The first step in mobile marketing is to develop a mobile website.

With all the hoopla about Mobile Marketing and the fact you can hardly go anywhere without over hearing someones conversation on a mobile phone, it does not take Einstein to figure out there is a huge marketing potential if this medium can be leveraged properly.

The problem for most small business owners is this is just one other thing I have to learn how to do. Which usually means it is going to be put on the back burner and never implemented. This happens despite the data concerning how mobile marketing is currently out performing traditional marketing strategies.

According to Mobile Watch:

Mobile marketing is a smart investment, delivering higher return-on-investment (ROI) than traditional marketing programs, according to recent research findings. SoundBite Communications, Inc. SDBT +1.85% , a leading provider of Mobile Marketing and Hosted Contact Center solutions, commissioned Luth Research, a research partner of the Mobile Marketing Association, to explore trends, issues and the future direction of mobile marketing. Luth surveyed key marketing executives at companies ranging from $100 million to $1 billion+ in annual revenue across retail, consumer package goods, travel and hospitality, media and financial services industries.

When asked about mobile marketing ROI compared to traditional initiatives, 52 percent of mobile marketers stated mobile returns were higher while only 15 percent stated their returns as lower. For those reporting results, the average ROI was 32 percent. As a result, nearly three-quarters of marketers are increasing mobile marketing budgets and/or shifting budget to mobile from other marketing programs by an average of more than 20 percent.

The marketing thought leaders surveyed identified three major benefits of mobile marketing solutions:

– Quantifiable: mobile marketing provides measurable increases in revenue
and purchase frequency
– Personalized: enables more targeted, relevant programs — driving higher
response rates
– Immediacy/Real-Time: the ubiquity of mobile leads to more timely offers
and better results

According to the research, adoption of mobile marketing by major brands will be approaching 100 percent by 2013. This adoption is a result of initial mobile communication programs and trials and will be paving the way for deeper usage and more robust, complex programs. With the majority of mobile consumers now owning Smartphones — mobile has become the ultimate convergent device with SMS, voice, email and web all easily accessible and frequently used.

Despite this success, marketers continue to express concerns about technology constraints, access to mobile marketing expertise and consumer consent issues, including:

– Building internal expertise on using mobile as a marketing channel
– Building and managing large opt-in databases and properly communicating
with consumers
– Identifying technology solutions
– Combating mobile perception and consumer receptivity challenges

“Consumers’ rapid smartphone adoption is an absolute game-changer,” said Mark Friedman, executive vice president of SoundBite’s Mobile Services Business Unit. “This survey proves that those that invest in growing and managing mobile marketing databases in an intelligent and compliant manner have a tremendous opportunity to reap the rewards with high ROI marketing programs.”

“With mobile marketing budgets and consumer adoption increasing, it’s time for companies to align the mobile channel to every phase of the customer lifecycle,” stated Roseanne Luth, president, Luth Research.”The touch points provided by mobile marketing are critical in customer acquisition, retention, engagement and care. Building a companywide mobile strategy is vital, and aligning with the right partners to execute that strategy is the key to long-term success.”

Knowing facts can do nothing unless you decide to get into the game. The best place to start is to have a mobile version of your website developed. One of the most annoying things is to visit a website on a mobile phone and find that it has not been optimized to viewed on these devices. Not only is the end user disappointed but in most cases will not visit that bran anymore.

Accept it or not, the mobile device is here to stay it is up to you to get your businesses infrastructure up to date with these new advancements in technology. You should not have to overcome any learning and that is where we come in.

Leave a comment below and let us know what you think

With that being said here is a great video detailing the top five internet marketing trends of 2012.

Its one thing to know whats trending but taking action is truly whats important.

Internet marketing can help you grow you small business

If you are a small business owners looking to improve ways you can stay on top in Internet Marketing below you will find some easy implementable tips to help your marketing stay fresh.

