Weekend Reading: Mobile Marketing, by Cindy Krum
One of our favorite new trends here at ReadWriteWeb is the quickly growing field of mobile technology and how we can take more of the Web along with us when we leave our computers. Because of the expanding popularity of smartphones and mobile data use, startups these days need to develop plans for marketing their brand on mobile devices at very early stages of their development. Cindy Krum, CEO of Rank-Mobile , a consulting firm focused on mobile marketing and SEO, is the author of this week’s featured read, Mobile Marketing: Finding Your Customers No Matter Where They Are . Sponsor With chapters on mobile advertising, mobile web development and search engine optimization, Krum’s informative book is a great resource for first time entrepreneurs looking to take advantage of the mobile platform. There is also an entire chapter to the iPhone, a testament to the device’s influence on the mobile Web space. “The iPhone has brought mobile Web access and mobile search to the masses,” writes Krum. “The iPhone represents only 8% of the mobile handsets but roughly 75% of the mobile search, and iPhones now account for one out of every 333 Web hits worldwide. The desire for Web access and Web search was always there – it was just being slowed by the bad user experience that other mobile phones provided.” “The desire for Web access and Web search was always there – it was just being slowed by the bad user experience that other mobile phones provided.” – Cindy Krum Krum also includes case studies from prominent businesses which have used mobile platforms to market their products. These include Nike , Nationwide Insurance , Land Rover , Visa , Corona Beer and CNN . I was disappointed to not find any mention of the efforts being made by numerous companies to use augmented reality for mobile marketing, but the book does include the use of quick response (QR) codes . Various types of bar codes and QR codes are described, as well as case studies of companies that put the technology to practical use. The book itself even joins in the QR fun by including a ScanLife EZ Code on the back cover. ScanLife is a mobile application and short code provider that allows companies to market specifically to camera phones. Users take a picture of the code using a ScanLife app and can be redirected to various forms of mobile content. The strange thing about the book’s implementation of the ScanLife code is that it failed to include any mobile-specific content. After scanning the code with the ScanLife app on my iPhone, Safari launched and took me to the book’s homepage. Yes, Safari on the iPhone is a fully capable web browser, but it would have made more sense to create a website optimized for the iPhone’s smaller screen. A similar code I found while on a recent trip to Las Vegas took me to a special mobile promotion page with a video and special hotel rates. The lesson to be learned here, and from other forms of mobile marketing, is that the content used should be native to the devices it is being viewed on. Simply adding a link to your normal webpage on a mobile device is not making the best use of the technology. The marketing the hotel used in the above example was a much better implementation because it provided me with exclusive content that was also optimized for viewing on a smaller screen. It isn’t enough to market to mobile phones; companies must be sure to make the content unique and native. Much more can be learned from the book and from the advice provided straight from the CEO of a company in the trenches of mobile marketing. Research shows that smartphones could become used more than personal computers in just a few short years, so getting ahead on mobile marketing strategies is an important step for any early-stage company. If you want to learn more about mobile trends, be sure to register for our ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit on May 7th in Mountain View, California. Photo by Flickr user William Hook . Disclosure: A review copy of this book was provided to ReadWriteWeb by Pearson Education and Que Publishing . Discuss
The Art of the Email Pitch
Last week, we wrote about the art of the elevator pitch , that short and hopefully impactful speech one should be prepared to give. But face-to-face interactions aren’t always possible, and even though they may be preferable, it’s important to practice the written form of the pitch as well. Investors (and tech bloggers, I would add) are inundated with emails. As with an elevator speech, you need to craft your email to attract and hold your reader’s attention. Here are a few tips. Sponsor 1. The subject line matters. Don’t leave this blank, and don’t write something vague like “introduction” or “pitch” or “idea” in the subject line. At least include your company name, but better yet include something that makes the email seem interesting to read. 2. Introduce yourself. Personalized emails go a lot farther than those sent from the marketing department. While attachments like resumes and press releases are sometimes appropriate, you should give a quick introduction to yourself at the beginning of an email. Your introduction should include the key details: who you are and why the recipient should know you. 3. Know your audience. Demonstrate some evidence in your email that you know who the recipient is. Make sure you are targeting the right person with the right message. 4. Pictures say a thousand words. If possible, include images and videos. These can help the recipient quickly assess your product or service. Be respectful of file size limitations. 5. Make it easy to reach you. Every email should contain a signature. And every signature should include all the possible ways to reach you: phone number, email address, Twitter account, Skype name, and so on. You need to be a click away. 6. Make it happen. Don’t just send emails with vague discussion about potential follow-up. Propose a follow-up. Arrange a meeting time and place. As with the elevator speech, it is important to be yourself. Remember to be respectful, even though the interaction isn’t “in person.” Discuss
Two-Thirds of iPhone Users Now Use Location-Based Services at Least Once a Week
