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A key innovation that’s made itself known recently in the world of digital marketing is the concept of API integration.  The ability to easily transfer data to and from different platforms and software within a single marketing campaign has made life much easier for any digital marketer.

A single digital marketing campaign can include things like email marketing, RSS-based marketing, and even mobile marketing solutions such as SMS, mobile coupons and a variety of other things.  Each aspect of that one digital marketing campaign includes specific software and platforms that help coordinate the data flowing through each solution.

For example, if your campaign includes email marketing, mobile coupons and RSS feeds, you’re likely faced with using one platform for your email needs, another to facilitate mobile coupon distribution and tracking and yet another for your RSS-based marketing.  Certain data flowing through one platform might be needed to influence data flowing through another, and so on.

That’s where API integration comes into play.  Instead of having to manually login and interact with each platform separately, APIs can be introduced to systematically communicate and migrate data between all aspects of your campaign without any interaction from you whatsoever.

APIs are particularly beneficial for those who have already developed applications in-house, but need a way to import and export data between those in-house applications and third-party providers.  For example, suppose you maintain your own in-house marketing database made up of opt-in contacts that you’ve collected overtime, but you’d like to import that data into a third-party marketing platform for use in future marketing campaigns.  Instead of having to manually input the data into the platform, a simple API could be introduced that extracts the data systematically for you in real-time without you having to life a finger.

The power of API integration within digital marketing campaigns becomes more apparent as the complexity of the campaign increases, but it’s still relevant within the most basic of campaigns as well.  In today’s digital marketing landscape, let APIs handle the legwork for you so you focus on making your campaign as successful as possible.

Learn how mobileStorm leverages APIs in its digital marketing solutions to make life easier for digital marketers large and small.

Despite continued innovation and sophistication in regards to email marketing platforms and software over the past ten years, quality control measures remain largely unchanged with responsibility remaining in the hands of the email marketer themselves.

A few months back, the Email Experience Council (EEC), a leading email industry group, came under fire after repeatedly including errors in a series of email communications.  It signaled a growing need for basic quality control in email marketing campaigns big and small, given the fact that even the so-called “industry ambassador” was making the same mistakes.

Some common errors and mistakes present in a surprising amount of email marketing campaigns include things like broken links, missing images, incorrectly coded subject lines, unsubstituted personalization fields, faulty unsubscription methods and duplicate messages.

The fact remains that a simple HTML message has links that must work, images that must load correctly, authentication mechanisms such as SPF and DomainKeys (or DKIM) that depend on appropriate technical configuration, various response addresses (from and reply to, possibly unsubscribe), character sets and content encodings that must match, and a list of recipients that may require data loading and suppression.

Still, most e-mail solutions leave all the heavy lifting in the hands of the sender, with essentially manual processes to boot.  Things like link destinations, images, response addresses, and authentication can all be checked automatically, but a lot of the time it’s not.

This is when you, as the marketer, must adhere to basic quality control measures to not only make sure you don’t include silly mistakes that could jeopardize the credibility of your campaign, but to also make sure your campaign is as efficient and successful as it can be.

Text-to-screen campaigns are an aspect of mobile marketing that seems to get overlooked all to often.  Beyond the basic uses in sports stadiums, concerts and other large public venues, text-to-screen provides a method to interact with your audience on a very unique level.

Text-to-screen is a concept that enables a brand to engage their audience and compel them to participate in a variety of ways, while still allowing them to see results in real-time as well.  By enlisting a simple short code, keywords and a large screen, brands can leverage the group-aspect of any crowd to both interact and collect valuable consumer-data along the way.

When you utilize a text-to-screen campaign, it usually involves designating a short code and select keywords to allow users to text in various content to then be viewed in real-time on the screen.  The underlying benefit of using this method is that anytime someone texts in, that user’s information is then stored in your central database- subsequently increasing your message subscriber base very quickly.

In addition, various opt-in opportunities can be included in all responses to your users to build other opt-in databases that you can then market to in the future.  This is a very valuable resource for any mobile marketer- opted-in mobile users represent the best possible audience to advertise to.  Getting opted-in users is usually a painstaking process that involves several calls-to-action to encourage mobile users to opt-in over a long period of time.  Even then, you’ll still only gain a handful of opt-ins from your efforts.

