Although last week George Clooney held a $15 million dollar fundraiser for President Obama in his California home, what really grabbed the attention of the country was not the $40,000 a piece tickets, it was the sweepstakes offering a chance to win tickets to the event for $3. According to the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Clooney had originally estimated to earn around $10 million for the Obama campaign, based on ticket sales. He had not anticipated making another 5 million dollars through small donors purchasing the chance to meet the president, go to George Clooney’s house and hobnob with the rich and famous.

The Romney campaign has also used the sweepstakes method last month in their “Grab a Bite with Ann” promotion in which small donors could donate $5 and have their name entered into a drawing to have lunch with Ann Romney.

These methods work, because let’s face it, how many $40,000 donors are there? Particularly for the president, whose campaign depends almost 44% on small donations of $200 or less. Romney’s camp only relies on earning 9% of its money from these small donations. However, these donors and their relevance to the campaign ought not be overlooked, as Mr. Clooney’s event proves.

Not only can these donors raise an extra $5 million dollars in a single event, but when one considers that it took over one million, six hundred sixty-six thousand, six hundred sixty-six people to earn that five million dollars, the number seems slightly more impressive. Chances are good those people entering the sweepstakes will translate into votes come this November.

Campaign managers for the presidential race, and many local races are utilizing the sweepstakes technique to generate excitement and interest in their candidate. They are also making the candidate more accessible to the general public. Sweepstakes bring voters to candidate’s website where they are encouraged to become even more involved in the campaign through further donation, volunteer opportunities or simply through gaining more information about a candidate. Sweepstakes also allow campaigns to build on their contact list. By entering a sweepstakes the individual gives consent to be contacted by this candidate or political committee. Gaining access to voters to distribute information and build loyalty is an incredibly important asset.

Text message campaigns make entering and participating in sweepstakes for political campaigns even easier. Voters simply text in a keyword to a short code number to enter the sweepstakes, the winner

Opting in through SMS allows voters to receive relevant information concerning events, volunteer opportunities and sweepstakes. SMS campaigns are an affordable way to engage constituents and to offer them personal one-on-one contact with candidates. On the go voters can find out voting locations, voter registration locations, events and fun meet-and-greets with candidates from their personal phone making each contact feel like a personal invitation.

The last several election cycles have shown Americans like grassroots candidates, and they are willing to support them in small increments. Let your political campaign benefit from the power of small donations and personal interactions with your own mobile phone marketing sweepstakes and campaign. Learn more by clicking here and get your first month of service completely FREE with the Qittle mobile marketing team.

Now wash those numbers down with this – mobile marketing is not limited to coupons and discounts. SMS messaging is primarily about building relationships between consumers and the products and services they love. It is also a call to immediate action on the part of the consumer.

In Snowmass Village, Colorado it is exactly this call to action that has inspired a town festival to embrace text message technology as an integral part of their festivities. For the ninth year in a row Snowmass Village has invited brewers and chili chefs from around Colorado to their mountain town to compete in the Snowmass Chili Pepper Brew Fest on June 8^th and 9^th.  Ticket holders have the opportunity to taste chili, drink beer, listen to music and soak in the wonder of Snowmass Village in the summer. Once they have stuffed themselves, they get to come back the next day to do it again. Amid the chili eating and beer tasting, attendees can cast their vote via text message – at any time for the People’s Choice Award.

Here’s where the immediate action aspect of SMS comes into play, chefs are hoping that tasters will come to their booth, taste their chili and immediately decide it is their favorite.  In order to encourage tasters to vote for their chili in that moment, smart chefs will post prominent signs encouraging tasters to vote and how to do so inside their booth.  Almost instinctively, those tasters who loved a specific chili will feel compelled to vote right then, rather than wait to taste the chili around the corner.

Because there is only one vote per mobile device, chefs have an incentive to get tasters to vote for their chili earlier rather than later, when tasters may forget the chef and the chili of a chef they tasted early on in the competition.

Before the Snowmass Chili Pepper Brew Fest began using Qittle and their SMS voting strategies for their competition, it had relied on ballot voting. The problem with this form of voting is that it requires festival attendees to carry a pen and ballot to each booth throughout the tasting times, which was a hassle, led to lots of lost ballots, more trash for the festival and lower voter turn out because festival goers would get bored and distracted. For those who refused to carry the ballot and planned to find the ballots and voting booth at the end of the day or event, very often a ballot was never cast for those individuals because by the time the event was drawing to a close they were tired, and not terribly interested in casting a vote anymore.

The immediacy of SMS voting appeals to not just to the young mobile phone-using generation, but also to almost all generations of cell phone users. It has encouraged participation levels at the festival due to these easy, streamlined voting methods.

Text to vote campaigns work for more than just community festivals, they can work for companies seeking an interactive and playful way to connect with customers. Customers can opt-in to vote for their favorite menu item, or favorite brand or even for their favorite employee. There are lots of ways to connect with your customers through SMS marketing platforms, let Qittle help you and your company engage your customers in new and exciting ways today!

Click here to learn more about Qittle and to get your first month of service complete FREE of charge!

I have always attributed this peculiarity in myself to the fact that I am a remarkably difficult person, however it turns out that I am not, in fact, remarkable.

Neuroscientist Ann Grabiel and her colleagues at M.I.T. have been studying the human brain and its response to branding and brand loyalty. They have learned that all humans are creatures of habit. Our brains automatically seek patterns and create what they refer to as ‘chunking,’ a process in which the human brain creates a sequence of actions and translates them into an automatic outcome.

In my case, the pattern of pulling into the parking lot at Taco John’s, walking to the door and lining up translates to tacos. Period. My brain has made this connection because I like tacos. The reward of tacos makes the sequence pleasant enough to encourage me to do it again, and again.

According to Grabiel, introducing new rewards can create new habits in my brain. Taco Johns and other fast food chains have become savvy to this fact as well.  They have embraced the ease, simplicity and permeation of mobile phones to offer their consumers easily accessible and strong rewards for breaking their consumption habits and to encourage them to try new items on their menu.

You, like me, may wonder why a company like Taco Johns would want to lure me away from tacos to, let’s say, salad (which is actually exactly what their current mobile campaign is encouraging me to do). The reason is this; despite the consumer tendency to recreate the same scenario, consumers are also easily distracted and quickly bored. Companies must fight to remain relevant, fresh and exciting to consumers. However to be successful at this, they must entice habitual customers like myself to branch out and experiment with their other menu items.

Taco Johns’ current SMS campaign encouraging taco lovers to simply text the word ‘salad’ in to 35880 to get one dollar off of their next salad order is just one more way to plant the seed about their summer salads and to reward those willing to take the leap away from their typical order.

