I don’t know much…

But I know I get email, and I certainly know that I get junk mail. The unsolicited material usually finds its way into my junk box, but at times also appears alongside the treasured chain-letters from my crazy aunt, or the not-so-funny emails that my father insists on sending me no matter how much I protest.

Will I open these unwanted emails from strangers? It depends. If I—to whom my husband happily refers to as the “Last Angry Woman”—will open them, then I am willing to bet that other people will, too.

So what will make me open an email? Enticing coupons or discounts that I actually care about. Even if I have never heard of the company before, if they offer me something that I desire, and with a chance to save money, then I am all ears. Let me stress: This has to be a real, honest offer. No catches, no ridiculous hoops to jump through, no getting me to the website and then making me take a personality test or figure out a logic puzzle. I don’t like being fooled, and in fact I will ban such companies from my inbox.

And for the love of Pete, don’t bog me down with a ton of images or a ton of text. I am too busy to read seven paragraphs about a new dog shampoo, and I get enough external stimuli throughout the day, so I don’t need fifteen small pictures packed into one email message. (For more information, read this.)

Devra Schreiber, Client Satisfaction Manager, mobileStorm

Working out is important to me. I spend a lot of time at the gym, so I need a place that is not only clean and safe, but also interesting and fun. I also happen to have some clients who are either in the business, or who have similar models. So I’ve been involved in some very fun promotions planning.

Here are some ideas if you’re have a company whose clientele are regular visitors, and you have a club-like atmosphere. Of course, I’m not going to give out details about what my gym clients have done or are planning. I offer these promotions as suggestions, because based on what I’ve seen in text marketing, this type of interaction would be perfect for similar industries.

Idea #1: Invite members who frequent other gym locations (or golf clubs, school teams, and the like) to check out a new location, by offering a free training session or discounted “all gyms” membership. Print up your offer or advertise outside your location, telling consumers to text-in to get a coupon for the free session. You’ll be amazed at how many people are reluctant to walk in but if given a coupon, they’ll take the plunge.

Idea #2: Celebrate a new club opening by doing an SMS-based treasure hunt: Consumers must text-in a keyword, such as FINDIT, to get a clue. The clue is the next location and comes in a text response message. When players get to the secret location, they find a keyword to text-in for the next clue. Players receive progressive clues as reach treasure hunt destinations. Sound like fun to you? By the way, this is easy to set up with a mobileStorm account.

Idea #3: Incentivize member sign-ups to a mobile club by offering discounts, including “bring a friend free” coupons. Mobile members might receive discount coupons for energy drinks, personal training, even logo-adorned equipment. Everyone wins!

Idea #4: How about using our text RSVP Management service for highly popular class sign-ups and special instructor onsite visits? Your members would LOVE this! I would!

Text messaging is happening right now. Are you taking advantage? Still paying for all those newspaper ads? The only limit to text marketing is creativity–and 160 characters!

-Jacqueline Erickson, Senior Digital Marketing Specialist, mobileStorm Inc. Email me at jacqui@mobilestorm.com or call me at 1-323-785-6305.

]]> http://www.mobilestorm.com/resources/digital-marketing-blog/give-clients-thumbs-a-workout-with-sms-gym-promotions/feed/ 0 http://www.mobilestorm.com/resources/digital-marketing-blog/mobilestorm-at-ses-conference/ http://www.mobilestorm.com/resources/digital-marketing-blog/mobilestorm-at-ses-conference/#comments Mon, 24 Mar 2008 06:26:47 +0000 Ric Hattabaugh http://www.mobilestorm.com/digital-marketing-blog/mobilestorm-at-ses-conference/ aka “F.U.D. in N.Y.C.”

The saying is “you learn something new every day.” This week I can happily report that my rate of informational ingestion was significantly higher than that. But the gem for me wasn’t in the factoids, marketing claims, “breakthrough technologies” or other information bits getting past my screen. It was an impression of the state of the online marketing industry I got from 4 days in New York City as an exhibitor at the Search Engine Strategies ’08 conference.

