One Mobile Year: Three months of good and bad

Kit Hughes, Managing Director and Head of Strategy for strategic branding studio Look-Listen, recently spoke at The Mobile Marketing Conference. He is living one year not using a personal computer and blogging about it at http://onemobileyear.com. The following is his summary of the first three months of the project. Read the original post here.

It’s been a mixed bag.
As I talked/ranted/joked during my session at The Mobile Marketing conference yesterday, the past three months have been enlightening. If you were in the audience, you heard me say things like:

• I’m a mess.
• Skype sucks.
• Why am I doing this? Because I’m a masochist.
• Amazon is a disappointment.
• A year ago I would have gone to battle for Google Docs but now I won’t give it the time of day.
• Running a business on an iPad is painful.
• I spend more money with Zappos because of their app.

For most of you that were not there, let me give some dimension to these comments.

I’m a mess
Well, I am. In the past three months, I’ve been trying to run a fully humming design studio and launch another business using only an iPad and iPhone. This involves more than just email; it involves managing payroll, refining an operating budget, collaborating with remote teams, invoicing, drafting agreements, etc. (See “The Net Net” below for more details)

Skype sucks
Seriously, it does. I used to rely on Skype for hours and hours of seamless communication when I was on a laptop, sometimes spending 4 hours a day on it. I still spend a lot of time on it but it’s an unreliable and unintuitive step-child to the version I used on my laptop. Bad Skype.

Why am I doing this? Because I’m a masochist
This was a joke, which was not received well at 9am. Nick Sheth (from Gap) didn’t warm up the audience enough when he spoke. However, by the time Catherine Roe (from Google) spoke, the audience was putty! You’re welcome Catherine.

Amazon is a disappointment
I hold Amazon to a very high standard and admire the leadership of Jeff Bezos and team for blazing new ground in internet retailing and e-readers. However, Amazon has shown slow leadership in mobile web. I hear chatter about how Amazon is making the site more tablet friendly but it’s a fail: they need an innovative, dedicated tablet site.

A year ago I would have gone to battle for Google Docs…
It’s a shame that the mobile version of Google Docs is as buggy and feature poor as it is. Seriously, there is no reason it can’t be better. They have coded their own operating system after all. Maybe they neglect it because they want people to by an Android device and use Google Docs on that? I’d like to think they’re better than that.

Running a business on an iPad is painful
Apple’s fault? Nope. In fact, I draft agreements in Pages and create proposals in Keynote very easily and iCloud syncs them with both devices. The pain is from the B2B software providers. Even a company I once loved, Freshbooks, disappoints. I plan on pontificating pretty hard on this area in the coming month.

I spend more money with Zappos because of their app
It’s true. They have an elegant app that lets me dig into the purchase process. They’ve given me a very easy way to browse and buy products on my iPhone and iPad, so that’s just what I do.

The Net Net
It’s unfair for me to leave my first three months with sound bites and minimal commentary. I said I was a masochist, not reckless (any funnier?) Seriously though, I am going to spend time over the next several days outlining the experience of the past three months, writing posts around key topics in work and life. Then, I’ll start to review apps and accessories I come in contact with. This will help give more context to the insights and opportunities.

Now, for the big finish: I’ve spent no more than 10 hours on a desktop in the past three months. 10 hours would have been a normal day for me in front of a laptop before this mobile year.

TMMC Recap: Crowdsourcing The Hottest Topics in Mobile Marketing

Last week at The Mobile Marketing conference we were pleased to host an expert panel featuring Carrie Chitsey, CEO, 3Seventy, Joseph Cox, President, VMBC and Brent Drake, Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Best Fit Mobile & Marketing.

Our expects tackled a range of topics that we had gathered ahead here on the blog and on LinkedIn and other social media as well as questions from the audience. Watch a video below for the full session.



Some of the biggest takeaways were as follows:  
What's the most important aspect to any mobile marketing strategy?
Ask "How does this fit in with the rest of my channels?"
Determine other touch points and find how mobile fits into that
Having the correct plan in place first
Have a central point of contact (for separate agency or departments) and utilize data across channels
Before a campaign is executed, figure out how you will use data afterwards

How do you get your company or CMO to see the value of a mobile strategy?
Look at the drop off that occurs for a non-mobile optimized site

Look at the response rate for a targeted, opted-in group (much higher than email), "The Golden Ticket is that opt-in"
 
How do you move behind the "bright shiny object" aspect of mobile and actually drive the bottom line?
Capture both quantitative and qualitative data about app/mobile use, the numbers and responses will speak for themselves

If I have a limited budget, what should take precedence: apps or mobile site?
A mobile website will see biggest immediate impact, mobile optimized is a good stop-gap, but a true mobile website will be the best investment

What is the biggest game changer in terms of new technology on the horizon?
The tablet
The availability of data for brands to connect with their customers
Augmented reality applications

Thanks for attending #TMMC, Plus "What's Your Platform?"

