SL Interactive - Mobile Messaging Specialist

Mobile Marketing Guide 2011

2011-04-13T16:02:00.003+10:00

Mobile phones and mobile devices are set to play a huge role in advertising and commercial communication in the very near future.

There are now more mobile phones than people in Australia and many countries across the world are enjoying 100% mobile penetration. The personal nature of mobile devices makes for an amazing marketing and advertising tool.

The year 2010 established a new record for new mobile phones sold, at 1.37 Billion units sold. Bear in mind, that the world has only about 1.2 Billion PCs and about 1.6 Billion TVs. But mobile phones sold almost 1.4 Billion new handsets just during the 12 months of 2010.

In this blog post we will provide you with some useful and interesting statistics from the mobile space. You can also download our complete Mobile Marketing Guide - 2011 as a PDF. The document contains a range of successful mobile marketing ideas both from SL Interactive archives and from around the world.

SMS and Social Networking

A new study by Deloitte confirms that text messaging still far outweighs social media and email engagement for mobile users.

The study found that 90% of smartphone users send at least one SMS per day, compared to only 40% of smartphone users who utilize social networks like Twitter and Facebook at least once per day.

Despite claims that SMS is being surpassed by mobile email and social networking, it seems the opposite is true as SMS still reigns supreme.

(MobileMarketingWatch 14 February 2011).

SMS and Mobile Apps

How big is the mobile banner and in-app advertising today?

According to JP Morgan the total value of mobile advertising in 2010 was 11.5 Billion dollars, which amounts to 2.5 times growth in one year!

(Nothing but Net report by JP Morgan January 2011)

How did SMS text messaging stack up in 2010? Informa counted that the total value of SMS was 105.5 Billion dollars.

(Informa 28 January 2011).

App Store Figures

Appsfire reports of their survey of iPhone and iOS device owners, that the average iOS device has 88 apps on it that were downloaded by the user.

28% of all apps that have been downloaded by the users were paid apps, and 72% were free apps.

Games formed 32% of all downloaded apps.

Just 20% of users ever return to run a free application again the day after it's downloaded and is nearing zero after three months.

An average free app would need to earn $8.75 CPM in order to equal revenues that paid apps receive on average, but the market is currently standing in a range of 50 cents to two dollars CPM. Thus, only a few high-performing applications, representing less than 5% of the market, can maximize earnings with advertising.

(AppleInsider, Pinch Media).

Apple App Store produced app revenues of about 1.5 Billion dollars in 2010. If we double that, the global market for user-installed apps bought from all the app stores worth somewhat less than 3 Billion dollars – however, it is growing strong.

In comparison, the value of MMS multimedia messaging globally was worth - 32 Billion dollars in 2010. If you ad SMS and mobile data, then the total 'value-add' services opportunity for mobile was worth over 300 Billion dollars in 2010.

SMS and Advertising

The average click-through-rate for text messaging is 14.06%, while the average conversion rate is 8.22%. E-mail brings in an average CTR of 6.64% and an average conversion rate of about 1.73%, and Internet display doesn’t even hit the radar with an average CTR of 0.76% and average conversion rate of 4.43%.

Combine these figures with the fact that 100% of the world's 4.25 Billion phone handsets can do SMS and you have a very powerful and cost effective medium to engage your audience.

Top Creative Tips for SMS Marketing

1. Use Your Business Name as the Sender

By displaying the business name as the sender of the message makes your communication look and feel professional.

Remember that since it’s not a number, recipient cannot reply to it so you still have to have an opt-out method in your message. We recommend using a short URL, such as www.j.mp/notxt.

This short URL links directly to our mobile optimized SMS Blacklist Tool, allowing people to optout from SMS campaigns.

You can also add URL's to mobile web pages, Google Maps, Mobile Coupons and even streaming video.

There are a multitude of URL shorteners available that are excellent for use with SMS. bit.ly is one of the most popular ones as it has analytics for simple tracking of clicks.

2. Create a Genuine Value Offering

Your customers need to feel that they are getting something that others aren't when you approach them with an SMS. Your value offering needs to be compelling and it needs to be well timed.

As a rule of thumb, ask yourself if you were interested in receiving and taking action on the SMS yourself?

If the answer is yes, you are very likely to enjoy a great response rate.

If the answer is no, you might wish to reconsider the value offering in the message.

