Optism™

This week’s roundup looks at the need to understand mobile audiences, what makes them tick, and how to capture their interest in the brave new world of mobile advertising.

Vision mobile has provided The recipe for a successful mobile strategy for your brand. The article is focused on mobile apps, but a lot of what they talk about also applies to other effective methods such as messaging-based mobile marketing and advertising. For example, we fully agree that a brand needs to understand users and have “a deep understanding of mobile as a medium” before they start implementing a mobile advertising campaign. After all, users are only going to care about what you have to say if you are perceived to be providing value – and you can only do that if you know something about what matters to the individual listening to you. It’s also important that your message be easy to access – as SMS is. Author Guillaume Arth says, with mobile, “users need ‘to get it’ in a matter of seconds.” So, there are challenges, but “With mobile, brands can equip themselves with a powerful and interactive marketing platform that forms a key pillar of a ‘multi-touch’, digital media presence.”

Reporting from the recent Mobile Marketing Summit New York: Holiday 2010, Mobile Marketer advises that “delivering a branded experience across all mobile channels is key.” The “Are Publishers and Broadcasters Providing an Advertiser-Friendly Environment for the Holidays?” panel was moderated by Dan Butcher, associate editor at Mobile Marketer and Mobile Commerce Daily, New York. We agree with the advice of panel participant Craig Kirkland, director of mobile products at CNN, that “knowing your customers is really important and what you’re trying to tell them is as critically important.” Mr. Kirkland also pointed out that “SMS is a great way to encourage consumers to sign up and build a company’s database. Then, throughout the year, the company can use that to drive to other sales and promotions and build an ongoing relationship that every brand wants with its consumers.” Panel participants were enthusiastic about the growing role of mobile in the marketing mix, with several expressing optimism for the potential of mobile sales in the coming holiday season.

“Today, 25% of Americans participate in at least one SMS marketing program each month.” The challenge, according to Eagle Marketing Services, is how you get people to start listening to you and to keep them believing in your messages. In Mobile Marketing Insights from the Best In Class, they explore a few compelling success stories from major brands. Through the examples, you see how critical it is that brands and agencies take the time to understand what audiences want in terms of content and how they use their mobiles. “Keeping mobile subscribers in the know is the best way to gain loyalty.” Of course, the marketing machines behind ESPN and Coca-Cola also understand the importance of relying on opt-in services to ensure their messages are well received by the mobile user.

Proving the value of text messaging, MobileMarketingWatch reports on the success of a recent National Wildlife Federation campaign to help the animals in the Gulf of Mexico. According to the marketing agency behind the NWF’s campaign, “35 percent of all money raised to help the creatures is due to the “Text WILDLIFE” campaign.” The campaign “also shows how mobile fits into an overall digital marketing strategy.” It’s great to see how the ease of use, ubiquity and speed of an SMS-based campaign can be put to such creative use, for such a great cause.

The recent repositioning announcement from the MMA points to the growing maturity of the mobile marketing ecosystem. The MMA doesn’t need to evangelize the importance of the mobile channel anymore, but they believe marketers “still need support to find the right role for mobile in the marketing mix.” The MMA has identified five building blocks that it will concentrate on to establish mobile as an indispensable part of the marketing mix. Going forward, the Association will promote, educate, measure, guide and protect the mobile marketing industry worldwide. As a Premium Member of the MMA, the Optism team will continue to actively support the MMA in all its endeavors.

Over on CloudAve, Krishnan Subramanian acknowledges Alcatel-Lucent’s efforts to address the problem of mobile platform fragmentation while providing mobile operators with an opportunity to get back into the game and capitalize on their assets. In Alcatel-Lucent Is Damn Serious About Their Plans To Make Wireless Carriers Relevant the author explains how Alcatel-Lucent is “putting together all the pieces in the puzzle.” The Company’s open platform supports the needs of developers and facilitates their ability to address user demands, while enabling mobile operators to play a significant role in the market going forward. Optism is a prime example of the value that can be accrued through innovation and openness. With Optism, we are helping operators to expose a valuable asset – their mobile inventory – in a safe and secure way to advertisers in an effort to create new services and additional revenue streams.

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