February 2010
6 posts
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Link: Survey Data--SMS trumps IM for Teens →
Texting among teens outpaces IM, a survey conducted by Mediamark
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“participants gave for the move away from postal reminders and towards SMS...”
– People want SMS for convenience! from a survey conducted by Dialogue Communications.
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“although only three per cent of people currently receive reminders by text –...”
– People want more SMS! from a survey conducted by Dialogue Communications.
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New Feature: Age Verification
Providing an extra level of security for alcohol companies, we’ve added a new feature to allow brands to verify a participant’s age before she can interact with its programs. This feature mimics many alcohol-related websites.
Simply check the box to enable.
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New Feature: Data on Demand
Seventy percent of all beverage purchases in retail environments are impulse buys. Our new release, “Data on Demand” can help influence a shopper’s choice to purchase your wine.
Data on Demand allows you to share information with your customers with an auto-response message, perfect for instant coupons, sharing links, and information at events.
As with other programs types, you...
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“Because it’s text messaging, you can actually engage in some back and forth...”
– Allyson Kapin, non-profit marketer discussing how to integrate text message “into the larger mix” Mashable blog: 5 Real Challenges for Non-Profit texting Campaigns
January 2010
6 posts
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New Feature: Surveys
There’s no better way to figure out how to improve your customer service at the point-of-sales or events than to ask your customer questions. Today, we release surveys to help you improve the chances of your collecting information and activating your customers in your mobile programs. We’re pumped about this feature!
Creating Survey
After naming your campaign and creating a primary...
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Text Messaging and the Haiti Earthquake
Text message has had a great impact on humanitarian and rescue efforts in Haiti. Victims trapped in the rubble have sent SMS messages to help rescuers pinpoint their location. (Read here.) Most notably, concerned people have helped raise over $2 million $5 million $10 million with $5 and $10 donations to organizations participating in the relief efforts by simply texting a keyword. Most notably...
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Follow a discussion on Mobile Marketing @ Wine...
Relevant questions and issues were raised in this discussion. We want to help clarify and educate the industry on the power of and many applications and insight customers share through text message programs.
Do you have any questions?
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“Mobile is the most personal, intimate and media-engaging medium that is out...”
– Michael Becker, Direct to Consumer Symposium 2010 keynote speaker and mobile marketer. Read full article on WineBusiness.com
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New Feature: Account overview page
Based on feedback, we’ve integrated an activity feed, similar to Facebook. You’ll see feed items for new subscribers added, sent broadcasts, and ended campaigns.
What other information would help you?
December 2009
10 posts
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A New Year's Gift Just For You
In 2010, wine marketing conferences (Direct to Consumer Symposium and Wineries Unlimited) will spotlight mobile and SMS (text message) as a powerful CRM and logistics tool to build strong relationships with customers. We’re thrilled more wine marketers will be exposed to and learn how simple, flexible, and cost-effective mobile marketing is.
To celebrate, we want to make an offer to help...
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“in 2010, SMS increasingly will serve as the glue that cements multichannel...”
– Frederico Pisani Massamormile, Interim CEO of Mobile Marketing Association outlining top 5 mobile trends of 2010:
Mobile is multichannel: mobile is most cost-effective method to reach mass market; supports engagement long after exposure to traditional media; brands recognize that mobile is a...
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How does a small business use mobile coupons?
Published in Inc. Magazine’s December 2009 issue, How to Boost Sales with Mobile Coupons illustrates how easily small businesses can implement a text message marketing program to drive sales.
Here’s an excerpt from the column:
“One of the benefits of text-message coupons is that you can offer them at a specific time of day. Ashok Desai, owner of Family Dry Cleaners, a chain of...
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Are customers reading your emails on their mobile...
Close to 139 million people worldwide access their emails from a mobile phone. This number will approach 1 billion by 2013, according to a Radicati Group study. More importantly, nearly 1 in 5 holiday shoppers will use their mobile phone for assistance this year. Are you taking the proper steps?
Published on Mobile Marketer, How to mobile-optimize holiday email campaigns shares a handy checklist...
WatchImagine how powerful Pranav’s SixthSense game-changing technology would be for wineries to tell their story and connect with consumers. He says prototypes cost $350 to build. I’m sure people will pay double or triple that price.
(If you’re in a time crunch, start at 5:30 mark.)
