It’s taken a singing competition to underscore the importance of measurable ROI.

Last month I pointed out how mobile marketing really boosted the success of American Idol (whose parent company, FremantleMedia, is a mobileStorm client), much more so than traditional marketing. Specifically, I pointed to the record numbers of voters–the majority of whom had texted-in–who participated in this season’s finale between wholesome, broadly-appealing winner Kris Allen and runner-up Adam Lambert, whose artistic risks such as a Middle Eastern take on “Ring Of Fire” thrilled music aficionados while likely scaring Middle America. These figures were in seeming opposition to Nielsen ratings numbers, which indicated that viewership was the lowest since the show’s second season.

At first, this seemed to prove that digital messaging engages consumers so much, their participation becomes much more significant than that of a larger number of less-engaged consumers. But The Business Insider notes that the problem may have to do with Nielsen’s technology that gathers viewer data.

“A recent Nielsen study of how people use the meter showed that enough viewers punch the meter incorrectly, particularly when watching TV in large groups, that national ratings could be off by 8 percent,” the report says. Fox, of course, is furious. Such a flub affects how much the network can charge for advertisements that run during the show. Other TV networks are also wary, since their own ratings and ad rates may also be affected.

The only silver lining here is for digital message marketers. Unlike TV ads that are run based on (now-suspect) viewer numbers, SMS and email campaigns offer absolutely-measurable ROI:

• You can count how many unique users (cell phone numbers or email addresses) are participating in a campaign–whether they’ve opted-in to receive email messages or texted into a premium SMS campaign.
• You can see how many people who received your message further acted upon it–such as the number of people who redeemed a mobile coupon, or who clicked on an email sales flier and ultimately made a purchase.
• You can see which of your campaigns did better than others.
• You can use demographic and psychographic information to see which groups of people responded the most to your campaign.

You just can’t get information this specific–or this accurate–with traditional marketing methods. The Nielsen controversy proves that.

Eydie Cubarrubia

“I’d rather you text me”

Last week, I explained that videos and email marketing messages go together like chocolate and peanut butter. Click-through rates for marketing emails increase two or three times with the inclusion of video! This is in part because increasingly larger numbers of consumers (we’re talking trillions!) want to spend time watching online video, and also because it’s becoming easier for them to watch videos sent via email.

Today, I’ll offer some tips on how marketers can create videos that consumers will want to receive via email and watch online. I’ll aso explain explain how marketers can analyze the results of their video email marketing campaigns with mobileStorm’s technology.

Because some companies might not have tried their hand at creating videos, here are some things we at mobileStorm learned while making our online commercials and comedy shows.

• Online video is not the same as a feature-length movie or network TV show. Its purpose is to quickly pique interest in a brand. Thus, it should start off with a “bang” and not be much longer than a few minutes.
• Links should either lead to a video posted on a site like YouTube or MySpace, or else should lead to specially-designed landing pages. Never use embedded video in email!
• Providing your video in the smallest file size possible, but still retaining a satisfactory image quality, is part of best practices for all Internet video. Flash compression is often the best comproise of file size and quality, making it ideal for online media.

Once you’ve deployed a video email marketing campaign, you need to determine how well it did. (more…)

mobileStorm’s six messaging types for marketers are all conducive to our stance that multi-channel campaigns are best. We’ve also long suggested that marketers be multi-channel within a single message–for example, by including video in an email marketing message, which engages the recipient and also makes the message viral.

We’re so forward-thinking that it’s only been recently that the rest of the marketing industry has caught up, and realized that–like chocolate and peanut butter–video and email can be combined into one message to really entice consumers. Two great tastes taste great together, indeed!

• According to analyst David Daniels at Forrester Research, putting a video link within an email, such as a clickable screen shot, “can increase click-through rates by two to three times.”
• Mr. Daniels also notes in his recent report that between July 2008 and July 2009, 17 percent of marketing executives surveyed planned to use video in email. Marketers are getting competitive with video email!
• Meanwhile, Nielsen Online reported that in April of this year, 119 billion unique viewers watched 7 trillion total streams during the month; total streams were up 24 percent from a year ago, while streams-per-viewer are up 27 percent and time-per-viewer is up 58 percent. Consumers love watching online video!
• Technological advances make viewing video in an email more seamless for the consumer. For example, Gmail Labs now has a feature that allows users to turn on previews of YouTube videos. Once consumers set this on their accounts, they’re able to watch YouTube videos from inside the email message. As word spreads, marketers will reach increasingly more Gmail users with video emails!

So savvy marketers will want to beat the competition before it beats them. This requires them to: (1) post videos where they can easily be found, and (2) incorporate video into their email marketing messages. This may be easier said than done, but with mobileStorm’s technology and expertise, it’ll still be relatively easy. (more…)

Last week, the shooting death of Wesleyan University student Johanna Justin-Jinich shocked the small city of Middletown, Connecticut. Even though, according to what police have said, it sounds like she was the sole target of an alleged stalker, university authorities did the right thing: They sent text and email alerts to students, canceling events and keeping them updated on the crisis.

That’s what’s so great about digital marketing strategies: They can be used for the greater good. In this case, Wesleyan University used a multi-channel digital marketing-like strategy as part of its Rapid Alert System for emergencies.

The school sent text messages to students–smart, because young adults never go anywhere without their phones, and so they would get the news and safety tips right away, no matter where they were. Officials also sent email messages, which would reach students once they were safely back in their dorms and waiting for more information. (Emails could also reach a limited number students who had cell phones with email capabilities, but text was the best way to ensure reaching as many phones as possible during the first critical moments after the shooting.) The university also posted updates on its website, viewable to both students on campus and their worried parents far away.

We’ve talked about using SMS (and to a lesser extent email) for emergencies in past Digital Marketing Blog posts. The mobileStorm platform, we’ve said before, can be used to send mass emergency alerts, as part of an overall public safety strategy. (Interested readers should contact the mobileStorm sales team via email or toll-free phone call).

Though Ms. Justin-Jinich’s death is a horror, at least no one else got hurt. Maybe because students were warned well enough in advance to retreat immediately to their dorms–preventing the shooter from targeting any more victims. Wesleyan University’s usage of SMS and email is a great lesson for any institution or government body that is considering ways to best reach denizens during times of crisis.