Thu, August 09, 2007
Brace yourself for the slew of rip-off pitches coming from the mobile advertising space. Mobile marketing is booming – and here come the vendors trying to capitalize on the hype. We’ve been doing a lot of mobile marketing campaigns over the past year in and out of the theatrical space and are beginning to see some clear trends in what is working and what you need to beware of.
Here’s a few frequently asked questions we get. Hope this is helpful.
Is text messaging a viable messaging outlet for live entertainment?
If implemented correctly, it certainly can be. It’s relatively inexpensive and most people have text messaging capabilities. The challenge is crafting a larger interactive strategy that utilizes text messaging effectively to help you reach your marketing goals. And, yes, it does tend to perform better among younger audiences.
How does text messaging fit into the larger interactive marketing strategy?
Text messaging really should be just a piece of your overall interactive marketing strategy. You can use text messaging as a channel for collecting email addresses, running surveys, driving web traffic, analyzing offline advertising/marketing effectiveness, and building larger customer profiles. It’s much more valuable to your marketing initiatives than it appears. You just need to define what your goals are before launching the campaign.
What makes a consumer want to participate in a text messaging campaign?
Text messaging is no different than any other marketing outlet – you need to give a consumer a reason to participate. A strong call-to-action with a clear value proposition is what ultimately drives consumer response. In short, you need to give them a reason to text in and if you are expecting to reach new audiences it can’t just be offering the chance to receive news about your production. Give something that is of value to them – a discount, make them laugh, etc.
What are some big pitfalls to text campaigns?
First, if you are using a third-party provider, make sure you own the data you are receiving. I’ve seen a few contracts that say if you end the agreement with that provider, the data is theirs and you need to pay a maintenance fee to access it. Make sure you get it in writing.
Second, if you plan on continuing to send text messages outbound, you need to have a clear strategy of what you will be sending and how often. You need to clearly communicate this to the consumer. The mobile phone is a very important piece of consumers' lives – sending marketing messages to people has to be treated very carefully.
Hope this helps. Any questions on any of this, you know where to find me.
In the meantime, here’s an interesting piece on the current state of mobile usage. It’s a quick, good read.
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