Good SMS content can come in the form of freebies, discounts, mobile coupons, reminders, links to free applications, competition entries, mobile video, alerts etc. Just sending out a vague sale alert tends to come across as spam and will most likely result in an optout.

3. Don't Forget Call-to-Action

Always engage your customer by adding a call-to-action. You can use SMS keywords to have people reply to the message or you can guide them to a mobile optimised site, ask them respond with a phone call etc. Use verbs like go, see, click, reply and call.

If you would like to view how our mobile site landing page works and looks like, just go to www.slinteractive.com.au/digital and view the demos.

Australia's Best Digital Campaign Management Is Here

2011-01-04T14:39:00.006+11:00

Digital Campaign Manager is a new and revolutionary Australian service that allows you to create and track SMS and Internet promotions.

It can be used for managing inbound marketing campaigns, including: competitions, surveys, polls and mobile coupons. You can choose to accept entries via Premium SMS, Standard SMS or even from your own website.

We have been working on the system for a long time and the result is an attractive, powerful and pleasing user experience.

But it's not just about the looks: speed, reliability and ease of use have also been vital in the design process.

Did we mention about pricing yet? We are so confident with our value offering that we can offer a guarantee to beat any comparable offers available.

See a full demo at www.slinteractive.com.au/digital

Find prospects who are interested about your product or service
Reach out to your audience - from mobiles or online 24/7
Save time, money and resources
See how your campaign is tracking in real time
Follow up by sending out SMS notifications, reminders and offers

Messaging Made Easy - Now with Facebook connect

2010-10-25T11:29:00.005+11:00

Signing up and sending SMS messages with our popular SMS & MMS Messenger Pro system is now easier than ever.

You can now signup and create a free messaging account with your existing Facebook account. The new signup process can be done in seconds with only a few clicks.

Once you are logged in, you can get free trial credits by simply clicking the 'Like'-button.

Have you tried it yet?

Messaging Made Easy - New Version Out Now!

2010-09-09T14:16:00.003+10:00

This month we are excited to bring you a new and updated version of our popular SMS & MMS Messenger Pro system.

We have made quite a few improvements and the result is a more attractive, powerful and more pleasing user experience.

But it´s not just about the looks: speed and reliability have also been improved as we have now multiple high-speed gateways for message routing.

Did we mention new pricing yet? If you are regularly sending 100 - 2,000 SMS messages per month, you will love the fantastic value of our new Subscribe-And-Save plans with rates as low as AUD 4.9c per SMS.

The new interface and icons have also been designed to be touchscreen-friendly and it looks great with devices like the iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab and MeeGo tablets.

For a completely free trial account, click on the signup button below:

You can see our new pricing here

Continued Importance of SMS

2010-09-09T12:26:00.006+10:00

With approximately 90% of the U.S. population owning cell phones, according to CTIA’s semi-annual wireless industry survey, and 98% of those phones being SMS-enabled out of the box, SMS is one of the most popular communication methods in the world. The rise of text messaging can be attributed to its low cost and ease of use. If you have a cell phone, you have the capability to text — no downloads or installations needed. And with the advent of unlimited messaging plans, texting has become the mobile communication option of choice for cell phone-toting teens, beating out e-mail, and phone conversations.

In May, 65.2% of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile devices, up 1.4 percentage points versus the prior three-month period, according to comScore, making texting the top cellular device feature for all U.S. consumers, aside from calling.

The texting audience is large and still growing. eMarketer projects that the growth of the global market for ad support of mobile messaging will reach nearly $12 billion in 2011, up from about $1.5 billion in 2006.

What’s perhaps one of the most interesting reasons to advertise via SMS is that “about 90% of all text
messages are read within three minutes of their delivery, and over 99% of all text messages are read by the recipient,” according to a whitepaper on conversational advertising [PDF] by SinglePoint. The immediacy of SMS is currently unparalleled by any other marketing channel.

Please read more about Top 5 Mobile Advertising Trends To Watch on Mashable.com

Mobile Coupon Usage to Triple Globally by 2014

2009-12-09T09:02:00.000+11:00

HAMPSHIRE, UK -- 12/08/09 -- According to Juniper Research's new report -- 'Mobile Coupons & NFC Smart Posters: Strategies, Applications & Forecasts 2009-2014,' consumer usage of mobile coupons will see users exceed 300 million globally by 2014, principally in developed markets, with the apps revolution triggering the growth of new mobile coupon services.

