considering
a lot of other companies (likely your competitors) are
thinking along the same lines.

According to eMarketer, location-based ad revenues
worldwide will reach $6.2 billion by 2015, consuming
35% of total mobile ad revenues. This is a considerable
increase over 5 years (from the $588 million spent in
2010) as you can see from the chart on the right.
With this in mind, perhaps now is a good time for
your company to take a look at location-based marketing
and see how it can fit with your overall strategy.

The term “so-lo-mo” is popping up in our vocabulary, but what does it mean? It’s the convergence of social
media, local search and mobile marketing as a method of creating personal engagement with customers.
When done correctly, so-lo-mo can help your company reach the right person, in the right place, at the
right time. The idea of “checking in” has become the next big thing in social media. People are now sharing
their whereabouts with the world. But why? What are some things that would motivate people
(specifically your customers) to check in to your business? Here are some reasons:

 Fun and games – Many “check in” programs are actually games that allow participants to earn
virtual points, and people take part in them just for the fun of it.
 Connecting with friends – A lot of “check in” applications allow your friends and connections to
see your activity; often times the idea is to facilitate face-to-face encounters with your friends.

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 Recommending places they like – People also like to recommend and promote
the places they like. Endorsing a good place and sharing opinions is another
reason people “check in”.
 Freebies and discounts – If not for the games or the ability to connect with
friends and share feedback, people will “check in” to receive free offers and
special discounts. This is a sure-fire way to encourage your customers to tell the
world where they are.

Location-based Marketing Tips
When it comes to location-based marketing and leveraging this new phenomenon of “so-lo-mo”, it can get
complicating if you don’t know what you’re doing. Here are a few tips that will help you get started:

Learn how location-based services work. First things first; your company must understand
how location-based services work – not the nitty gritty technology aspect, but generally how
people use location-based apps on their phones to “check in” whenever they go places.
Essentially, global positioning satellites (GPS) locate the users and determine where they may be,
thus providing options to select a location or create a new listing.

Once a person “checks in”, their friends will know where they are
at that moment or where they regularly visit. Through these apps,
businesses can share promotions or special discounts so that
people who “check in” will receive notifications of deals that are
physically nearby. Location-based technology work on networks
called “social location platforms” or “social location services”.

Learn about the platforms. In the following section, we will go over a few popular social
location services. However, there are many different platforms out there. Now that your
company is looking at the opportunity of location-based marketing, it’s your job to become
familiar with these platforms, learn which ones your target audience is on and decide how best
to leverage them for your business. Before launching any sort of campaign, sign up for the
networks, download the apps to your phone and learn how a person would use each platform.

Determine your goals. Playing with the app on your own mobile phone may entice you to get
started with location-based services right away. But take a step back and think about the goals
you want to achieve. Are you looking to increase foot traffic? Do you have an offer you want to
promote? Are you trying to increase sales? Do you want to attract new customers? Sure, all of
these seem like good goals, but be realistic and set specific objectives. These objectives will steer
the direction of your location-based marketing campaign.

Create a presence on the social location networks. Once you select your networks (by
evaluating which ones your customers are actually on), it’s time to create your presence. Ensure
your business is listed on all relevant social location networks and remember to validate the
address, phone number and other contact details to ensure they are correct and up-to-date.
Depending on the platform, you may be able to update your contact details yourself. For some,
you may have to contact the network for help if you don’t have access to edit your listing.

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There are many applications out there and it’s your job to do your research to determine if your customers
are using them. Let’s highlight a few of the most popular social location services available.

Overview of Foursquare

Introduced in March 2009, Foursquare is one of the most popular
location-based mobile platforms out there today. This tool allows
users to “check in” using a smartphone app or SMS and share their location with friends in order to collect
points and earn virtual badges. Foursquare users also have the ability to bookmark information about
places they want to visit and receive relevant suggestions about nearby venues.

Since people are using Foursquare to find their friends and good places to visit, businesses are given a
great opportunity to use this tool to attract new customers and keep loyal ones coming back. Foursquare
offers two opportunities for businesses:

 Merchant Platform – This is more appropriate for brands that are location-based (like a coffee
shop, restaurants, museum, movie theatre, etc.)
 Pages and Partner Badges – This is suitable for brands that aren’t tied to a specific location (like
a TV channel, clothing brand, manufacturer, etc.)