First off, we'd like to thank everyone who attended The Mobile Marketing Conference last week and helped to make it such a great experience. As we start to sift through out video footage and notes, expect lots more coverage of the subject right here.

Our partners at 3Seventy have put together a great wrap-up post already, sharing their main takeaways. Check it out here.

One question that came up frequently over the course of our 3 days in Miami was "What platform?" - with attendees occasionally being asked what platform they personally were using. The best thing to do when faced with this question is to look at the data - what does your analytics platform have to say about your visitors and what browser they are using?

For fun, I grabbed the screenshot below showing what platform users of the #TMMC hashtag on twitter were coming from. Behind HootSuite and Tweetdeck, Twitter for iPhone was our mobile winner coming in at 8% of tweets and Echofon (iPhone or iPad only) also picked up 3%. Twitter for Android and Tweetcaster for Android were in use as well and Twitter for BlackBerry was used for less than 1% of tweets.

Visit TheMMConference's Archive on #TMMC Containing 522 Tweets for more stats from the conference; http://archivist.visitmix.com/TheMMConference/1

To continue the discussions well into 2013, we encourage everyone to join the LinkedIn Group. This is a global network of professionals from all industries who share a common goal to track and develop Mobile Marketing trends and developments. Plus, keep up with the latest news by subscribing to updates from us on Facebook or Twitter.

If you are interested in sharing your conference insights here or contributing a guest blog, please contact me, Michelle LeBlanc, at mleblanc@iirusa.com. We'd love to have your input!

Using Customer Insights to Increase Your Online Marketing ROI - Complimentary Web Seminar

In association with Autonomy, an HP Company, The Institute for International Research invites you to join us for a one hour complimentary Web Seminar.

Harnessing the Insight from Big Data to Increase Online Marketing Performance
Wednesday, March 28, 2012, 1:00 - 2:00 PM (ET)
Presenter:
• Matt Malden, Vice President, Promote Division, Autonomy, an HP Company

Reserve your Webinar seat now.
Please mention priority code: MWJ0019-BLOG

Successful businesses have harnessed the power of online advertising to attract and convert customers. With increased data and web analytics, marketing has never been held more accountable to deliver traffic, leads and revenue.

While marketers have always dreamed of having access to robust analytics regarding their advertising efforts, they have suddenly found that they are inundated with an overabundance of data that is impossible to manually consume and make actionable. It this web seminar, we will focus on how marketers can manage big data to deliver increased yields on their online marketing campaigns.

• How can you manage and analyze big data to continuously optimize keywords, ads and bids against sophisticated competitors?
• What combination of metrics defines online marketing success for your company and how do you optimize it?
• How do you use sophisticated portfolio-based optimization techniques to make superior budget allocation decisions?

Title: Harnessing the Insight from Big Data to Increase Online Marketing Performance
Date: Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Time: 1:00 - 2:00 PM ET

Please mention priority code: MWJ0019-BLOG

From QR to AR: Mobile Experience And Engagement at #TMMC

I started off the final afternoon in the Mobile Experience and Engagement track at The Mobile Marketing Conference.

First up, Julie DeWolf spoke about the Sunkist Growers approach to mobile.

 Shaun Quigley: Sunkist's approach to mobile #cpg Btw: the app is dead

When approaching mobile, Sunkist first started out with a app, but found that it wasn't really relevant to the product or worth the effort of maintaining.

Right now they have been seeing success with using both QR code, SMS code and website on packaging and POS promotions to grow engagement with their products. Interestingly, the current trend for their products is that QR codes are seeing more success than SMS calls-to-action.

The main challenge Sunkist Growers faced was creating a mobile presence without the end goal being m-commerce. As a solution, compelling content such as contests or recipes fulfills the brand promise when users reach the website and seasonal specific campaigns (such as for Lent or Lemonade stands for summer) provide tie-ins for specific fruits.

Up next, we heard from Carrie Chitsey, CEO of 3Seventy. Carrie was speaking on Augmented Reality and gave us many interesting current examples such as the eBay classifieds app (pictured here). From this, to real estate to grocery, AR has many uses and is perfect for engaging consumers in-store or on the street.

In an echoing of some of our other presentations, Chitsey reaffirmed the power of mobile for reaching the traveler. Augmented reality can provide an extremely user friendly experience for travelers showing nearby hotels, restaurants or entertainment.

In addition to information, brands such as Guinness who have jumped into the space with entertainment-based AR apps have had the benefit of going viral as it still has the "new and cool" factor and easily generates user-generated content that can be seamlessly shared to social.