While services like Gowalla and Foursquare still haven’t become household names outside of the early adopter market yet, the technology behind these apps is now solidly mainstream. According to a new survey by the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), about two thirds of iPhone owners now user location services at least once a week. Taking all cell phone users into account, 22% of adults between 25 and 34 use location services at least once a week, mostly to locate nearby points of interests, shops and services. Sponsor Focus: Location-Based Apps and Advertising The survey also asked users how likely they are to take action on location-based advertising on their mobile devices. According to the MMA, about half of those users who noticed ads in location-based apps took some action. On the other hand, only about 37% of respondents who noticed ads while sending or receiving text messages took any action based on these commercial messages. For those we noticed ads while browsing the web, this number was only 28% (which still seems rather high to us). Given that most people use location-based apps when they are already looking for a certain store or product, it makes sense that these users are more likely to respond to ads than people who are just browsing the web. Are Users Really Willing to Let Apps Track Them Passively in Return for Discounts? “Consumers are interested in allowing their phone to automatically share their location in exchange for perks, such as free use of mobile applications and mobile coupons.” Interestingly, the MMA survey also notes that “consumers are interested in allowing their phone to automatically share their location in exchange for perks, such as free use of mobile applications and mobile coupons.” While mobile coupons and other perks are definitely interesting to consumers, passive location services that track consumers in return for discounts have never really been tested in the wild. These services may sound good on paper, but the privacy implications of using these apps are hard to neglect and it remains to be seen if users are actually willing to give up their privacy in return for a 10% discount at Crate and Barrel. Chances are that we will see more of these passive tracking services once the iPhone 4 operating system arrives later this year. The current generation of the iPhone’s operating system doesn’t allow apps to run in the background and track your location, but this will be possible in the next version of the iPhone OS. Discuss
Altimeter Report: Social Marketing Analytics (Altimeter Group & Web Analytics Demystified)
A Collaborative Effort Between Two Firms: Web Analytics Demystified and Altimeter Group It’s just been over a month since we published the Social CRM Research paper (over 36k views on slideshare) and we’re continuing our cadence here at Altimeter Group of publishing widely available reports under the spirit of Open Research. This time, it’s different, we’ve aligned with who I feel are the smartest team of web analytics minds in the space, John Lovett (ex-Forrester analyst) and Eric Peterson (ex-Jupiter analyst) both of the Web Analytics Demystified firm. Stemming from Altimeter founder Charlene Li’s (ex-Forrester Analyst) framework, we co-developed this framework, and put our collective minds to work on measuring the rapidly changing social media marketing space. This self-funded research effort resulted in a thorough methodology as we interviewed over 40 ecosystem influencers. Interested in learning more? Attend the no-cost webinar by registering. Industry Challenge: ”I can’t measure social media ROI” Marketers around the globe are ranging from toe dipping to jumping all the way into the social marketing space –yet most lack a measurement yardstick. While experiments can fly under the radar for a short term, without having a measurement strategy, you run the risk of not improving what you’re doing, justifying investments, and the appearance of being aloof to upper management. To be successful, all programs (even new media) must have a measurement strategy, and we’ve done just that. Finally, A Measurement Framework Based on Business Objectives If you’re familiar with the Altimeter frameworks of developing a social strategy based on business objectives, then you’re in good shape, as this research report is the natural extension of the business objectives we put forth: Dialog : involves starting a conversation and offering your audience something to talk about while allowing that conversation to take on a life of its own Advocacy : activation of evangelism, word of mouth, and the spread of information through social technologies Supporting : customers may self support each other, or companies may directly assist them using social technologies. Innovation : The business objective of innovation is an extraordinary byproduct of engaging in social marketing activity. Our framework is a common denominator, yet if you’re already measuring converted leads, or actual sales from social media, great! Yet In this meaty report, which we hope you share with your marketing and analytics team, has actual KPI formulas which you should start to use as the start of your own cookbook. Altimeter Report: Social Marketing Analytics View more documents from Jeremiah Owyang . A Nod To the Community Spirit We’re putting a big stake out there, in order to further the industry to come together around a common set of KPIs and metrics, but we realize we don’t know all the answers. In the spirit of Open Research , we want this to be an open framework (we’ve even licensed this under Creative Commons) to customize it and make your own for non-commercial reasons with attribution. If you’ve ideas on how to improve it such as new KPIs, vendors, or approaches, we’re listening, and will incorporate and improve this community body of knowledge for all to benefit. Related Links I’ll link to others that extend the conversation, feel free to embed the slideshare on your own site. John Lovett, my co-author, on the Web Analytics Demystified Blog . Note, they used their branded report template, but the content is the same. The Altimeter Blog (cross posting) Christine Tran is the lead researcher on this report, she writes a smart blog Lithium’s Phil Soffer, VP of Product Marketing, has shared it from the Lithium Blog
Is Apple Booting iAd’s Competition from the iPhone?
