Recently, here at iome we undertook some research into users of our service and have identified what we like to call "Yummies". This group of users are most likely to use our service and embrace new technologies.
Why don't you see what you are?
http://io-me-mail.com/8KX-2CQ/s.aspx
enjoy!
Thursday, 29 October 2009
Wednesday, 9 September 2009
How to develop a mobile marketing campaign
As marketers, it is important to keep up to date with our audience’s preferred medium for consuming information, messages and content. With information available from many varying sources, from traditional print publications, radio or TV, through to the Internet, there is no doubt that the number of ‘touch points’ with the consumer has increased and this trend is set to continue as technology advances.
More recently, as handheld devices have become ever more sophisticated, people are becoming increasingly reliant on digesting more and more data via their mobile than ever before.
Recent research from AdMob has shown that iPhone users are now accessing the mobile web more regularly than they read print newspapers, with 58 per cent now opting to pick up their handheld rather than buy a paper. Just over 45 per cent also favour their smartphone over radio and 32 per cent prefer this more than watching TV. These statistics demonstrate that this important medium is changing traditional advertising models and should not be ignored.
The first element of any successful mobile marketing campaign, indeed any campaign, is targeting. The advent of location-based services and related technologies now offers marketers and brands a new ability to deliver content to someone with immediacy, via their mobile device.
Using Wi-Fi hotspots and other methods, we now have the ability to understand where people are located through their mobile phone. The net result of this technology means marketing via mobile devices becomes a highly targeted medium due to the ability to tailor campaigns based on the where-abouts of your audience.
In addition to having an understanding of your target audience’s location, I believe there is a second factor that will drive the success of your mobile campaign: personalisation. The key here is to ensure you offer your audience the ability to provide personal preference data, via an opt-in scheme.
That way, not only will you have an understanding of the individual’s location but you can tailor your campaigns to their personal likes and dislikes, therefore enabling much closer interaction.
By developing a marketing campaign that is underpinned by technology that can manage these two factors, your response rates, and therefore your ROI, will greatly increase as people will see you are delivering more of an individualised service rather than simply advertising a blanket message to them.
There is, however, a careful balance between delivering useful material and exploiting this technology so I would urge caution to anyone embarking on this form of marketing for the first time, as it may become potentially damaging to your brand if you are considered to be ‘spamming’ the recipient’s mobile phone with unnecessary or irrelevant information. After all, the mobile is still very ‘personal’ to people so it is important to get this balance right from the start.
From our own research at iome, we have found 63% of mobile phone users like to access the web via their mobile, with 36% accessing it on a daily basis. In addition, 84% of respondents feel that location-based services are a good idea and three quarters of respondents like the idea of receiving offers via their mobiles, which are linked to where they are.
We are working with BT and Westminster City Council to provide a location-based service that people can register with to receive personalised, relevant information regarding the West End of London. It is able to direct residents, tourists, commuters and business visitors to information that matches their preferences, from being able to view what’s on locally through to being able to make bookings and purchase ticket.
By inputting some personal data upfront, the BT MyPlace service can not only help people plan ahead, but can send information directly to their mobile phone as they travel around Westminster and beyond.
There is scope for this to be extended in future with new services that offer the ability to send discount vouchers to individuals based on both their preferences and location.
So, for example if someone has specified that they enjoy eating out at Italian restaurants, the technology behind the service would enable restaurateurs to send coupons to them as they approach the street where the establishment is located. This could then be redeemed when making a purchase on the day.
Finally, another point mentioning is the added benefit of being able to easily track the results of your mobile marketing campaign. Similar to internet marketing and advertising, data is easily accessible regarding response rates, click-throughs, purchases and visitor numbers if you are directing people to a dedicated mobile internet site.
Ultimately, you need to consider if mobile marketing is appropriate to your business and target demographic. In embarking on a campaign of this nature, it will certainly differentiate your brand from competitors and has the possibility of extending and deepening the relationship with your audience if conducted appropriately.