Shopper Experience & Crashing the Plane, Live at #TMMC

Catherine Roe, Head of Consumer Packaged Goods, Google just spoke at The Mobile Marketing Conference on "Mobile: The Game Changer in Shopper Experience." At Google, Roe has a unique insight into changing consumer behaviors.

Google has found that 93% of mobile searches seek local intent and 89% take action. Mobile and tablet searches spike in the evenings as consumers leave the office or seek entertainment at home, 39% of walk-outs [of a store] are influenced by smartphone usage, and improved online experience will drive that number down.

Roe says of these trends, "Smartphones will prove exceptional at driving new consumer behavior"

She suggested you ask yourself four questions when approaching mobile:
How does mobile change my value proposition?
How should our marketing adapt to mobile?
Is our organization adapting to mobile?
How does mobile change my web presence?

The possibilities of mobile are certainly there and Google sees now as the time that brands really need to be moving forward. When it comes to trying something new, Roe says ""If you don't take risks and "crash the plane" every once in awhile, you're not moving forward." Now you can send a Coke to a stranger across the world from your phone, how will you "crash the plane?"

Mobile ROI & Learnings, Live at #TMMC

Our final day at The Mobile Marketing Conference began with a fascinating and tactical presentation by Nick Sheth, Senior Director, Global Business Development, Gap Inc. Direct.

Sheth got the sleepy crowd energized the crowd with some exciting insights from Gap's mobile experience. 3 standout takeaways included:

"The killer app for iPhone is email."
Half of Gap Inc. emails are opened on a mobile device, Nick made the important point of noting that regardless of what other apps are trendy, the first and last one most people look at is email.

Any email messages a brand is sending out needs to function as well on email as it does on a PC. Links need to go to the correct landing page and content needs to be accessible.

"Users will naturally gravitate to using their browser, that's a trend I can't overstate"
When it comes to apps, they can be great for already loyal customers, but the average user is going to head directly to their browser to visit a company on mobile. Having mobile optimized sites should be the first, most low-hanging fruit to pick when it comes to mobile strategy. For Gap, the data of users visiting their site was incredibly compelling and could not be ignored.

 "SMS is good for a lot of things, telling people about coupons in our stores is not one of them"
Between this comment, and disparaging QR codes for a company that already has bar codes on all of their products, Sheth polarized the audience. The fact is, ROI for retail coupons over SMS is very low for Gap, and there is a big risk of irritating consumers with too many messages. QR codes, similarly, have relatively low response rates. Sheth suggests thinking "Is there anything else in my day that I would spend this much time on for so little?" before tackling these tactics.

Up next, Kit Hughes presented on his "One Mobile Year" project. What better way to experience the mobile user journey than to completely live and work on mobile devices (specifically iPhone and iPad) for one year?

Hughes has been recording his journey and finds that while "Mobile Life" is good thanks to apps and "app-cessories," mobile work is a consistent frustration. Collaboration and business tools are consistently lagging behind, but when we are able to remove that computer from the equation we can move back towards more human, more creative interactions.
Read more about his first three months here.

Live at #TMMC: Customer Experience & Brand Experience

The afternoon of the first main conference day at The Mobile Marketing Conference was all about Customer Experience, User Experience and Brand Experience.

After our first session of the afternoon with Darin Wonn which touched on user experience design and building brand love and loyalty through experiences, Kim McNealy, Director, TurboTax Marketing Strategy, Intuit spoke about building the Turbo Tax brand through mobile.

The crowd warms up at Kim McNealy's session

At TurboTax, mobile experiences are allowing frictionless, fun tax prep. For example, a user can download an app and scan their W2 for instant information upload. In an effort to improve the app design, the team eliminated 20 clicks until their was only one click from opening the app til reaching the home screen. Now TurboTax desktop version design is influenced by the simple, streamlined app.
In terms of activation: TurboTax offers experiences like "Shazamable" ads that users can scan to reach the product. On the SMS front, TurboTax found the many users were most concerned with when their refund would arrive. An SMS opt-in to be notified of the IRS accepting the return garnered 70,000 opt-ins in the first week. Overall, the mobile presence is about making what can be a complicated experience easier, and eliminating pain points.

Ronalee Zárate-Bayani, Digital Lead, Brand Experience, Taco Bell Corporation then presented this afternoon on some of the unique strategies Taco Bell has used to connect with consumers via Mobile. Many of their most successful campaigns grew out of natural partnerships with PlayStation or MTV.

For Taco Bell, a successful mobile campaign:
1. Bridges the virtual world with the physical world
2. Intricately linked to brand DNA
3. Integrated into greater holistic experience

Providing relevant content in context for consumers that they wanted to share, such as a game, exclusive video or prize grew engagement for these campaigns, and a consolidated customer experience in a single Taco Bell app helped to simplify. Many of these are the same strategies you would use for any content marketing, but with mobile you can take it to a new level with seamless, personalized experiences.