Foursquare’s Merchant Platform is free to sign up and allows businesses,
large or small, to offer Foursquare specials like mobile coupons, prizes and
discounts to users who check in to your business – the offers can be
tailored to fit your needs. This is a great way to drive foot traffic to your
store. In addition, you can track your customer foot traffic through the
venue stats dashboard.

On the other hand, Foursquare offers 2 opportunities (Pages and Partner Badges) for brands that aren’t
location-based. Using these platforms, they can reach their customers and fans and entice them to do
interesting things in their communities.

Instructions to get started can be found on the Foursquare website: https://foursquare.com/business/.

Overview of Gowalla

Launched in 2007, Gowalla is very similar to Foursquare in that users
“check in” to a location. But rather than earning points, Gowalla users
collect stamps for their “passport”, which is a collection of all the places
they’ve visited (each stamp representing each place that a user has visited).

Additionally, users can earn pins, which are special rewards for finishing a trip, visiting a given number of
places or taking photos. Gowalla is very much about the game with elements like: items (digital souvenirs)
and trips (a playlist of places to visit). Even though, gaming is a strong feature of Gowalla, this platform
offers businesses an opportunity to gain a presence and reach their customers.

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Businesses can verify their listing (in other words, claim their business or venue) to
ensure that their official listing in Gowalla is correct. They can also edit their business
details, such as provide an accurate description, up-to-date address and contact details,
business hours, etc. Additionally, businesses can create a check-in greeting
message (which could contain special offers) that is displayed when a person checks
in to that location. There is also a sponsored advertising opportunity where
businesses can purchase a Custom Passport Stamp and get featured by Gowalla.

Businesses using Gowalla should also encourage their customers to "highlight" their business using the
highlight feature, which include little rewards people can give to their favorite places. Businesses that
receive the most highlights are featured on Gowalla City Pages.

For more information on how businesses can leverage Gowalla visit: http://gowalla.com/business.

Overview of Yelp

Yelp was founded in 2004 as a review site to help people find highly
recommended local businesses, such as dentists, hair stylists, mechanics,
etc. Aside from being a business review site, Yelp also provides
event information, special offers and the ability to connect friends via
social networking so that Yelpers can speak with one another. Yelp has updated their mobile app to allow
users to “check in” to various locations much like Foursquare and Gowalla. This allows companies to get
involved in Yelp and bring further exposure to their business.

Yelp’s way of rewarding highly active Yelpers is through their Elite Squad
Program. Those who are considered “elite-worthy” are extremely engaged and
provide well-written reviews, a fleshed-out personal profile, an active voting
and complimenting record and maintaining good relationships with others.
Elite Square members are recognized by a shiny Elite badge on their profile.

Business owners would be wise to leverage Yelp as a way to build exposure, monitor public reviews of
their brand and research what their local community wants from a business in their particular industry.
When you create a Yelp business account, you will be able to communicate with your customers, track
how many people visit your page, add a business description, update your contact information, history and
specialities as well as upload photos. By using Yelp’s Mobile Applications, you can promote your business
and share special discounts to users searching nearby and encourage check-ins.

For more information on how to get started on Yelp, visit: https://biz.yelp.com/support.

Overview of Facebook Places
Another popular location-based service is Facebook Places, which was introduced in
2010 as a feature that lets users share where they are and find friends nearby. Users
can check in to places they visit from their mobile phones, tag friends that are with
them and view comments that other friends have made about the places they visit.

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As a business owner, having a place on Facebook offers you another way to promote your brand and grow
your customer base. By allowing your customers to check in to your business, you are allowing them to tell
their friends about your brand. In order to create a Facebook Place, you will need to:

 Visit your business’ physical location with your mobile phone
 Create a place for it (if it doesn’t already exist)
 Verify that you are the business owner by telephone
 Note: you could be asked for supporting documentation

Once your claim is approved, you will have admin access to your business’ place
on Facebook. The next step is to merge your Place with your Page to create a combined
Page that serves as a local business page.

Additionally, Facebook has integrated its Places feature with its advertising services. This means that once
you claim your place, you can advertise it just as you advertise your Facebook Page. In order to get started
on advertising, go to Facebook ads and click on “I want to advertising something I have on Facebook” in
the creation flow. Then choose your place from the dropdown menu and proceed to define and purchase
the ad campaign you want.

