Posts Tagged ‘Mobile Commerce’

More Holiday MCommerce Tips

October 4th, 2010 No Comments

As we enter October and start to close in on the Holiday Season, it’s important for businesses to be in full on planning mode. A couple of weeks ago, we shared some holiday marketing tips for mobile commerce, and in the giving spirit of the impending season, we’d like to share a few more useful pointers. While you enter holiday 2010 planning in full swing, consider these ideas:

Mobile Coupons: This strategy begins with having a firm understanding of your customers along with knowledge of what your hot ticket items are during the holidays. You can use this information to drive in-store and/or web traffic by sending mobile coupons to your opt-in list. This will get inventory moving, and also generate interest and traffic to your store or website. You can also use mobile couponing as a method of building your opt-in list. In exchange for agreeing to receive promotional messaging from your store, customers will receive valuable mobile coupons from you. The holiday season is a key time for using mobile coupons to build your opt-in list, because many consumers are looking for deals around the holidays, therefore, they may be more receptive to offers to join your list in exchange for coupons.

Make Sure it’s Measurable: One of the stregnths of mobile marketing is that it generates extremely trackable results. Make sure to have a solid tracking plan in place, starting with a solid understanding of the metrics you plan on using to measure campaign success. How will you definte success for your various holiday messages? Clicks? Conversion? Click to Call? Before you start planning any creative, be sure to have a concrete strategy for measuring results.  Also, be sure to have a plan for optimizing your message/target opt-in list on the fly as you see results come in. This will require you to monitor results on a daily basis, and really analyze results at the end of each week.

Start Early: 2010 is slated to be a brutally competitive holiday season for retailers. In a recent report published by eMarketer, 42.7% of the consumers who participated in the study  indicated that they are only planning on purchasing items that are on sale this holiday season. While past holiday seasons gave businesses a booststarting on Black Friday and Cyber-Monday, experts now caution retailers/etailers to start marketing as soon as Halloween, as consumers aren’t likely to wait around for deals this season. This means, if you haven’t started planning- get going right NOW and plan on sending your first batch of SMS Messages, Mobile Couponing, etc out by October 31st. Another upside to starting your mobile  holiday campaign early is that you’ll learn about what works as far as messaging and targetting early enough to make changes if needed, and you can optimize your message and offers in time to still make a profit if need be.

For cutting edge  Mobile Marketing solutions that are guaranteed to boost your holiday campaign, visit www.mowbi.com. Or call 1-800-985-9277. E-mail questions and ideas to Bill@mowbi.com or Jordan@mowbi.com

Posted in Mobile Commerce Tags: , , , , , , ,

Mobile Marketing Tips for Retail Stores

September 27th, 2010 No Comments

In today’s economy, there is more competition for consumer interest and dollars than ever before. Retail stores are engaged in particularly tough competition as consumer purses are often closed when it comes to items that are not immediate necessities. With the holiday season almost upon us, it is important for anyone who owns or operates a retail store to develop creative ways to reach out to their customers. Many major players in the retail arena are turning to mobile marketing as a way to help boost awareness and sales. Here are a few creative ideas for integrating mobile marketing and mobile advertising into the marketing mix for your retail store.

SMS/Text Message Marketing-One of the easiest ways for you to incorporate mobile marketing into your mix right now is sms or text message marketing. Some neat ideas for retail using SMS/Texting:

Low inventory alerts- Send a message out to customers when a hot ticket item is almost out of stock in your store. You’ll not only drive sales and clear your stock, but you’ll also drive clicks and foot traffic to your store.

Loyalty Programs- Build your opt-in list and drive sales with text based loyalty programs. Your customers opt-in (sign up) to receive outgoing messages from your store. In exchange, you send them special deals and discounts that are exclusive to SMS Members.

Contests-  You can use mobile technology to create and execute fun contests for your customers. You could hold a contest for your most popular item, a gift package, or anything that will drive customer attention. Contests are easy to organize and keep track of when prompt the audience to text in order to enter. Another way to use mobile is to drive customers to your mobile website to enter. And if you want to give consumers the ultimate convenience, create a contest in print that allows them to simply snap a bar code to enter.

