Mobile Web Use Is Up. Is Your Media Activated?

Recently, Nielsen released a study showing that mobile Internet usage is way up among men and women in all age brackets.

According to the report, there were 56.9 million mobile web users in July of this year – up from 42.5 million at the same time in 2008.

56.9 million! That’s almost one quarter of the 270 million total mobile subscribers in the U.S.  And these numbers just keep on growing.

Given the depth and breadth of mobile web usage, it seems prudent for most brands to have a mobile web site to better and more directly reach customers.

And in my humble opinion, much of the media being employed to advertise those brands through non-mobile channels like print, TV, radio and web should be equipped with mobile calls-to-action. Those prompts can link customers directly to these individual mobile sites from wherever they happen to be when they get the brand message.

Direct interaction with customers via mobile means greater engagement. And mobile media activation means brand messages can be instantly and directly beamed into users’ pockets via SMS, which in turn will lead to greater site traffic and profitability.

Just imagine if every print or TV ad for Best Buy had a mobile call to action that drove subscribers to the brand’s optimized mobile site, where they could book review products and shop for the best deals.

Now imagine every other retailer started doing the same thing to compete.

How much do you think mobile web usage would spike then?

Everywhere I turn I see more validation for mobile marketing, and I meet more smart people who share my view that mobile should garner a larger share of marketing budgets. As somebody who’s been doing this for a while, that feels fantastic.

And in case you’re wondering: nope, Waterfall Mobile is not designing an app or mobile website building framework. We remain laser focused on delivering world-class marketing services using SMS and IVR.

But with 270 million mobile subscribers out there, more marketing dollars for mobile means better ROI for everyone involved. And that is a very good thing.

Proof that Mobile Marketing Creates Results for Brands

Aberdeen mobile analyst Jeff Zabin recently published a game-changing whitepaper called “The ROI on Mobile Marketing: Why it Pays to Reach Consumers on the Go.”

Simply put, this study is the best effort I’ve seen yet to quantify return on marketing investment, or ROMI, as it relates to mobile. And I’m not surprised that in a comprehensive survey like this, mobile emerges as the clear winner in terms of marketing expenditure vs. return.

“By extending marketing communications directly through the mobile channel and with the mobile enhancement of traditional media,” Zabin writes, “mobile marketing can deliver a broad range of benefits that ultimately translate into increased revenues and profitability.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

The Aberdeen study examined over 200 companies of various sizes with either existing mobile marketing programs or plans for future deployment.  The top 20% “Best-in-Class” companies, which include Coca-Cola, are those with the highest levels of customer acquisition, retention, and profitability.

Not coincidentally, Best-in-Class companies have taken many of the steps I’ve been advocating here at Mobile Demystified, including:

• Integrating mobile activities with other media buys and marketing tactics (71%)
• Usage of data mining and analytics solutions (65%)
• Linking mobile marketing results to financial outcomes (32%)

Ultimately, though, this study – and mobile marketing in general – is about ROI. And the results speak for themselves.

According to Aberdeen, 65% of Best-in-Class companies are satisfied with their mobile ROMI, but only 40% are satisfied with the ROMI from traditional media like print, television, and radio.

In other words, Best-in-Class companies – the profitable and successful ones – are 1.6 times happier with the mobile marketing experience than they are with other media.

Last but not least, Aberdeen reports that the Best-in-Class companies in this study have experienced a 100% year-to-year performance in customer profitability.

100%! It doesn’t get any better than that.

Activating Your Traditional Media, Part 2

Validation: it always feels good.

For many months now, I’ve been advocating that brands activate their traditional media through mobile marketing. I.e. enhance your content and ads in print, radio, television, and outdoor with a text call-to-action to build your mobile  channel.

Well the new Audit Bureau of Circulations report would appear to validate what I’ve been saying…

The key takeaways from the Bureau’s survey are:

1. Publishers are giving mobile more attention than ever before.
2. Mobile will drive web traffic to struggling newspaper and magazine operations.

(The ABC is legit, by the way. From the organization’s web site:

With more than 4,000 members in North America, ABC is a forum of the world’s leading magazine and newspaper publishers, advertisers and advertising agencies. The organization provides credible, verified information essential to the media buying and selling process. ABC maintains the world’s foremost electronic database of audited-circulation information and an array of verified readership, subscriber demographics and online activity data.)

The Bureau and its ABC Interactive arm conducted a comprehensive survey of ABC print publisher members to learn more about their current and future plans for the mobile market. Among other findings, researchers discovered that

• 70 percent of publishers agreed their publication paid more attention to mobile this year than last year.
• 80 percent of those surveyed believe that people will rely more heavily on mobile as their primary source for information over the next 3 years.
• 40 percent of those that tracked mobile’s impact on their website found it increased web traffic by five to 25 percent.
• Nearly a third of those surveyed think mobile will have a significant impact on their publication’s revenue in just three years.

One respondent said, “At this point, reader demand for mobile-friendly editorial content is stronger than advertiser demand. I believe advertiser demand will follow reader demand and will follow growth of smartphone adoption.”

For the newspaper business, this is sorely needed good news. For brands, it’s proof that mobile engagement via so-called “old media” can provide an eye-popping ROI.

Who says you can’t ever find good news in the paper?

Nissan Employs Separate Keywords to Monitor ROI

To match the fun and youthful vibe of the eye-catching Nissan Cube, the automaker rolled out a successful mobile campaign this summer to engage current and potential customers. Consumers could text in to gain access to Cube-themed music, wallpapers, TV commercials, Cube info and more fun goodies.