The biggest room is always the room for improvement and this is no different when it comes to internet marketing. The fact that on a day to day basis it changes is only one of the reasons you must stay on top of marketing on the internet.

Not doing this will cause problems in the long run because when you rely on outdated information regarding internet marketing  you put yourself and your business in a bad position. To help you avoid this below you will find five helpful tips to use to stay fresh with your internet marketing.

First up, “Stay Savvy” and get learning. SEO is your friend, as it’s a basic knowledge of HTML. Unfortunately, this area has become a playground of good cops and bad cops and I’ve heard of small businesses paying up to 865,000 rupee for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) services which I totally over prices! There is no such thing as a free lunch and with internet marketing this is very true! By learning the basic elements of this yourself, you can begin some elementary optimisation yourself and understand what your consultant tells you. Follow your gut and seek some independent opinion on any quotes and strategies you might get. Google offer some great resources for beginners to find out about SEO and what makes great optimisation and On the whole, there are some amazing SEO’s out there but just be careful!

Get Creative. Internet marketing has changed the link between businesses and customers and modern consumers are much more aware of the power they have. With this comes a change in your plans. If you spend 5 hours a week planning traditional, outbound marketing change that and dedicate your time to inbound marketing, where customers come to your website for a whole range of reasons! (see the great graphic above courtesy of Jennifer Sable Lopez at SEOmoz) This is also your time to get thinking. A great way of getting more traffic to your website is by creating quality, interesting and unique content. Infographics, videos, twitter trends, images, anything! This is your time to shine and make yourself better than your competition.

As this might be something new for your business, find out what works for you and your customers early on. Try surveys and analytics and test your internet marketing. If ‘x’ doesn’t create and leads but ‘y’ does then test that. I suppose the best thing to do is not be caught up in any trends and make an internet marketing strategy that works for you and your customers; smiling faces all round.

Remember your centre point is your website and your brand. Everything you do needs to lead to your website so ensure that the more you expand your online marketing make sure it ultimately leads back to your main site. The same goes for social media. If your Twitter followers are getting bigger then gently push them to your site. Inbound/Internet marketing works in a funnel style (see above) so the aim is to keep users retained from start to finish.

Measure. Set up Google Analytics, record your social subscribers and email subscribers and make regular records of their numbers to understand your audience. Google tells you everything and there are measurement tools for Twitter too to understand your audience like Social Bro. Keep an eye on what works and adapt your strategy around that to keep your users following through the entire website.

Read original story

So by staying savvy, being creative, finding out what works for you, remembering your centre point and measuring you put yourself and your business ahead of the curve.

These five tips if implemented could help grow and improve you overall internet marketing presence. This in turn could result in more leads and business for you.

According to Rhonda Abrams of USA Today there are six strategies business owners should implement this summer:

1. Make a splash on social media. You’ve been meaning to learn how to use one of the many social-media sites — such as Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Twitter — for your business, but you’ve just been too busy.

Use these slower summer months to spend some time figuring out which ones are right for you. Be sure to check out some of the many tools that make ongoing management of your social media activities easier and faster, such as HootSuite or Roost.

2. Network like crazy. All those backyard barbecues, softball games, and pool parties you get invited to are potential networking events, especially when they involve more than immediate family and friends.

If you’re not getting many invitations, check out what’s going on in your community. Try going to a Meetup group, Chamber of Commerce mixers, even neighborhood chili cook-off. Be sure to bring your business cards, mingle, and have a good elevator pitch ready so people you meet can easily remember what you do.

3. Update — or launch — your website. If you’re like me, your website is outdated, but you haven’t had the time to freshen it up.

Perhaps you don’t have a website at all.

Summer is a good time to give your website a facelift. It doesn’t have to be extensive, but make sure you have all the newest — and correct — information. Perhaps you want to add some e-commerce functionality, so customers can buy directly from you. And check to see that it looks good on mobile devices, too.

