Optism™

At mSearchGroove this week Peggy Anne Salz talks to Sienne Veit, Business Development Manager – New Technologies at Marks and Spencer (M&S), a leading UK retail business. Together they explore the innovative marketing strategies being pursued by M&S, with a particular focus on the integration of mobile marketing into the company’s existing multi-channel approach. Sienne describes, for example, how M&S works hard to ensure opted-in participants stay that way – M&S’s opt-out rate is less than 1%. Check out the podcast to learn how M&S lets customers control their experiences and how the store keeps them happy by providing valuable, targeted offers and rewards.

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 »