Use Location Based Apps- Why reach out to customers who aren’t ready to purchase immediately, when you can now reach customers who are in your neighborhood, on your street, or in your store? Use location based marketing to market to customers who are the most crucial- the ones who are at or close to the purchase point. Things you can do to participate in location-based marketing:

Be there-Make sure your store is active in the major location-based networks. Here are a couple of big ones: Foursquare, Brightkite, Yelp, Gowalla, and Loopt. Don’t forget social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Get Creative with Events/Promotions- Give customers an incentive for visiting and “checking in” at your store. Run a coffee shop? How about offering a free cup of joe with every 10th check in? Own an electronics shop? Conduct a check-in raffle for a free ipod. The opportunities are only as limited as your imagination!

General Tips- With any mobile campaign you run, you’ll need to make sure that all marketing messages from you are sent to an opted-in list. It can be tempting to blast out texts to as many consumers as possible, but remember, in this end this will only damage your list, and you could end up being blacklisted completely. Another extremely important tip is, make sure whatever you do, it is measurable. One of the greatest aspects of mobile marketing is it’s ability to deliver measurable results. You can know exactly what messaging, markets, even time of day works best for you. Use every mobile marketing campaign as a learning opportunity. Lastly, before you start your campaign, take time to really think about what you want from your mobile marketing efforts. What are your goals and expected outcomes for your campaign? What is your break even? How will you measure success? What metrics will you look at? CPC? CPM? Click-to-Call rate? A large portion of time should be devoted to answering these kinds of important questions.

If you’re in the retail business, and you’re looking for mobile solutions that you can count on to deliver results, visit www.mowbi.com or call 1-800-985-9277. Questions or ideas? E-mail Bill@mowbi.com or Jordan@mowbi.com

Posted in Mobile Commerce Tags: , , , , , ,

Mowbi at Social Media Breakfast

September 13th, 2010 No Comments

 Mowbi CEO Bill Broadbent is scheduled to be a key presenter at the Social Media Breakfast Maine event in downtown Portland, Maine. The event, on September 17th is an exciting chance for Maine business owners  to learn about the impending mobile explosion, and the opportunities that mobile commerce brings.

Check out the event description from the SMB website:

“As cell phones continue to advance and more and more cell phone users are switching to smart phones, businesses are getting creative about marketing to people on the go. Are you? Have you considered people viewing your website on cell phone browsers? Does your company need an iPhone application? Could you afford one? How do you know if people are using their phones to look you up? What is this whole Foursquare/Gowalla/Facebook Places thing?

It can all be very confusing so we rounded up three local experts with lots of knowledge of what is going on in mobile marketing, some easy things you can do to get started, trends in the marketplace and more.

We hope you can join us for a VERY educational breakfast. This is a fast developing and adopting trend, lets take advantage of having leaders in this industry in our own backyard!”

As a recognized industry expert, Bill will be sharing  insight on the future of mobile commerce along with key tips on integrating mobile into your business plan.

Social Media Breakfast Maine is being held on September 17th, from 7:30am-10:00am at the Eastland Hotel in Portland, Maine.

For directions and ticket information, visit http://www.socialmediabreakfastmaine.com/upcoming/

Posted in Mobile Commerce, Mowbi Tags: , , , ,

The Future of Shopping

September 3rd, 2010 No Comments

Check out this Youtube video predicting the future of retail shopping using mobile devices.

With mobile technology, consumers can compare prices, browse merchandise, and even pay for purchases with their mobile phones. Retailers and E-Tailers should be prepared to enter the mobile arena before the close of this year, as customers are already using mobile technology to make purchasing decisions. Visit www.mowbi.com and check out the Mobile Storefront and Mobile Invoicing options. Both bring cutting edge technology to yours and your customer’s fingertips.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDi0FNcaock&feature=player_embedded
Posted in Mobile Commerce Tags: , , ,

Mowbi is officially a “Killer Start Up”

August 23rd, 2010 No Comments

badge5 Mowbi is officially a Killer Start UpThe Mowbi Platform was recently featured in the prominent Internet start up community, Killerstartups.com. Mowbi was noted for platform features such as the Mobile Invoicer, which turns one’s mobile device into an instant credit card terminal.

Killer Start Ups also credits Mowbi as being user friendly, and mentions the platform’s unique ability to be integrated into any enterprise, while staying affordable. As the article states, Mowbi really is at the forefront of the Mobile Revolution.

Check out the write up here:

http://www.killerstartups.com/Mobile/mowbi-com-mobile-commerce-for-everybody

For more information about Mowbi visit www.mowbi.com or call 1-800-985-9277. Send e-mail inquires to Bill@mowbi.com or Jordan@mowbi.com.

