Optism™

This week’s roundup of articles points to an increasing appreciation for the market opportunities in mobile advertising, with emphasis on the value-add of permission-based mobile marketing.

In spite of that good news, though, as we see in Carolyn Dawson’s article at TMCnet.com, there’s still work to do: “A survey conducted by bigmouthmedia shows that around 75 percent of the UK’s big brands do not understand the value of a visitor through mobile in comparison to other digital channels.” They know mobile’s big, they know they need to pay attention… but they don’t really know how to take advantage of the unique strengths of mobile. As an industry, we need to spread the word, and share experiences and best practices. (See our recent blog on best practices for getting opt-in.). Dawson reports, “67.6 percent of the respondents believed that increased customer engagement will also be a major benefit.” We totally agree – ask for permission first and then ask questions about people’s interests, so you can make it a better experience. Early movers will have an advantage and capture mindshare with the consumer. Read the rest of this entry »

There’s lots of buzz these days about engagement marketing. Over at msearchgroove, Peggy Salz talks to well known author, thinker and public speaker Alan Moore about just what engagement marketing means to him.  Moore, believes that that we are entering into a world where “everyone is connected up to each other in a social context” and brands and businesses need to embrace the “fundamental cultural mind shift” required by today’s marketing reality or they’re going to become increasing irrelevant. In their conversation, Salz and Moore consider both the opportunities and challenges of mobile marketing for businesses today. Listen to the podcast.

In recent blogs, we’ve talked about the importance of permission and what permission means to different stakeholders. This week, we’re looking at best practices for getting people to opt in to a mobile marketing service.

Tomi Ahonen tells us there are now 5 billion active mobile phone subscriptions out there, so it’s understandable that advertisers are keen to gain access to the mobile mass audience. But first, operators must entice their customers to opt in for the service and provide them with clear value to keep them engaged. Read the rest of this entry »