Week 9 HW #14 - Martha's COIN 72
Book 8 - Mobile Marketing
Chapter 1 - Getting Started with Mobile Marketing
and Chapter 5 - Delivering Valuable Mobile Content
Option A
INSTRUCTIONS Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5
(worth 20 points) - due by Sat 3/17
Mobile Marketing Revolution (Davanti video): www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmB_lzXcgVE&feature=related
Quirk: What is Mobile Marketing? www.quirk.biz/resources/mobile101/281/What-is-Mobile-Marketing
Traffic Touch Pro AD: What is Mobile Marketing? www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPqpbOUSr_k
Question 1. Mobile marketing is marketing done on or from a mobile platform. It has so many variations, that it is probably the basis of an entirely new course! The authors define it as "that set of activities, institutions, and processes that supports marketers in their pursuit to communicate, deliver, and exchange offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large by way of the mobile and mobile-enhanced traditional and new-media channels." (p. 735). It's actually pretty astonishing the variety of channels available for mobile media, which include:
- mobile channels such as wireless networks, mobile phones, application providers, marketers, and
- mobile-enhanced traditional and new-media channels are those channels that have been "mobilized by having a mobile marketing call to action introduced in it." (p. 735).
Mobile marketing can be done either directly, or indirectly. However, there are rules and customs for each of these methods, so the marketer needs to be aware. For instance, explicit consent needs to be given for direct marketing via the mobile channels, and indirect marketing oftentimes involves setting up relationships with mobile service providers, such as traditional and new-media providers, wireless carriers, connection aggregators, and application providers. top
In the United States there are almost 50 wireless carriers, and each of them has their own regulations. Of these 50, however, AT&T Mobility, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless account for 93% of the subscribers (738). The connection aggregators operate between the wireless carriers and the application providers, and this is with whom the small business owner is most likely to contract. Examples of companies are VeriSign, Sybase 365, mBlox, OpenMarket, SinglePoint, MX Telecom, and Ericsson IPX. These companies typically use short codes, and that's a protocol language with which most business owners are not familiar. The Common Short Code Administration describes Best Practices in a 165-page document (http://www.mmaglobal.com/files/bestpractices.pdf), so this is not to be taken lightly!
The application providers provide software and support, and come in all shapes and sizes, but seven are most prominent:
- SMS - Short Message Service - This is the text-messaging that is so popular, as it is in almost all the mobile phones worldwide. The messages may be sent with up to 160-characters, and is actually more popular than voice messaging. It's easy to see why SMS is the backbone of almost any mobile marketing campaign.
- MMS - Multimedia Messaging Services is SMS to the 4th power, as it includes images, audio, video, and/or rich text. It has two components that make it even more powerful - it can be delivered to the recipient's email inbox (with prior explicit permission, of course), and it can be saved, printed, or sent on to others, thus multiplying its impact.
- Email - Mobile marketing requires a smartphone for email messaging, so this is almost never the main channel used. However, the BlackBerry, iPhone, and Android and their cousins are increasingly popular, so this may be more important in the future.
- IVR - Interactive Voice Response - This channel is most often used for customer support, or for automated replies.
- Internet - The Internet can be browsed on smartphones, and is used in much the same way as on a desktop computer.
- Mobile Web - The mobile Web used for marketing is typically a microsite or landing page, consisting of 1-2 pages used for limited promotions.
- Bluetooth - This uses a low bandwidth that extends from 1-109 yards, and can be used for Bluecasting, where the marketer installs transmitters in public areas that send a beep to passersby. If they accept the request for access, they may receive images, ringtones, or games.
- Applications - These are preinstalled on phones, or else downloaded from embedded links in Web pages, or transferred from the computer to send games, messaging, music, video, or browsers. Not all phones accept this, and not all wireless providers allow it, so this is a small share of the mobile marketing mix.
Mobile marketing can be done anytime and anywhere. Why is it being increasingly chosen? It's easy, it's fun, it's fast, and it's functional. Mobile marketing can be location-specific, and targeted to a niche market. And, by all accounts, it's more effective than other marketing approaches. Text-messages are over 90% likely to be viewed, and within 15 seconds of receipt - so said several of the many short videos I watched.
How do you start a mobile marketing campaign? The best answer to this is to find a connection aggregator who can walk you through the process. It looks VERY complicated, and appears to be one instance where contracting-out is the wiser way to go - IMHO (in my humble opinion, using text-messaging shorthand).top
Question 2. Mobile content is everything you send over the mobile channels, such as ringtones, multimedia messages, videos, photos, games, coupons. It can be "sourced up" by using content providers. MobiThinking lists 14 of "the biggest and the best" mobile agencies: http://mobithinking.com/mobile-agencies-guide, including Sponge (http://www.spongegroup.com/), Mobiento (http://www.mobiento.com/), and Hungama (http://www.hungamamobile.com/).
- SMS - Short Messaging Service. SMSes are text messages that can be sent to mobile phones from the Internet or from other mobile devices. (http://www.quirk.biz/resources/searchglossary.q)
Abbreviated as SMS, the transmission of short text messages to and from a mobile phone, fax machine and/or IP address. Messages must be no longer than 160 alpha-numeric characters and contain no images or graphics.
Once a message is sent, it is received by a Short Message Service Center (SMSC), which must then get it to the appropriate mobile device...The SMSC transfers the message in a Short Message Delivery Point to Point format to the serving system. The system pages the device, and if it responds, the message gets delivered.