At the most recent Apple keynote , Steve Jobs announced Apple’s upcoming advertising platform called iAd . Included as a part of the OS 4.0 update, the mobile operating system upgrade due out for iPhone this summer and iPad later this fall, the iAd system aims, in its very Apple-ly way, to make mobile advertisements “delightful,” meaning ads worth clicking on, engaging with and viewing. What Jobs didn’t mention, though, is how Apple plans to give iAd its head start: by kicking out the competing analytics and advertising platforms now thriving in nearly every iPhone app today. Or so it seems. Sponsor Developer Reports App Store Rejection Due to Analytics Inclusion Last week, technology news blog VentureBeat caught wind of a story where Apple had rejected an iPhone application because it, according to the email sent to the developer, “is not appropriate for applications to gather user analytics.” Not appropriate, you may ask? Since when? Apparently since Apple released their updated iPhone Developer Agreement. Alongside the SDK 4 beta , made available shortly after the announcement in early April, the developer contract was updated, too. Specifically, the clause in question, section 3.3.9, reads, in part (more here ): Notwithstanding anything else in this Agreement, Device Data may not be provided or disclosed to a third party without Apple’s prior written consent. Accordingly, the use of third party software in Your Application to collect and send Device Data to a third party for processing or analysis is expressly prohibited. To date, the changes detailed in this clause have been overshadowed by the one preceding it – in Section 3.3.1, Apple banned the use of cross-compiler tools for building iPhone applications, like the one Adobe was just about to ship , for example. But in the long run, it’s Section 3.3.9 that may have more impact on the industry as a whole. “FEAR” You may have not heard too much about this change because no one actually knows what’s going on thanks to Apple’s par-for-the-course policy of refusing to clarify its meaning. Plus, the companies who may be the most heavily affected by an analytics ban – services like Flurry , MediaLets , Motally , Localytics , and SimpleGeo , to name a few – don’t want to talk about it. On record that is. But after a dozen or so phone calls and emails, we’re starting to see a picture forming and it can be summed up in one word: FEAR . “Nobody wants to be the canary in the coal mine,” one source told us, referring to the radio silence we’re getting from these companies when you would have otherwise expected to hear outcry, or perhaps even anti-competitive claims. Some companies, off-record, say they are afraid to complain . If they do, they could be the next to be banned. Another source reported that a number of their company’s clients weren’t submitting updates to the iTunes Application Store because they were worried that the updates, with the analytics included of course, would be rejected. Instead, the clients are leaving their older applications in place since it doesn’t appear that Apple is going back through all the current apps and booting out those that already include analytics within them. “Maybe the older apps are grandfathered in?” they wondered aloud. The fact that no one knows, not even the big name, big box retailer that sits at the top of the latter’s client list, is a testament to how Apple likes to do business. Here’s the agreement, read it and sign it…and that’s the extent of the communication. As to those who did manage to get someone from Apple to talk about it? The answer was simply: “read the agreement.” But if Apple holds true to what’s written there, it sounds like it could spell doom for mobile analytics and ad firms, especially the small-time players beloved by independent developers. iAd, Anti-Competitive? What no one will say – again, on record, that is – is that the changes have a whiff of anti-competitive behavior to them. The issue at hand: Apple is preparing to launch iAd, an advertising platform based on the newly-acquired Quattro Wireless, a second choice for Apple after the Admob deal fell through. “We tried to buy AdMob, but Google snatched them up because they didn’t want us to have them,” Steve Jobs said during the April keynote. “So we bought another smaller company, Quattro. But we’re babes in the woods.” Some say that the added language to section 3.3.9 is a direct shot at AdMob in the same way that the changes in 3.3.1 were a shot at Adobe. That is, instead of allowing Google to get its mobile advertisements onto the iPhone, Apple can keep them out via the new analytics/ad ban. Whether or not that’s the case is certainly up for debate. But considering that the Google/AdMob deal is still being researched by U.S. antitrust enforcers, regulators aware of the issue. Word has it that Google even pointed it out to the FTC, just in case. Continue Reading: Next page, “A Second Opinion” A Second Opinion: Privacy Concerns Others, however, say these changes aren’t really about analytics, ads and anti-competitive behavior as much as they are about privacy concerns. In speaking with Alan Chapell, chairman of the Mobile Marketing Association Privacy Committee and whose firm advises companies on privacy and data strategy, the changes to Apple’s agreement have to do more with consumer privacy than anything else. With language that refers to “geo-location” and targeted advertising, a good bit of Section 3.3.9 is about how location-based applications should behave. With the rise of location-based services especially and location-based social tools like Loopt, Foursquare, Gowalla, and others, privacy is at the forefront of everyone’s minds these days. ( Including ours ). There are no standards for location based data yet, Chapell explains. No rules about how such data should be used, retained, shared and so on. In addition, Apple is under heavy pressure from regulators to protect the privacy of its customers. And if the third-party analytics providers do something which comprises that privacy, it will be Apple that gets in trouble. “This debate is about privacy and innovation,” Chapell notes, “and finding a balance between the two.” Unfortunately, even if Apple chooses never to enforce the new rules, explains Chapell, the changes will have an indirect impact on innovation in this area. The next round of ad networks, analytics providers and other in-app data-sharing tools will be less likely to be funded. Not Just Funding at Risk… These changes won’t just affect the funding of services like those noted above, though, they could affect how services are developed for the iPhone. Take for example, Xtify , a location-triggered geo-messaging system now available for Android ( previous coverage ).