Wilson's recent "Social Media Check-Ins" article featured on "Voices Of The Industry" Section of GPS Business News!
The Games People Play: Why Social Media Check-Ins Could Bridge the ROBO Gap
By Wilson Kerr, Location Based Strategy LLC
Badges, Passports, the Creator, the Founder, the Mayor, getting a Pin,
picking up a raccoon..This is the language of the newest phenomenon to
hit the location-enabled social media marketing world.
I am talking about Social Networking
Games. No longer only for geeks and geocachers, these are real tools
for seeing where your friends are, in real time, as they check-in to
locations and share what they are doing. Since the device knows where
it is, you can only check in to a location you are visiting. While
mobile location sharing is not new, incentives that tap our competitive
side offered by a game are..
New Deal Brokered By Location Based Strategy, LLC Showcases Social Networking Platform
March 8, 2010: Gowalla recently announced the execution of a new agreement with Travel
Channel for the integration of proprietary Travel Channel content into
Gowalla's social networking game. Real locations used in Travel Channel
TV series will be integrated into the Gowalla platform and users will
be able to check in and find specific show information, along with the
details of the show that was filmed there, pick up Items specific to
the show, and be awarded specially created Passport Stamps. LINK.
The Social Media Marketing Revolution: Harnessing The Power Of The Collective
Twitter. Facebook. LinkedIn. Yelp. WordPress. YouTube. Foursquare.
Gowalla. Myspace. Constant Contact. These are not fads. They are
content-generating warp drives that harness the aggregated power of
specific, personal product and service interactions distributed by a
trusted collective of consumers who all opt in to play a role... LINK
Mobile Revenues to Hit $1 Trillion by 2013
01/15/2010
Putting a very big number on the coming explosion in wireless data, research firm Informa predicted that revenue from mobile services will surpass the $1 trillion mark in 2013. That's one trillion, with a capital T.
"The
explosion of mobile broadband has renewed the significance of the
network itself as operators market their mobile broadband services
around the speed and geographical range of their network," the company
said in a statement. The flood of wireless revenues will be
unleashed by the mobile data revolution: Data revenues will total over
US$330 billion for the mobile and wireless industry in 2013, up from an
estimated US$208 billion in 2008.
"The backdrop to this
transition in the industry is the fact that the Internet has started to
dominate the landscape for new services and applications," said Informa
chief research officer Mark Newman, "and telecoms operators are under
increasing pressure to remain valuable and relevant in the eyes of
their end-users."
Spurring the data flood are new handset
interfaces and mobile content strategies based on application stores
like the App Store, for iPhones. The Android mobile operating system,
which forms the platform for the popular Motorola Droid as well as the Nexus One, from Google, will help drive growth over the next few years as well.
The
spread of LTE and WiMAX will also drive mobile revenues. While most of
the world still uses second-generation wireless technologies such as
CDMA, by the end of 2014 more than half of the projected 6.7 billion
mobile subscriptions worldwide will run over 3G and "3.5G"
technologies, Informa found.
Restaurants and movies score with LBS
New
research conducted jointly by 1020 Placecast and Harris Interactive
indicates that as many of 42 percent of mobile phone users want to
receive location-based alerts about services and sales, with
restaurants and movie or event tickets topping the list.
The survey, The Alert Shopper #3,
was conducted online among US adults in July. The purpose was to
measure "consumer sentiment towards using mobile devices as it relates
to shopping, sales promotions and impulse purchases." The results are
consistent with HipCricket's research last year on the acceptability of
location-based advertising and mobile coupons.
Placecast-Harris
also found that nearly a quarter of adults owning cell phones make
impulse purchases at least once a week. Among men aged 18 to 34, the
number rises to nearly one-third of users. According to the new
report, the ten most wanted location-based alerts, in order or
popularity, would be for: restaurants; tickets for movies and events;
weather; clearance sales; pizza; clothing; fast food; electronics;
music; and happy hour specials.
January 21, 2010
Nokia Takes On Google With Free Navigation
Nokia is making its navigation service free to all GPS-enabled Nokia
devices in a move that will help the company better compete in the
smartphone market against the likes of Apple and Google. Starting Thursday, Nokia users will be able to
download for free the client that enables GPS phones to get Ovi Maps
and Navigation, as well
as, various city guides on their phones. Nokia has been offering the
maps and navigation service for more than two years.
Previously, customers could only access the basic maps for free. Turn-by-turn navigation and city guides had cost extra.