Posted in Mowbi Tags: , , , , , , ,

Latest Mowbi Press Release

August 19th, 2010 No Comments

Check out the latest Mowbi Press Release, including the exciting Mobile Invoicer and Mobile Storemaker tools, available through the Mowbi Platform.

Social Networking Meets Mobile – Mowbi Connect is a new mobile social networking tool.

PORTLAND, Maine – Mowbi, LLC (www.mowbi.com) has released “Mowbi Connect”. Mowbi Connect is a mobile platform that allows anyone to put their social network links on their phone and millions of others.  Mowbi Connect is the place to go to find out what is going on with people and businesses.

Bill Broadbent, CEO of Mowbi, points out that “Mowbi Connect is all about you. With all of your social network icons and your Mowbi Connect friends in one place, anyone that wants to keep up with what’s going on can tap in and check out your Facebook pages, Twitter feed, YouTube videos and more.  Mowbi Connect is great for personal use and businesses because it is easy to use and very effective in giving people quick access to a lot of information. Everyone needs one.”

Mowbi Connect is one tool that is available through the Mowbi Mobile Commerce Platform. Mowbi includes a mobile site builder, a mobile store builder, the ability to charge credit cards and create invoices on your phone and a text marketing program. Mowbi is everything you need to do business on your mobile phone.

Jordan Denning, President of Mowbi adds “Mowbi works for large companies and is modular allowing for enterprise applications to integrate with Mowbi. Yet, Mowbi is also easy enough to use that just about anyone can do business on their phone. Mowbi allows the company salesman to show and sell products from just about anywhere while at the same time, Mowbi will change the way Garage Sales are being run. Now, people can take pictures of their stuff, put it in a Mowbi store and advertise the url in their newspaper ads. Customers can see, and buy stuff, before they arrive. Plus, credit cards can be accepted during the garage sale. The many and varied uses for Mowbi Mobile Commerce tools are endless”.

Mowbi is a subscriber based Mobile Commerce Platform. People can sign up for one month or more , with no long term contacts. Prices are $2.99 for the Mobile Mini-Site, $19.99 for Mobile Store Maker and Mobile Invoicer and Text Marketing starting at $9.99 mo. Mowbi is priced to be an affordable and effective tool for anyone that wants to do business on mobile phones.

Mowbi mobile sites are viewable on just about any phone with a decent browser.

For more information, contact Bill Broadbent at 207-841-5174 or bill@mowbi.com or Jordan Denning at 207-239-5351 or jordan@mowbi.com. Please also visit www.mowbi.com.

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Posted in Mowbi Tags: , , , , ,

Matt Cutts Weighs in on Mobile Search

August 9th, 2010 No Comments

Check out this YouTube clip featuring Matt Cutts, of Google, discussing search predictions for the coming years. At the close of the segment, Cutts talks about the future of Mobile and how it’s impending proliferation will effect search as we know it.

Matt Cutts on Mobile Search

It is important to note that Google is prepared for, and absolutely predicting the take off of Mobile Commerce. Business owners should be sure they are ready to market themselves in the mobile sphere as well. One of the most vital aspects of mobile commerce will be having a strong presence within mobile search engines.

We will post more regarding mobile search engines this week. In the meantime, check out www.mowbi.com for all of the tools you need to start your mobile initiatives. Right now, you can get the social networking tool, Mowbi Connect for free. Visit www.mowbi.com or call 800-985-9277 or e-mail Bill@mowbi.com or Jordan@mowbi.com

Posted in Mobile Commerce Tags: , , , , ,

Top Mobile Advertising Predictions for 2010

June 28th, 2010 No Comments

A recent article in Advertising Age magazine outlines the top 5 predictions for Mobile Advertising in 2010. This interesting predictions will effect every aspect of marketing a business, whether it’s a local auto shop or a fortune 500 big wig. Here are the top 5 predictions from Adage, along with ideas on how you can be proactive with your advertising plan to include mobile media.

Mobile Advertising will Revolutionize how local advertisers connect with customers- Location based advertising, which is offers/search results targeted to a customer’s actual location is on the rise. In fact, Google now offers a service to local businesses called Place Pages, where customers can scan a QR Code (a decal that looks much like a bar code placed on your establishment’s window) with their mobile phone and instantly gain access to coupons, reviews, and specials. They can also “star” your place, which saves you info in their phone so they can visit later.  Local businesses should be sure to have a fully optimized mobile website, that is listed in every mobile directory to ensure they are appearing in mobile searches. The potential that mobile advertising presents local businesses is huge.