4. Turn those business cards into gold.I know you’ve got a stack of business cards from people you’ve met, but they’re not doing you any good lying around your desk.

Yes, I know they take time to enter into a database. But, hey, it’s summer. It’s the perfect opportunity to get all these contacts into something like Salesforce or PipelineDeals. At least enter their contact info into your digital address book in Microsoft Outlook or Gmail.

If you have a ton of cards, like I do, you might want to buy a digital business card reader. They work fairly well now.

5. Start a simple e-mail newsletter.I’m a huge fan; I’ve got a monthly newsletter of my own with business tips.

They’re easy to create and manage, and they keep your name as well as any specials or news in front of prospects and customers. Once you have names in a database orMicrosoft Excel file, it’s easy to import them into a simple newsletter program.

Or you can just enter the info into the e-mail newsletter service.

We use Emma, but other options include include Constant Contact; Vertical Response; and a free or inexpensive one that many small-business owners use, such as Mail Chimp. If you’re very ambitious, you could even write 12 newsletters in summer and have monthly newsletters ready for the whole year.

6. Tackle a project. We all have a wish list of projects we would like to take care of someday.

You may have some new products or services in mind to develop, a new marketing campaign, organizing inventory, or cleaning out a back room to turn into an office.

Summer is a good time to take care of at least one of these. You’ll feel a real sense of accomplishment if you do.

By developing a loyalty campaign small businesses can engage their customers

While all these are great ideas, with it being summer and all including a customer loyalty program as a way to keep the happy customers coming back is another great idea.

The best way to this is to engage your customers on the device they never leave home without, their mobile phone. By building a database of your customers mobile phone numbers and sending them special offers and discounts that ordinarily they would not get is a great way to build loyalty into your business.

This can be done by enticing them to text (example Text Fries to 555444 to get free fries with your next meal) your keyword to your shortcode and now you have permission to market to them directly on their mobile device this summer.

According to a recent survey businesses are starting to adopt the use of mobile engagement in order to grow their companies and maintain an ongoing relationship with current customers.

This trend is expected to to continue according to the data in the article below from marketwatch.com:

Mobile marketing programs and budgets are projected to increase, but many businesses are still held back by lack of strategy and resources
Mobile websites (70%), mobile applications (55%) and QR codes (49%) are the most popular forms of mobile marketing, but less than half of marketers are currently running any of them. Of those who are, 57% have only been running them for a year or less. However, the opportunity is not lost with marketers, as 75% of businesses not currently running programs plan to within a year or more — and of those businesses that are, 70% expect to see their budgets increase over the same time period. The survey results also highlight a real opportunity for marketers to embrace and integrate mobile with email and other digital channels to properly engage customers at various stages of the customer lifecycle.

“With smartphones now accounting for nearly half of all devices in use by mobile users, it is more imperative than ever for digital marketers to adopt and integrate mobile marketing tactics into email and their overall marketing mix,” said Kara Trivunovic, vice president of agency services, StrongMail. “Email marketers who are serious about garnering and maintaining consumer attention in this new era of mobile need more than just a solid strategy; they also need the right tools and resources to execute — and that’s exactly what StrongMail provides with its integrated solutions and comprehensive agency services.”

Survey Highlights

– 45% have adopted mobile marketing; 57% have been doing it for 12 months or less

– 37% cite lack of strategy as top reason for lack of adoption, followed by lack of resources (22%)

– 55% reported increased mobile marketing budgets for past 12 months; only 2% saw a decrease

– 70% expect their budget to increase in the next 12 months

– 43% have integrated email marketing and mobile marketing

Businesses Understand the Benefits of Mobile Marketing

Despite lacking a clearly defined strategy for how to get into the mobile space, respondents were clear about the expected benefits. More than 50% of respondents believed that a mobile program could help them increase sales and acquire new customers, while nearly 50% of respondents say a strong mobile program would increase brand awareness.

