Great Outlook for Interactive Marketing

Forrester recently released their “US Interactive Marketing Forecast” for 2009-2014, and the outlook is good.

Forrester is predicting that interactive marketing (including email marketing, social media and mobile) will become a more significant part of the overall marketing mix in the coming years, which is expected to grow to an impressive $55 billion by 2014, and to increase from 12 percent of the overall marketing spend to 21 percent.

Over the next several years, mobile marketing is expected to grow by 27 percent and social media by 34 percent. Social media has the steepest expected growth as marketers continue to try and keep up with the consumers increased use of social networking sites, which has surpassed email as the primary source of communication in 2009, according to Nielsen Online.

The increase in mobile data usage, continued development of mobile applications and mobile maturing as a marketing medium all will attribute to mobile’s growth.

Forecast: US Interactive Marketing Spend, 2009 to 2014

Although Email marketing had the smallest expected growth, this can be attributed to the already high adoption. The report found that marketers will continue to utilize email as a tool, with 97 percent of marketers planning on using/continuing to use email marketing in 2010.

It’s imperative that every company is asking themselves how they plan on utilizing interactive marketing over the next 5 years. And, with nearly every print publication feeling crunched and the “TIVO” phenomenon taking a bite out of TV advertising, do we really think only 21% of these budgets will be allocated to interactive?

I am going to go out on a limb here and say significantly more budget will shift into these incredibly cost-effective and measurable direct marketing mediums. My number is 30%…

Mobile Can (And Should) Be A Franchise Player In The College Football Marketing Game

Football season is upon us and I can’t start to explain how much I have missed it.

Now, I love the NFL as much as the next person, but for me Saturdays are a whole different game.  Nothing feels more American than crisp fall weather, ice cold beer, barbecued meats, and the mesmerizing week-to-week soap opera that is the college football rankings.

One of the most hotly contested rivalry in college ball these days is the one that exists between Michigan and Ohio State.

Below, you can find two randomly selected fans:

These two live and die for their football. On Saturdays they are at the game or in front of the TV dressed in head to toe team gear. During the week, they are thinking about Saturday, talking about Tate Forcier’s or Terrelle Pryor’s ability to deliver them the big “W” and ranting about changes that need to be made before the game.

On November 21, these two, along with every other Michigan and OSU fan, will spend an entire Saturday screaming at each other from opposite sides of “The Big House” (or through their TV).

Though these fans hate each other, they still have two things in common:

1. They both love their teams more than anything.
2. They both have cell phones in their pockets right now.

And because of that, college football-themed SMS promotions have immense potential. For colleges, they mean additional revenue during a brutal year for endowment financing; for brands, they deliver the ability to tie an advertising message to something as personal and beloved as college football. And of course, no marketing media reaches consumers more directly, more personally, than mobile.

AT&T has a brilliant thing going with its All-American Player of the Week campaign. Now in its sixth year, the campaign allows fans to text-in to select the previous weekend’s top performer (from a list of pre-selected nominees). By texting in, fans not only get to log a vote for their favorite player, but they also get entered into a sweepstakes to win a trip to the 2010 BCS National Championship game in Pasadena, Calif.

Look out OSU, Michigan’s “Tate the Great,” was week 2’s winner. Looks like it is time to get your cell phones out and start texting.

AT&T also allows fans to sign up for game day reminder alerts, stat updates and free ticket offers from certain college teams.

Along with AT&T, Anheuser-Busch is seizing opportunity with some exciting college football promotions. The brewer (and Waterfall Mobile client) is currently running a campaign and sweepstakes with the grand prize of two tickets to the Big 12 Championship in December. People can text RIVALS to 23377 to join one of twelve schools’ mobile subscriber lists. Once on the lists, the subscribers start receiving game day reminder texts and are instantly entered into the sweepstakes.

More teams really should be seizing this huge opportunity to connect with fans. And I am not alone in this opinion. Greg Brown, president of Learfield Sports, did an interview recently with the Sports Business Journal to discuss the upcoming college football season.

(Learfield, headquartered in Plano, Texas, is widely acknowledged to be a leader in collegiate sports marketing.)

Here’s how Brown concluded the interview:

SPORTS BUSINESS JOURNAL: In terms of generating revenue from football, what are your expectations for the year?

BROWN: I think it’s going to come from more of the technology developments, the text promotions, text sponsorships. There’s a whole new opportunity on the technology side that we’re all trying to figure out how to monetize. That’s where people are looking for the “text to win” promotion, the bounce-back coupon. They want more interactivity, more touches with the consumer. They don’t generally want straight-up branding, they want to reach out and demonstrate value. People want contact with the consumer in some fashion, and that’s true on radio, TV and at the venue.