The Mobile Traveler: Always On and Always Tethered - Live at #TMMC

Our afternoon sessions just started at The Mobile Marketing Conference with competing sessions from Darin Wonn, Product Manager for Mobile Apps, Intercontinental Hotels Group and Melissa Parrish, Senior Analyst, Forrester Research. It was a difficult choice, but I sat in on "The Mobile Traveler: Always On and Always Tethered" in our strategy track.

Darin identified some key points for reaching travelers (or really any customer). They were as follows:


1. Know your goals
It sounds obvious, but first identify what the goal of your app is, and what your business goals for building an app are.

2. Map the customer journey
Intercontinental Hotels Group was designing for a customer that was likely distracted, stressed and using a small screen. iPad may be used for planning ahead, but the traveler on the go is likely using a smartphone

3. Create brand love through unified experience
Be it by providing unique services using mobile technology such as a phone that works as a room key, to offering an easy coupon or discount to guests without the need for printing or additional steps. Mobile can provide a frictionless experience that builds loyalty and brand love.

What is your favorite app as a traveler?

Questions for Darin? Find him on twitter at @DarinWonn

The Future of Persuasion: Live at #TMMC

Our last keynote of the morning was a journey into a sci-fi future with Jason Tester, yet each technological trend he visited was something that we're actually seeing in the world.

We heard about hacks for our lives that can nag us to go to the gym with a vibrating phone, give us coaching on interactions by monitoring phone conversations or pick a place for dinner. Technology we have today could tailor ads as finely as morphing the faces to look more like the viewer.

As Tester put it, mobile is just the interface for how we will access these technologies. To read the full report on the Future of Persuasion, visit the IFTF website here.

Live at #TMMC: Strategies to Measuring Mobile Impact on the Bottom Line

Up next at The Mobile Marketing Conference was Thomas Poole, Managing Vice President, Digital Mobile & Emerging Channels, Capital One Financial Corp.

Poole started us off with the fact that one smartphone has more computing power than 100 Atari 800s, modern smartphones are cloud connected "super computers" and we have them with us 24/7.

This mobile connectivity allows for improved customer experiences, one great example of this? Mobile banking check deposits. From having to go to a bank branch, to maybe visiting the bank at the grocery store, to now being able to deposit a check via mobile phone a huge consumer pain point has been solved.

Another good example of improved customer experiences through mobile? The Starbucks app that builds loyalty through integrated rewards. Square Card Case and Shopkick are other good examples of using technology such as geo-location services and gamification to build customer interactions. Foodspotting was another app mentioned as an example of an app that uses the real-life context of users. What all these apps have in common is more data with less friction.

Poole left us with three pieces of advice:
Stay Connected (Use resources, try out apps and devices, read up on trends)
Be Nimble (Employ Agile Methodologies, act like you're in the software business)
Copy Shamelessly (Take advantage of the insights that you see)

Building Brands in the Mobile Medium, Live from #TMMC

Our main conference kicked off this morning with "Building Brands in the Mobile Medium," a session by our conference chair Jeffrey Hayzlett.

Hayzlett began the day by talking on the more general topic of driving change, starting with the story of Kodak and the digital camera and leading to a discussion of ink and printers.

As he said, if you're being asked to show ROI of new technologies, ask "What is the cost of return on ignoring?" The theory being that when approaching mobile, or innovating in general, you'll need to jump in and try some campaigns without waiting for permission or proven results.

With that said, when approaching campaigns, it is important to fulfill on brand promises with your mobile strategy. Looking forward to hearing more about that over the course of the next two days.

Best Practices in Creating Mobile Websites: Live at #TMMC

The afternoon workshop at The Mobile Marketing Conference began with attendees identifying which aspects of mobile web design and development they were interested in. Interestingly, many attendees mentioned that they were relatively new to mobile and looking for a "crash course" from this workshop.

To provide a crash course to you our readers, here are some key takeaways from the session.
First, Stephen lead us through a quick vocabulary lesson, including:
Feature Phone
"Dumb Phone" - basic phone with some apps, but not many features
Smart Phone
Mobile web vs desktop web
OMA: Open Mobile Alliance
WAP: wireless access protocol
WML: Wireless markup language (In WML, sites are decks, a page is a card)
XML: Extensible Markup Language
XHTML/XHTML MP: eXtensible HyperText Markup Language and eXtensible HyperText Markup Language Mobile Protocol
Native Apps
iOS
Webkit: Layout engine that powers many mobile browsers

Next, we covered the rise of mobile:
First, the internet made the world a lot smaller by providing socialization, shopping and learning online, but that was still an activity. Mobile presented a shift by placing the internet out in the world. 80% of people use mobile during miscellaneous downtime. Mobile is now layered on top of activities such as waiting, watching TV, or shopping in store.
Technology and mobile are imposing behaviors on culture and society. People are now becoming brands: providing interesting content or experiences. For many around the world, mobile is actually the only connection to the internet. 3.6 Billion people have a smartphone, and by halfway through this year, half of America will have a smartphone. Mobile is now growing faster than any technology in history.

