Category: General

Recently I took my almost five year old daughter to a father/daughter dance. One of the fun activities was a whole table full of glasses, hats, jewelry, and a whole bunch of other funny props you could wear. You then lined up, and a photographer took your picture. KK and I had the best time posing for the camera while dressing up in all of these funny outfits.

One of the pictures of myself I thought came out pretty funny. I had slipped on this really odd hat and tilted it backwards, put on some Porsche Carrera sun glasses and of course looking as gangster as possible, threw up “westside!”.

I thought I looked pretty hip hop (but minus the street cred), so I knew with that combination I had a pretty good Facebook profile picture. After posting it I had the usual amount of comments and smart alec remarks one would get from friends and family, after posting a ridiculous picture of themselves.

Last week mobileStorm had an announcement of a new, really important feature, on our “mobileStorm for Healthcare” platform. I had completely forgot that your profile picture on Facebook is not private and can be accessed thru an API. Well that is exactly what happened. Apparently a friend of mine wanting to keep update-to-date on some of the things that were happening with me at mobileStorm, and was using an RSS alert news reader (like Google alerts) to do just that. This RSS technology grabs the person’s profile picture and then slaps it on the news feed with whatever news is being scanned for the keyword he was trying to keep track of, in this case “Jared Reitzin”. He forwarded me the email to congratulate me on the announcement, and I immediately realized I was a part of my own Onion story.

(Original photo taken at Father Daughter Dance Jan 2013)

Healthcare is a pretty conservative industry so I really hope our clients or potential clients will get a kick out of this as opposed to worrying about whether or not they should do business with mobileStorm and it’s “wanna be gangster” CEO. I cannot say there is a silver lining to all of this because it just happened, but who knows; maybe it gives mobileStorm some  ”wall-street” cred?  I definitely feel that when you want your data on Facebook to be private, everything should be private. Who knows what other bits of information they are willing to offer up publicly, or what policies they will change without telling anyone as they have done in the past?

Nice lesson learned on this one.

Cheers,

Jared ReitzinHip Hop CEO

Generating Casino Revenue with Mobile Marketing

It’s that time of year, again, when the biggest names in the gaming world converge on Las Vegas for the Global Gaming Expo from November 17th – 19th and, you got it . . . we’ll be there.

Casinos in general have taken a pretty hard hit during the downturn in the economy which, not unlike any other industry, has forced them to pursue new cost effective yet results driven and engaging solutions to revive the lure of the casino life.  mobileStorm has been working with Casinos for years to help them make better decisions and lay out new marketing strategies for targeting their audiences and bolstering their brand.

At G2E, mobileStorm and some of the biggest Casino’s in Vegas will show how mobile marketing will change the way Casino’s do business. We’ll be blanketing the Strip, A large Casino and the show with a “real-time” demonstration of our mobile marketing platform doing customer acquisition for one of the largest Casino’s in Vegas. We’ll be tackling one of the biggest challenges facing Casino’s today:

“how to turn people into players”

So between November 17th and the 19th, keep your eyes peeled up and down the strip and come visit us at Booth #858 in the Central Exhibit Hall.  Come visit with our team of mobile marketing team that will make 2010 your year of growth.

We’re looking forward to showing you how 2010 will be a year of growth.

Directions to our booth:

1. Enter through any entrance at Central Exhibit Hall
2. Immediately walk to the right
3. Follow the signage to the Technology Pavilion
4. At the Technology Pavilion turn left on the first row
5. We are booth #858 on the right hand side, just before you turn the corner at the back of the Pavilion

(click the image below to expand it)

Click To Enlarge

A few weeks ago, we posted an article in our newsletter, “Outside The Inbox,” to let you know that we were working on two new service offerings and launching a new website. With the same powerful features you’ve been used to, you’ll now benefit from some additional changes we’ve made to our services that will give you even more flexibility and a distinct advantage in your daily marketing efforts. It’s almost here . . .

If you’ve been using mobileStorm 4.0 for quick and easy email and sms marketing, you’re now considered a mobileStorm “Go” user—and we know you’ll continue to love it. You’ll have all the same powerful tools you’ve been using to grow your business, and now all Go clients have free phone support, previously available only as a premium service.