Mobile and Email Integration Gains Ground but Lacks Sophistication

43% of businesses have achieved some level of integration between their email marketing and mobile marketing programs, but with mobile landing pages (32%), mobile number capture at email sign-up (25%) and mobile optimized templates (22%) being the top areas of focus, progress needs to be made in implementing more sophisticated programs. To that point, only 27% are running cross-channel, lifecycle marketing programs that include mobile messaging. Similarly, only 29% have used mobile response data to optimize offers in email or other channels.

Mobile Marketing Adoption Held Back by Lack of Strategy and Resources

When asked to identify the top obstacle to launching a mobile program, 37% of businesses cited lack of strategy, followed lack of resources at 22%. Mobile marketing budgets also remain a small fraction of overall interactive budgets, with 54% of businesses allocating 5% or less to mobile programs. Nearly a quarter of businesses reported less than 1% allocated to mobile. On the positive side, 55% report increased budgets over the past year.

Read original story here.

If you are in that 37 percentile of business owners that are having trouble with strategies we can help with that. There are tons of ways to use mobile marketing in your business to generate interest in your products or services once you have taken the first step of developing a mobile website.

Mobile marketing expected to rise in 2012.

For starters mobile coupons are predicted to reach 8% redemption rate by 2016. What does that mean to your business? For every 100 mobile coupons given to consumers you can expect that eight of them will be redeemed. Because these are digital coupons the cost of printing them is no longer an issue.  By offering these coupons to your customers not only can you get an 8% return but also develop customer loyalty.

For more mobile marketing strategies read our article 10 Mobile Marketing Tips.

]]> http://crackedatommarketing.com/2012-adoption-of-mobile-marketing/feed 0 http://crackedatommarketing.com/city-of-qr-codes http://crackedatommarketing.com/city-of-qr-codes#comments Tue, 22 May 2012 16:54:36 +0000 http://crackedatommarketing.com/?p=1599 Continued]]> With the popularity of mobile marketing and the rise of QR codes there is no doubt that you can walk around any city and see them everywhere. One city in particular has taken it to a whole new level.

According to QRCODEPRESS.COM  

The Welsh city of Monmouth is the first city in the world to use barcodes to become a Wikipedia town.
The town of Monmouth in Wales is already known for its rich history, dating back to 1067, but now it is using some of the latest technology, in the form of QR codes, to become the first Wikipedia town anywhere on the globe.
Residents and tourists now have access to stickers and ceramic plaques that can be scanned with smartphones.
When the barcodes are scanned, they redirect the mobile device user to a Wikipedia page that will provide that individual with far more information and statistics about the site or the town than could be displayed on a typical sign.
Moreover, the content is displayed in the phone’s language, so that it caters specifically to the user.
This way, if a visitor from France scans the QR codes, the language selection from his or her smartphone will automatically direct the user to the French version of the Wikipedia article. The same goes for a full range of other languages.

The two dimensional barcodes are being posted in locations all over the town, including near rivers, on buildings, on landmarks, and within museums. There are even shopkeepers who are participating in this style of mobile marketing by posting stickers that will give the history of their store or profession, as well as the items that they sell, when it is scanned by a smartphone.

According to the project leader for the Monmouth QR codes, John Cummings, “It is an interesting experiment in how comprehensive an area can be covered by Wikipedia.”

The director of a charity supporting the mission of the Wikipedia encyclopedic website, Wikimedia UK, Roger Bamkin, stated that it took approximately half a year to bring the project together. The Monmouthshire County Council and Wikimedia had already agreed to split the project’s cost in half, but the council paid notably more in the end as it decided to add an additional free Wi-Fi access throughout the town. According to Bamkin’s estimates, the contribution of Wikimedia for the QR codes was approximately $40,000.

Read original story here.

QR Codes: Fad or sound marketing strategy?