It’s important to remember that once you claim your place, you need to post
relevant information such as special discounts, time sensitive offers or
upcoming events – messages that will be of interest to your local customers.
You will also be able to see statistics on the number of people who have
checked in to your business. However, Facebook will not share the names of
the people who check in unless you are friends with them or unless their
privacy settings are set to allow anyone to see their check-ins.
To learn more about Facebook Places visit: http://www.facebook.com/places.

Overview of Loopt

Loopt began in 2005 as a platform that uses detailed, interactive maps on
mobile devices to show users where their friends are located and what they
are doing. This allows friends to connect with each other face-to-face, and
gives users the opportunity to learn more about their surroundings (places and events). Loopt users can
share their location updates, geo-tag photos and comment with friends through their mobile phones. Since
Loopt also alerts its users of nearby deals, businesses can take advantage of Loopt to get their brand,
message and discounts out to their customers.

Loopt offers businesses the opportunity to partner with them to incentivize customers to check in to their
location and drive foot traffic to their business. The rewards can be customized to suit your business. For
example, you could offer coupons, freebies, virtual goods or sweepstakes. Your reward or incentive for
people to check in can appear right next to your Loopt listing and once customers and fans check in, they
can be redirected to a fully customized reward page with a look and feel consistent to your brand.

Loopt is currently only available in the US. To learn more visit: http://www.loopt.com/about/partners/.

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Choose a Location-Based Service That Fits Your Region
Though we went over a few of today’s most popular social location-based platforms out there, it’s
important you choose one that best fits your company and location. Here is a list of some other location-
based services you may want to read up on to determine how they fit with your business:

 Google Latitude - This tool allows mobile phone users to share their
location with certain friends they choose. Users can check in at places,
gain status there and take advantage of offers where available.
https://www.google.com/latitude/

 Brightkite - This is one of the first companies to really make a splash in
the location-based mobile space. This tool allows users to share their
locations, connect with friends and share status updates.
http://brightkite.com/

 SCVNGR - This tool is unique from other platforms with its point-based
challenges on top of check-ins. By doing challenges, users can unlock
badges and earn real-world rewards like discounts or freebies.
http://www.scvngr.com/

 Neer - This is a personal and private automatic location-sharing tool that
doesn't bother with check-ins, badges or other gaming elements. This
service is designed to let users know where their friends are.
http://www.neerlife.com/

 ShopKick - Though not as popular as Foursquare or Facebook Places, this
tool is growing in adoption. Created by former employees of mobile and
Internet related companies like Google, Palm, Yahoo! Shutterfly, Cisco,
Loopt and more, this tool was designed to enhance the real-world
shopping experience for all. Users can receive deals and rewards by
simply walking into their favorite stores. http://www.shopkick.com/

 Nearbyfeed - This platform is all about trying to help people find out
what's happening around them, such as: nearby information, interesting
places and like-minded people. Users can also broadcast their opinions
to their friends and nearby people to let them know what's happening
here. http://www.nearbyfeed.com

Google Places and Google Mobile
Claiming your Google Places listing is another good place to
start when it comes to optimizing your location. Not only is this important in the online realm, but with
Google Mobile there are many applications that are available to a mobile device user, including Google
Maps which also features Google Places: m.google.com/places.

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Google Places is a tool that uses Google Maps to help users find local businesses. As a business owner, you
could reach new customers as they are searching for local services or products on Google Maps and
Google.com, even from their mobile devices on: m.google.com. It’s very important that you claim your
Google Places listing; this involves registering with Google, looking for your listing, verifying that you are
the business owner and editing your business listing.

By having a presence on Google Places, you allow customers to find your business more easily, leave
ratings and reviews and read other people’s comment – whether using their desktop or a mobile device.

Mobile Advertising
As the term denotes, mobile advertising is the
concept of reaching your target audience with
advertising messages through a mobile device. Much like
Mobile websites and location-based marketing, which
we just discussed, this technique is a subset of mobile
marketing. As smartphone adoption rates continue to
soar, mobile advertising is gaining in importance when it
comes to a company’s overall marketing strategy. Let’s
take a second look at the eMarketer stat we reviewed
earlier. By the end of this year, worldwide mobile ad revenues
will reach $3.3 billion and will surge in 2015 to $20.6 billion!