This SMS campaign is an easy way to help Taco Johns to stay relevant, fresh and exciting, and to entice me to expand my taco habit into a taco and salad habit. Fast food restaurants throughout the country have been embracing the ability of SMS programs introduce new products and offer incentives to their regular customers to do more than simply consume their products, but to in fact promote their product and brand.

White Castle is another example of a company promoting a mobile advertising strategy through their new app in which they celebrate National Hamburger Month while simultaneously encouraging customers to try their sliders. Customers can win free sliders and even a new tablet every day by downloading the app and checking in daily.

Popeye’s Mood Wing promotion has taken mobile marketing even further by encouraging customers to post their mood on Twitter or Facebook, through a Mood Wing app. Popeye’s offers advice through these means about the best menu items to suit consumers and their mood in that particular moment. This promotion allows Popeye’s to promote their wing menu and its mild, spicy and mixed sauces. Karlie Lahm, social and digital media manager at Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen was quoted in the Mobile Marketer explaining Popeye’s objective in mobile marketing, to transform their customers from consumers to full fledged promoters. “Digital initiatives like Mood Wing allow us to meet them (the customer) where they are and interact with them in ways that strengthen our relationship and convert them from brand users to brand advocates.”

In each of these examples, fast food companies are employing SMS and other mobile advertising techniques to create new habits in their customers, to recreate their own image and to push their customers to be more than regulars, but actually walking billboards for their company.

Take your customers in a new direction, introduce them to new products, create new habits and re-energize your company’s message through mobile marketing advertising! Click here to learn more about Qittle and get your first month of service completely FREE of charge today.

While the primary thesis of the piece is interesting, that is not why I relate it here.  I bring it up here, on the Qittle blog, because of something Pennebaker uncovered during his thirty years of research on word function.  He has separated words into two categories, function words and content words.

Function words are basically pronouns, articles and conjunctions, i.e. I, you, he, a, the, then, and, etc. Content words are words conveying the deeper meaning of the conversation like, school, work, family, etc. Pennebaker asserts that in his research he has discovered that humans, in the normal course of conversation or reading, do not actually listen to functions words, that in fact we cannot hear them at all. Instead, we focus on the content words and fill in the function words in our minds.

This is relevant to the marketing world, and specifically the mobile marketing world because the advertiser or company is inherently limited by the words both in the number of words and characters. As a result, it is critically important that the words selected to represent their company are well chosen, direct and represent the company and the company’s message in the most effective and efficient manner possible.

In other words, that the advertising words be content words, and specifically content words with a connection to a company’s brand or personality. If your company is a trendy cupcake bakery with a retro feel, a fun quiz about the 1950’s musicians, actors or events would be a great way to translate your company’s theme directly to your customers via their cell phone. Likewise, if you have a retail shop targeting the 16-30 something market, a Text-to-Win campaign relating to pop culture would likely reach these customers. A coffee shop/book store could use literary references in an SMS text ad that a book lover would instantly get and appreciate to promote a new coffee drink or to announce a new book release.

Similarly important is to select words that inspire the consumer to invest more deeply in the company either through time or money, and most preferably both. Many companies are using the words in their text messages as a well-placed lure to bring customers in store or online in order to learn more, save more and have more fun. The exclusive information included in these texts allows those customers who have opted-in extra savings and incentives, as well as more emotional investment in the company overall.

Here at Qittle we understand that words carry power, in partnership with you and your company we would like to help you create a powerful mobile marketing system. Click here to learn more about the various SMS advertising services we provide, and to get your first month of service absolutely FREE of charge! Get the word out about your company today!

The one that has most recently captured their attention is the new Lego interactive mobile movie app. Here my children can use Lego blocks and minifigures (that is the real kicker with my ten year old) to make their own stop animation movies. Needless to say Lego has jumped on board with Angry Birds, Minecraft and DragonVale to conspire against me ever actually using my phone again.

Of course perhaps, they are all in league with Apple to ensure I own 5 mobile devices rather than just three – one per person. In which case it is a larger conspiracy than I am equipped to deal. With that in mind, I am already considering my surrender. Furthermore, if I surrender I can take the fuzzy kitten screen saver my eight-year old daughter has installed off of my screen. The white flag looks better all the time.

While Lego appears to be competing with app games, they are in fact playing at a much bigger game. Their latest Lego Super Hero building series has been a big hit with kids, however, expanding beyond their previous marketing strategies of television commercials, store displays and conventional video games will further ensure children everywhere will be exposed to the characters, sets and merchandise.

Lego’s previous video game forays have been successful in bringing minifigures alive to children (and adults). Unlike many companies branching out from their original product, the video games Lego has created have always been great games, engaging and challenging with good graphics and ever advancing technologies. I have a drawer full of Lego Batman, Lego Harry Potter, Lego Star Wars and Lego Indiana Jones games for various video game platforms that my children and husband love to play and to which they return again and again. Going mobile is the next logical step for Lego’s advertising and branding considering their commitment to cutting edge technologies and their desire to remain relevant to their key audience.

As is apparent in my own home, mobile devices appeal to the younger generations for their intuitive programming and design, their portability and the fact that more and more American families find themselves on the go more than ever before. Mobile phones and devices appeal to parents not only for their convenience and the almost essential need to be in contact at all times, but also because they provide on-the-go entertainment for their children distracting them during long lines, boring meetings, and other unavoidable times of boredom. Companies like Lego providing entertainment for kids and a parenting tool for parents are creating a winning combination.

Lego, through their innovative app, is demonstrating their intimate knowledge of their customer base. They are reaching their audience, and more importantly their audience’s parents, in a positive, creative and innovative way, encouraging parents to support their children’s desire to own the latest series of Lego sets due to their positive experiences with the Lego app.

Other companies considering mobile advertising can reach their customers in creative, innovative ways as well, without the same level of expense or complexity of Lego’s campaign. It simply requires that companies spend the time getting to know the interests, concerns and motivations of its key demographics. Mobile messaging ads are an inexpensive way to reach parents like me (If and when we get our phones back!), and virtually any consumer in today’s market. Over 70% of the country owns a cell phone today, and the majority of cell phone owners use text-messaging services.

Restaurants, retailers, salons, spas and clubs can target their key customers through carefully planned SMS campaigns. Attention to when and where your key customers are will help in an effective online strategy. Parents of school aged children who are out and about running errands, and shuttling kids back and forth from activities might love a late afternoon text about a discount to their favorite restaurant. However, a notification from the spa in the middle of the day while the kids are at school might be the best way to convince mom to slip away for some ‘me’ time. Parents of toddlers and babies might enjoy discounts and coupons to restaurants, coffee shops or retailers in the late morning – between naps. Companies seeking college students would do well to send their coupons in the late afternoon or early evening.  High end, luxury customers or the techie audience will appreciate a multi-platform advertising campaign in which a text message would contain a link leading customers to their online site.