Want “open rates” so high that only dogs can hear ‘em? Or how about knowing how much money you just made from an SMS campaign? Pro is a blend of our best features and a concierge service for digital marketing that helps you become a marketing mogul. You can easily upgrade at any time to get flexible custom pricing, more ways to communicate than ever before, and personalized expertise and support. Get ready to meet your new “back office.”

Also moving forward, all mobileStorm customer’s now get premium support for free. Get answers fast by talking to our knowledgeable and lovable support staff via email, chat, or when you want, just pick up the phone and call us. If you have been paying for support, it looks like Christmas has come early for you. Come on and call us—you’re our favorite people!

Regards,
Jared Reitzin
CEO

June is the start of Hurricane Season, and that means public safety officials have already begun preparing for the intense ocean-incubated storms. As the first tropical storm in the Americas for 2009 brewed last week, I got to thinking about how public safety departments can, and should, use SMS marketing technologies whenever a hurricane–or other disaster–strikes.

Text messaging is especially important whenever a large area is affected, along with utilities. When land lines and Internet connections go down, most people turn to their cell phones. Trouble is, voice service takes up a lot of bandwidth–so that it’s nearly impossible for someone to call for help, or for worried loved ones to contact someone in a disaster area. 

SMS, however, is not affected by busy traffic and other problems. As Cellular South said in a recent hurricane-preparedness press release, “Text messages require less network capacity and are more likely than voice calls to reach their destination during periods of network congestion.”

Numerous government agencies, as well as institutions like universities, already have some kind of message alert system in place. These are for large-scale disasters as well as individual emergencies. For example, the Marietta, Georgia school board has an SMS program in which students can send crime tips to police–using mobileStorm’s technology to make it possible.

It’s pretty satisfying that what was originally a marketing solution can also be used for the public good.

Eydie Cubarrubia

“I’d rather you text me”

(The following is an excerpt of an article, written by Senior Account & Support Manager Forrest Knighton, that appeared in mobileStorm’s newsletter, Outside The Inbox.)

SMS marketing requires different rules of frequency and message content than other types of digital messages.

Because of “number portability,” which allows cell phone users to take their digits with them when they change carriers, a mobile number has a much longer shelf life than an email address. So marketers do not need to send messaging campaigns to phones nearly half as often as they do to email addresses, because they don’t need to curb turnover in their mobile contacts lists.

Texting frequency works best at only two or three times a month. Marketers really should avoid sending daily text message campaigns, a practice that will cause their lists to dry up faster than government funds after a nationwide bailout.

SMS marketing needs to be handled delicately, with extremely targeted messages, and by dangling “carrots” in front of consumers that are delicious enough to prevent them from unsubscribing. When customers see that your marketing SMS messages offer them value, they’ll decide to keep receiving them—and to keep spending money at your company.

(If you’re not receiving Outside The Inbox, mobileStorm’s twice-monthly newsletter, you’re missing out on extremely useful digital messaging tips and information, such as the full version of this article. To subscribe to Outside The Inbox, click here.)

(The following comes from Patrick Knight, Director of Client Deliverability for mobileStorm.)

In the world of email, bought lists are pretty common. Buying a list is not against the law per se(CAN-SPAM never specifically states it); however it’s not such a safe bet since it’s not necessarily clear how these lists are compiled. In many cases they contain addresses that were collected by third-parties who use pre-checkboxes, `and or contain harvested, spam traps (old addresses used to monitor and identify spam activity) and invalid addresses (addresses that are no longer active and bounce).

Contrary to what many marketers think, purchasing lists is not very cost effective, when you consider the facts. Anywhere from 80-90% of these lists have data that is useless. Not to mention the costs marketers incur by having to resolve issues as a result of using these lists.

There is never a time when you should send messaging to people who didn’t opt in. The question to ask your self is …Did these people request to be on my list? Do they expect to receive emails from you, have you sent emails to these people before. The main point here is consent.  These people did not give you permission to send them messages.

Those marketers who do buy lists run serious risks. Beside the fact these people never sign up to receive your messages, even if you were to perform a permission pass campaign you run the risk of hitting spam traps, and in the end, it’s just not worth the risk.

 A sender’s reputation is based on measuring many variables including, spam trap hits, number of complaints, and invalid addresses.  As mentioned, many of these lists contain addresses that affect these variables negatively which can hinder if not ruin a good senders reputation.