With a wide range of mobile advertising options available, such as mobile display ads, search ads, rich
media, video and push notifications like SMS (Short Message Service) and MMS (Multimedia Message
Service), the landscape can become overwhelming. In this section, we will cover a few of the most popular
methods of mobile advertising.

Text Message Advertising (SMS and MMS)
Text message marketing has been a popular strategy for years. Think of
American Idol, for example. Companies of all sizes are using text messaging
technology to expand the reach of their messages, share offers and discounts
and gather feedback from their customers. But the key to succeeding in this
realm is to ensure you have a clear opt-in process and receive permission from
your customers to send them text messages. Here are some ways companies
are using text messages:

Run a contest. "Text to win" campaigns can be a good way to drive customer engagement and
build your database. But you need a compelling offer in order to run a successful contest. For
example, offering a free product or service to every 10th person who texts you is a good way to
draw attention. If you use a powerful technology, then you'll be able to collect details of each
person who texts you. Also, you will need to effectively promote your contest in order to
generate a good number of responses.

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Offer a coupon. You could also run a campaign where
those who text you will receive a coupon code that can
be used on your website or brick and mortar store for
a discount on your product or service. This is a great way
to generate traffic to both your website and physical
store. Again, effective promotion of this campaign is
critical to ensuring you receive a good response rate.
People can’t be part of a campaign they don’t know about.

Share advice and useful tips. Another way to engage your customers is
by sharing advice and useful tips to them via text message. A good mobile
texting campaign caters to your customers' needs and often times what they
need is advice and tips related to a topic they are interested in.

For example, if you own a hair salon, you could launch a campaign where you
share hair care tips to those who are interested and subscribe to your messages.
If you operate a local hair salon and your subscribers list are mainly local customers, then you
can target your advice to hair day tips based on current weather conditions, for example.

Invite customers to receive useful notifications. If your product or service offering
requires regular activity from the customer, such as a prescription re-fill or monthly payment,
you could invite your customers to subscribe to receive mobile text reminders of when they
need to complete the required activity.

Vote or share ideas. Do you need suggestions or ideas from your customers? Perhaps you’re
about to launch a new product or service and would like to get your customers involved. You
could invite them to share their ideas with you via text; this is a good way to capture information
about your customers and build your list. If you have 2 or more items that you would like your
customers to choose from, then you could have them text to vote.

People like to know they can provide their thoughts and
recommendations on products and services they use regularly. By
allowing people to vote and share ideas through a texting campaign, you
can create a meaningful relationship with them.

Allow people to donate to a charitable cause. "Text to donate“ campaigns have proven
to be quite impactful. Since people have their mobile phones on them virtually 24/7 and use
these devices to access news and information, what better way to increase awareness for a
charitable cause than a "text to donate" campaign? A great benefit to this strategy is mobile
phones have a built-in payment system, making donations easy to receive.

Two themes that have been consistent with all of the above texting strategies are: value and relevancy.
The best text messaging campaigns respond to your customers' desires (the natural want for freebies and
discounts), provide valuable information (such as useful advice, tips and reminders), ask customers for
their input (suggestions and votes) and are relevant (catered to customers who are interested in your
products and services or have subscribed to receive text messages from you).

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It’s important that you implement basic marketng best practices in every text messaging campaign. Below
are a few text messaging best practices remember:

 Permission - Much like email marketing, you must have an opt-in system for
all text message campaigns. For paid subscriptions, a double opt-in process
is required. One thing to mention is that when a user changes carriers, they
need to re-opt-in to your campaign. That's why it's important to tie each
mobile number in your database with an email address or physical address
to remind them that they to need to re-opt-in after they switch providers.

 Frequency - Make sure you tell your audience how often they're going to get a text message
from you. This should be communicated during the opt-in process. Preferably, you should give
them an option to choose their frequency.

 Cost - If there is a cost to your audience associated to your text messaging
campaign, not only do you need a double opt-in process, but including a
disclaimer that reads "Msg&Data Rates May Apply" is a must.

 Content – Pay special attention to the content you communicate in your text messages. No
adult, alcohol or tobacco content is allowed.