But that all changes Thursday when Nokia begins offering these
services for free. Initially, the free service will be available for 10
of Nokia's phones, including the Nokia N97 mini, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic
and Nokia E72. Eventually, the software client will be available for
all Nokia GPS-enabled phones. And starting in March, the company will
begin shipping new GPS Nokia phones with the software and maps for the
service pre-installed.
Google Acquires
On
November 9, 2009 Google announced an agreement to acquire AdMob, a
mobile display ad technology provider, for $750 million. This
acquisition will enhance Google's existing expertise and technology in
mobile advertising, while also giving advertisers and publishers more
choice in this growing new area.
The deal will bring new innovation and competition to mobile
advertising, and will lead to more effective tools for creating,
serving, and analyzing emerging mobile ads formats.
This deal will benefit developers, publishers, and
advertisers by improving the performance of mobile advertising, and
will provide users with more free or low-cost mobile apps.
The mobile advertising space will remain highly competitive,
with more than a dozen mobile ad networks. The deal is similar to
mobile advertising acquisitions that AOL, Microsoft, and Yahoo have
made in the past two years.
Mobile advertising is a rapidly growing and competitive space, and
Google and AdMob are currently specializing in different areas. Though
Google offers many forms of mobile advertising, its focus to date has
been on mobile search ads, while AdMob's focus has been mobile display
ads and in-application ads.
Agencies ready to spend more on mobile
Nov 9, 2009: A joint study by Millennial Media and
DM2Events.com indicates that ad agencies plan to spend a lot more on
mobile advertising, including location-based ads, next year.
The September DM2Events.com survey covered 100 agencies. The key findings include:
Nearly
one-third of ad agencies (31%) expect to spend between $100,000 and
$250,000 on mobile advertising in 2010, compared with 22% a year ago
Almost 13% plan to spend $250,000 to $500,000, up from 4% in 2009
More than 15% will earmark more than $1 million for mobile campaigns, compared with 11% a year earlier
Only
a quarter of the respondents (23%) are budgeting less than $100,000 for
mobile and 10% don't know how much they'll spend on mobile
The study also found 60% of current non-mobile marketers plan to buy mobile advertising in 2010. Two-thirds
of the agencies (67%) rated mobile advertising as "somewhat valuable"
and 30% said it had become an "indispensable" part of the media mix.
Among agencies that have run mobile campaigns, 78% said they met
campaign goals and 80% said they had developed internal resources to
support mobile efforts. The most common reason for campaigns
falling short was lack of reach, cited by 26% of those surveyed,
followed by running the "wrong" creative (18%). It was found that
the single factor which would do the most to boost mobile ad spend
would be the standardisation of devices and ad units.
Study: NAVTEQ sees ROI in location-based ads
NAVTEQ commissioned a survey conducted by Marketing Research Services Inc. (MRSI) to study the impact of location-based advertising on consumers.
The study surveyed 757 respondents 18 and older with average household incomes over $50K and using devices with ads in categories including Convenience, Fuel, Hotel, Pharmacy, and Bank/ATMs.
Survey findings are the following:
-Seventy-two percent of consumers find the ads to be acceptable on their navigation devices
-At least 50% of respondents recall seeing an ad for each of the advertised brands (aided and unaided)
-On average, 19% of people who recall seeing a specific ad reported clicking through for information on nearby locations
-Up to 6% of navigation device users visited a business location because of seeing an ad on their navigation device
NAVTEQ
LocationPoint Advertising combines GPS-based proximity, contextual and demographic information to get ads, coupons, and other marketing promotions into the hands of consumers as they are near a point of potential purchase. Today the NAVTEQ ad property is mainly made of Garmin devices which have ads distributed through the RDS-TMC connection that also serve for traffic information.-GPSBusiness News 11/6/09
How location-based searches are changing mobile
"As use of mobile phone search evolves it is very important for local
merchants or local outlets for major chains and brands to use a certain
amount of Web presence and search engine optimization to get their
messages out to the people nearby." -Mobile Marketer 8-25-09
Leverage mobile to improve your brand
"If we look at successful brands that have already pushed to mobile,
it is clear that mobile should not just treated as an additional
revenue stream. Mobile provides new and exciting ways to interact with brands.