Next, we talked about the difference between mobile web, hybrid apps and native apps.
In a side by side comparison, mobile apps are less portable between platforms, apps are harder to link to from outside, and can face problems with distribution via the app store, mobile web needs less promotion and can be found on search easily, additionally mobile web development costs are usually lower than app development. However, apps do have some aspects where they are stronger. It is easier to have more control over design and functionality and users can usually use offline, if you can overcome the initial barriers to entry, the user experience is generally stronger in an app.
The takeaway: mobile web is more utilitarian and easier to develop. Native apps are better for usability or content delivery.

So say you are looking at mobile web, what browsers are popular? Safari for iPhone, webkit, Opera Mobile (which may work better on older devices), and UC Web are a few.
The platform and device diversity out there had eliminated the ability to present a "pixel perfect" experience. Content wants to move around, and brand presence as we once knew it is disappearing.

With this in mind, Stephen then presented the idea of "mobile first design."
Mobile first design leads to:
Simplicity
A consistent experience across multiple digital touchpoints
Innovation

"A Beautiful Boilerplate for Responsive, Mobile-Friendly Development" 

He also discussed responsive design, (such as Skeleton, pictured here) which allows for flexible layouts, dynamic images and and media queries to serve the same content over different devices. However, only a small percentage of mobile browsers can run responsive design. (In global brands with a large feature phone audience, this may be a deal breaker.) You need to decide what is the best strategy for you based on your consumers. Look at your web analytics to see what browsers and devices are visiting your site presently.

In the second half of the workshop, Gates discussed more mobile web design basics such as:
Key information about your users to gather (device, context, reason for use, time spent on site, level of interaction), develop personas for these users
How the design will be used - for example, how will the phone or tablet be held, portrait or landscape? Is the navigation easily accessible in this format?
How the site will add value - ultimately this is going to be a deciding factor in the success of a mobile website. Given the use circumstances, what value will it add?

When it comes to strategy, Gates suggests you "forget everything you think you know." Forget the latest hype, tool or technology, ask the hard questions about your business and your development capacity. Don't rely on preconceived notions,  ask your users in context about their usage. Don't convert, create and keep it simple. Put consumer needs first. Finally, don't get stuck on the platform or device, test what you build, and think about having a holistic mobile plan.

When it comes to content, we discussed some basics around the importance of content for mobile and the ways that mobile and social media have redefined the idea of content. Good content is:
Appropriate
Useful
User-centered
Clear
Supported (and Factual and Up To Date)
When it comes to the future of content Gates discussed the new "State Aware Experience Design" enabled app from Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG). For more on that, visit his blog or the press release.

Lastly, we looked at some examples of good mobile design. Commonalities included: minimal navigation, clear usability with easy-to-read, large icons, and app-like features.

The final takeaways of our afternoon workshop were:
Decide what devices to support
Invest in a content strategy and have a holistic plan
Test and use prototypes
Use state aware user experience design to build customer experiences
Traditional Design and Development techniques still apply (with some vaiations)

Determine user context and goals

For more live coverage from the event, check out the stream on twitter at #TMMC. Michelle LeBlanc is a Social Media Strategist at IIR USA with a specialization in marketing. She may be reached at mleblanc@iirusa.com 

Developing Brand Building Apps to Last at #TMMC

We kicked off the morning workshop at the Mobile Marketing conference by discussing the app spectrum: from information to info-tainment to entertainment. Rick Gardinier & Shaun Quigley of Brunner started off with a very important point:
Apps aren't for marketing, they're for people...who expect value.
Any app development initiative needs to fall somewhere on that value spectrum.

So, given that information, you've found your value and now you're ready to jump in and build an app. Do you build it yourself, do you partner/license, or do you use a vendor? Do you build an app or a mobile website?

Take a step back and look at the total mobile experience as well as your customer insight to answer these questions. What are the mobile searches that are being performed for your product? Customer service inquiries, location-based searches? What types of devices are they using? It's important to gather this level of research before jumping in and this information can inform mobile development choices.

Our first chunk of the morning workshop ended with a great mnemonic: Mind the G.A.P.:
What is your Goal, what are the business requirements?
Who is your Audience? Advertisers, stakeholders, competition and end users can all be members of your audience.
Lastly, what is your Platform? IPhone, IPad, Android, RIM, Windows and Web can add up to 6 separate projects. Educate your stakeholders about what this means and what platform(s) you will be targeting. A cross-platform app can cost in the neighborhood of $90,000, vs $30,000 for a single platform.