(Waterfall Mobile powered the mobile aspect of the campaign for our client TBWA \ Chiat \ Day, the agency of record for the Nissan Cube.)

One groundbreaking element of this campaign? Nissan’s use of 11 different SMS keywords. The company assigned each media platform a different keyword, thus making it easy to track where individual consumers were coming from – and, by extension, which ad channels were providing the most impactful ROI.

Nissan used the following outlets and keywords in the campaign:

Cable TV – CUBE
Dealer Letter – NISSAN
Direct Mail Piece – CONNECT
E-Newsletter – SHARE
Facebook fan page – FANS
Mobile – MOBILE
Nissan Headquarters – HQ
NissanUSA.com – MOBILEHUB
Print – NISSANCUBE
Prospect email – PERSONALIZE

The majority of the keywords went live on June 1, and over 10,000 people had texted in to the short code by the end of July. When consumers sent a text with one of the keywords to short code 44144, they received a reply with a web link that allowed them to get more information on the Cube’s features, sign up for Cube updates, or download the available MP3s, wallpapers and videos.

The results: cable television (keyword CUBE) has driven nearly 56% of the texts, while Nissan’s print ads (keyword NISSANCUBE) contributed to 36% of the texts received. The remaining 8% were split across the other platforms.

The campaign is still live. To download Cube-centric content or get additional information on this hot summer ride, text any of the above keywords to 44144.

KITS-FM LIVE 105 Mobile Campaign

Every month, the campaigns that we power at Waterfall Mobile range from small test promotions to massive ongoing programs, and we often encounter marketers new to the mobile industry that are surprised at how effective targeted regional mobile promotions can be at building mobile subscriber lists and extending brand awareness.

One recent example that demonstrates the power of a targeted local promotion was a mobile campaign for KITS-FM LIVE 105, an alternative/modern rock radio station based in San Francisco. The campaign was conducted over five days as part of a give-away promotion that offered five weekend getaways stays at The Resort at Squaw Creek in North Lake Tahoe.

KITS-FM wanted to grow its mobile subscriber list and engage listeners with the brand on alternative platforms – in this case via its growing mobile marketing efforts.  Squaw Valley USA & The Resort at Squaw Creek hoped to get information on North Lake Tahoe out to listeners and encourage them to visit the area.

Together, the companies prompted listeners via on-air call-outs to text in the keyword of the day for a chance to win the “Woody Show Field Trip Package.” Each text received a reply with information on North Lake Tahoe and Squaw Valley and was enrolled into the radio station’s mobile subscriber list to receive further information from the station.

After the winner was selected each day, a text message was sent notifying other entrants they did not win and a second text offered additional information about North Lake Tahoe.

By the end of the campaign, KITS-FM’s recorded its largest-ever response to an on-air mobile promotion: nearly 200,000 texts received over the course of the five-day program. Listeners engaged each day with the radio station, which was able to further build its opportunity to interact with avid fans in the future (over 14,000 unique users were added to their subscription list), and KITS found a convenient way around typical phone contests that often greet callers with a non-interactive busy signal. The station’s partner, The Resort at Squaw Creek in North Lake Tahoe, also received a significant number of impressions and drove wide awareness of its brand across a major metropolitan market area.

Thank You E-mail Marketing!

According to Internet Retailer’s new survey of retailers and manufacturers, a variety of innovative e-mail marketing tactics are increasing the effectiveness of the medium. Following up on a recent blog entry about the importance of CRM, these tactics are all fantastic additional ways to further extend your company’s relationship with its customers.

And the best part – the tactics mentioned in the article don’t need to apply exclusively to e-mail marketing. Rather than wait two years for someone to publish the same results and guidance on mobile marketing, I’m going to go out on a limb here and propose that these very same tactics can hone your mobile marketing as well!

Each of the tactics mentioned in Internet Retailer’s survey would also increase ROI for mobile marketing efforts and require very little effort to execute:

• 38.8% are triggering e-mail marketing messages based on behaviors or events.
• 36.5% are personalizing messages (such as by addressing customers by first name)
• 28.2% are adding Forward-to-Friend links
• 22.7% are leveraging transactional messaging for marketing communications
• 18.4% are providing multiple options during the opt-out process (for ex., opt out of promotional e-mails but receive newsletter)
• 17.6% are including customer reviews
• 14.1% are adding Share This links to social networks
• 13.3% are adding more video-related content

If you’d like to learn more about how Waterfall Mobile can help your campaign leverage some of these tactics to extend your company’s relationship with its customers, hit me up at msilk@waterfallmobile.com.

SMS is Most Direct Way to Connect with Target Audience

Mobile Marketer

“The combination of consumers choosing to opt-in, the personal nature of the mobile channel and relevant messages have led to higher engagement rates, response, and ROI compared to other advertising categories.”

“Mobile messaging is the most direct way to connect with a target audience.”

View article.

Marketers and retailers must consider mobile marketing to extend the marketing reach and engage consumers with the immediacy of mobile.

Related articles:
6 Effective Mobile Tactics, by Matt Silk

Quick Stats: Have Students Graduated from E-Mail?

eMarketer Article
October 2008 ROI Study

• More than six out of 10 US high school and college students surveyed “never” or “hardly ever” read marketing e-mails.
• The majority of respondents said companies were not effectively speaking to them personally through e-mail.
• 2/3 of students surveyed said they rarely or never took action after reading marketing e-mails.