 Opt-out - A subscriber must be able to stop receiving messages from your
company by sending "STOP" to your short code program (see below to learn
what a short code is). Additionally, users should be able to receive assistance by
texting "HELP" to the program. After 18 months of inactivity, the opt-in should
expire and that subscriber should automatically be removed from your list.

Short codes are special telephone numbers that are significantly shorter than
full telephone numbers used for SMS and MMS messages. There are 2 types of
short codes that businesses can use: random and vanity. Random short codes
are 4-6 digits used for a variety of programs and may be shared.

Vanity codes are used to spell out a brand name or word, which are easier to remember but can take 8-12
weeks to get. Keep in mind that once you get a short code, you don't own it; you rent it. Some companies
will rent a random code for the time that it takes to get their vanity code approved.

Mobile Banner Ads
A mobile banner ad is a universal color graphics ad unit displayed on a mobile website. The goal of a
mobile banner ad is to be seen by as many people as possible to increase brand and message awareness
and complete a desired conversion goal. The key is to work towards accomplishing both of these goals
while also creating a good user experience across all mobile phone models, network technologies and data
bandwidths. Mobile banner ads can be placed in any location on a mobile website. They should be
clickable and link to a relevant mobile-friendly web page with more details related to the message
communicated on the banner.

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Designing a mobile banner ad isn’t quite the same as designing a banner
ad for standard websites viewed on a traditional Internet browser. What
looks good on a computer screen may not look good on the small screen
of a mobile device. Here are some tips to consider when it comes to
designing impactful and converting mobile banner ads:

No need for high definition graphics. A simple banner ad
works best on a mobile screen. You don’t need any high definition
images that you would likely want to display on a computer screen.
Keep in mind that your mobile banners should download quickly.

Use clear and concise font to display your offer. Considering the small size of the banner,
your text should be easy to read and the call-to-action should be blatantly obvious. Don’t leave
your audience confused and unsure of what action you would like them to take.

Link your mobile banner to a mobile-friendly landing page. Similarly to launching a
display advertising campaign online, in the mobile world your banner ads must link to a relevant
landing page (built to be mobile-friendly of course) that contains more information about the
offer within the banner.

Accompany your banner with a text link. This is the text found just
beneath the banner with the same call-to-action and links to the same
page that the banner links to. They are simply clickable text links that
act like banners to further aid in the conversion process.

Take into consideration banner sizes and formats. Mobile banners should be saved as
JPG, GIF or PNG files and should never be larger than 5 KB. Generally speaking, here are the
dimensions you should consider for your mobile banners with a 6:1 aspect ratio: XL Banner (300
X 50 pixels); Large Banner (216 X 36 pixels); Medium Banner (168 X 28 pixels); Small Banner (120
X 20 pixels). Of course you will have to check with the publishers and networks that you plan to
use to display your banners for exact specs.

Use the right amount of characters. Based on the above 6:1 aspect ratio of mobile banner
ads, here are recommended text taglines: X-Large: up to 24 characters; Large: up to 18
characters; Medium: up to 12 characters; Small: up to 10 characters.

Mobile Video Ads

With more and more smartphones being built with video capabilities and as carriers
improve their data plans to gain a larger market share, companies are starting to use
mobile video ads as a way to connect with customers and provide a more interactive user
experience. Video content in general is more engaging than text content and in the world
of mobile marketing, mobile video has become increasingly attractive to marketers
looking for interesting ways to reach their mobile audience. Here are some best practices
when it comes to mobile video ads:

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Leverage various mobile video platforms. There are various
ways to publish your video ads on a mobile device. For example,
interactive in-stream videos are short video ads that are played
before video content. Interactive pre-rolls are video ads played
within other content (ie: between game levels or when applications
launch). Tap to interactive video is a method whereby a video ad is
served up after a user taps a banner.

Combine your videos with mobile banner ads. Tap to interactive video is a great way to
integrate 2 powerful advertising mediums for increased conversions. If you promote brand
awareness through compelling video ads, your audience will be more prepared to click on a
banner ad from the same brand. For best results, video and banner ads should run on the same
sites, portals or apps.

Provide a short video ad as a preview of a longer video. After a 10 to 15 second video
ad, you can use a tap to interactive option to send people to a longer, full-length commercial.
This is a great way to create a strong brand experience. These full commercials can be up to 5-8
minutes long, and if done right, they can create an excellent branding experience for your
customers.