Ultimately, good senders can end up being listed by major blacklists.  IP addresses used to send messages in some cases can be permanently blocked.  Furthermore, subscribers who have given permission to receive messages will most likely not receive it because of blocks place on your IP. It may also take a significant amount of time and resources to repair your reputation. If utilizing an ESP this can also cause collateral damage to your provider.

Unlike 2009, digital marketing is no longer in its infancy.

We all hope to keep providing you readers food for thought on the industry all through the coming year!

-Eydie Cubarrubia, Marketing Communications Manager, mobileStorm

“I’d rather you text me”

According to a recent study by eMarketer, the majority of college students pay little or no attention to marketing emails. However, email still remains their second- most preferred way to communicate, after text messaging. While this study mainly applies to college students, it got me thinking of the importance of relevance in messaging.

The deluge of marketing emails hitting inboxes ,paired with unrelenting spam, makes it hard for messages to get through to the brand audience—as we can see from the survey above. Taking the reins of your email marketing today can mean increased attention to your brand for generations to come. Not doing so means losing the very generation that email should be able to reach. Action has to be taken by all email marketers out there, to ensure that good marketing gets through.

The solution to effective email marketing , according to many companies and consultants in the field: Relevance. This word is often spoken, but the confusion lies in it being defined in too many ways. For some, relevance is equated to proper segmentation; for others it may involve dynamic content; and still others may focus on data collection and metrics as a key factor in achieving relevance. Before even considering email relevance, the first thing you should do is take inventory on attitudes in your organization about your email marketing itself.

Email marketing is well-known for its ROI, and as a relatively inexpensive channel, is often and easily abused. Looking at email as a channel where you can unload a mass of messages for quick impact to your bottom line would be cheating yourself. Email is not just randomized contact on a mass scale- it directly touches an individual on the other end, and can have a major impact on how your brand is recalled. Think of the brands whose emails you receive everyday: Google, Apple, Amazon… which ones do you read?

Learn more about email relevance…stay tuned next week!

Wishing everyone a happy and prosperous 2009!

Shaneli Ramratan, Director of Marketing, mobileStorm

Happy Holidays!

It’s that time of year again, and mobileStorm and the writers at the Digital Marketing Blog would like to take a moment to wish everyone Happy Holidays! We hope you have enjoyed reading this year, and have gained lots of good insight on digital marketing–especially email and SMS/texting.

It’s been quite a year, and our writers want to wish you all a well deserved break! For those of you celebrating today: Merry Christmas and best wishes to you and your families. At least, everyone can look forward to some time off today.

Thank you for visiting the Digital Marketing Blog!

This week Nielsen Mobile unveiled a new report, titled “The Short Code Marketing Opportunity,” that proves what we at mobileStorm have long known: Texting is now. The report is one of the first of its kind to take inventory of this year’s successes in text message marketing. mobileStorm client Broad River Furniture was among those featured, with the report highlighting the furniture retailer’s usage of mobile coupons to boost sagging summer sales. Nielsen notes, “Rewards programs are one way to ensure that a short code marketing campaign creates an engaging consumer experience; another logical opportunity is couponing.”

Other texting campaigns mentioned were from the likes of Coca Cola, Best Buy, Subway, and other internationally-known brands. One of the most well-known examples cited was the recent campaign for U.S. President-elect Barack Obama: Though the SMS message declaring Joe Biden as the vice presidential nominee was disparaged by critics who saw the announcement first on CNN or other news stations, the mass of people–2.9 million of them–who “texted-in” was proof in the pudding.

Nielsen’s report comes just in time for marketers who are unsure of venturing out into the mobile space and have been deterred by industry cynicism. The truth is that mobile campaigns are a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing mediums and pose the opportunity to capture large returns. The key is to use text messaging to start a personal and engaging conversation one-on-one with your customer or prospect, rather than send the kind of messages traditionally used in broad-reaching media formats like print, outdoor, and television.

Along with highlighting the uses of stand-alone mobile campaigns, Nielsen Mobile also talks about using SMS/text messaging to encourage users to participate in traditional media campaigns like television and radio. One of the most obvious examples of this (not mentioned in the report) happens to be another mobileStorm client: American Idol.

The point is that not only is texting powerful by itself, it can also be used to turn branding initiatives into direct response vehicles–an invaluable tool for marketers and media gurus alike.