How would you use this to bring your wine brand to another dimension?
November 2009
6 posts
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New Feature: Quick view of your account message...
Tracking your message volume got a little bit easier. From the Reports section, click on the “Account Message Volume”. You can use the filters to view data based on date ranges, campaign types, and campaign status. The data also differentiates message volume from SMS and web sources. Enjoy!
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New Feature: Target communication with segments
New feature! When you want to remind your fans in Chicago about an upcoming event, give some love to November birthdays, or send a promotion to your customers who prefer red wine, you can segment your audience based on any data you collect.
Start by clicking the “Segments” link on the right side of the the Manage Profiles section or ‘View Segments’ link on the right side...
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New Feature: Collect data that's important to your...
In addition to basic information (first and last name, email address, mailing address, birthday, gender, and home phone number), you can now collect and store data about your audience that is unique to your business.
To add custom fields to your subscriber profile page, click on the “Custom Fields” link on the Subscriber List page.
Clicking the “Add a new data field”...
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New Feature: Manage subscriber profiles
We released a update to manage all the subscribers to your mobile campaigns. You can easily search and filter subscribes based on their mobile number or type and name of campaigns in which they participate.
Accessed from the Campaign List page, you can view a list campaign participants and further filter using the Filter Options.
From the list, you can click on the mobile number to view...
Link: Academic Earth →
I’m behind the game on this, but there’s some great content here.
Lessons from Tyler Perry and Aunt Madea
Tyler Perry has carved a lucrative niche ($400+ million) from producing theater, television, and film for a specific audience—black, church-going women and families. Any entrepreneur can learn from his success.
1) Focus on an audience. His stories revolve around powerful black maternal characters and intertwine themes that allow for social commentary, comedy, inspiration, and a little...
October 2009
14 posts
Google GPS on Android crushes the competition →
Google’s GPS app on Android put a hurt on TomTom and Garmin.
Google’s strategy exemplifies a shift to mobile products to connect with consumers, who always have their mobile phones with them.
Wineries and small businesses can quickly achieve similar results with text message and voice.
Tell a great story and People will follow
Visionaries and leaders, in any field of work, know how to inspire, to build a following, and to initiate change by telling a great story.
Jonas Bendikson, a photographer, does exactly that with his powerful photography in The Places We Live, which chronicles the lives of people around the world living in the largest urban slums and extremes of poverty.
I encourage you to visit the...
“Peanut Butter Cup Theory: Sometimes the most powerful ideas come from simply...”
– Daniel H. Pink
Shelf Talkers: a Massively Missed Opportunity...
This is a simple and massive opportunity to help a consumer decide between your brand and the competitor sitting on the shelf right next to you. It baffles me. Why aren’t shelf talkers and POS material supplied by brands interactive?
“A customer may leave his wallet at home, but not his cell phone. He may switch...”
Integrate SMS to measure your direct marketing
Marketers love to promote on the internet because the channel they can target audiences and calculate ROI with cost-per-click (CPC) and cost-per-action (CPA) metrics. Integrate SMS into direct marketing (shelf cards, point-of-sales material, wine event tasting notes, packaging inserts, etc.) and receive the same results.
Here’s a scenario:
Chugalot Winery launched a new wine club and...
SMS fastest growing tool to build your email lists
A study published by ExactTarget, an email marketing firm, indicates SMS is the fastest growing tool to capture email addresses.
The study reports, “While only 2% of marketers used the tactic in 2008, 12% plan to use it in 2009. This represents a six fold increase in adoption…”
To compare the change in adoption, the chart indicates how marketers are changing their tune:
The...
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Text Message is stil the Killer App
Cell phone users, in the United States alone, send over 4.1 billion text messages daily, double the amount of messages sent last year, according to CTIA’s bi-annual report. Wow!
When people speak about killer mobile apps, it usually involves the Iphone; however, text message still reigns supreme. Text messaging is available on all cell phones, is growing, and is used more frequently than voice.
...
What's the difference between SMS and Twitter
As a channel to communicate with an audience, there are similarities between SMS and Twitter. For example, communication is instant and limited to less than 160 characters. However, as a tool to engage with an audience, SMS and Twitter are quite different.
To keep the comparison simple, here’s an analogy to explain the difference between SMS and Twitter.
Twitter is similar to an internet...