Further adoption of in-store shopping applications- In store shopping applications are going to make mobile a significant part of the decision making process in retail stores. Here’s how: There are several price comparison apps that allow consumers to compare prices (other retail store prices and online prices) on items while they are literally looking at them on the shelves. There are also applications where consumers can see reviews of products and services. Lastly, mobile coupons are starting to really take off, meaning you can drive foot traffic to your store via mobile device. The best way to make mobile technology work well for you is to have a strong mobile presence, with not only an optimized website, but also an active mobile social media presence. Build a strong opt-in list and send valuable coupons to your customers regularly.

Outdoor Advertising will become Measurable- By driving consumers to text on outdoor ads like billboards or window signage, companies will be able to get a solid read on results almost immediately. With the capabilities of mobile advertising, tracking results is as easy as counting texts, computing conversion rates, and calculating cost per order. Plus, often texting is a more attractive option  than calling to the mobile consumer, as they are likely to be on-the-go and would rather have a quick, to the point interaction.  The next outdoor campaign you have, try driving texts instead of visits or calls. Consumers can text to receive a coupon from you or be admitted to a special event or sale.

Social Media will be more important than ever- With mobile media, consumers have the ability to voice their opinions in real time. People are using mobile versions of social media sites like Twitter to instantly voice their opinions on products and services as they encounter them. Again, it is extremely important to have a strong social media presence in the mobile sphere. Some companies are even creating platforms specifically for consumers to comment on. For example, a taxi company in New York City has an app that allows users to comment on taxi service in real time. Whatever you choose to do, make sure you are present and are interacting with your customers frequently via mobile device. A great way to keep your mobile media organized is with the Mowbi Platform. One of the neat features of the  free one page website is links to all of your social media networks all in one place. Your blog, Twitter, Facebook, etc. are literally at your (and your customer’s) finger tips. For more information about Mowbi call 1-800-985-9277 or e-mail Bill@mowbi.com or Jordan@mowbi.com

Posted in Mobile Commerce Tags: , , , , ,

Mobile Marketing Tips for Restaurants

June 22nd, 2010 No Comments

If you own or manage a restaurant, you should strongly consider adding Mobile Marketing to you business plan. Not only can you generate more traffic to your venue, but you can build a strong, loyal customer base. Here are some mobile marketing tips for restaurants:

Build a solid opt-in list- The first step in your mobile marketing campaign should be building a strong opt-in list, made of customers who agree to receive promotional messages from you on their phones. Building your opt-in list doesn’t have to be hard. You can use print efforts to gain interest in your mobile marketing program. For example, you can use table tents or on table displays with contests or special deals to drive texts. Your customers can then be asked to join your list in order to be informed of the outcome of the contest, or to receive the special discount at hand and promotional messages in the future. You can also use radio advertising to drive texts and build your opt-in list. The next time you advertise a contest or promotion, just drive listeners to text instead of calling or filling out a card. Whatever you choose to do, remember that it is imperative that you are working with a list of opted-in customers for all mobile marketing efforts.

Pre/Post Service Perks- Offer special perks for your mobile customers. Allow them to make reservations from their mobile phone and send reminders as their visit date nears. Is it a busy Friday night? Send your mobile regulars texts as your waiting list fills up- let them know wait times. Better yet- allow them to place their name on your waiting list via mobile phone, so that when they arrive, they move to the front of the line. If your establishment offers entertainment, send early alerts to your customers and allow them to purchase tickets at a discount. Post visit, you can send customer surveys so they can rate their visit. Send a survey specifically on service, or food quality. Let customers know that your value their opinion, and want to exceed their expectations with every visit.

Mobile Promotions- Once you get a strong opt-in list, you can offer even more services to your customers in order to increase sales and loyalty. Have a mobile customer’s only signature drink at the bar. Send texts with links to your special drink, and name the drink something unique, that only your mobile customers will know. Hold a mobile customer reception or exclusive mobile customer’s special night. Own a bar or grill? Why not have a game of trivia for your mobile customer’s via their mobile devices? The possibilities for cool restaurant promotions using mobile marketing are endless.

Call us to discuss more great mobile marketing tips for your restaurant. 800-985-9277 or E-mail Bill@mowbi.com or Jordan@mowbi.com

Posted in Mobile Commerce Tags: , , ,
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