HOW USING SMS SHORT CODES CAN HAVE AN IMMEDIATE IMPACT ON BRAND AWARENESS IN 2009 January 23, 2009

Almost every company that has embarked on mobile advertising and outreach efforts

has said that the most effective way to understand the power of mobile and what it

means to a company is to simply jump in and do it.

 

Key ways that SMS SHORT CODES are being commonly used to reach and engage audiences, some of which are discussed in greater detail below:

 

Creating a dialog and a relationship. SMS SHORT CODES are being used effectively to create

 

a dialog with mobile users. Voting, polling, requests for feedback, sweepstakes,

and contests all require interactivity with the consumer and the brand. This

interaction through SMS SHORT CODES provides valuable information about target audiences,

allowing organizations to even more closely tailor their products and associated

marketing to evolving marketplace needs.

 

Customer and employee communications. SMS SHORT CODES and text messaging are

being used by companies and even schools to distribute information, such as

employee alerts, school closings, airline reservation updates, and sales alerts.

Catalog companies and direct-to-consumer mobile commerce companies are

using SMS SHORT CODES  along with keyword item numbers as a way to allow customers to

order products without calling into a service center. This approach reduces the

number of calls handled by operators, which in turn reduces costs and can

increase customer satisfaction. 

 

Increasing brand reach. SMS SHORT CODES  are also playing a key role in increasing the

 

reach of brands and organizations. For instance, groups in the United States that

may index low for home PC penetration conversely often index high for mobile

phones. Through SMS SHORT CODES, they can now be reached with electronic media. In the

developing world, national short codes allow consumers to be cost-effectively

reached on an individual basis for the first time ever, whereas previously,

advertising campaigns were limited to mass-market radio and billboards.

 

Sales lead generation. U.S. companies of all sizes are using SMS SHORT CODES  in their

marketing efforts to generate interest and engagement with brands, which

immediately or eventually turn into sales leads. For instance, Lexus successfully

used SMS SHORT CODES to develop self-qualified sales leads. And it has been reported that

Denver-based Clarion Ventures is planning to launch the SMS SHORT CODES that spells the word

“House” on the cell phones keypad as a way for users to request that more

information be sent to their cell phones on houses that are for sale. Brands have

reported that potential customers who signal their product interest through SMS SHORT CODES  

are often highly motivated, which can result in SMS SHORT CODES response rates as high as 10%. 

 

Content distribution. Short codes are one of the key ways that mobile content

providers distribute content directly to mobile users, which avoids reliance on

already-crowded wireless carrier “content decks.” Carrier decks are the screens of

content options that each carrier’s subscribers see on their cell phones. Getting

placement on a carrier deck is a costly and long process and must be done on a

carrier-by-carrier basis. While brands can get immediate access to all subscribers

on a particular carrier deck, carriers make frequent changes to their decks, offering

less control for brands. By using SMS SHORT CODES and other forms of “off deck” access, brands

can reach almost all wireless users, not just those of a particular carrier. 

 

Fundraising. Nonprofits are increasingly interested in short codes for fundraising

efforts, having successfully used them to raise relief funds for the 2004 tsunami

in Asia and for Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

 

Mobile advertising. Brands from almost every industry sector are beginning to

 

incorporate SMS SHORT CODES into their marketing campaigns such as on billboards, in print, and

even in TV advertising in order to deliver additional marketing information directly to

users. For instance, shows on MTV regularly include SMS SHORT CODES information to further

involve audiences and drive additional content sales. New mobile advertising formats

are coming onto the scene, including banner ads, sponsorships, product placement

and idle screens, and pre- and post-roll video. Like SMS SHORT CODES, each of these mobile

advertising formats is a sophisticated way to reach customers. In fact, text advertising

can be added to SMS SHORT CODES so that the confirming message the consumer receives from

the brand can also have a line of advertising in it. This not only allows brands to

engage with consumers through SMS SHORT CODES but also allows their closest advertisers to

advertise contextually next to the appropriate mobile content. However, unlike most

mobile advertising, SMS SHORT CODES require single or double opt-ins. Thus, brands know

consumers are interested and receptive to messages initiated by SMS SHORT CODES. 

 

Building databases. Information is power, and savvy organizations are using

SMS SHORT CODES to build powerful mobile information databases on existing and prospective

customers, such as what promotions they respond to, which mobile coupons they

actually redeem and when, and how often they respond to mobile alerts, by

integrating SMS SHORT CODES response data into existing databases. These databases can be

used to develop and support loyalty programs, coupon and direct response

offers, and Internet-like experiences with media ranging from print to radio.

 

Understanding The Little Giant in MySpace…. YOU! January 28, 2008

Understanding The Little Giant in Myspace…. You!

With tens of millions of users (but probably not the purported 100 million), MySpace.com is a force to be reckoned with. Especially when you consider that MySpace apparently drives more traffic to online retailers than MSN Search, according to some recent Hitwise data.

But MySpace is hard for many of us adults to get our heads around. It just doesn’t seem logical: How does it hold the interest of so many young people with short attention spans, despite the fact that the design/usability is so atrocious, the Web page creation platform is so frustratingly restrictive, and it’s chock full of so many profiles that are obviously fake, spam, duplicated, or abandoned?

“Um, it’s about looking cool, fitting in, and hanging out, Duh!” one might imagine a teen MySpace user answering.

Then where do us adults feature in this? Besides offering a tempting place for stalkers and voyeurs to hang out and follow the daily lives of the teenagers who haven’t made their profiles private (can you say “Creepy!”?), MySpace is host to concerned parents trying to keep tabs on their kids, college students, obsessed sports fans, and realtors. In other words, the Average Joe or Jane. MySpace is a real slice of humanity.