Qittle can help you get to know your customers and design the best mobile campaign for your company and its specific needs. Click here to learn more about the Qittle team and to get your first month of SMS Advertising service FREE of charge today!

From these reports it is clear that Apple continues to drive the mobile device market. The implications of this are that mobile devices are playing an increasingly significant and diverse role in the marketplace. Tech savvy customers are in tune with and on the look out for mobile signage offering them the opportunity to engage with customers in store, interact with staff, give feedback and to receive coupons and discounts.

One example of this can be seen in an info graphic released earlier this week detailing the ability of big retailers in the U.S. to use the Apple App Store to engage their customers. Not surprisingly, Wal-Mart was the big dog on top with 63 LTI (The Luth Traffic Index which estimates the total number of downloads of an app over its entire existence); Target was a close second with 53 LTI, while Sears and Kohl’s lagged behind significantly. Interestingly, in this info graphic, while Wal-Mart was the clear leader, Target had taken a different strategy with which to engage customers. Wal-Mart sought to sponsor multiple popular artists through its Wal-Mart Sound Check Concert App, Target focused on a single app. As a result, Target actually received more downloads than Wal-Mart’s app. While Wal-Mart still had a higher number of total downloads, Targets’ data implies that a focused approach may have stronger results over the long-term, particularly when trying to build customer loyalty.

Retailers and restaurants should expect that customers will be bringing their mobile devices into their places of business in ever increasing numbers and using them to socialize, check menus, shop, compare prices and engage with their favorite companies.  Clearly, the average small business cannot afford to launch their own app, however, they can take a page out of Target’s book and focus on a clear and concise approach to reaching their customers through mobile devices.

Text messaging programs are the perfect platform to do this. Companies, with a little bit of help from a mobile software company like Qittle, can launch their own mobile campaign focused to appeal to their key demographic. The ways to use a mobile campaign are as diverse and innovative as the company itself.  Campaigns can be tailored to suit the personality, vibe and attitude of any company.

The inherently simple nature of a mobile marketing campaign allows customers in store, on the go, or at home to quickly get information or discounts, a quick link at the end of the message to the store’s online site allows customer quick and easy access to more detailed information. Smartphone users could access that information on the go; more traditional cell phone users could access that information later at home or on a laptop.

The data is in, and the mobile device market is here to stay. It is time for companies to embrace this technology and utilize it to simplify their marketing strategies.  Let Qittle help your company create a focused campaign your customers will love! Click here to get your first month of service completely FREE!

Before cell phones reinvented the advertising market, advertising campaigns were limited to radio ads, paper coupons, newspaper ads, televisions commercials and online ads. Each of these platforms is mired with added expenses and caveats.

In radio and television ads one has to consider timing, as rates fluctuate throughout the year. Companies cannot be certain their advertising dollars are paying off, as they cannot be sure their target audience is watching or listening. This form of advertising is at best guesswork, and at worst, a shot in the dark.  Not to mention the costs of making and producing these types of ads. The average television commercial can cost between a few thousand dollars to around $400,000 dollars to make, before paying for airtime. Radio commercials are much less expensive to produce, but the airtime for one sixty second spot the radio on average in the Denver/Boulder area is $187.00 every time you air it.

Remember that envelope of coupons that arrives in the mail each month that typically goes in the trash without even being opened? Each coupon or ad inside that envelope cost the company from $129 to $400 to print and send out. On average, 1-3% of those coupons are redeemed.

Newspaper ads cost anywhere from $10 per week for a local paper up into the hundreds for larger papers, however, newspaper sales have fallen dramatically, meaning that the fewer papers off the shelf – the fewer coupons in consumer’s hands.

Online ads see a slightly higher redemption rate than paper coupons, but pricing is complicated and can add up quickly. Furthermore, savvy consumers simply ignore these annoying sidebar distractions.

With these numbers in mind, let’s take a look a look at the costs associated with making and sending out SMS ads. To make an ad costs almost nothing. The simplest campaigns are a coupon or discount written out. More complicated campaigns involving video or links to websites are slightly more expensive to make and require special pricing. However for a most basic understanding of mobile pricing take a look at the Qittle price list.

This mobile software company offers ad campaigns beginning at 0$. That is correct, for no money at all Qittle will offer you its Freemimum Package of 100 texts with one keyword.

For companies seeking to send out just a few more messages per month, the Pro Package gives one keyword and five hundred messages for just $49.94 each month.

The next step up, the Unlimited Package, offers unlimited messages and 5 keywords, for $149.94.  This is our most popular package with clients. Last, but not least, the Enterprise Package is tailored to fit multiple keywords and a customized campaign. Bids and quotes are available through Qittle.com.

With these prices in mind, consider that Qittle companies have reported between 9 and 13% redemption rates on the SMS text coupons they have sent out. Not only are customers opting-in to these programs, they are using them at a higher rate than any traditional advertising campaign on the market today!

Click here to learn more about text message campaigns, mobile pricing, and to get your first month of service completely FREE of charge!

Thank you for joining us for this detailed look at The Power of the Mobile Industry. Join us for more of the latest in mobile news and advertising ideas at Qittle.com.

When thinking about the kind of campaign most appropriate for your company you should take into account first and foremost who your target audience might be. Because SMS campaigns exist strictly as an opt-in advertising campaign, you must clearly understand the demographic most likely enjoy and use a text campaign. While the stats show that audience to be the young and middle-aged adults in America, it is expanding everyday, with every cell phone sold. For companies trying to reach an older demographic, an interactive SMS to web campaign is probably not likely to hold their interest. The older consumer tends to enjoy text message campaigns that offer discounts and updates in a simple and easily redeemable format.  The younger generations, with higher levels of smartphone ownership, tend to enjoy text campaigns with mobile links, allowing them to either visit the website or view video. With the younger generations the keyword is interactivity.

Timing is another serious consideration. A coffee shop might send out early morning messages, while a café would do better sending out afternoon or early evening messages hitting consumers when those items would likely appeal to them. Shops and retail stores would take into seasonal considerations and their implications on their business. Salons and spas have effectively used text messages to remind customers of appointments or to post that they have last minute availability.

As you determine demographic and timing, content will play an important role as well. For the older demographic, coupons and reminders are quick and easy ways to reach these customers. For younger generations, Text-To-Win and interactive quizzes and games are a favorite. Companies with multiple demographics can vary their content and timing to hit a larger base of customers. Most SMS software companies recommend no more than one to two notifications per week, as the goal is to have consumers looking forward to your notification, not annoyed with them.