Picking a Mobile Partner is like Playing Poker

As The Mobile Marketing Conference kicks off this week, we'll be featuring thoughts from some of our speakers, partners and attendees. This post is by Carrie Chitsey, CEO, 3Seventy.

Over the last four years of being in the mobile business, I’ve seen a lot of mobile companies come and go. Someone every day says, “Have you heard of “XYZ Company”?” There is a ton of money being invested in mobile technology and it’s very hard for a brand to know “who to go to the dance with”. Being an avid poker player I’ve come to realize that “picking a mobile partner is like playing poker”.

So I started to put myself in the shoes of our clients, prospects and folks we talk to on a daily basis. Several things have become very clear about brands that are looking to get into mobile:
1. They are in “research” mode and know what they’ve read or seen from competitors.
2. Someone has sold them or “tried” on whatever silohed solution they are selling.
3. A mobile strategy is rare and brand managers are usually tasked with a “mobile campaign”.
4. The database they are trying to build is really an afterthought and not a primary focus.
5. And if they’ve tried mobile before, they now know what they want this time, have goals and want a good partner, not just a technology.

We love the second time folks; they know a good mobile partner when they see one. These are great marriages.
So how does mobile strategy remind me of poker? It’s easy.

• Picking your table is key, if you end up or stay too long at a bad table, you lose all your money. Same is true with mobile, if you pick a bad partner, not only will you be unsuccessful, it leaves a bad taste.

• It’s ok to switch tables if you know you sat down to a bad table. If you aren’t seeing performance, technology is not what it cracked up to be and you aren’t getting mobile strategy and results….. move, time is of the essence in mobile you can’t wait 12 months to get a good mobile partner.

• The guy who wins the most hands is not the guy that wins the most money. Mobile is test and learn, not everything you do is going to be a huge success. Test, learn and repeat the good stuff. You need to build a foundation for success, anyone can win one jackpot but try hitting multiple.

• Don’t play games you don’t understand even if you see others winning by luck. There will always be something new and shiny in mobile. Innovation is good, but you have to learn the basics first. Going from not doing anything mobile to moving straight to an iPhone or Augmented Reality application is not a good move.

• Learn by playing the game, reading and theory are great but nothing replaces actual experience. Get going, time is now, pick a great mobile partner and throw in some chips, you don’t have to go “all-in”.

Mobile Starts Monday + This Week's News

We're off to The Mobile Marketing Conference soon, where we'll be providing coverage of some of the most exciting sessions, interviewing mobile marketing experts, and live tweeting. Follow the stream next week at #TMMC on twitter for immediate updates from the event, or stay tuned to this space for session write ups and photos from the event.

Attending the event? RSVP on Lanyrd, LinkedIn, or Facebook and start connecting with other attendees now.

But before we fly off to Miami, let's take a look at what happened this week. ClickZ published a fascinating article about the "tendency to retrofit mobile into an existing marketing strategy." Entitled, "The Problem With Mobile Marketing?" author Derek Harding really hit the nail on the head, noting:

"Email and web are well established online channels in use for over a decade. Though much has changed in that time and there are areas where email in particular is less well utilized than it should be, they are mediums and they are well understood as such. Social meanwhile is the new kid on the block. In many ways little more than the latest shiny evolution of web-based services. Still and all, social is being well served. There are a wide range of specialist providers creating tools and services to support marketers and more media experts offering advice than any one person can reasonably keep with.

Mobile though is another beast entirely. The breadth of capabilities of mobile devices and the range of purposes to which owners put their devices is both astounding and daunting. When a marketer speaks of mobile marketing they could be speaking about location-based services, SMS, email on a phone, apps, or mobile web pages."

Ultimately understanding the many faucets that fall under the "mobile" umbrella and tailoring a strategy that is customized for whichever of those you choose to use is going to be the key to mobile marketing. "Mobile" is not just email or web marketing, but on a phone.

A good example of this? Millennial Media released a report this week identifying three trends as being the most influential for mobile marketers: local, video, and mass market reach. For any company to successfully participate in any of these trends, you'll need a specialized strategy. Local and mass market in particular sit at opposite ends of the mobile spectrum.

Whatever way you go, this interesting MediaPost blog included some sound advice from Chris Silva of Altimeter “A mobile strategy should not focus on demonstrating the means -- mobile platforms -- but on meeting the end needs of customers.”

With that in mind, many are still figuring out social customer experiences. Amex seems to have the medium mastered though, debuting their new "AmEx Sync" platform. AdAge asked "What If the Real 'Winner' of SXSW Was AmEx?" this week, exploring the new offering and it's predominance over Austin.