Take viewers somewhere interesting after the video. After your video ad, you can
display a button that directs viewers to take action and extend their experience with your brand.
Some examples of compelling buttons are: tap to learn more, tap to visit website, tap to share
on Facebook, etc. This is a great way to drive more traffic to your mobile website and increase
conversions.

Display your video ads alongside relevant content. Take a closer
look at the various mobile video platforms and sites you plan to use to
serve up your video ad. If your videos are displayed next to controversial
content, it could impact your brand's image. Learn more about the various
advertising platforms out there and ensure you know where your videos
are being displayed.

Interstitial Ads
The last mobile advertising technique we will highlight here are interstitial ads,
which are ads that are served in between content being loaded – the dead time
during downloads. Rather than staring at a progress bar while a page is loading or
a file is downloading, users can watch a mobile ad during this period. Mobile
interstitials can be designed to offer interactive capabilities without displacing
users from the original app or site from which the ad appeared.

After displaying for a short period of time, the interstitial ad disappears and allows
users to return to the original content. Alternatively, users can click the “skip” icon
to make the interstitial ad disappear and reveal the original content again.

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Aside from placing these ads during loading or download times, advertisers can use them as a bumper
screen for the launch or exit of an application or as a splash page within an application.

The key to success here is to ensure interstitial ads are placed in the right
places and appear at the right times. For example, if a user is trying to
download a movie review on their mobile device, serving up an interstitial ad
with movie showtimes and theatre locations for that particular city would
be a great strategy. You would be providing valuable and relevant information
to your audience at the moment they are viewing (or waiting to view)
similar content.

Since the carriers own the dead space between downloads, we can expect to see major carriers capitalize
on the advertising revenue opportunities from businesses looking to increase brand presence with mobile
interstitial advertising.

Mobile Advertising Tips
Now that we’ve gone through some of the most common ways companies are
advertising their brands, products and services through mobile, let’s briefly cover
some of the general tips and best practices for ensuring you launch and implement
a successful mobile advertising campaign:

Integrate your mobile and online campaigns. Keep in mind that mobile marketing is
closely linked to online marketing. The whole concept is based around the idea that people who
are searching online for product and service information are doing so from both a desktop
computer and their mobile devices.

This means the notion is that what advertisers could do in the online
world, they are now able to do in the mobile realm. So the two strategies
should be combined for maximum results. Many mobile Internet users
are prone to visit a website on their desktop computers after viewing the
mobile version.

Design for the medium. If you are launching a text messaging campaign, take into account
character limitations, time of day that messages are sent and communicating the message as
concisely as possible. If you are designing a mobile banner ad, consult with the publisher to
ensure you implement their design requirements. The same applies for mobile videos and any
other mobile ad you create.

Leverage the unique features of mobile. Mobile devices offer unique
features that allow you to get creative with your ads. For example, you can
use the device’s GPS to identify the user’s location and integrate that into
your campaign. Or you can develop ads that leverage the phone’s camera.

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Ensure you have a mobile-friendly site. There’s a reason why a mobile website was
discussed first in this chapter. There are several mobile advertising opportunities available, but
before you launch any campaign (or design any app, which will be discussed shortly), you need
to build a mobile site.

If you’re active on the mobile space in the form of advertising, your
customers will likely search for your website on their mobile devices. If
they find you don’t have one or your website isn’t mobile friendly, you
could be damaging your mobile reputation.

Put your audience in control. Since a mobile phone is
considered personal to each user, it’s important that you allow
your users to stay in control of the content served up to them.
For rich media advertising, a “skip” button is a must. For a text
messaging campaign, an “opt-out” link is required. As previously
mentioned, subscribers should be able to text “STOP” to your
campaign in order to be removed from your database.

Present engaging content. If users don’t see something fun and interesting within the first
few seconds, they’re going to hit that “skip” button or they’re going to opt-out from your
program. Mobile advertising should focus on the customer and give them what they want, when
they want it. Keep in mind that text messaging should be used sparingly. Instead focus on
creating compelling video ads that will captivate your audience’s attention. Remember to
include a strong call-to-action that is clear and visible.