For those seriously contemplating a mobile campaign, a quick Google search will pop up a plethora of companies, large and small, professing to know exactly how to design the most effective mobile campaign for your company. It can be overwhelming to try to select a company small enough to take the time to personally get to know your company and to assess your specific needs, but large enough to have the experience and expertise necessary to truly create an effective campaign.

In the case of Qittle, a mobile software company based out of Colorado, the perfect marriage of caring and expertise has been created. A family company, with a long history of small business ownership, complete with hard-working individuals with high professional standards, specialized backgrounds and training, including marketing and advertising, Qittle has the capacity to handle large companies with complex, national marketing needs and multi-pronged campaigns, as well as smaller scale local campaigns with the intimate and personal touch necessary for that demographic.

Click here to begin your relationship with Qittle, the leader in mobile marketing platforms in the industry!

Finally, our last section in this series will discuss the pricing involved in mobile marketing. Join us later this week as we wrap up The Power of the Mobile Industry.

However, privacy is one of the first issues consumers and consumer advocates raise when discussing the distribution of mobile coupons to personal cell phones.  In an effort to address these concerns and to set a standard of practices within the global mobile marketing community, the Mobile Marketing Association was created.

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) was created in 2000 under the name Wireless Advertising Association. Their current name was created in 2003 under a partnership with the European-based Wireless Marketing Association. Their mission, according to their website is to, “establish mobile as an indispensable part of the marketing mix. The MMA works to promote, educate, measure, guide and protect the mobile marketing industry worldwide.”

In layman’s terms, the MMA provides a multi-pronged service to both companies providing mobile marketing services and to the customers receiving these updates and coupons. First and foremost the bylaws of this 700-member organization state clearly the expectation of the association in regards to member conduct including adherence to national and state laws. In the United States all customers must give their consent to a company wanting to send text notifications. Each state’s laws vary concerning disclosures, charges and sweepstakes. Companies are responsible to be informed of their state’s regulations.

Additionally, the MMA has the highest of standards of etiquette for companies associated with it, including the stipulation that all companies using text message advertising offer their customer a tangible benefit in exchange for giving the company access to their personal cell phone.

In order to help mobile advertising companies, the MMA offers resources, studies, conferences and ideas to help companies continually create fresh content and innovative ways to reach customers in a personal and interesting way. Collaboration with companies throughout the world and in various markets offers perspective and creativity.

As a result or the MMA regulations and opportunities, consumers who opt-in to companies associated with MMA are confident that their privacy is respected and that each and every text is worthwhile and its content is relevant. They also experience fun and captivating ad campaigns that make them more loyal customers and more likely to spread the word – after all, their cell phones are right in the palm of their hands, making texting, tweeting and posting on social networking sites about fun campaigns, great discounts and companies worth checking out.

Companies considering their text message strategy are well served to consider partnering with a mobile software company with a MMA membership, like Qittle. These companies can be confident of the level of quality, dedication and privacy standards.

The stamp of the MMA membership ensures that privacy and security are understood to be a top priority, allowing companies to focus on the finer details of their mobile campaign like content, style and frequency.

Learn more about the Mobile Marketing Association and quality mobile marketing techniques today! Click here today and get your first month of service completely FREE of charge!

Then join us for the third installation of The Power of the Mobile Industry in which we will look at mobile marketing platforms and their role in initiating a text message advertising campaign.

As you plan for the spring and summer season don’t print out another set of paper coupons to be hung on doorknobs, slipped under windshield wipers or mailed out en masse. Skip that set of radio and television commercials you ran last year. And forget that billboard on the side of the road. This year it’s time to take your company and your advertising plan into the advertising trends of tomorrow with a mobile campaign. Here at Qittle we believe so strongly in the power of a mobile campaign we would like to breakdown the basics in a four-part examination of the mobile industry and advertising.

Before exploring the benefits of a mobile campaign, let’s take a minute to explore the modern coupon industry as a whole.

Most people in the U.S. have at some point used a coupon of one sort or other, in fact 3 in 4 Americans report having collected a coupon and redeemed it at a store. Almost half of all companies offer coupons. In the U.S. food commands the largest percentage of coupon redemption, at 28%. Health care is a distant second at 18%, followed by household, personal care and beverages all above 10%.

In 2009 the paper coupon industry printed 317 billion paper coupons, up almost 40 billion from 2007. Despite increasing their number of coupons in print, redemption rates fell from 3.0 billion to 2.6. Meanwhile mobile coupons started out in 2009 with a small two hundred million units distributed.  By 2010 that number had grown to 2.3 million, in 2011 that number was 11.3 million and by 2012 mobile coupons are projected be 34.4 million. These coupons saw between a ten percent and thirteen percent redemption rate.

This exponential growth is explained by the growth of the mobile phone as more than a method of communication but rather as a tool for bargain shopping and product comparison. Smartphone ownership is greater than one third of the market today, making information gathering and mobile shopping easier than ever. To date 34% of Americans have made a purchase on their cell phones. Of these, twenty-nine percent make monthly purchases on their phones, twenty percent make daily purchases and fourteen percent make weekly purchases. As many as thirty-two percent of shoppers have changed their mind about an in-store purchase based on information they accessed on their smartphones.

Of course these numbers reflect what is happening on the edge of technology, predicting the future of the market. However, today a strong 2/3rds of your market does not have a smartphone, but most likely has a cell phone with text message capacity. Cell phone ownership in the U.S. is at roughly 83% with seventy-three percent using the text message capability on their phones, meaning virtually all of your customers most likely have and use their cell phone for calling and texting at the very least, with a growing number using their cell phones for a variety of other purposes.

An SMS ad campaign is an opportunity for your customers to opt-in in store or at home – really anywhere to receive coupons on their mobile devices. These coupons and updates sent out in the format with the content selected by you allow customers to save and use their coupons at their own discretion stored conveniently on hand, easily accessible any time in their phone.

Companies use the mobile text as a personal way to reach their customers, often playing games, trivia and Text-To-Win competitions. Consumers tend to respond well to these texts and in turn respond via text hoping to win, or receive an extra coupon, discount or simply to have their opinion heard.

Mobile marketing services, like Qittle, provide coupons your customers will use today and in the future. Plan for the future and kick off your mobile campaign today! Click here to learn more and to get your first month of service completely FREE!

And then join us later this week for Part 2 of the Power of the Mobile Industry where we will look at the Mobile Marketing Association and their role in effective and reliable marketing on the go!