The SMSC receives verification that the message was received by the end user, then categorizes the message as "sent" and will not attempt to send again. (http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/short_message_service.html)top
- MMS - Abbreviated as MMS, Multimedia Message Service is a store-and-forward method of transmitting graphics, video clips, sound files and short text messages over wireless networks using the WAP protocol....MMS also supports e-mail addressing, so the device can send e-mails directly to an e-mail address....MMS, however, is not the same as e-mail...The presentation of the message is coded into the presentation file so that the images, sounds and text are displayed in a predetermined order as one singular message. MMS does not support attachments as e-mail does. (http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/M/Multimedia_Message_Service.html)
- IVR - Short for interactive voice response, a telephony technology in which someone uses a touch-tone telephone to interact with a database to acquire information from or enter data into the database. IVR technology does not require human interaction over the telephone as the user's interaction with the database is predetermined by what the IVR system will allow the user access to. For example, banks and credit card companies use IVR systems so that their customers can receive up-to-date account information instantly and easily without having to speak directly to a person. IVR technology is also used to gather information, as in the case of telephone surveys in which the user is prompted to answer questions by pushing the numbers on a touch-tone telephone. (http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/I/IVR.html)top
- NFC- Abbreviated as NFC, Near Field Communication is a standards-based, short-range wireless connectivity technology that enables convenient short-range communication between electronic devices...NFC applications can be split into the following four basic categories:
- Touch and Go: Applications such as access control or transport/event ticketing, where the user needs only to bring the device storing the ticket or access code close to the reader. Also, for simple data capture applications, such as picking up an Internet URL from a smart label on a poster.
- Touch and Confirm: Applications such as mobile payment where the user has to confirm the interaction by entering a password or just accepting the transaction.
- Touch and Connect: Linking two NFC-enabled devices to enable peer to peer transfer of data such as downloading music, exchanging images or synchronizing address books.
- Touch and Explore: NFC devices may offer more than one possible function. The consumer will be able to explore a device's capabilities to find out which functionalities and services are offered. [Application information courtesy of Philips] (http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/N/Near_Field_Communication.html)top
- RFID - (pronounced as separate letters) Short for radio frequency identification, a technology similar in theory to bar code identification. With RFID, the electromagnetic or electrostatic coupling in the RF portion of the electromagnetic spectrum is used to transmit signals. An RFID system consists of an antenna and a transceiver, which read the radio frequency and transfer the information to a processing device, and a transponder, or tag, which is an integrated circuit containing the RF circuitry and information to be transmitted...(http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/R/RFID.html)top
Question 4. Mobile marketing is controlled by various rules and regulations, both government-mandated and industry-created. For instance,
- The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 applies to mobile marketing as it does to all Web marketing, and forbids the sending of unwanted content (SPAM!).
- The wireless carriers, connection aggregators, and application providers all have their own guidelines. (754)
- Particular technologies have their own overseers, such as the Common Short Code Administration (www.usshortcodes.com/).
- The Do Not Call Registry includes email and text messaging. Marketers must comply by checking the registry at least once/month, and avoid contacting anyone who has registered their phone number on this list. (756)
- The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 outlines how and when you can contact children. (756)
- Sweepstakes, contests, giveaways, and premium billing programs all require precertification with the wireless carriers. Each of them has their own rules.
- Personal information must be protected! Various industry practices are encouraged to ensure marketers comply.
- Various trade associations have their own guidelines:
- Mobile Marketing Association - www.mmaglobal.com
- Direct Marketing Association - http://mobile.dma.org.uk/content/Inf-Case.asp
- Interaction Advertising Bureau - www.iab.net/iab_products_and_industry_services/1421/1488/mobileplatform
- dotMobi - http://mtld.mobi
- Mobile SMS and content programs must be certified by the wireless carriers. top
The problem of marketing overseas is even more complicated. MobiThinking lists guidelines to mobile marketing in 10 other countries (http://mobithinking.com/country-guides-home). The article on Japan (http://mobithinking.com/guide-mobile-Web-Japan) gives many guidelines on why mobile marketing is different in Japan, including this: The standard messaging technology is mobile email, not SMS and MMS (which play no role in Japan), each handset has a unique email address and the cost of emails is included in the user's data plan. Japanese mobile email is much richer than SMS or MMS – they can contain up to 10,000 characters, you can embed multiple links, emoticons (smiley faces etc) and graphics, and attach files. In fact, Japan is considered the King of Mobil Media (http://www.mobithinking.com/blog/why-japan-is-mobile-king). What are the legal differences? Singapore Management University's "Digital Media in Japan" (https://wiki.smu.edu.sg/digitalmediaasia/Digital_Media_in_Japan) gives us a hint: "Robert Pickard, President of North Asia Edelman, highlighted that privacy and copyright law are much stricter in Japan." The article goes on to specify several other examples of legal differences, such as content filtering against group suicides, production of explosives, and child prostitution and rape.
Question 5. I've found out that the challenges of mobile media are quite complex, so I'll leave it alone for now. However, I will focus on getting our website mobile-ready. MobiReady.com offers to test any website for free, and I found that ours failed 9 tests, and got 8 warnings: http://djnmarti.com/foothill/coin72/final_project/mobiReady/TestResults-narfe65.pdf. So, I've got my work cut out for me!
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