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

LeadsCon East – Be There!

If you’re in New York in mid-August (specifically August 17-18), you should check out LeadsCon East. The conference focuses on the online customer acquisition arena and gives special attention to lead generation.

I’ll be speaking during the Marketing Strategies Showcase session on the 18th discussing the best ways to get the most out of ad spends with other leaders in the space. Since we’ll be there, we’re able to pass along a special discounted registration rate of $295*. (You can only get the rate through the provided link).

In addition to the panel session, representatives from Waterfall Mobile will be at our booth and walking the halls. We’d love to set up a meeting if you are in the area.

Also, be sure to check out the schedule of events. Hope to see you there.

*Discount rate good on new registrations only. Credits or refunds cannot be issued on previous registrations. Discount rate good through August 1, 2009, prevailing rate applies after that.

Smart Thinking

CBS Outdoor recently announced it will be offering text message advertising as part of the company’s suite of out of home (OOH) marketing services.

Now the many thousands of billboards, checkout screens and bus kiosks owned by CBS will be launching pads for SMS-based marketing programs.

That means people who are looking for something to do while standing in line at the grocery store or waiting at a traffic light will have the opportunity to get targeted messages asking them to opt-in for SMS promotions.

Meanwhile, OOH video network operator Indoor Direct will be putting branded screens into 133 Carl’s Jr. restaurants in San Francisco and Los Angeles.  Imagine if all of those young, hungry guys – Carl’s Jr.’s bulls-eye demo – could opt in for SMS too?  Chances are they’ll be texting anyway until their fries show up.

By all accounts, texting continues to grow in popularity – and not just among young people.

As CBS Outdoor’s statistics note,

• 131 million mobile phone owners use text messaging according to Pew Internet Project
• 68% of parents communicate with their kids through text messaging (Kelton Research, 2008)
• 51% of women aged 35-44 and 42% of women aged 45-54 use text messaging (Mobile Marketing Association, 2007 Mobile Attitude & Usage Study)
• 35-44 year olds send an average of 236 texts per month, compared to making 223 calls during the same time period (Nielsen Mobile 2008)
• 46% of tweens aged 8-12 use cell phones (the tween population equals 20MM)
• 58 million of all U.S. mobile subscribers say they’ve been exposed to advertising on their phones in the past 30 days (Nielsen Mobile, March 2008)
• 26% of those who saw an ad responded at least once by sending an SMS text-message, the most popular ad response (Nielsen Mobile, March 2008)

Seems like the OOH market is heading in this direction. How long until CBS Outdoor’s competitors jump into the fray?

Ad:Tech Chicago – Brand Performance and Effective Marketing Solutions

Ad:Tech – Mastering Brand Performance and Effective Marketing Solutions
August 6-7, 2008 – Chicago, IL
Website

An event for digital marketers, ad:tech is attended by top marketers, agencies and publishers and provides the opportunity to swap stories and debate on current trends with the industry’s brightest. Many strategy sessions that provide mobile marketing tactics and address current and future mobile advertising opportunities.

Top 5 Things to Know about SMS Advertising

iMedia Connection

If you want a marketing platform that offers reach, ease of entry, targeting and interactivity, then text marketing has it all.

When most of us think about SMS, we envision the (sometimes creatively) abbreviated messages, like “R u on yr way home?” But in addition to being a convenient and addictive personal communication tool, SMS is proving to be a great platform to help marketers reach and engage hard-to-find audiences.

Due to the personal nature of communicating with consumers on their mobile phones, marketers need to get smart about the medium and how to tap its potential to not only push information to consumers, but to spark a conversation with them. So, here are the things you need to remember about SMS Advertising.

1. There is big reach in text messaging, and audiences are already opted-in.
Don’t worry about having to deal with fragmentation. If you want to reach tens of millions of consumers through their phones, you can do it today. Moreover, the demographics of this consumer base are not purely teens or twentysomethings; lots of other demographics opt-in for SMS content as well.

View article.

Industry Case Study: Radio Station Power 96 FM (WPOW)

BACKGROUND: Beasley Broadcast Group radio station, Power 96 FM (WPOW) in Miami, Florida, wanted to increase its mobile audience, create opt-in relationships and leverage the power of mobile marketing.

OBJECTIVE: To engage mobile fans, build mobile subscriber lists with a “High School Spirit” contest. The winning school to host a concert by Pop/R&B/Hip-Hop music artists Plies, Colby O’Donis and Pleasure P.

STRATEGY: Participating high schools in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties were assigned keywords for a 25 day contest ending in late April.

RESULTS: Power 96 received 4, 161, 644 text message votes, doubling the station’s mobile marketing database.