The future looks bright for those just entering the mobile marketplace and for companies investing in the mobile advertising strategies. A report released by the Pew Internet & American Life Project in March found that teenagers, the consumer of tomorrow, have increased the number of texts they send per day from 50 texts in 2009 to 60 texts in 2011. Twenty-three percent of teenagers ages 12-17 own a smartphone, with older teenagers, 14-17, showing a 31% ownership.

The report also indicated a total of 75% of teenagers text message, with 63% of that number exchanging multiple texts every day. It seems from the data in this report the younger generation increasingly prefers to communicate via text message. Only 39% of teen’s use their cell phones on a daily basis to make calls, 35% of teens socialize in person outside of school, and only 29% use social networking daily to communicate. Even fewer choose to socialize with instant messaging, just 22%, or talking on a landline – only 19% of teens, and just 6% use email on a daily basis to communicate.

For most parents of teenagers these statistics simply confirm and legitimize their reality. For the business community these statistics are predicting the future of business and advertising. Companies such as McDonald’s have realized the simplicity of reaching customers on a mobile platform and have been actively encouraging mobile customers to engage with McDonald’s using their mobile phone through games, ads and incentives. McDonald’s has long since mastered convenience food, the mobile advertising opportunity plays perfectly into McDonald’s core demographic of consumer; young people, families in a hurry seeking food that appeals to their children and teenagers and the on-the-go individual – exactly the same group of people most likely to use and enjoy mobile campaigns. McDonald’s has used its various mobile campaigns to promote new items on the menu, special prices and to offer convenient location information.

Any company within the marketplace can capitalize on these same aspects of the mobile demographic: convenience, simplicity, fun and relevance. Text message ads offer consumers the opportunity to opt-in, ensuring that only those customers interested in the content receive updates. This translates to a higher efficiency rate than television ads, radio or paper coupons that are distributed through blanket distribution.

Text-messaging trends being seen within the younger generations are predicting trends for the advertising trends of the future. As mobile phones and mobile technology become an increasingly universal aspect of life worldwide, the business model will continue to be strong and competitive with companies vying for their customer’s loyalty and attention on a new platform. Stay one step ahead of tomorrow’s consumers by investing in a mobile campaign today and start reaching your current customers in the most effective and cost efficient mode possible right now!

Click here to learn more about text message advertising and get your first month with Qittle completely FREE of charge!

Perhaps an even more startling statistic revealed in this NPR piece, the number of cell phones in India exceeds the number of toilets. 53% of Indians own cell phones, while the same number do not have a toilet, 39% do not have a kitchen and a staggering 57% do not have an indoor drinking source. (India’s Census: Lots of Cellphones, Too Few Toilets, Elliot Hansen, NPR.org, April 8^th, 2012).

In the same Sunday Weekend Edition Program on NPR another piece on cellphones titled, ‘A Brief History of the Mobile Phone,’ detailed a brief history of the cell phone to celebrate Nokia’s release of their latest cellphone the Nokia Lumina 900. Wendy Kaufman discussed with Sheldon Hochheiser, archivist at IEEE History Center at Rutgers University the exponential growth of the cell phone beginning with the first cell phone released by AT&T in 1940, with one mobile phone tower serving phones located inside cars. Weighing in at roughly 80lbs, these phones were hardly ‘mobile.’

However, simply being able to place a phone in a car and drive around while making calls, planted the seed of true mobility in the mind of Dr. Marty Cooper, the Father of the Cell phone.

Dr. Marty Cooper

He conceptualized the very first truly portable prototype in 1973, but technology and logistics took another sixteen years before the initial vision of Motorola vice president, Dr. Marty Cooper could be realized.

The cost of those first cell phones was inhibitive as well, ranging between two and four thousand dollars. Cooper was instrumental in not only bringing mobile phones into the general marketplace, but he accomplished this by bringing down the cost of the cell phone across the board.

Even with Cooper’s ambitious plans for the cell phone, he had estimated that roughly 900,000 affluent Americans could someday own a mobile device. However, today his dream has multiplied to more than 100 times than that initial goal. Cellphone ownership in America today stands around 300 million Americans and is growing.

These two separate and seemingly unrelated pieces touch upon the same issue – the cellphone has progressed from an item of affluence into an almost essential household device. Companies worldwide seeking to spread word about their goods and services can no longer overlook the cellphone as an unnecessary advertising venue. Reaching consumers on the go and on their cell phones is more critical the radio advertising, newspaper or even television ads. Additionally, cellphone ads are less expensive, offering businesses a win-win scenario for advertising.

Throughout the world, consumers are opting-in to text message rewards programs and text-to-win competitions. These interactive experiences build customer loyalty and increase word of mouth, as customers share their savings and coupons.

Mobile software companies, like Qittle, can streamline your cellphone advertising campaign by handling the logistics after you and a Qittle representative determine the nature, frequency and content of your ads for a low monthly price.

Meanwhile your company will see a 5% increase in mobile coupon redemption when compared to traditional paper coupons. Likewise, your customers will have more incentive than ever to visit your company more than ever!

Learn more about Qittle and how mobile marketing business techniques will help your company take the world by storm today! Click here to get your first month of service completely FREE of charge!

This degree of deeply engrained loyalty has been the objective of companies since the naissance of advertising, and has been steadily increasing over the past 5 years. Directly related to the degree of commitment consumers have developed with their favorite companies has been their relationship with them via cell phone.

Long before the consumer ‘liked’ companies on social networking sites, they opted-in to their SMS messaging campaigns to receive notifications and updates via cell phone. This same connection continues to play an integral role in customer loyalty and public commitments on social media sites today. As a result, a mobile presence within the marketplace via text message campaigns and discounts, as well as online links to information and interactive experiences is almost a must for successful companies in this marketplace.

NASCAR is an excellent example of a long-term, effective mobile plan. Of course their road to the perfect mobile plan has had some bumps, including a lawsuit over non-solicited texts last summer. Despite these gaffs, NASCAR has come to see that the best way to reach their customers is through their own incentive and in a mutually beneficial relationship.

Since 2004 NASCAR has encouraged fans to interact with each other, NASCAR, and their favorite drivers with text message campaigns. NASCAR, as a brand, evokes tremendous loyalty. NASCAR fans are almost fanatically loyal to their favorite drivers and follow them and their career carefully. Capitalizing on this attribute, NASCAR’s interactive SMS campaigns allow fans to promote their favorite driver through TEXT-TO-VOTE campaigns.

This most recent campaign, the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race Fan Vote campaign, allows fans to text vote for their favorite driver. Opting-in sends fans a link to the mobile site, where they can get more information about their favorite driver and vote for him or her. The mobile site also allows multiple votes and favors specific phone brands, most specifically and perhaps obviously, Sprint phones, granting them two votes per entry. Last year’s TEXT-TO-VOTE campaign was record breaking with 2.4 million votes. Projections for this year’s participation promise to be higher than ever.