Utilizing text-to-screen, on the other hand, initiates the best possible call-to-action you can have; a unique crowd-based engagement technique that has the potential to help you gain numerous opted-in users in one fell swoop.

The many ways text-to-screen helps obtain valuable consumer-data as well as opt-in subscriber lists for future marketing campaigns is the number one underlying benefit of utilizing this unique mobile marketing channel.  To get more information on how text-to-screen works and the many value-added benefits, check out mobileStorm’s all-inclusive offerings.

In today’s economy, marketing budgets are being slashed across the board.  Subsequently, marketers are having to re-think their strategies in terms of getting the most bang for their buck.

In the old days, a shrinking marketing budget simply meant buying less of the same old types of media- simply because there were few other options that could be utilized in lieu of mainstream marketing mediums.  Today however, one option exists that gives marketers facing the daunting task of gaining increased ROI against shrinking ad-budgets a way out — mobile marketing.

Mobile marketing, and in particular more targeted forms such as SMS, provide a unique medium in terms of the audience, user-engagement and overall targeting potential that simply can’t be achieved with other marketing channels.

When faced with smaller budgets, mobile provides the highest ROI of any marketing channel available to you.  Unlike mass communication via TV, radio, newspapers and even Online advertising, mobile allows you to pick and choose your audience according to a wide array of targeting capabilities, location-based benefits and much more.

Combining the immense targeting capabilities of mobile, the fact that consumers are much more apt to respond and interact with mobile and the simple fact that everyone owns a mobile device of some sort equates to an ROI that’s simply unmatched by any other medium.

Looking at the benefits of SMS-based mobile marketing in particular, here’s a few key advantages over other mediums:

• Immediacy - Mobile campaigns are easy to create and execute; messages are delivered to recipients within seconds.
• Affordability - No need to pay for postage, printing or air time, just a nominal per text message fee; prices are very modest and they decrease as volume increases.
• Distribution - Reach out to people all over the world. Delivery is almost always guaranteed, unlike email, direct mail, and other forms of advertising.
• Response Rate/Effectiveness - The average respose rate is approximately 15%, versus 2 – 3% for other advertising mediums such as direct mail.
• Personal /Targeted - Content is targeted to individuals who have opted to receive them; the medium provides the ability to customize the brand message to a diversified audience.
• Mobility/Reachability - Messages reach recipients wherever they are. No need to be by a TV, radio, computer, or mailbox; phones are within our reach 80% of every day.

It’s not hard to see why mobile is key when trying to get the most out of your marketing budget.  Getting past the mis-conceptions that mobile is a complicated medium to understand, deploy and support, you’ll soon realize how going mobile is the smartest thing you can possibly do- especially with shrinking marketing budgets.

To learn more about the process and to get a better understanding of how to choose the appropriate vendors for your next mobile campaign, check out mobileStorm’s whitepapers and other valuable resources.

It’s no secret that email marketing is a powerful tool for communicating with visitors, customers and prospects, but like other marketing mediums, you have to uphold a certain set of rules or best practices to ensure a compliant and successful campaign.

Two of the most important aspects of successful email marketing campaigns are adhering to certain codes of conduct regarding unsubscribing and signup confirmation.  In certain countries, there’s actually laws in place that mandate an unsubscribe link in all marketing emails, so it’s always a good practice to include your link at the bottom of each email and direct users to a courteous page that removes them from your mailing list quickly.  Making this a “one-click” process is also a good idea.

In terms of signup confirmation, you should always use a double opt-in confirmation process.  This means that after your visitor initially enters their email address to subscribe to your list, you should then send a “confirmation” email.  This email should contain a special link back to your email-marketing program, which will then verify that this visitor did indeed sign up to your mailing list.  This ensures you don’t come off as “spammy,” which could be detrimental to your email marketing campaign.