As more and more users acquire smart phones, they will want to exploit the improved capabilities of their devices with new features and services, especially when it is going to save them money. For marketers, mobile coupon campaigns sent using location based applications can be much more effectively targeted than the scattergun approach of traditional coupons.

Howard Wilcox, Senior Analyst at Juniper Research, explained: "We found that with the growth of smart phones, a growing number of coupon-specific downloadable apps are being launched, often linked to location based searches. For example, when you are in the mall and you have your smart phone on you with your downloaded coupons app, then you should be able to find your way to a good offer nearby."

However, the mobile coupons report identified a number of market constraints. For example, some users could be reluctant to share their mobile number to participate in coupon schemes due to the danger of spam and fake coupons -- privacy is a concern to many. Despite this and the lack of progress on NFC coupons because of the poor availability of NFC phones, the mobile coupon usage is still set to triple over the next 5 years.

Further findings include:

-- ARPU from NFC coupons and smart posters will exceed ARPU from NFC payment transactions -- N. America and Western Europe to be major regions for mobile coupon usage in 2014

The report contains comprehensive six year forecasting for all the key market parameters including users, redemption rates, values and incremental ARPU for all mobile coupons, NFC coupons and NFC smart posters.

Mobile Coupons whitepaper and further details of the study, 'Mobile Coupons & NFC Smart Posters: Strategies, Applications & Forecasts 2009-2014' can be freely downloaded from www.juniperresearch.com.

Juniper Research provides research and analytical services to the global hi-tech communications sector, providing consultancy, analyst reports and industry commentary.

Contact:
John Levett
T: +44(0)1256 830 002
E: john.levett@juniperresearch.com

Australia's Best SMS Marketing System Now With Unbeatable Pricing

2009-09-29T10:17:00.004+10:00

We are pleased to announce new SMS credit pricing with price reductions as much as 33% on our most popular packages.

Staying in touch with your customers, clients or work force has never been this cost effective. Low pricing combined with the ease of use of our SMS & MMS Messenger system makes it easy to save $$$ on your communication and advertising costs.

New Great Value Packages Available Now:

Package	Credits	Cost per SMS (AUD)
Starter	100	$0.099
Standard	500	$0.099
Small Business	1,000	$0.099
Business Pro	5,000	$0.090
Corporate	10,000	$0.080
Enterprise	50,000	$0.070
Industrial	100,000	$0.065
Small Reseller	250,000	$0.060
Medium Reseller	500,000	$0.055
Large Reseller	750,000	$0.050
New Subscription Packages Also Available:
Subscription Package	Monthly Credits	Cost per SMS (AUD)
$19.99 Cap	275	$0.073
$49.99 Cap	800	$0.062
$99.99 Cap	1,800	$0.055

Interested in a free trial? Sign up now with free trial credits to get started!

Widgetbox Makes SMS Integration Easy

2009-07-07T03:00:00.003+10:00

In case you are not yet familiar with Widgetbox, it is currently the leading self-service web widget platform. Every day, millions of people express, connect, create, and inform using web widgets. Web widgets are mini, portable-applications that can be added to any web page and serve two important goals:

Add Dynamic Content to Your Site
Reach New Users Across the Web

The mission is to provide easy-to-use, powerful, self-service tools that help web publishers realize the value and magic of widgets.

SL Interactive has just completed the development of its latest service - an easy to use and cool looking web widget for sending text messages to any user in the world. You can add the widget to your own site, blog, facebook account or iGoogle homepage with just one click of a button!

Get if from widgetbox now.

You can scroll to the bottom of this page to see how it looks and works - yes, it's fully functional on this blog as well.

Economic Plunge Increases Demand For Mobile Marketing

2009-06-30T15:35:00.003+10:00

The use of SMS messaging as a communication tool is on the rise as companies reconsider their marketing spending. Smarter tools also make personalized messaging easier and more attractive than before.

Melbourne, Australia, June 30, 2009 -- Global mobile messaging continues to grow despite the current downturn in the global economy. SL Interactive, specializing in mobile marketing software, has witnessed continued growth in mobile marketing spending since the launch of its new mobile messaging platform.