NASCAR has also recognized that text message promotions during races help fans to feel even more engaged on race day, at the track or at home. Links sent out to text message subscribers allows fans to stay up to date with the latest race results and news directly from the cars and their racers.

NASCAR has managed to embrace not only the social media platform, but also the loyalty, energy and excitement of a text message campaign, making this ‘committed’ relationship advantageous for all parties.

TEXT-TO-VOTE campaigns are effective off the racetrack as well. Consumers love to share their opinions and favorites from ice cream flavors to pet names – asking your customers’ their opinions is a great way to engage them and make them feel important – regardless the size of the company or industry.

Get to know your customers better than ever with your own TEXT-TO-VOTE and SMS text messaging services today! Qittle is here to help you get started. Click here to learn more about the benefits of a mobile campaign and get your first month of service completely FREE of charge.

I ask this because I am a hardcore Mac lover. Only the really dedicated Mac lovers are willing this week to stand up and say, “Mac, you scoundrel! But I still love you, and I feel complicated about it.”

Of course we Apple-lovers have feeling more and more uncomfortable since January when This American Life, by Chicago Public Radio, aired their most popular show in history, “Mr. Daisey Goes to the Apple Factory.”

Despite Mr. Daisey’s many erroneous claims, he actually hit the nail on the head in at least one claim. My iPhone is handmade in a 141-step process. In the modern world of mass assembly it is easy to assume that the computer on your desk or in the palm of your hand whisked off some giant assembly line by robots that never age, never tire and are easily replaced by another, faster robot. Mr. Daisey’s assertions and dramatic storytelling detailing long hours, poor and sometimes dangerous have caught the world’s attention and has given many of us a pause for thought.

Although This American Life publically retracted Mr. Daisy’s story, they reasserted facts published by New York Times reporter, Charles Duhigg concerning working conditions within Foxconn. Duhigg is quoted in the transcripts of his interview with This American Life host, Ira Glass, saying that in reports released by Apple, “In 2007 Apple conducted audits at 39 facilities.  Of those, they found that 66% of the facilities that were inspected, more than 50% of the workers were working more than 60 hours a week.  That number continues, although the number of facilities inspected gets larger. More than 50% of facilities are violating limits on how many days per week people should work or how many hours per week people should work”.

A report, which was independently derived from the responses of 35,000 anonymous Foxconn employees, released earlier this week by The Fair Labor Association found virtually the same conditions.

Amid all of the reaction and self-loathing on the part of Apple owners nationwide, CNN reported yesterday that 51% of Americans currently own at least one Mac device or computer, and on average own three.  Smartphone ownership in America is growing even faster than projected, currently approaching more than 1/3^rd.

Apple, in one of its smartest PR moves has not sought to shush the controversy. Rather, they have openly acknowledged these discrepancies between policy and practice and made steps to rectify them. Knowing their consumers are far too savvy to be distracted from or to overlook human rights violations, Apple has investigated their factories and the allegations made against them. Even This American Life was quick to acknowledge that every mobile manufacturer in the world faces reviews of this kind, and that Apple has been more forthcoming than any of these other companies, even before this controversy.

Does that mean that we Apple consumers can continue to happily purchase our iDevices, wiping our conscious clean knowing it’s the least of all of the evils? I think not. I think that we, as Apple and mobile consumers as a whole, have an obligation to hold the companies we support accountable for both the quality and innovation of the product as well as the condition and treatment of the people who handcraft these products.

There is no way to place the cost of mobile phones on par with the health and well being of another person, wherever they may be. However, the mobile industry is not going away, in fact it is booming. Our only hope is to demand as much transparency from these companies as we demand in technology.

Learn more about mobile marketing costs and benefits by clicking here!

Once again, Coke has capitalized on the attentive live and mobile-aware audience of sports fans. A Coke Zero interactive mobile messaging campaign in conjunction with the NCAA March Madness Championship series has been ongoing throughout the month of March. In this campaign, featured by the Mobile Commerce Daily, Coke has engaged fans that are too busy to catch every game who have had to rely on their mobile devices to follow their favorite teams.

To do this, Coke sponsored an iOS app for Android devices allowing customers to catch some games for free, and all games for a $3.99 upgrade. In addition to this, Coke Zero has offered customers the opportunity to earn points by texting in keywords heard during live programming. By opting in through the keywords, participants are entered into drawings to win NCAA prizes. Hottest of these prizes are tickets to Final Four games in both 2012 and 2013. Short codes printed on the bottle caps of March Madness themed Coke Zero bottles offer consumers more information about the campaign and how to get involved.

Taking the energy of this campaign a step forward, Coke Zero has upped the ante for the actual Final Four games in New Orleans. Attendees to the live game will be given the opportunity through snaptags and mobile bar codes to get extra information and amazing specials.

William White, group director of sparkling brands at Coca-Cola North America, Atlanta, explained the connection between Coke Zero and the live audience they consistently seek out, “Coke Zero is about enjoying having it all and not missing out on anything – this brand persona fits especially well with how fans are consuming the game.” Mobile users are just this same consumer; having it all – the game, the drink and the conversation with friends, conveniently and simultaneously, all the while earning points, prizes and incentives.

It would be wonderful if every business could offer ads during the Final Four NCAA basketball games. However for locally owned businesses, live sporting events throughout town, such as high school and college football games, baseball games, soccer games and even rec games are a great way to capture a large potential customer base through SMS promotions featured in billboards around the stadium, or on signage, or simply in a mention by the announcer. As spring brings in soccer season and baseball games, companies throughout town ought to consider how to capitalize on the live sporting event audience in their area.

This type of advertising does not need the same big budget marketing plans Coke has. The beauty of a mobile campaign is that even a modest budget SMS marketing plan can be effective in reaching customers.

Of course, without a major marketing department many businesses are not quite sure how to get started on their SMS campaigns. Mobile software companies, like Qittle have the know-how to help start an effective and creative mobile campaign. With Qittle you and your company can design the campaign that works best for your company, selecting the frequency of updates and coupon distribution. Qittle will handle the logistics of your SMS campaign. Customers can opt-in to receive these updates, interactive experiences and coupons.

Coke has shown businesses how to have it all through mass text messaging campaigns. Click here to get started today and get your first month of service completely FREE of charge!

Bed Bath and Beyond is one of my favorite haunts whenever I work on my home because of its reputation for giving customers an incentive to shop in their store.