Test and optimize your mobile ads. Mobile is unique in the
sense that advertisers can capture taps, gestures, swipes, pinches
and zooms shedding light on how your audience is engaging with
your ads. Additionally, you can track when users exit or monitor
how quickly they arrive at the call-to-action, helping you to make
changes to your campaigns and re-deploy.

Mobile Apps

Developing a mobile application is the process of creating software specifically for small low-power
handheld devices, such as mobile phones or tablets. These applications can be pre-installed onto phones
at the manufacturing stage or downloaded by users from a mobile software distribution platform.

When we think of mobile apps, our minds automatically go towards the idea
of games. The assumption that this technology is most appropriate for the
gaming industry kicks in and we automatically dismiss the possibility of
creating a mobile app for our businesses. Though a mobile app may not be
for everyone, they do offer some companies an opportunity to reach a
mobile audience.

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Why Companies Create a Mobile App
Many companies create mobile apps as natural extensions to their business. Here are just some of the
reasons why businesses choose to create a mobile app:

Make their services more accessible. Software-as-a-service companies would do well to
create a mobile app where their clients can access their products using a mobile device. All the
features of the product likely won’t be accessible through an app, but some of the main features
could be, thus making it easier for your clients to use your services.

Create a highly interactive loyalty program. The Starbucks card
mobile app is a good example of this. Users can check their Starbucks
balance and track the Stars they’ve earned to achieve a free drink
through the app. And app users can even use their Starbucks mobile
app to make purchases! Mobile apps can be an effective way for
companies to promote customer engagement and brand loyalty.

Enhance the experience of events and conferences. Companies that hold big events,
such as conferences or tradeshows, consider creating an app specifically for that event. The app
would be downloaded by event attendees and contain information such as: event schedule,
exhibitor information, tradeshow floor plan, venue details and directions, the ability to connect
with other attendees, etc.

The event app could be used all year round, even when the event
is over. For example, exhibitor information and resources could be
housed within the app even after the event has passed. Many
companies use this opportunity to bring a digital component to
their events and allow attendees to connect with each other
through their mobile devices.

A well-designed app is one that is created to: meet a specific need of your customers, whether it's
information driven, entertaining or helps improve productivity; allow users to connect with their friends
through the app (social media friendly apps are key); allow your customers to interact with your business
through the app; and offer them value for downloading and using your app, such as regular coupons,
discounts, rewards, etc. Here are some of the benefits of mobile apps:

 Can operate completely on the phone or tablet without relying on Internet connectivity
 Can tap into specific phone features, such as contacts, GPS, Bluetooth, accelerometer, etc.
 Can allow for pop-up notification alerts (with permission of course)
 Can offer an interactive user experience
 Can reach a mass market (by appearing in app store listings)

There’s no doubt that an opportunity exists when it comes to businesses creating a mobile app. But the
question is whether this is the right direction to head.

Page 30

Determining Whether You Need an App
Developing a mobile app for your business is definitely an investment of
time and resources. So before getting started down this path, it’s important
that you determine whether your company needs a mobile app. A common
mistake that some companies make is creating an app that is static and
only contains brochure-type information. If that’s your mobile goal
(getting your brand out there in the mobile realm), then you’d be better
off to create a mobile website and start doing some location-based
marketing and mobile advertising instead.

The purpose of a mobile app is to connect with your audience, provide value to them
by having the app (such as accessing useful information, accessing your services or
earning points or rewards of some sort) and give them the ability to contact your
company with a swipe and tap. Ask yourself the following questions to determine if
you need a mobile app:

 Will a mobile app help my customers do business with me?
 Will a mobile app solve a common problem that my customers have? How?
 Will a mobile app help my customers stay engaged with my brand?
 Will my customers share my mobile app? (Or a better question – what type of mobile app should
I create that would be considered share-worthy?)

Determine Who the App is For

If you decide that your company needs a mobile app, the next thing you need
to determine is whether your app is for an internal audience or the mass
consumer market. If you offer software-as-a-service, your app is likely only
appropriate for your clientbase.

If you are organizing a major event, your app would only be useful to those
who attend your event. However, if you are looking to launch an app that
promotes customer engagement and loyalty, then your audience would be wider. Further to that point, if
you operate a local business, then you will have to target customers within a certain radius.