Agencies and smart marketers are now looking for cost effective tools that allow them to target customers with offers that are relevant and timely. Usage of SL Interactive’s multilingual messaging platform, SMS & MMS Messenger Pro, has been on the rise and interest continues to be strong, especially within the Asia-Pacific region.

“If the message is relevant and well targeted, it can generate an extremely fast and very profitable result for only a few cents per message” says Lauri Lassila, director for SL Interactive. Response rates on well planned and executed mobile campaigns consistently outperform traditional methods with response rates as high as 31%.

According to Lassila, one of the main reasons for the success of the new platform is attributable to its simple interface and ease of use: “Advanced features are only useful if they are simple enough to use. The feedback from our clients has been valuable in making sure that the messaging tools available remain user friendly”.

About SMS & MMS Messenger Pro

SMS & MMS Messenger Pro is a cutting-edge web based SMS and MMS messaging platform for marketing, advertising and business communications. SMS & MMS Messenger Pro is an intuitive and very cost effective platform for both national and international messaging.

Link to an article on pressreleasepoint.com

Economic Plunge Increases Demand For Mobile Marketing

iGoogle SMS uploaded to the Google directory

2009-06-03T13:46:00.005+10:00

Wouldn't it be nice to have simple interface that just sits on your Google homepage and would allow you to send text messages to your friends with just a fraction of the standard operator costs?

Well, now you can: with iGoogle SMS you can send text messages directly from your desktop, laptop or netbook with ease. It is ideal for sending quick messages to your friends, family or workmates. You can even receive replies back to your own phone. Network coverage extends to over 500 operators around the world, which makes it ideal to use for overseas messages or while you are travelling and roaming abroad.

Feedback and questions are always welcome: support@slinteractive.com.au. Add it to your iGoogle page now and receive complimentary credits upon signup.

Mobile Marketing Tips & Tools

2009-05-27T10:43:00.004+10:00

In 2009 it's time to think carefully about what you want to achieve through mobile marketing. To help you out, I've prepared this mobile strategy guideline. It breaks down some of the major areas you will need to consider before you proceed further into your mobile marketing endeavours.

This article outlines a list of questions to ask yourself before entering into or expanding your mobile marketing strategy. Even if you answer half of these questions you'll find some insights, focus on your mobile marketing goals and you might even come up with a great plan to promote your business. Right, let's get down to business:

1. Mobile Messaging Continues to Grow

In 2009 mobile messaging will continue to grow despite the current downturn in the global economy. As mobile data revenues increase and voice revenues are under pressure, mobile messaging will be seen as the lifeline to the mobile industry, as especially youth see it as cheap, fast, private and easy way of communication. Recent figures from M:Metrics state that the number of people using SMS has increased 3.3% year on year even across mature markets like the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. The growth rate of MMS in the same market is even higher at 9.2%. According to Nielsen Mobile, the 13-17 age group in the US sends around 1800 SMS per month, that is 60 SMS per day!

Most new subscribers to mobile services will come from less economically developed and newly industrialised regions, many of whom have a low disposable income. Most of the phones shipped to these markets have little more than voice and text capabilities so the growth potential for SMS in these markets will be significant. According to ABI the number of messaging users will grow with a rate of over 10% per year in countries in Asia, South America and Africa.

The use of MMS will continue to grow especially in China where MMS is booming. Its growth will be helped by ever improving handsets and the demand for user generated content, blogging, social networking and mobile marketing. According to ZTE, the application-to-person MMS traffic in China makes up for 70% of all MMS traffic.

2. Personalisation is Increasingly Important

As consumers have become increasingly demanding, the importance of personalised messaging and greater user experience is vital. The era of blanket mass messaging is coming to an end as you can now deliver your message, with added personal touch, without any added costs. Linking your SMS messaging into existing CRM systems can create highly personalised experiences. Personalised messaging is also built-in to our online mobile marketing tool - SL Interactive SMS & MMS Messenger Pro, and it is available to all our customers with no added costs.

3. Go Local and be Relevant

If your message is relevant and well targeted, it can generate an extremely fast and very profitable result for only a few cents per message. Mobile marketing is one of the most inexpensive forms of marketing and it can be executed almost immediately. But the success of SMS and MMS marketing is all in the targeting and relevance of the message. If you've got a special lunch offer, don't send info about it to someone who lives too far or never visits your establishment during lunch time. Location based advertising has been made very easy in the SL Interactive SMS & MMS Messenger, where you can choose your target customers based on their postcode.