For years their weekly coupon has arrived in mailboxes throughout the country offering customers the opportunity to save lots of money. In my many recent trips to Bed Bath and Beyond, I have noticed that they have realized a new and more effective way to help me, and all of their customers save money while shopping in their stores. At last, a coupon that I won’t lose or forget – cell phone coupons!

Paper coupons are typically redeemed at best at a 3% rate – meaning that 97% of the paper coupons Bed Bath and Beyond mail out at their own expense end up in the trash. Due to the ineffective nature and expensive production of the paper coupon, retailers have turned to a more effective way to reach their customers. Text message coupon campaigns have proven themselves in reaching target audiences throughout the market in every category, from soda pop to cleaning products and restaurants. In 2012, it is projected that 34,400,000 mobile coupons will be redeemed. By 2013 that number is expected to more than double.  Sixteen percent of those coupons are redeemed within the household ~ meaning, I’m not the only home decorator searching for a bargain.

Before their text message campaign, many times Bed Bath and Beyond customers would find themselves in-store, without a coupon – all the while knowing their coupon was sitting on the counter (or in the trash) at home; customers, like me, were quite literally throwing money away. Hearing their customer’s complaints, Bed Bath and Beyond has recently posted throughout stores on posters an SMS message code enabling customers with their mobile phones on hand to still earn that 20% discount.

By opting in with a short code to receive updates and coupons from Bed Bath and Beyond, customers can earn an initial 20% off their purchase and gain the potential to save more money through coupons sent to their mobile device in the future. These coupons will always be on hand – never in the trash, never left behind, conveniently in the palm of consumer’s hands all of the time.

While many companies are using SMS campaigns to draw customers in, other companies have found that this same marketing strategy helps customers once they are in-store to make a purchase or even purchase more items than they had originally planned, knowing they could earn an in-store coupon. Like Bed Bath and Beyond, companies have realized that offering customers an incentive to purchase in-store is effective, less expensive than paper coupons and an engaging and personal way to reach customers.

Invite your customers to spend more in-store with your own mobile marketing campaign. Qittle, a mobile marketing agency, has many exciting ideas to help your company capitalize on the mobile coupon industry. Get started today by clicking here and getting your first month of service completely FREE!

Of course I did not know this, and immediately fact checked him with my husband’s smartphone. He was, of course, correct. (Kaku, Michio. Physics of the Future).

Knowing my phone has more technology than the shuttle program of 1969 made me feel oddly scared for the men who performed that mission all those years ago and slightly more in love with my smartphone than ever before.

It seems that I am not the only one who loves her smartphone, The Pew Internet & American Life Project released a new report on March 1, 2012 announcing that smartphone adoption had increased 11% over last May, bringing smartphone ownership up to 46% in the U.S.  Across every demographic the smartphone adoption has grown dramatically in popularity, but most particularly with the 18-35 year old demographic where adoption levels hover around 60%. The national average of smartphone adoption indicates that today only two in five adults have a cell phone that is not a smartphone.

While almost half of the American population has a smartphone, my conversation with my son got me thinking about the technological potential of my smartphone, if my phone has the capacity of taking me to the moon, is it possible that I am not utilizing the full extent of this technology? And obviously the answer is yes. I am still on planet earth trying to pass a 6^th grade history test – administered by a 6^th grader.

But once again I am in good company. The Nielsen Company reported in their 2010 study, Quantifying the Mobile Data Tsunami and Its Implications, that 25% of smartphone users do not access data at all on their phones. While this study did show an increase in data use over 2009, it is still quite clear and that most smartphone users are underusing their smartphones. Nielsen found that most smartphone users still rely on their phones primarily to perform basic functions such as placing voice calls and sending and receiving text messages. Recently an uptick in customers using their smartphones to compare prices and products has come into play within the mobile market; however despite these uses 92% of Americans use their devices to access local information and 89% of these searches end in action within the local marketplace.

For companies considering how to integrate mobile technologies into their advertising plan, this information is vital. The smartphone inundation has led some companies to pursue pop-up ads on websites and to feel pressure about upping the technology of their advertising plans. However, the American public, while loving their smartphones and all of their bells and whistles, are still primarily using the same basic phone functions they used to. Text message advertising is still the best way to reach the widest cell phone audience possible. Text message ads are opened at 90% rate and redeemed around 13% of the time, compared to emailed coupons and paper coupons redeemed at around 8% and 1% respectively. One third of all Americans actually prefer text messages to voice calls, and this number looks to grow as the younger generation with their great love for texting enters the marketplace.

Get started on your SMS marketing service today! Click here to learn more about Qittle, a mobile marketing software company, and to get your first month of service completely FREE of charge.

In this year’s report technology lifestyle brands increased their standing on the Global 500’s table by 79%, with 49 technical companies on the list. Of course big names Apple and Google have vied almost every year in recent history for the top spot on the list as most valuable brand. At a hefty $70.6 billion, Apple came out on top this year. It shouldn’t surprise anyone, with the new iPad sales hitting new records according to Apple CEO Tim Cook and online orders backlogged for weeks.

The Global 500 report touches on the fact that customers are flocking to ‘recession proof alpha brands’ despite tough economic conditions But even more interesting is the fact that while consumer spending reports released in February 2012 show near flat rates, with almost no change since January of 2011, on non-durable goods, food and services; durable goods showed a distinct uptick, particularly since July of 2011. Since July spending on durable goods have not fallen and have grown month over month incrementally.

Cell phones are generally classified as semi-durable goods, which unfortunately are not given their own line on the graph in the U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau report of Economic Analysis. However a glance at the statistics from within the mobile industry itself shows that growth of mobile devices in the U.S. has been exponential over the past 3 years. The Pew Internet & American Life Project released a study in August of 2011 stating that 83% of Americans owned a cell phone and that more than 1/3^rd of Americans owned a smartphone.

It seems that consumers are holding on to their money when it comes to purchases that will not last longer than 3 years and investing in products that can, when used correctly, help them keep more money than ever in their pockets. The same Pew study from August found that of cell phone owners in the U.S., 73% send and receive text messages. Many of these users have learned that text message marketing campaigns are an easy way to save money without annoying commercials or distracting pop-up ads.

Text message ads send directly to a cell phone allow consumers to keep their coupons with them at all times to redeem when they are ready. Customers also choose which companies have the right to send them information or discounts by opting-in to programs with the companies they love or even those they are interested in trying. Even better than allowing companies access to a personal cell phone, consumers can choose to opt-out of any program at any time.

Almost one third of consumers actually prefer to be reached through text message than voice call, meaning companies can streamline reaching the customers in a personal way, without the personnel requirements of voice calls.