Narrowing down the target audience of your app will help you determine what type of app you will
develop and how to market that app once it’s launched. But if you’ve made it this far in the process, then
you likely have a good idea of what type of app you want to create. The next step is to get it developed.

Working with App Developers
Budget will play a key role in how you choose to go about creating your app. But keep in mind that if you
want your app created well, then you will need to make a financial investment to have it designed by
professionals. Not only that, but you need to invest the time as well.

Page 31

Defining the specifications for your app requires a lot of thought initially and then more thought after
receiving feedback from other members of your company. Additionally, creating the app itself according to
your specifications will require time as well as a financial investment.

To get started, source a professional mobile app developer company that can
handle your initial and ongoing support needs. Verify that the company
understands the requirements of the project and timelines. Make sure the app
development process moves according to a timeline that will meet your deadline
(this is especially important if you are gearing toward a specific launch date or you
have an event scheduled and need to create an app before the event starts).

Remember to also take into consideration the time required to create an app
store account and get the app approved by the app distributor, so that it
becomes available to your audience.

Working with app developers requires a dedicated project manager, strong
communication skills and regular follow-ups to ensure the development is
progressing smoothly. Consider these traits when assigning a team member
to work with the developers.

Testing and Deploying Your App
Once your mobile app is built, you need to test it. Ensure all the functionality works properly as outlined in
the specifications. Go back to your list of specifications and ensure the app has been created according to
those requirements. Remember: developing a mobile app can be a hefty expense on the wallet, so make
sure you test the app thoroughly for quality assurance purposes. Here are some tips when it comes to
effective testing of an app:

 Create testing scenarios - Identify some testing scenarios that cover both the user experience
and the functionality of the technology. Over-testing can be just as bad as not testing at all. So
focus your efforts on the most important areas of your app.

 Test with real users of the app – Get your app into the hands of the people who will be using it.
Try working with a small number of existing customers. Have them review the app, test it and
verify that it works and meets their needs.

 Don’t just test for bugs; test the experience – This is one mistake many companies make. They
focus on the software technology and test whether it performs according to the specifications,
but forget the user experience as they are going through the software.

 Continually test and monitor - Once you test your app and confirm that
it’s ready to be launched, it’s time to deploy it. But it doesn’t stop there.
Consider enhancing your app based on feedback that you get from
people who download and use your app.

Page 32

Promoting Your App
This is not a “build it and they will come” scenario. The app store is a
competitive environment. Though having your app listed publicly is a great
way to increase brand exposure, your app could be listed alongside your
competitors if they’ve created an app similar to yours already. The app
store has hundreds of thousands of apps all screaming for attention. How
can you get the word out about yours?

Once the app has been deployed and made available for people to download, the
next step is to get the word out there. People can’t download something they
don’t know about. This is where an effective promotion campaign is critical to bring
maximum exposure to your new app. Leverage your existing marketing channels
to tell people about your app, including your website, mobile site, blog, email
marketing campaign, day-to-day email signature, social media pages, etc.
Communicate the many benefits customers will receive when they use your app,
why they should download it and how the app will benefit them over time.
Get people to download your app and get people talking about it.

After your app has received some traction and people have started to download and use
it, the next thing you should consider is getting your customers to rate and review your
app in the app store. You can do this by reaching out to your loyal customers who have
used the app for a long enough period of time to really have a strong review. Encourage
them to leave a positive note about your app in the store. Or you can push out a
notification through the app and remind them to rate and review the app.

Whether you ask your customers to review the app or not, they are likely going to share
their feedback in the app store. Typically, people are quicker to share negative feedback
than positive, but by reminding your app users to review your app, you are encouraging
those who have a positive review to share it with the rest of the app store community.

Other Mobile Tactics to Consider

Aside from the 4 main mobile marketing strategies discussed in the previous section, there are a couple
more mobile-related services that your company should consider: mobile commerce (also known as m-
commerce) and QR codes (also known as 2D barcodes). We will briefly go over these tactics and how your
business can incorporate them into your overall strategy.

Mobile Commerce (M-Commerce)
Mobile commerce (m-commerce) is the ability to conduct commerce (complete financial transactions)
using a mobile device. With new highly advanced smartphones being released all the time, never before
has it been easier to shop anywhere, anytime from the palm of your hand.

Page 33

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