Of course within the MySpace ecosystem exist marketers. But most are clueless. One would expect sophisticated MySpace presences from big brand marketers. However, that is usually not the case. And generally those that are present, like Blockbuster UK, 7Eleven, and Meijer, lack key ingredients for MySpace success—like an impressive number of “Friends.”

What is probably horrifying to these brand marketers is that employees and customers think nothing of developing a MySpace presence on behalf of the company—one that may not be very flattering. Consider, for example, these unofficial MySpace pages for Wal-Mart, K-Mart, and Target. Undoubtedly, this leads to customer confusion, because it can be difficult to ascertain the author of a MySpace profile. And such unauthorized pages can tarnish the company’s reputation, depending on their content.

 Before you leap in to MySpace as a marketer, you’d best understand it. Because if you don’t, the MySpace community can turn on you the moment you make your first misstep. Just like bloggers can. (Note: many MySpace users are bloggers too. MySpace supports blogging within its platform.) The cardinal rule in MySpace is the same one as in the blogosphere: Keep it real.

Still, despite the hazards, MySpace offers a lot promise as a venue for marketers to hawk their wares. MySpace allows you to interject yourself into existing networks of trust-based relationships and to bond with your visitors in ways not possible elsewhere on the Web. And you can interact with huge numbers of adults, not just teenagers. Surprisingly, more than half of MySpace visitors are age 35 or older, and more than two-thirds are age 25 or older, according to comScore Media Metrix.

Do you have what it takes to crack MySpace? The most unlikely of marketers seem to have it—bars, bands, and quirky dot-coms. One of my favorite examples of MySpace marketing is Project Red. Not only is Project Red a world-changing organization on a mission to defeat AIDS in Africa, its MySpace profile is attractive and engaging.

Other noteworthy examples come from Apple Computer, the Brooklyn Museum, Drumz Clothing, the Orlando Magic, the movie studio that produced Superman Returns, the comedy character Borat, and the musical artist “Weird Al” Yankovic.
A couple of these I’ve been tracking for several months, watching the size of their networks expand. First, consider Apple Computer. Its various flavors of iPod Nano have a place on MySpace, e.g. Pink Nano, which is enjoying a meteoric rise in Friend status. I started tracking Pink Nano on October 15, when it had 1,500 MySpace friends. A week later, on October 22, it had climbed to 7,449 friends. On October 27, it was up to 37,070 friends. Now, on December 3, as I write this article, it has reached 55,776. Not a bad marketing job, Apple!

Now consider the “comeback king” of musical parody—”Weird Al” Yankovic. He’s using social media quite successfully to help breathe new life into his 27-year-long music career—thanks, in no small part, to YouTube and MySpace. Yankovic told Reuters/Billboard in a recent interview that he had accumulated 155,000 MySpace friends since he joined the site in July—all of which he had personally added. He stated, “I used to be a little pickier. Now I just kind of click as fast as I can.” (I can only imagine the Repetitive Stress Injury from that much clicking!) Here’s the kicker: a week after this article came out, he was already up to 219,033 friends! Another seven days later, and Weird Al had gained another 24,000 MySpace friends (up to 243,221). Now, on December 3, it’s at 325,614!

One small company that has enjoyed a degree of success in terms of traffic and sales through MySpace is the online jewelry retailer Pugster. Its mascot, a pug dog named Pinky, is the subject of the MySpace profile—a clever move, as it puts a disarming “face” to the company. The firm built up its MySpace page to a very respectable 8,053 friends.

 Here are some secrets of my success:

It’s easy to get overwhelmed with the sheer numbers on MySpace—and important to try to focus on marketing to the “right” group for your product or service — otherwise you’ll be spending a LOT of time on people who will never be interested in you.But, on the other hand, when starting off, you need to get Friends. It’s kind of a bragging right on MySpace. If you have too few friends, it’ll be tough to get the good ones—the ones who will end up buying from you. So, before you go after those, get a few hundred “bad” friends—bands are the easiest. They’ll give you a respectable number on your Friends list, and will leave comments on your page—giving a little realism boost to your profile—making the addition of friends of the “good” type that much easier.Where else could we find a place to actually build relationships with people—who may or may not have heard of us before. We spend time daily emailing people, and guess what, they email back. It becomes the ultimate soft-sell tool.Have patience. Without a huge brand presence, don’t expect to turn profits. The only investment is your time. As long as you regularly give people something interesting—blogs, music, and other tidbits that AREN’T related to your business—then you’ll develop enough trust for them to be interested in what you DO sell.

Keep it personal—talk with the people as if you’d email a new friend. Say “Hi,” get to know them, and they’ll want to get to know you. If you try to sell, sell, sell, you’ll have a hard time earning respect on MySpace.

As far as layouts, there are a few “schools of thought”—one says make it fancy and high end, but the other, and seemingly more successful one, says simplicity is best. Since people are browsing through so many profiles with the same layout, they look for certain features in certain places. If you move too many things around, you’ll frustrate your visitors and they’ll leave. Make it intuitive and easy, just like a good e-commerce site.

If there’s anything a “seasoned” MySpace user hates it is a slow page. The MySpace site has loads of slow loaders. You may get friends with a lot of stuff on your page, but they won’t actually spend the time to interact with you.

Written By:

Shawn A. Welk

New Media Director

Interchanges.com

MySpace.com/Interchanges