 Many other companies are busy trying to adopt the new Facebook Timeline format for their pages before the March 30th deadline so as to continue to offer a seamless Facebook experience for their customers. Techcrunch reported that 8 million Of the 37 million+ pages on Facebook already upgraded within 10 days of the Timeline becoming available, saying:

"There are some concerns about the removed ability to set a custom promotional app as a default landing page, but those are offset by eagerness for pinned posts, bigger photos, and more presentation flexibility."

Will that continue to be the case after all pages are forced to change on the 30th? Only 8 of the top 20 pages have migrated, many page owners have invested significant time (and money) in the old format and it's not certain that fans will become more engaged with the new. Have you switched over yet, what do you like or dislike about the change?

Like these updates? You can also follow us on Twitter or on Facebook for conference updates and industry insider news all week long.   

Let's Talk Texting

When it comes to Mobile Marketing, you hear a lot of buzz about apps, mobile websites, QR codes and more, but what about the simple text message? A recent study by Columbia Business School’s Center on Global Brand Leadership and the New York American Marketing Association found that:

"mobile advertising (ads within mobile apps, or via SMS message) has been adopted by 51% of marketers. Financial services and travel/leisure were among the industries most likely to use it. Although still newer and less standardized than some other digital marketing tools, mobile-only ads have been adopted by 76% of the largest firms, with revenues over $100 billion annually."

And when it comes to SMS specifically, our partners at 3Seventy reported that "an estimated eight trillion SMS messages were sent in 2011. The Mobile Marketing Association released a report stating that the vast majority (97 percent) of SMS messages are opened by the recipient."

It's clear that SMS can be a very effective channel for marketing and engaging your community. One success story of SMS comes from The Mobile Marketing Conference featured company, DoSomething.org. As part of their mission "to build an army of doers 5 million strong by 2015." DoSomething.Org is speaking to teens via text.

In a November 2011 press release, Nancy Lublin, DoSomething.org CEO and chief old person was quoted as saying “While the message is primarily the same, the medium has definitely changed...With 72% of teens texting and 54% of them doing it on a daily basis, we want to beef up our SMS skills. Teens want things done their way, and we respect that.”

At DoSomething.org, this everyday platform for the masses is being used to drive both user conversations and offline action. DoSomething.org envisions SMS as the best way to reach their growing network of social change agents. The format is quick, direct and to-the-point: perfect for activating campaigns for crisis relief and pressing social issues. Forget newer, slicker technology: the most immediate and personal way to reach your audience is the seemingly unsexy text message.

To hear more about DoSomething.org's success with SMS and ideas for activating your audience, join us for "Next Generation SMS: From Message to Interaction" with Aria Finger, COO and Stephanie Shih, User Experience, DoSomething.org at The Mobile Marketing Conference.


Save 15% when you register with code TMMC12DIGITAL here.

P.S. Join our social media community! Our new LinkedIn Group is a place to share expertise and brilliant ideas on anything mobile marketing and you can also follow us on Twitter or on Facebook for conference updates and industry insider news. 
 
Headed to Miami next week? RSVP on LinkedIn to start connecting now: http://linkd.in/u0OC8e

News Roundup: Mobile On The Move

Not that long ago, we featured a guest post here on the blog by Darin Wonn, Product Manager for Mobile Apps at InterContinental Hotels Group on the value of using mobile to reach travelers. The trend continued this week as we got ready for our trip to The Mobile Marketing Conference, with everything from an app that makes your smartphone a hotel remote to preloaded iPads for tourists.

Meanwhile, this infographic on a day in the life of the internet showed more than 35 million apps being downloaded per day, as well as 532 million Facebook statuses updated. For those who are still wondering about the ROI of all of this, check out this blog post on "Return on Influence" or this piece on MarketingProfs on Metrics. Speaking of influence, influence appraisal tool Klout continues to roll out more "Perks" for users, such as this partnership with Gilt Groupe.

The title of "biggest social media news this week" probably falls to Twitter. American Express launched a new hashtag marketing program that allows members to sync their cards for discounts. The question is, will this fill twitter up with loads of commercial messages, negating its service as a news and conversation pulse point? On top of that, Twitter has hinted that it will be further building up it's brand page program, adding e-commerce and contest options.

Here on the blog, we continued to prepare for The Mobile Marketing Conference, looking at the HealtheHorizons™ visioncheck app and interviewing Sarah Liang, Director of Interactive Marketing, L'Oreal USA. Next week will mark our last news roundup before we head off to Miami to hear from mobile experts, make sure to let us know if you have any burning questions.

Like these updates? You can also follow us on Twitter or on Facebook for conference updates and industry insider news all week long.  