4. Don't forget Call-to-Action

Make sure that there is simple and specific call-to-action in every message you send. Be clear in letting people know what you want them to do and why they should do it. Some popular options are different types of competitions, discount vouchers, instant wins or free content of some sort. Keep in mind that the most effective message is personal, relevant, timely and valuable.

5. Create a Genuine Value Offering

The best call-to-action mechanisms give the respondent a clear and immediate return. Mobile is fantastic tool for fast response marketing and if you offer people something they value, they're much more likely to give you something you value, such as opting in to a promotion or offer. I have included a great example from Scandinavia where a private hospital sends their patients notifications if the doctors are experiencing delays. Patients are recommended to wait at home with an estimate time when the doctor will be ready for the appointment. The introduction of the service lead to significant reductions in patient waiting at the hospital waiting room as well as improved the quality of the appointment through reduced stress levels and improved atmosphere.

6. Be Mindful of Privacy and the Law

I'm sure we all agree on Spam emails being highly irritating and a complete waste of time. With mobile there is zero-tolerance for Spam. The laws on spamming are very specific and people will be extremely upset, and may even take further action, if they haven't opted-in to receive your message. You should very clear that you have the recipient consent for messages and that you always provide an option to opt-out from your list.

7. The Era of Mobile Internet Has Begun

The use of the mobile internet will increase significantly by the end of 2009. According to IBM more than 50 per cent of consumers would substitute their PC based internet connection for their mobile. As the majority of new phones come with internet access as standard, it is not hard to foresee that the number of people accessing the internet from their mobile will increase dramatically in the years ahead. According to T-Mobile Germany, iPhone users have lead the way of mobile Internet browsing with a significant margin over other handsets.

8. Save Time, Money and Resources

Smart marketers will look for cost effective tools, such as the SL Interactive SMS & MMS Messenger Pro, that can help them reach specific customers with offers that are most relevant to them and at the right time. You have to be careful with mobile marketing because it could too easily turn into spam, which could even result in negative reactions from your key target audience. Research and experience shows that provided the customer has expressed interest and willingness to receive offers, the right offer, at the right time and place, can generate a particularly positive response.

Checklist

Your activities:
1. What are your mobile related activities?
2. Do you have a mobile friendly version of your site?
3. Do you have the means to drive traffic to the mobile site?
4. Are you doing all the talking or do you encourage interactivity?
5. Do you have a genuine value offering for your customers?

Your competition:
1. What are your competitors doing in the mobile space?
2. Have they already worked out how to engage their audience?
3. What are the advantages of your competitor's mobile activities and what will you need to do to beat them?

Your industry:
1. What is your industry achieving by focusing on the mobile space?
2. Are there any trends you should be aware of?
3. What are the ideas you like?
4. How can you play a bigger role in this industry?

Your audience:
1. Who are you talking to and why?
2. What is your niche audience?
3. What do they like to do?
4. What type of information you would like to gather from your audience?
5. How can you help make their lives better?
6. What will get people talking about you?
7. How can you be different?

Your resources:
1. What is your scope, time line and budget?
2. Who's going to manage it?
3. What are the software requirements?
4. Do you have the necessary knowledge in-house?
5. Have you researched alternatives?

Your marketing:
1. How will people know about it?
2. How can you spread the word?
3. What is the launch plan?
4. What are the PR opportunities?
5. Are there any viral opportunities?

Your responsibilities:
Who's in charge of the following:
1. Data entry and validation;
2. Mobile site management;
3. Linking to content on the mobile site;
4. Visitor tracking,;
5. Opt-in list management; and
6. Conversion measurement?

As a marketer, if you can't find compelling reasons to answer all of the above mentioned questions, or at least most of them, you might be selling yourself short mobile, and worse still, allowing your competitors to take ownership of the space. As one of the pioneers of successful mobile marketing campaigns we look forward to assisting you in developing or refining your mobile marketing strategy.

Maps on Ovi vs Google

2009-05-27T10:41:00.002+10:00

Nokia takes on Google Maps with its Maps on Ovi (beta). What do you think? http://maps.ovi.com

New to Mobile Marketing?

2009-05-27T10:38:00.002+10:00

New to mobile marketing? Head to http://pro.slinteractive.com.au for a free trial of a truly global SMS & MMS platform.