In your open letter to Steve Jobs, Craig you write that the current App Store is encouraging the growth of “ringtone apps” and discouraging developers from producing more expensive applications. You go on to say that your company is focusing on developing $0.99 applications because as a developer you have less risk, but that this limits innovation. Uh???

I am confused. There are many contradictions in your letter to Steve Jobs, but let’s get some facts here first:

Your Twitteriffic Premium iPhone applications costs $9.99

Your Frenzic iPhone application costs $4.99

As of this post, 11 out of the top 25 applications in the App store are priced at $1.99 or more.

You state that if you want to make more innovative applications that it is going to cost you between “$150k or $225k.” “Which is risky.” You also state that the “proliferation of $0.99 “ringtone apps” is affecting our product development.” As Artie Lange from Howard Stern would say “wahhh!, it’s harder now to rip people off with a $9.99 skin of Twitter, waahh, waaahh!”
Are you kidding me? You bash Koi Pond, one of the top selling 99cent applications and then go on to say you are going to focus on creating $0.99 applications because that is what people are buying.
Instead of blaming Apple for only showing one screen grab of the application and thus being the cause of the 99cent proliferation, perhaps you should be thinking “there are so many $0.99 applications, because people are willing to buy impulse applications with little use, and are not interested, in mass, of buying a $15 spreadsheet application.”

Craig, look in the mirror, take a chance and be transformative, instead of a cry baby.

Here is a nice profile of the typical iPhone owner at The Apple Blog - check it out for stats and usage.

Our tech team pulled off another cool port, they can port iPhone applications to any social network. You can play the game inside the social network and drive traffic back to your iPhone application. Check out our Attack of the Zombie Politicians inside Facebook or you can visit our Youtube page to see screen captures of our games.

Check it out at http://www.211me.com/apps/zombie/default.aspx

Brad Reed at Networld selected 211me at cool iPhone app. Although this story appeared with the service as “app,” at the time it was a web application. We will be launching several iPhone applications for download in iTunes very soon. I will keep you posted.

 CIO Magazine - 20 Cool third-party iPhone Apps

Very cool! It was fun to run the campaign which featured David Attell and his comic show. Everyone at the company did a great job pulling it together in four days.

Next up we are extending our clients and partners services to the iPhone - it is looking cool so far.

Links

Mass High Tech Article - by Efrain Viscarolasaga

Mobile Marketer Article - by Giselle Abramovich

Mediapost’s Mobile Insider article by Steve Smith

Like the Olympics, 211(me) selected 08.08.08 to launch something big. It’s the Pay My Rent! Comedy Contest! Presented alongside Showcase Live and WBCN, we’re looking for the funniest comedians in the land to enter to win a chance to open up for Dave Attell when he performs at the brand new Showcase Live at Patriot Place in Foxboro, MA on Saturday, August 23rd. Not only will the grand prize winner get this great opportunity - we’ll event pay them for it - $1500 to help with this month’s rent.

Know a great comedian, or are you one yourself? Enter now at 211me.com/comedy. Entries are accepted through August 11th. Voting begins on August 12th and runs through August 19th.

The grand prize winner will be chosen by popular vote. The text to vote format allows anyone to text in the comedy vote code provided on the site for their favorite comedian into 555211 to vote. Additionally, comedians can campaign for more votes by placing a widget provided to them by 211me on their website, Facebook, Myspace, blog, or wherever they may be on the web. From the widget, a vote can be placed by placing in the voters mobile phone and email directly into the widget and hitting vote.

Looking for a few good laughs? Check out the site now and see who is the funniest in the land! 211me.com/comedy

I always like to say 211(me) is as cool the person using it. Funny, but true. Any tool that allows for a creative process allows for many levels from lame to cool. Truth is ‘nerd’ is the new ‘hip’ in many ways, so uber cool may not be the way to go for your audience anyhow. Like all marketing appeals, knowing your audience, what they like and what they respond to is the make or break mark. If sarcasm and cheeky humor get their attention – stick to that. If promises of velvet ropes and red carpets are the VIP pass for your crowd, use it wherever you can.

One of the shortfalls of mobile marketing, in the past, was the hardship of the economy of words. With only 160 characters at your disposal, how do you captivate and motivate your audience – while still using texting shorthand that a general audience will actually understand? U for you and 2 for to or too is easily read by anyone, but WUCIWUG for ‘what you see I what you get’ may be a stretch for many to understand.

A great benefit of 211me is the ability to go beyond the 160 characters of SMS, while still utilizing the comfort zone (and reliability) of delivery on SMS. To make the best use of the pairing of SMS with the WAP Push to the mobile internet, make sure the ‘must have’ info is in the SMS, while feeding a ‘must see’ aspect to get them to click the link to the mobile internet and your unique content.

For any campaign you always want to be sure to include the who, what, where, when and why. For your mobile messaging campaign - save one of your W’s for the link, so they have enticement to click. For example:

In the SMS: Get passes 2 our next advance movie screening on 8/14 Email ur name 2 movie@quickwhatsup.com See the next movie to be screened: http://c2.211me.com/C46bf46

Which links to:

With the capability to make each line on the 211me mashup into an active link, you can easy expand the usability with links to details on the movie, links to sponsor websites as well as links for contact information including numbers, emails and even google maps.

For more tips on how to make your campaign, mobile and otherwise, viral - I would refer you to Mark Hughes, author of Buzz Marketing. In his book, Hughes outlines his keys for giving a campaign the wings it needs to build buzz, and spread virally:
The Six Buttons of Buzz

- The taboo (sex, lies, bathroom humor)

- The unusual

- The outrageous

- The hilarious

- The remarkable

- Secrets (both kept and revealed)

If it made you laughed, it will make others laugh, even if you do have a twisted sense of humor. If you are in the target demo, use it to your advantage. If the photo you use for your mashup makes you laugh and want to send it to your friends or colleagues – the chances are it will effect others the same way. Or, if you are out of the demo, have your sample audience on standby to gauge their reaction to your creative output. The simpler the better. The key is giving it the “You have to see this” appeal, that grabs their attention and drives them to pass it on to others.

