When I added a burgeoning rock band to my MySpace friends list recently, I got a pleasant surprise: A personal “thank you” that was a bit more than the usual “thanks for the add” that litters MySpaces. Though I already liked the group, this thoughtful attention to detail really made me believe they appreciated their growing fan base.

This wasn’t an anomaly on MySpace, however. These days, lots of bands stay online all day, every day, in order to stay engaged with listeners. At least with the bands I like, it’s not unusual to see comments on pages like “I can’t believe you wrote back! That’s so awesome!” in response to musicians sending a personal “thank you” for a friend add.

Though they likely wouldn’t say it in so many words, these entrepreneurial struggling artists are engaged in the best type of message marketing, keeping it personal between the consumer and the brand, and reaching to the consumer the way he/she wants to be reached. Best of all, they begin the marketing message relationship with a personal welcome–something that ALL marketers should do, especially when someone signs up to receive their messages.

We all know the importance of sending a “thank you” message to a new subscriber: At the very least, it can be incorporated into the double opt-in process, in which the person must click on a link or respond to a message in order to activate his or her subscription. But by saying thank you, marketers also show appreciation to the consumer, especially in light of spam concerns.

Making that message a bit more personal adds infinite value for the consumers. You’ll have them at hello.

Eydie Cubarrubia, Marketing Communications Manager, mobileStorm

“I’d rather you text me”

As of today, there’s less than a week left in September–which has been declared “National Coupon Month” by the Promotion Marketing Association’s Coupon Council. Add to that the Wall Street rollercoaster ride, and there’s no better time than now to try using coupons to boost sales in a slowing.

The PMA’s Coupon Council offeres some interesting stats:
* 89 percent of the overall population reports that they use coupons when shopping.
* Coupon useres report an average of 7 percent savings on their grocery bill with coupons.
*Approximately $2.6 billion is saved annually by consumers using manufacturer’s coupons when shopping for packaged products.

The PMA mentions coupons “on the Internet” in the same breath as “in the newspaper” and “in the mailbox”–indicating that digital coupons are just as important as their paper brethren to consumers wanting to save. By this time next year, I’m betting the Coupon Council will start breaking out digital coupon platforms further.

Of course, we here at mobileStorm have done so already. Our Coupon Management lets users create mobile, email, or RSS coupons–allowing them reach customers the way the most want to be reached. Also, it helps users create coupons, redeem them if they have no POS of their own–and then analyze the success of the coupon campaign.

Those are benefits that even the PMA hadn’t thought of. Yet.

Eydie Cubarrubia, Marketing Communications Manager, mobileStorm

“I’d rather you text me”

For those of you who tuned in for the NFL games this weekend, you may have noticed the “I’m a PC” commercials from Microsoft. I could state the obvious here regarding the attempted brand play, but come on–Microsoft is one of the top three brands globally, and I found another compelling feature of these TV ads. Along with clips from the likes of Eva Longoria and Bill Gates himself, we got a couple of shots of some regular old Microsoft employees and their email addresses.

I had a chance to procure a few of these addresses, jeff@windows.com and sean@windows.com, and took the liberty to email them. (I know what you’re thinking, but these emails weren’t hacked!) I received two quirky email auto-responders. Though I’m not yet sure how the content impacted my perception of Microsoft, it was still an interesting multi-channel approach, using prime time television paired with good old email marketing. Not to mention these emails were successfully delivered to me in record time–after all, @windows.com is a domain that will probably never be blocked from our Inboxes.

Speaking of the Inbox, unlike in the case of Microsoft, for other legitimate senders out there, email delivery is not always a guarantee. If you want to increase your email delivery success, check out the new whitepaper, 10 Commandments of Email Delivery. This whitepaper will provide you all the basics to understanding email delivery and break down how to get your marketing messages delivered. Download it here.

No man is an island, especially when he attends an event where planners have implemented “text-to-screen” technology. You’ve probably seen this before–perhaps in a bar, or at a sporting event. On a big video screen, there might be a quiz or poll that asks the crowd to vote on a particularly interesting topic (favorite barmaid, most valuable player, best song, etc.). It’s a great way to further engage attendees and make the event even more enjoyable. And if they use the right platform, event marketers can even gather participants’ contact information for use in future campaigns.

mobileStorm is that platform–especially with its new premium offering, Text-To-Screen. mobileStorm Text-To-Screen can be used to add excitement to sports matches, concerts, parties, or even a regular evening at a nightclub or movie theater. Here’s how it works: Marketers put up a poll or quiz on a video screen, and ask people to text their answers to a shortcode. As they vote, the results are presented on the screen in real time–adding excitement to the event since the results will change as more people text in their votes.

And because Text-To-Screen is part of the mobileStorm platform, users can further leverage these types of campaigns. For example, after someone sends an SMS to the short code, marketers can ask if they want to receive future special messages, and then save the consumer’s mobile number as well as ask for more demographic information about him or her.

For more details about mobileStorm Text-To-Screen, go to http://www.mobilestorm.com/text-to-screen/.

Eydie Cubarrubia, Marketing Communications Manager, mobileStorm

“I’d rather you text me”