Very interesting but how does this relate to your local business you may ask. Well popularity for one thing. If an entire city can see that we are headed toward a world on content consumption on the go then a local business owner should consider the fact that his content is likely to be view on a mobile device.

So, adding QR Codes to any and all printable and promotional brochures, business cards and letters is a good way to bridge the gap between online content consumption and offline content engagement.

It is not good however to just slap a QR code on promotional material and not have any way to measure its effectiveness. If you are considering the use of QR Codes on your promotional materials ensure they are being tracked and its effectiveness being measured all so make sure they point to content that is mobile friendly.

This is one of the biggest mistakes I see being made with QR Codes. You are all engaged and scan it only to find a large page that you can not read because the content has not been optimized for mobile consumption.

]]> http://crackedatommarketing.com/city-of-qr-codes/feed 0 http://crackedatommarketing.com/learn-to-strengthen-your-internet-marketing http://crackedatommarketing.com/learn-to-strengthen-your-internet-marketing#comments Fri, 18 May 2012 16:49:08 +0000 http://crackedatommarketing.com/?p=1591 Continued]]>

Be Well

Sometimes in the day to struggle of internet marketing you can loose yourself. As a result you may not be in an effective place of health and vitality which believe or not has an effect on all other areas in your life including internet marketing.

How is that possible? Well if you are not in a proper space with regards to your health physically as well as mentally it has an effect on planning and  implementing strategies.

For that reason I was happy to come across an article that addresses this please read the excerpt below from TopRankBlog.com

 

4 Tips For Strengthening Your Internet Marketing Plan

# 1- Become An Agent of Change – Don’t be Afraid to Try New Things
Fear consumes many people both personally and professionally.  A fear of failing or disappointment can often lead to a stagnant and uninspired plan for dominance on the web.   Instead of allowing fear to make an appearance, instead recognize that mistakes will be made, but they will be a learning experience. What are some changes you can begin implementing today?

• Surveys of existing customers
• Develop different ways of communicating with your audience (blog posts, social media outreach)
• Ask questions of industry thought leaders
• Join new virtual groups on LinkedIn
• Begin attending more events locally to gain industry insight

# 2- The Journey Is Just As Important As the Destination – Just Make Sure You Document
Along the way to creating your “perfect” internet marketing plan, there is a lot to learn.  Remembering that the journey leads to our destination will put us in the right frame of mind to learn from the experience.  As you’re making mistakes or experiencing success it is essential that you document the steps that you took to get there.

# 3 – Take Some Time to Breathe – Step Back and Survey the Situation
A true marketer knows that our industry is a very customer-centric business. Without our customers we wouldn’t have jobs.  It can become very easy to fall into time sucking tactics that may only put us further behind.  Before jumping head first into the newest social media platform or marketing tactic take some time to ask a few questions:

• Who will we target with this approach?
• What will be our core messaging or strategy?
• Why should we include this tactic?
• How will my team accomplish this tactic and how will this benefit my customers?
• How much will this cost in both time and money?

# 4 – Have An Open Mind – Brainstorm With Your Team Regularly
Collaboration with fellow team members can be of benefit to all parties involved.  Not only will collaboration open up new ideas, but it will also improve buy-in from other associates.  If you’re in an internet marketing rut, or just looking to breathe that new life into your plans to dominate the search and social web, be aware of the resources you may already have at your disposal.

All of the tactics mentioned above will lend themselves to creating a stronger, more cohesive marketing plan.  At one time or another, most of us have faced a situation where we knew our plan wasn’t working, but weren’t exactly sure how to fix it.  I hope that these tactics will become part of a stronger plan and give you the jumpstart you need to get on the road to internet marketing success.

I’m curious to know what experience you have had as a marketer attempting to breathe new life into and strengthen your internet marketing plans?  What were some of your biggest obstacles and what was the most important lesson you learned?

Namaste.

Read Original Story Here.