The conference attendees were online marketing professionals seeking to improve their skills with search techniques and products. The exhibitors were generally somehow involved in optimizing websites to drive more traffic, or showing off their lead generation and PPC networks. I had the pleasure of personally speaking with a couple hundred entrepreneurs, business professionals, consultants, media representatives – as well as several people who appeared to just want a free pen and a piece of chocolate.

Before I tell you what I learned, a little about the conference: There were some really solid presenters that gave high-impact advice on what / how / when / who / where in the online marketing world. Worth the price of a ticket to hear some of the better ones. There were also the prognosticators with detailed descriptions of what will happen next in the industry. The ones who got something right over the last 4 years were designated visionaries; the ones who missed on everything beyond horoscope-like generalities were also there with brand new and exciting generalities. Go to http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/newyork/ for a list of presenters as it’s not my intent in this blog to critique each or any.

As far as exhibitors, about half of them were selling quasi-consulting services to ramp your PPC or SEO – some very well-known brands, some less so. Being in the consulting category, you can’t really get any specifics from the sales people crewing the booth. It’s hard to learn much from them due to the nature of their business. (mobileStorm was the exception. Not to brag, but I really believe people left the mobileStorm booth better educated and impressed with our products.)

I really enjoyed talking to a couple companies with fantastic services/products. One standout is a company named Compete (www.compete.com). Check out the free analysis on their site, but know that there is tons of useful data that comes with a paid account. If you have competitors, and you’re online focused, you MUST have this service.

But, do you want to know what I took away from the conference at the end of the day? What was invaluable?

Many there – especially exhibitors – are scared. They are fearful that there is an economic downturn happening that will impact their business significantly and in ways they cannot yet imagine. Many people were walking around testing the statement “there seems to be a lot fewer people here this year….” They appeared to want either denial or reassurance from a statement that explains what it all means.

So what do I think it means? I think it means what it always means. The big picture of markets runs in cycles. Even if we’re in a down cycle, individual businesses do not necessarily suffer. I also believe that many people in business respond to lagging indicators, mistaking them for leading indicators. Conference passes were purchased, flights arranges, booths reserved, budgets approved, etc. months ago. Conference attendance is a lagging indicator of what is happening right now in the industry, not necessarily a leading indicator of what will happen. So I don’t read too much in to whether 5,000 people attended the conference versus 7,000 last year. It’s not an absolute.

A couple days ago comScore reported that US online searches declined by 6% from January to February. This statistic, no doubt, took wind out of sails throughout the search industry — and will directly correlate with online retail spending overall when those numbers come in.

Bottom line for me, however, having been through many major and mini business cycles I know this: The marketers that are organized, efficient, prepared, attuned to their customers – and above all FEARLESS – will grow and prosper regardless of a blip in the general economy. The people who have their act together and ignore fear, uncertainty and doubt will take the customers of those that hunker down waiting to see what will happen.

The meek may indeed inherit the earth, but victory will go to the bold.

Ric Hattabaugh
EVP, Sales & Marketing
mobileStorm Inc.

We promise to bring more great articles on digital marketing, SEO, email and mobile marketing in 2008 and we hope you will benefit from them.

We’d really like to hear from you with any comments on posts from 2007, and if any of you were able to benefit from our writing – that’s the point of us presenting the mobileStorm blog.

We’ll be spending time with family and friends over the weekend, but did you really think we’d take a break from blogging for long? No way – we’re committed to posting great content consistently, and making this blog a great resource for online marketers year-round.

In fact, this is post #99 since starting the blog earlier in 2007. The next post will be a surprise – we think a pleasant and useful one — for our readers: In post #100 we will reveal interesting and heretofore unknown facts about the mobileStorm Digital Marketing Blog!

You’ll especially enjoy post #100 if you’re using blogging yourself to communicate, educate and participate with your own Customers and with the Digital Marketing community.

Until then:

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The Digital Marketing Blog Authors