Last week our CEO, Jared Reitzin, wrote a guest column for Mobile Marketing Watch about the current state of short code provisioning.  For those of you familiar with the process, you know it is relatively “antiquated,” as Jared says, and pretty inefficient. There are a number of ways provisioning can be improved, and Jared offers candid advice to Neustar, which is the agency in charge of short code provisioning, and to the carriers themselves. 

A few of the problems the current system faces include lengthy start-up time, limited availability of short codes, and a message flow approval process that is not efficient.  The most troubling thing, Jared notes, is that carriers and Neustar haven’t taken any initiative to update the process. Our CEO discusses the importance of streamlining short code provisioning to accommodate the fast growing mobile industry,

Check out his suggestions and add your own comments. Hopefully we can start a dialogue that helps to bring short code provisioning in-line with the current times.

Wouldn’t you  know it: The same day of mobileStorm’s free webinar on mobile coupons last week, I saw a Harris Interactive study that emphasized the importance of coupons this holiday season.

The study found that 89 percent  of online adults think coupons are a great way to save money, and that 35 percent of those who will be spending less money on gifts this holiday season will use coupons.

No wonder our web seminar was popular. So popular, in fact, that our CEO, Jared Reitzin, is going to give a repeat performance! The encore presentation, happening 10 a.m. Thursday (Pacific time), is for those who couldn’t make it the first time–as well as for attendees who might have a few questions about what they learned last week.

To register for the webinar, click here.

I’d been expecting it

Ever since I first told wrote about the presidential candidates’ digital promotions campaigns–including the now President-elect Barack Obama’s savvy use of texting–I’ve anticipated increased adoption of digital messaging by consumers and marketers alike. The masses would be encouraged by these leaders’ example, I figured. Call it my own trickle-down theory.

Seems I was right: The aggregator Sybase 365 reports that mobile messaging traffic increased dramatically last Tuesday night, the evening of the election. From 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Pacific time, U.S. subscribers sent more than 1.2 billion messages. Volume tripled between 8 p.m. and 8:10 p.m. Pacific time. Overall, SMS volume that day was 10 percent higher than the previous day.

What better way for people to discuss the newly-elected president than SMS, the platform that he himself chose to use to communicate with supporters. While catering to young voters, Sen. Obama’s campaign certainly encouraged people of all ages to text-message more than ever.

Sadly, email didn’t receive the same PR boost. The campaign neglected to use double opt-in for subscribers, resulting in pranksters signing people up using creative names–so that victims received messages calling them things like “StupidSpamSuckerSlutface.”

At least the faux pas re-emphasized the importance of email best practices. Meanwhile SMS has become less niche and more mainstream. It’s change that all mobile marketers, red or blue, can celebrate.

Eydie Cubarrubia, Marketing Communications Manager, mobileStorm

“I’d rather you text me”

Text message marketing in particular, and mobile marketing in general, is making a bigger impact on American consumers.

The Mobile Advertising Report, put out jointly by research agency GfK Technology and mobile social network Limbo yesterday, said that “four out of 10 Americans with a cell phone, 104 million, recall seeing advertising on the device between July and September 2008.” This is the first time that such a group of consumers broke the 100 million mark within a three-month period, the report said.

And it seems that text ads are benefitting the most from this new consumer awareness. The report said that 60 million people remembered seeing an SMS marketing message–which was an increase of 42 percent within nine months.

Moreover, consumers also recalled mobile Web ads–but “only” 31 million. The report concluded that mobile Web ads have half the reach of SMS messages. Marketers, then, shouldn’t have to wait for smart phones to have near-100 percent penetration before embarking on mobile campaigns–thanks to SMS.

And don’t think mobile campaigns only resonate with the young. While 43 percent of those who recalled ads were younger than 34, 52 percent were between ages 35 and 65.

“The U.S. is the world’s dominant advertising market but has traditionally been behind Asian and European markets in terms of consumer use of mobile devices,” said Colin Strong, head of Mobile Communications Research at GfK Technology. “The latest [report] shows that U.S. consumers are accelerating their use of the mobile device and advertisers are hot on their tails, using the new medium to reach consumers in pioneering ways.”

Unless marketers want competitors to gain an advantage, they’d better start incorporating mobile marketing–and especially SMS marketing–campaigns into their overall strategies.

Eydie Cubarrubia, Marketing Communications Manager, mobileStorm

“I’d rather you text me”