Speaking of spam, try to avoid using keywords such as ‘free,’ ’save,’ ‘discount,’ etc. in both your subject line and content to avoid getting caught in your users spam filters- which have become very complex in recent years.

The concept of personalization is key in email marketing campaigns as well.  Instead of using the common “Hi there,” or “Dear Subscriber,” you should use individual subscriber names to create a more personable relationship with your readers.  It’s estimated that by simply starting your email with “Hi [subscriber_name]” instead of the boring “Hi there”, you can increase both your reading and click-thru rates by up to 650%.  Why?  Put simply, it’s because your subscribers feel like they already have a relationship with you as you’ve addressed them by their first name.

To maximize click-thru rates, which is most likely the goal of any email marketing campaign, it’s good practice to include clear, concise links that ensure your readers don’t get confused by a design filled with graphics, text, buttons and more.  There’s been numerous research papers that prove that the majority of Internet users respond better to a plain, bold, blue text link as opposed to a banner or button.  If you’re going to include links in your emails, make sure they’re bold, blue and underlined.  This will mean more subscribers click through and subsequently more conversions/sales for you.

In terms of the best days to send your emails, studies conducted by online research analysts have shown the best days are Tuesday and Wednesday, as this is when people are more receptive to communication.  This means that they are more likely to read your content and click on links, meaning more sales.

On Mondays, everyone is still recovering from a hectic weekend.  On Thursday and Friday, people are already too busy looking forward to the weekend.  This has been heavily experimented with, and the best results were achieved by sending out emails at around 2-3pm (American Pacific Time) on a Wednesday, studies have proved.

These are just a few simply rules, best practices and tips to ensure your email marketing campaigns remain successful.  Of course, it always takes testing and a trial and error approach to determine what the best strategy is for your particular campaign, but certain aspects and un-spoken rules must always be applied to ensure you don’t upset your readers and to make sure you don’t violate any of the most simplest of rules regarding the sending of mass marketing emails.

Since there’s a lot that goes into an email marketing campaign, it’s sometimes best to leave it up to the professionals to worry about the boring technical and compliance issues.  Check out MobileStorm’s PRO offering for an all-inclusive digital marketing platform that will allow you to focus solely on the outcome of your campaign.

Mobile coupons can be a powerful tool in your digital marketing arsenal, but with a certain sense of ambiguity surrounding the concept for most people, it’s easy to overlook the most basic set of unofficial rules or “best practices” that should accompany any successful and legitimate mobile coupon campaign.

Falling under the realm of mobile marketing, the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has set fourth best practices, or a so-called “Code of Conduct for Mobile Marketing,” that all campaigns should comply with.  But beyond that, mobile coupons differ in nature from other forms of mobile marketing and therefore require a special set of best practices to ensure an overall compliant and successful campaign.

Since most mobile coupon campaigns involve the use of SMS or MMS, the same rules, regulations and best practices that govern the distribution of mobile messages apply to mobile coupons as well.  Privacy, respecting user-consent and your terms and conditions are the primary areas to focus on when distributing mobile coupons.

The terms and conditions related to your mobile coupon campaign are particularly important, and must be conveyed to your users at all times.  When promoting your campaign, you should clearly indicate whether the service is a subscription, for example, and the cost of which (if any).  Also, if the terms and conditions materially change the offer in any way, it should be highlighted and presented at the beginning of the offer.  Finally, service availability should always be disclosed as well, on a carrier-by-carrier basis.

In terms of the design of your actual mobile coupons, it’s important to prominently display the expiration date and make sure any barcodes used are compliant with the redemption mechanism.  It’s a good practice to also include an alphanumeric promotional code as well in case the primary validation method (scanners) don’t work.

Beyond the broad “Code of Conduct” rules set fourth by the MMA, your attention should be focused primarily on adhering to your user’s right to privacy and disclosure, as well as other obvious rules and regulations related to mobile messaging.

When done properly, a well-executed and compliant mobile coupon campaign is a valuable asset for any marketer or retailer.  Still confused about the whole process?  Get first hand knowledge on how to use mobile coupons to drive revenue with this all-inclusive Mobile Coupons Webinar.