Today, mobile marketing and advertising is a very small percentage of any marketing budget, if at all, however I am convinced it will follow the same pattern as internet marketing and advertising, as consumers adapt their way of accessing information and the usability of mobile devices continue to improve.
If you are considerate and sensible at implementing a marketing campaign via mobile it could provide to be an extremely effective tool. The real power is when you have a big picture understanding of your audience, through personalisation and location.
More recently, as handheld devices have become ever more sophisticated, people are becoming increasingly reliant on digesting more and more data via their mobile than ever before.
Recent research from AdMob has shown that iPhone users are now accessing the mobile web more regularly than they read print newspapers, with 58 per cent now opting to pick up their handheld rather than buy a paper. Just over 45 per cent also favour their smartphone over radio and 32 per cent prefer this more than watching TV. These statistics demonstrate that this important medium is changing traditional advertising models and should not be ignored.
The first element of any successful mobile marketing campaign, indeed any campaign, is targeting. The advent of location-based services and related technologies now offers marketers and brands a new ability to deliver content to someone with immediacy, via their mobile device.
Using Wi-Fi hotspots and other methods, we now have the ability to understand where people are located through their mobile phone. The net result of this technology means marketing via mobile devices becomes a highly targeted medium due to the ability to tailor campaigns based on the where-abouts of your audience.
In addition to having an understanding of your target audience’s location, I believe there is a second factor that will drive the success of your mobile campaign: personalisation. The key here is to ensure you offer your audience the ability to provide personal preference data, via an opt-in scheme.
That way, not only will you have an understanding of the individual’s location but you can tailor your campaigns to their personal likes and dislikes, therefore enabling much closer interaction.
By developing a marketing campaign that is underpinned by technology that can manage these two factors, your response rates, and therefore your ROI, will greatly increase as people will see you are delivering more of an individualised service rather than simply advertising a blanket message to them.
There is, however, a careful balance between delivering useful material and exploiting this technology so I would urge caution to anyone embarking on this form of marketing for the first time, as it may become potentially damaging to your brand if you are considered to be ‘spamming’ the recipient’s mobile phone with unnecessary or irrelevant information. After all, the mobile is still very ‘personal’ to people so it is important to get this balance right from the start.
From our own research at iome, we have found 63% of mobile phone users like to access the web via their mobile, with 36% accessing it on a daily basis. In addition, 84% of respondents feel that location-based services are a good idea and three quarters of respondents like the idea of receiving offers via their mobiles, which are linked to where they are.
We are working with BT and Westminster City Council to provide a location-based service that people can register with to receive personalised, relevant information regarding the West End of London. It is able to direct residents, tourists, commuters and business visitors to information that matches their preferences, from being able to view what’s on locally through to being able to make bookings and purchase ticket.
By inputting some personal data upfront, the BT MyPlace service can not only help people plan ahead, but can send information directly to their mobile phone as they travel around Westminster and beyond.
There is scope for this to be extended in future with new services that offer the ability to send discount vouchers to individuals based on both their preferences and location.
So, for example if someone has specified that they enjoy eating out at Italian restaurants, the technology behind the service would enable restaurateurs to send coupons to them as they approach the street where the establishment is located. This could then be redeemed when making a purchase on the day.
Finally, another point mentioning is the added benefit of being able to easily track the results of your mobile marketing campaign. Similar to internet marketing and advertising, data is easily accessible regarding response rates, click-throughs, purchases and visitor numbers if you are directing people to a dedicated mobile internet site.
Ultimately, you need to consider if mobile marketing is appropriate to your business and target demographic. In embarking on a campaign of this nature, it will certainly differentiate your brand from competitors and has the possibility of extending and deepening the relationship with your audience if conducted appropriately.
Today, mobile marketing and advertising is a very small percentage of any marketing budget, if at all, however I am convinced it will follow the same pattern as internet marketing and advertising, as consumers adapt their way of accessing information and the usability of mobile devices continue to improve.
