First, a pop quiz for you: which of these events generated the most buzz?

a. The Macintosh iPhone launch

b. The Nintendo Wii Launch

c. The Windows Vista Launch

d. The final Sopranos episode

According to recent Nielsen BuzzMetrics, if you chose the iPhone launch, you are correct.

I’m interested in this factlet because I’ve lately been pondering a phrase oft heard these days: “Mobile marketing is the hot new way to communicate with your customers!”

What does that mean? Well, I know what mobile marketing is, but are consumers really ready for it? Are marketers ready to dive into uncharted waters? Or do they still need to be convinced of its relevancy to their brand? And, by the way, is mobile marketing really uncharted waters?

I am a member of the generation that learned to keyboard on a typewriter and didn’t necessarily have computers in high school, so I think technology is fascinating. I mean, MP3 players – that’s WAY better than carrying around a 10-pound “boom box” on my shoulder. (OK, I didn’t really do that, but I know a lot of people who did!).

So, when “they” started talking about mobile marketing, I wanted to find out more. I googled it, of course, and discovered that information is easy to find because people are talking about mobile marketing and, if they’re not already doing it, they really want to be doing it. In particular, I found a great paper by Jim Nichols on Brandchannel.com that sited this eMarketer poll:

I shouldn’t have been surprised. Social networking is a huge phenomenon and most American adults are doing more than talking on their cell phones, everything from texting and gaming to email and banking.

In fact, a survey of 35,000 people revealed that consumer interest in purchasing a cell phone with streaming video or MP3 capabilities doubled between 2006 and 2007. 

If you’re like me, you’re thinking that statistic represents a bunch of kids — only a teenager can figure out how to work the new phones and only a teenager truly embraces the new technologies. Lo and behold, research shows that isn’t the case.

Case in point: Jim Nichols sites a recent study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project illustrating that, while texting messaging demographics are skewed towards teenagers, there a significant number of 30 to 64-year-olds who are also using this service.

What does that have to do with mobile marketing? Well, it’s possible to deliver promotional messages and news via text messages, and even to gather valuable customer information.

But, you say, won’t that annoy my customers? Nielsen also reported recently that 23 percent of mobile users saw a mobile advertisement in March 2008, and that mobile users are willing to receive ads in exchange for lower phone rates … 

So, if businesses want to do it and consumers are ready to receive it –- what’s the hold up? Is it fear, caution, or simply that folks have yet to figure out how to leverage the technology?

When looking to leverage mobile messaging services and microblogging platforms such as Twitter, the Minneapolis-Saint Paul media serves up some examples worth checking out:

Twitter feeds from Fox 9 News and the Star Tribune are fully automatic streams of almost every news story they publish. I personally don’t think most people want that kind of a stream in Twitter, but it works for some. WCCO posts breaking news stories on Twitter almost exclusively, which is similar to CNN’s Twitter feed. Minnesota Independent, The UpTake and MinnPost post to their own stories, but also maintain a news dialog with others. The Saint Paul Pioneer Press’ feed is very conversational.

There are Twitter accounts for individual reporters, journalists and other media professionals as well. The advantage for the news consumer is being able to listen to what reporters are talking about before it’s reported, but the disadvantage is hearing everything else they may be doing or talking about that’s unrelated to the news. MinnPost’s David Brauer, Minnesota Independent’s Paul Schmelzer, Pioneer Press’ Julio Ojeda-Zapata, WCCO’s Jason DeRusha and MPR’s Bob Collins frequently converse about news as it happens and before their respective organizations publish about it. MPR has a number of Twitter users including Tim Post, Julia Schrenkler, Tom Scheck and Michael Caputo. WCCO’s Terri Gruca will sometimes poll Twitter for help on stories and American Public Media’s Jon Gordon uses Twitter to ask his followers for help on “Future Tense” segments.

The media’s Twitter use runs the gamut from straight news feeds to news conversation to stalking journalists, so it isn’t easy to figure out what’s the most effective to implement Twitter for your business or organization.

Do you want to communicate with a straight feed of your press releases or do you want to engage people with conversation? Do you want to respond to people that Twitter about you or do you think subscribers will be bothered by conversations involving your organization on their mobile phones? Does it make sense to have an individual representing you or an account named after your business?

Point being, figuring out if using Twitter is right for your business or organization isn’t as simple as signing up for an account and using it, it’s finding the right Twitter “voice” and usage that augments your brand. Either way, you’re no one if you’re not on Twitter:

Everyone has an opinion and everyone has their own experience of the ever-swirling, ever-changing, available-at-a-moment’s-notice technologies. I find that current trends in mobile media are fed by actual pros, benefits that I am able to make work with my lifestyle.

I am all about keeping my personal and professional life as organized as possible. Is this doable? Can I actually stay “with the program” and keep my wits about me? In the end, the buck stops here, with me.

Isn’t that the most important point here, me?

I work full time and am a mother of two growing boys. Business deadlines, sports practices, classes, birthday reminders and bills all need to be dealt with … before they come due. Therefore, my most prized possession is my mobile handheld unit. 

The handheld is an all-knowing one-stop-shop where I can monitor all of the developments, schedules and activities in my life. It is a necessity. Franklin Covey watch out! If planning-on-the-go is the wave of the future, you may be going out of business!

(more…)

Is it weird that I have a special relationship with my iPhone? I already use it for everything, but I sometimes wonder – what other cool, new things could I be doing with it? How do other people use their hand-helds?  As a self-proclaimed nerd, I’m proud to say these questions led me to some some great statistics:

Nielsen Table

So, how does this fit into the way we market? We’re all working hard to figure out how to expand our marketing reach into mobile and take advantage of its constancy.

According to a Nielsen mobile study, data subscribers are willing to accept advertising in exchange for lower costs or better content. In that same vein, 32 percent said they’re open to mobile advertising if it lowers their overall bill, while 13 percent will welcome it if it boosts the quality of their mobile media offerings. 

So does this mean that I can get $1 off of my Big Mac Value Meal and also pay less for my monthly AT&T bill? I’m up for that.

I never thought I would be a Twitter advocate, but in recent weeks I have become a true fan. The bare bones essence of tweets keeps me tapped in just enough to know when and where Gustav was hitting land or which vice presidential candidates was just announced, without having to slog through my normal channels of info. Since I was especially interested in the protests that happened in Saint Paul during the RNC, I followed most of the action in realtime on Twitter. It was the perfect feed of updates and links to make me feel like I was actually in the middle of the action. The raw energy was exciting. And when it was over, so were the tweets. 

Interestingly enough, it seems that big biz feels the same way. Business Week’s recent article, “How Companies Use Twitter” shows how effective a 140-character press release can be.

It seems that Amazon.com’s Kindle is not the flop that many predicted when the e-book reader debuted last year. Citibank’s Mark Mahaney has just doubled his forecast of Kindle sales for the year to 380,000. He figures that Amazon’s sales of Kindle hardware and software will hit $1 billion by 2010. Read more about this!

To make your iPhone life a bit easier, Telegraph.co.uk has published their top five keyboard shortcuts and iPhone tips and tricks, including how to type alternative characters with the keypad, type in multiple languages, and take a screen grab on your iPhone. Cool.

Writing My Twitter Etiquette Article: 14 Ways to Use Twitter Politely

Every form of communication deserves an etiquette manual, if only so we can treat our fellows better, even in 140-character bites. MARGARET MASON’S 14-point guide to improved tweets.

(via the Morning News)