Although economic indicators seem to predict that the economy is on better footing than previous years, consumers and companies have learned many essential lessons. Consumers would rather a quality product and are willing to pay for it, while at the same time; they are looking for ease, mobility all while saving money. Companies can save money on marketing costs through text message campaigns sent directly to their target customers, while building their business with careful consumers.

Let Qittle, a mobile marketing software company, show you how to initiate your SMS mobile Marketing campaign to day! Your customers are waiting for you! Click here to learn more and to get your first month of service completely FREE of charge! 

Hershey’s Chocolate is one of the largest chocolate manufacturers in the world. Virtually every American home has some branding tie to Hershey’s, whether through Kit Kat, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups or Pieces, Hershey’s Kisses, or Ice Breakers. Despite their dominance in the world of candy, Hershey’s has been slow to embrace mobile marketing.  Regardless of a company’s standing as a household name, in today’s market every company must maintain a mobile presence in order to stay relevant to their customers. With that in mind, Hershey’s is looking to enter the global technology market with a bang.

What bigger bang could Hershey’s enter with than March Madness? Sports fans will be watching live sporting events, creating multiple opportunities to reach fans with television ads encouraging customers to opt-in to a Hershey’s sweepstakes via cell phone. The Reese’s ‘Perfect Pick’ campaign will connect Hershey more closely to its loyal customer base and reinforce Hershey’s place in the American lifestyle by debuting it in the global technology market.

Upon opting-in by texting ‘REESES’ to short code 44144, Hershey’s will send a return SMS text asking for customer’s birthdate and email address. Once this information has been entered, Hershey’s will reply letting customers know if they have won the sweepstakes. Customers can enter on a daily basis from now until the first of April.

The personal information Hershey’s collects through customer sweepstakes entrance forms can help Hershey’s gauge its audience and learn more about their demographic. A better understanding of a company’s key demographic enables them to more accurately market this audience. A record of customer birthdates and emails also allows the company to send out birthday wishes and perhaps a free chocolate bar or a discount on specialty chocolate that perhaps a consumer has not yet tried. In this way Hershey’s can connect consumers with products they love, or even introduce new products to a receptive audience.

In its debut into mobile marketing advertising, Hershey’s has also realized the potential of an integrated campaign. Customers will have the choice to play the sweepstakes online or with their mobile device. Text messages from Hershey’s will include a link to their website for smartphone users or those wishing to log on with their computers to reach a wide customer base and provide the most information possible to customers.

Many companies have invested in extensive pop-up ad campaigns online hoping to reach mobile smartphone users as well as the PC user online. However, these ads tend to be less effective and reach few customers than the typical mobile ad. Text messages are opened and read at over 90% rate, while pop-up ads are largely ignored. Mobile ads also have the extra advantage in that customers have chosen to receive these coupons and updates from the companies they like. As a result, these coupons are used at a higher rate. Anna Lingeris, spokeswoman for Reese’s Hershey, PA, recognizes the effectiveness of the mobile ad in her comments to the Mobile Marketer, “With 74.6% of the United States mobile subscribers using text messaging on their mobile devices to date, launching a text-to-win campaign enabled us to reach our consumers easily and effectively.”

The marketing world used to be like a box of chocolates with companies never quite sure how to reach their target audience, spending precious marketing dollars on a shot in the dark. Mobile marketing has taken the guesswork out of advertising by allowing customers and companies to come together in a reciprocal and mutually rewarding relationship.

Learn more about text message services and start your mobile campaign today! Click here to get your first month of service with Qittle completely FREE of charge today!

Travelers have long been trained by the travel industry through incentives and rewards to loyally use the same airline company, the same hotel chain, the same car rental company and the same cruise line.  Considering the sizeable investment travel requires, consumers are more likely to return to a company with which they have earned points or rewards the next time they have to travel, either to redeem these points or to add to them.

As the economy has slumped and continues to slump, consumers are looking to save money everywhere. Particularly in big-ticket expenses like travel, consumers are looking to save money and are willing to exchange their loyalty for pennies in their pockets.

In practically every category of the travel industry text message advertising has taken off as a means of reaching customers on the go.  Airlines have used text messages to inform passengers of delays and cancellations, as well as providing passengers links to check in online to their flights. Frequent flyer miles can be checked via text message. Passengers can also obtain important and relevant information about upcoming sales on flights by airline text messages.  Hotels and motels have also used mobile marketing to inform loyal customers about sales, or cities with especially good discounts. Some hotels have collaborated with local attractions to offer a discount on hotel stays with ticket purchases, and vice versa.

Despite all of the mobile marketing taking place within the travel industry, the Luxury Daily ran an article today indicating that some segments of the travel market have missed the mobile revolution. In particular, the cruise industry has failed to enact a mobile strategy. In light of the various problems the cruise industry has experienced in recent months, from the sinking of the Costa Concordia in January to the electrical issues on-board the Costa Allegra in late February, it seems that the cruise industry is facing a public relations crisis on a major scale.

Perhaps a mobile campaign is just the tool help the cruise industry recover their standing as a modern, up-to-date, relevant and luxurious way to vacation. In light of the fact that the largest demographic with disposable income today is the young, single and affluent business professional, it will come as no surprise that this demographic is also extremely inclined to use their smartphone to research vacations, check airline fares and to compare cruise line amenities and destinations. Mobile coupons sent directly to consumer’s cell phones allow them to shop for their cruise and redeem their loyalty points, or cash in on an off-season sale at the same time.

Scott Forshay, a mobile and emerging technologies strategist for Acquity Group, Austin, TX, was quoted by the Luxury Daily saying, “To appeal to a younger, affluent and device-savvy demographic, luxury cruise lines must incorporate mobility into their overarching digital marketing strategies…A logical and effective initial strategy would be to add targeted SMS and MMS elements into a cruise line’s marketing mix.”

It is simply not enough to reach this demographic through television ads and social media outlets today. Consumers are looking for on-the-go travel solutions in the moment.

While booking the cruises for the near future is the immediate goal, if the cruise industry manages to hook this younger demographic they could be creating life-long cruisers. This young market interested in doing business with them for years to come could be the cornerstone in a sustainable business plan for the future.

The cruise industry must take a page from their counterparts in the travel industry; to provide safe and reliable vacation options within a luxurious environment, while helping their customers to afford their travel dreams on a budget. A tall order perhaps, but the hotel, airline and travel agent industries have proven it is possible with a professional SMS marketing company dedicated to helping to connect travel companies with their customers.

To kick off your own travel industry’s text message campaign, take a moment to talk to the Qittle team. Qittle is a mobile marketing software company specializing in creating effective and affordable mobile campaigns for companies nationwide. Click here to learn more and to get your first month of service completely FREE of charge!