Creating Value For Your Customers Through Mobile

If there's one consistent theme that we hear when it comes to mobile, it's that unwanted mobile marketing can feel intrusive, or be viewed as spam, whereas the right mobile content at the right time can be extremely effective. When you are providing real value to your customers through your mobile content it builds loyalty and engagement.

The HealtheHorizons™ visioncheck app, which is available free on iTunes right now, is a perfect example of providing such value. As part of Allergan's HealtheHorizons™ wellness programs, the app is a unique application for screening three common eye diseases in diabetics. Targeted at active individuals with limited time and desire to see a doctor, the app provides quick, useful vision tests, and more information on common questions and concerns, it also further encourages one to contact an eye care professional. This video explains further:

Mark S. Miller, Director of Marketing – Channel Strategy, Allergan , Inc. will be speaking on this topic more at the upcoming Mobile Marketing Conference in Miami.

At his session, you'll learn:
• How Allergan leveraged apps and tablets to build disease awareness and education
• Key drivers impacting consumer decisions
• How mobile can save time and money

Save 15% when you register with code TMMC12DIGITAL here.

P.S. Join our social media community! Our new LinkedIn Group is a place to share expertise and brilliant ideas on anything mobile marketing and you can also follow us on Twitter or on Facebook for conference updates and industry insider news.

Speaker Spotlight: Sarah Liang, Director of Interactive Marketing, L'Oreal USA

Later this month at The Mobile Marketing Conference Sarah Liang, Director of Interactive Marketing, L'Oreal USA will be presenting "L'Oreal Maximizes Mobile Investment to Increase Loyalty and Purchases." Sarah was kind enough to share a quick interview with us in anticipation of her session, read on:

First off, can you tell us a little bit about your upcoming session at The Mobile Marketing Conference?

I’m excited to share how L’Oreal’s salon brand, Redken 5th Avenue NYC, uses a mobile application to increase brand affinity and loyalty with our hairstylist community. The session will cover our strategy, process and the results we’ve found since launching.

How did L’Oreal come to the conclusion to start using the mobile medium?

We’ve been watching the mobile industry for a while now. I’ve been with the organization for 7 years and one of my first projects was to launch a test SMS campaign in 2006. It wasn’t until 2010, when the iPad finally launched and we the saw the smartphone numbers escalating in the US, that we finally committed to mobile.

As someone who has been there, what would be your advice be for brands that are just starting out in mobile now?

Like any new channel, it’s important to have a strategy in place – but be open because you might find that your initial thinking is not how it turns out! “Mobile” is big area that touches everything we do today, from email marketing to your website – and expands the opportunities with applications, QR codes and SMS campaigns. Create a flexible road map and find the right technology partners with mobile experience. It’s going to vary for every business but if you’re ecommerce site or if search is a key part of your desktop strategy, your likely first step will be to launch your mobile website.

What do you see happening in the future of mobile, both for L’Oreal and in general?

L’Oreal is a large organization with over 20 best-in-class beauty brands. This year I believe that mobile strategies will continue to roll out through all of our brands. Although I can’t speak for all my counterparts, I think most brands will start with a mobile website. Whether it’s a custom website built for the mobile experience or putting in place a transcoding technology that re-configures your existing website to streamline updates and resources – it will start with the basics and continue to grow from there.

Thanks so much Sarah, we'll look forward to your session at the conference!

For more on Redken's mobile app, check out our feature here. Plus, save 15% when you register for The Mobile Marketing Conference with code TMMC12DIGITAL here. 


Michelle LeBlanc is a Social Media Strategist at IIR USA with a specialization in marketing. She may be reached at mleblanc@iirusa.com 

This Week in Digital Marketing: Big Facebook Changes and More Mobile Moves

Here on the blog, we asked "What's your digital IQ?" looking at some digital trend predictions with L2. We also looked at The Weather Channel's innovative cross-platform approach.


In other App news, a Mobile app delivers real-time captions for live theater performances and commuters in Philadelphia can now order groceries while they wait for the train. Meanwhile, imediaconnection provides a handy reference guide for marketers that are looking to make use of Augmented Reality.

Facebook made the news repeatedly this week as they continue to move towards their IPO. When it comes to advertising on Facebook, mobile ads may be the future, but new tools that accompany the roll out of brand timeline profiles will also provide a chance for brands to refresh their company pages. Mashable has a comprehensive look at the new timeline for brands.

Key news to note: 
 - All brand pages will switch to Timeline on March 30th, 2012
 - Brands can no longer choose a landing page for visitors to see first
 - Milestones and pinned posts can highlight important information.

Will these new changes help brands to improve engagement? Hopefully! Ad Age recently reported that "Even Sexy Brands Struggle With Low Engagement on Facebook." A "Like" alone, still isn't enough to prove Facebook's ROI for marketers.

Lastly, we've had some great responses, but we're still looking for more input for our mobile marketing expert panel. What would you ask them?

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