Have you run a mobile campaign that caught on like wildfire? Do you have an idea for one that you are itching to try out? I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to comment or drop me a line at julie@211me-inc.com.

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Opt-in An opt-in database has always been the name of the game in marketing.  You want your list of go-to people to actually want to receive your message and updates.  The problem is how do you get to those people and convince them that you have something worth reading and paying attention to.

Grab them in the heat of the moment. You are already actively engaging your consumers.  Whether it is at an event, at a venue, through advertising, newsletters, billboards, online, through your blog or during straight face-to-face encounters.  When you have their attention, you need to prompt them to share their information so you can keep the dialogue going.  Mobile marketing is a simple way to do this, since everyone has their phone on them, and only their number is needed to make a lasting link.  You can prompt them to opt in on their own (i.e. Text GET 211me to 555211 to opt-in), or ask for their number directly in order to do the opt-in for them.

But why opt-in? While prompting and asking someone to opt-in is all well and good, what is the magic formula for getting them to actually do it? Regardless of the industry, audience or messaging, certain elements of the human condition remain the same.  People want to be the first to know, they want something exclusively that others may not have access to, and most people in the modern age seek instant gratification.  This approach is two tiered, in that you want to dangle the carrot in front of them for future opportunities while still satisfying a current hunger.  One of the great features of 211me, is the ability to opt-in a new subscriber while providing them with unique content, all within the same moment.

For example Boston nightlife marketing kings 6one7 have used 211me to grow their list of people who like to head out to the clubs in and around Boston. Their approach with their audience is very one-on-one, as they engage people waiting in line or already in the venues to ask if they would like to get notices on the hottest nights in Boston.  Grabbing them in the heat of the moment, when they are out, relaxing, enjoying the party is the perfect atmosphere for this.  The club goers essentially hear… do you want to have more great nights like this or do you want to stay at home with your cats watching SNL because you didn’t know what was going on? The answer is pretty clear.For those that haven’t made it inside yet, 6one7 often offers the chance to opt-in for free admission that night or the chance to skip the line.  Instant gratification just by opting in and showing the text at the door.  And the genius piece of it is that no one wants to walk into a club on their own, so if one person does it, it is guaranteed that at least one of their friends will do it along with them.And the hope for the future for all of these new opt-in members is the chance to hear about the latest parties first, receive offers for free admission before midnight for the biggest nights in the city and the chance to be added to the guestlist for many private invite only events. 

The velvet rope approach This velvet rope approach is not for nightlife alone.  The Second Glass magazine offers its reader an unpretentious guide to the best wines offered in retail and at area restaurants in Boston.  Every week it features a new red, white or rose to its email database.  For forgetful folks (like myself) it often left people scratching their head in the liquor store wondering what the heck was the name of that fabulous wine they read about that they wanted to try out.  The Second Glass has now begun offering this information in crib note format for mobile.  So opt-in members receive a photo of the bottle, details on its origins and at least one location where it can be found locally. Now, whenever a mobile member happens by a liquor store or is out at a restaurant or bar, they have that information at their finger tips and can be the in the know wine connoisseur they never thought they could be.

Knowledge is power.  You and your organization know things that you may take for granted - the best spot for fishing in Lake Huron, the right way to balance diet and exercise, the best housing market in the country right now or how to make an indestructible paper airplane. Use this knowledge and disperse it in short illustrative text and photos on mobile via 211me.  This will give you an opportunity to engage your audience with how to’s (or where to or what to etc) that they wish to receive, giving them a wealth of information in their phone rather than spewing out a new form of spam.  Being the one that knows what is going on is empowering to individuals and will make your messages well received.

Next time, we’ll talk about giving your messages that extra oomph to foster viral growth…

Text Get Kings6one7 to 555211 to optin with 6one7

6one7

Text Get SecondGlass to 555211 to opt in for The Second Glass

The Second Glass

211(me) had a wonderful time at the Web Innovators Group event last night.  Robert, Steve, Jeff and myself want to say thank you to everyone that attended and took a moment to stop by and find out more about what 211(me) is all about.

We received some great feedback, met some really innovative and insightful people and made some great connections.  Thanks to Suzi Edwards from WallFly Marketing for a nice review this morning on her blog as well. And to Amanda from Shift PR for coming by and sharing details of 211(me) on her own personal blog.

While we were not given a moment to make an announcement to the whole group, we did want to take this chance to invite everyone to join the 211me mob!  Just text Get 211me to 555211 to join our mob.  (Or, click on the card above and then click Join Mob if you have lost your phone in the cushion of your couch momentarily.) Receive weekly updates with what’s new on 211(me) to your mobile phone, and start creating on our new mobile page - m.211me.com.  Did I fail to mention that?  Yeah - we think it’s pretty cool too.  Check it out.  Create mashups now anytime the mood strikes.

WallFly Marketing

93 South

Social Honeycomb

Come join 211(me) at the Web Innovators Group Boston’s meeting on July 15th at the Royal Sonesta in Cambridge, MA. 211(me) will be presenting at the event and giving attendees a look at new features being launched.

The event is a great way to meet others in the industry, look for new employees or employers, and get a good insight into some of the great new companies emerging from the Boston area.

The event begins at 6:30PM and is free to attend. RSVP at http://webinno18.eventbrite.com. Hope to see you there!