Optism™

This week at mobileGroove, Peggy Anne Salz talks to Karim Khalifa, CEO and Founder of Digital Republic, the number one digital and creative advertising agency in Egypt. Karim gives us the inside track on mobile marketing and social media in the Middle East region. Additionally, the MMA plans to open a Middle East office in 2011 and has elected Karim to co-chair operations there. In her interview, Peggy explores Karim’s insights on the role of the operator in the mobile marketing ecosystem,  social media opportunities for brands, the effectiveness of permission-based marketing, along with the MMA’s objectives and plans for its new office. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been a great week at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona and we’re really glad we’ve had the opportunity to meet many new people who are interested in permission mobile marketing. We start this week’s permission marketing roundup with a few reports from MWC and then finish with several articles that offer new perspectives on the growing power of customers in our industry.

Thefonecast.com captured some of the excitement of MWC with daily podcasts on compelling topics highlighted by the previous day’s agenda. On day three, the podcast featured a discussion on personal privacy in the mobile age. The final contributor to the podcast (starting at around 22.30 minutes) was the Mobile Marketing Association’s Paul Berney. Paul talked about the importance of the key players in the mobile industry educating brands and agencies on how to take advantage of what mobile can offer. To do that, he says, you need to “learn how to speak their language and talk to them in the frames of reference they already have.” Read the rest of this entry »

This week, we take a look at several articles that shine the spotlight on permission marketing and the importance of safeguarding your relationships with customers.

A recent ClickZ article by Rick Buck explores the fine line between getting a person’s permission and respecting their privacy. “Getting permission from your customers means more than getting an opt-in to receive your e-mail and texts. Conditionally, it is about presenting them with a value proposition that instills confidence that you will respect and protect the data they choose to provide in return for the information they will receive.” Read the rest of this entry »