If you are considerate and sensible at implementing a marketing campaign via mobile it could provide to be an extremely effective tool. The real power is when you have a big picture understanding of your audience, through personalisation and location.
Friday, 4 September 2009
Is it really functionality over form?
An interesting statistic came out of the latest iome survey which made me think is it really about functionality or just habit i.e. using devices we are most comfortable with?
We posed the question "are you more into how your mobile phone looks over functionality?" 70.9% of respondants answered that it is all about what the device can do opposed to 29.1% who stated looks were more important.
This response is not surprising in itself you may think, however when we looked 32% of respondents currently own a Nokia, which are well known for their ease of use rather than rich functionality... This begs the question "are users getting confused between function and usability?
We posed the question "are you more into how your mobile phone looks over functionality?" 70.9% of respondants answered that it is all about what the device can do opposed to 29.1% who stated looks were more important.
This response is not surprising in itself you may think, however when we looked 32% of respondents currently own a Nokia, which are well known for their ease of use rather than rich functionality... This begs the question "are users getting confused between function and usability?
Thursday, 27 August 2009
Our survey reveals new generations of "Yummies" fear desert island effect
A recent iome survey into the social impact of mobile phones has identified the
from this piece of research we have identified a new segment of young, mobile internet enabled socialisers: “Yummies”.
Over two thirds of the survey respondents are now frequently using their mobile phones to access the Internet. Of these, 81 per cent use their mobile to get maps and directions and 70 per cent use their mobile to stay in touch with friends and family via social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.
One in 80 mobile internet enabled respondents admitted to using their mobile phones to enjoy their vices: including accessing adult content and online gambling sites.
Our survey has demonstrated that following on from the Yuppies of the 1980’s, often identifiable by holding loud business conversations on large ostentatious mobile phones, we now have a new generation of Yummies who rely on their mobile phone as the main interface with their social network and the sole repository of their contacts. In fact our survey respondents seem to harbour a deep fear of losing their phone in case they are cast into a digital wilderness, cut off from interaction and updates from their friends and family.
So keen are people to stay in touch that their mobile literally goes everywhere with them: a fifth of the survey respondents admitted to dropping their mobile phone down the toilet.
Future features on mobile users’ wish lists included being able to watch live TV broadcasts on their phone, having integrated satellite navigation and an everlasting battery, to more unusual suggestions such as incorporating an electric shaver for ‘grooming on the go’ and science fiction requests for teleportation from their mobile phone.
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
Are we less connected than ever before?
It has been on my mind for sometime that in this "always-on, digital world" we are supposedly better connected than ever before, however in reality is this really the case?
We can now interact with our family, friends and colleagues 24 hours a day via many devices and methods but does this mean our relationships are better for it?
Recent press has spoken of Facebook and how it doesn't encourage friendships in the traditional sense and that the focus for Gen Y is quantity of friends rather than quality. Is this because we now have so many digital touch-points? are we becoming the "over-communicated" generation?
I was thinking about the last time I actually popped in to see a friend for a coffee so we could have a face to face catch up, it has been some weeks now as I prefer to check-in using IM, text and Facebook, what did I do before these tools? Have my relationships changed since using these?
We are no longer judging people by their facial expressions, tone of voice or body language but
increasingly by the emoticon at the end of their post 
Friday, 24 July 2009
Google ad exchange
Looks like the next big thing for online publishers and advertisers.
http://www.nma.co.uk/news/first-details-of-google-ad-exchange-revealed/3002618.article?nl=WN
Will Google ad exchange support mobile advertising?
http://www.nma.co.uk/news/first-details-of-google-ad-exchange-revealed/3002618.article?nl=WN
Will Google ad exchange support mobile advertising?
Friday, 17 July 2009
52% of mobile users in the UK are using the internet!
More than half (52 per cent) of mobile phone users in the UK are now using the mobile Internet with email and social networking the most popular activities according to a recent Webcredible stat. Do you think this is true? Are your actively "social networking" via your mobile device?
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