By taking a more wholistc approach to internet marketing and life it can affect the type and quality of people and customers you attract. When you center yourself and find that balance between marketing and health you will be more effective at what it is you are trying to accomplish. Thank you for reading and be well.

]]> http://crackedatommarketing.com/learn-to-strengthen-your-internet-marketing/feed 0 http://crackedatommarketing.com/whats-trending-in-mobile-marketing http://crackedatommarketing.com/whats-trending-in-mobile-marketing#comments Mon, 14 May 2012 17:03:14 +0000 http://crackedatommarketing.com/?p=1577 Continued]]> If you are at all interested in doing any mobile marketing it would be smart of you to follow what is currently trending. It goes without saying that the first thing you should do as business owner is to develop a mobile website in so doing you will be able to take advantage of the traffic that currently visits your desktop website on a mobile phone.

Next, by taking a good look at what is trending you are able to make a good judgement as to what other mobile marketing strategies that may benefit your business. According to a recent  article found below from Business Insider:

The trend toward mobile, including use of check-in sites, is increasing. Your customers and competitors increasingly are taking advantage of the mobile revolution.  What about your business — are you ahead of this curve, keeping up, or totally unaware?  This roundup looks at 10 mobile trends and resources, to help you run and grow your business:

Mobile Use May Bring Downsides

Facebook used more via mobile devices than via Web. A recent comScore report indicates Americans spend more hours on Facebook’s mobile site and apps than on the the classic Web interface. As the report points out that, for advertisers that’s a problem, because the mobile feed doesn’t display nearly as many ads as the regular website.  And the mobile interface may not display other things. Do you know what else of your Facebook presence may not be displayed to followers – have you checked lately?

Steps for Small Businesses

Optimize your site for mobile users. Is your site optimized for mobile visitors?  Features such as pulldown boxes and collapsible links make a site much more mobile friendly.

Securing mobile devices is a critical step. Protecting the data on mobile devices must be an important priority for businesses as these tools are used more and more. So what steps can be taken to make sure your mobile devices never become a liability?

Check-in Expands

New Yelp check-in app means mobile feedback. A new app called Check-In Comments lets users leave instant reviews or tips as soon as a friend checks in at a restaurant or other establishment. The new app shows one way mobile check-in will transform customer feedback.

Check-ins at Foursquare and location services rise. According to a Pew Research Center study, one in 10 adults now checks in with Foursquare, Gowalla and other geosocial services. Does your business have a physical location?  If so, are you taking location-based services into account in your marketing?

The state of location-based services. With the emerging importance of mobile and its location-based capabilities, it’s important to look at how far leading services have actually progressed. The marketing implications of these services are clear.

More Apps Emerge

Workers getting mobile too. Customers aren’t the only ones moving around and interacting by mobile device more often these days. Having an increasingly mobile work force has its advantages as well. To that end, apps that enable them are part of the future.

Check out these 65 mobile apps for your business. Mobile tools abound and, what’s more, many have been developed for use in a lot of business management areas. If you want to see how many ways mobile technology can improve productivity, consider how you might use some of these.

More Trends to Watch

Mobile as competitive advantage. According to one study, 85% of small businesses are using smartphones to improve productivity.

Mobile payments could be a game-changer. And not just for consumers. As options for mobile payments expand, more and more small businesses have signed on. The capability allows businesses to take advantage of a clear market trend.

From Small Business Trends

The fastest and most effective way to communicate with consumers is on their mobile phone...

While there are some hurdles to overcome when developing a mobile marketing strategy for your company it is better to overcome them now than wait. Early adapters to new and innovative marketing concepts usually fair better than the late bloomers because their presence was found in these areas from the beginning.

From a customer perspective they were the trend sitters and now that your company has decided to do it you are just a follower. The perception of your company and brand is important.

While doing it yourself could save you money you may stand to loose more than just the investment of time. As quickly as things change in online and mobile marketing space having someone on your team who’s soul purpose is to handle your mobile marketing is the best bet.

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