Mobile lets users connect with their favorite content on their terms. Brands have the opportunity to create new interactive experiences
that leverage the power of mobile environments such as address book,
camera, GPS and the accelerometer. Advertisers should not make the mistake of trying to recreate
classic Web advertising models that gather metrics like impressions and
click-throughs. A better strategy is to create great branded mobile experiences that
drive interactive usage and brand awareness. Successful brands have
leveraged mobile to extend their overall brand equity, not necessarily
to turn on a new revenue stream in the mobile channel. Brands often struggle with the question of fit for their brand.
Successful brands such as the Mini Cooper car that appear to have no
obvious mobile fit have had success developing iPhone applications that
associate their brand with positive attributes like fun and coolness.
Every brand can benefit from a mobile presence. The trick is determining how mobile can embrace and extend your brand. Kraft, for example, offers an iFood iPhone application that targets key
demographics, improves the lifetime value of a customer, drives
innovation and increases brand awareness. By now, the mobile marketing era is well underway. There are plenty
of examples of first-movers and fast followers who have already
invested and succeeded in the mobile channel. We can all learn from
these early successes." -Dave Sloan The Mobile Marketer 5/4/09
Pizza chain Papa John's International Inc. has generated more than $1 million
in sales from mobile Web orders in less than six months after offering that
option to consumers.
Mobile ad network AdMob unveiled the results of one-day mobile advertising test
campaigns it ran for Tylenol, Splenda and Post Cereals' Honey Bunches of Oats.
The last piece of the mobile contactless payments puzzle in the U.S. is the
commercial roll-out of NFC-enabled handsets from major OEMs and carriers,
according to MasterCard.
Unilver's Axe brand of male grooming products has launched a mobile marketing
campaign that includes a mobile Web site, ringtones, text alerts and a TV ad
campaign with SMS calls-to-action.
Wondering what's for dinner? General Mills' Betty Crocker brand has launched an
iPhone application to help answer that question.
Mobile marketing budgets to grow 150% by 2013
Coca-Cola and Xbox are among brands set to increase their mobile ad investment, as new research shows mobile marketing budgets will grow by 150% over the next five years despite the economic downturn. An O2 survey by Vanson Bourne of 100 marketing and IT directors from the financial services, manufacturing and retail sectors found that 60% favoured mobile marketing due to its targeted nature. Some 85% said mobile marketing campaigns generate a higher response than traditional methods....New Media Age October 9, 2008
5. Food for Thought: Apps Drive Snackable Content Downloads
4. Mobile ad pacing: Ads For Free Content
3. Localization: Ads Tied To Locations
2. Positive User Experience Driven By Location-Awareness
1. Improvements In Ad Quality Will Drive Business
For advertisers and media companies alike, content monetization will remain
the top priority in 2009 as they rush to deliver an increasingly interactive,
palatable and relevant advertising experience. The growth of the mobile Web is going to change the mobile experience in
ways that are both dramatic and personal. Faster transmission speeds, better handsets and the drop in mobile
subscriber fees are combining to grow the global audience for the mobile Web
and enhance the mobile experience. 2009 will be a year of transition as mobile subscribers look to a host of
compelling services beyond voice and ringtones as must-haves, helping to grow
the content, advertising and services industries, which are striving to meet
these emerging users’ needs.
-Jim Ricotta, Azukia Systems
720 million mobile devices with GPS to be shipped in 2011
Market research firm In-Stat today released a new report, “GPS Chips in Mobile Devices”, which indicates that sales of mobile devices with integrated GPS are expected to grow from 180 million units in 2007 to 720 million units in 2011. http://www.gpsbusinessnews.com/index.php?action=article&numero=477
A Much Higher Premium For LBS Ads
"Location-based advertising extends the reach of the shop window, and both shops and manufacturers will pay a much higher premium for this kind of advertising than they will for the blanket advertising of the kind found in magazines." Mike Evans Findermentalism.com October, 2007
Marketing Budget On Mobile Marketing
"...89% of brands will use text and multimedia messaging to reach their audience, with nearly one-third planning to spend in excess of 10% of marketing budgets on the medium. In five years over half of brands (52%) expect to spend between 5% and 25% of total marketing budget on mobile marketing." Independant Survey (Airwide Solutions).
Google Mobile OS Will Be Ad-Supported
"Since ads will be built into the open platform, Google will be able to offset the need for application adoption subscription fees by delivering customized, individual-level ad packages to any location-aware device running the OS. This means unobtrusive, relevant ads delivered to the most prequalified individual imaginable...an individual conveying an "ad relevance predisposition" through both the subject of the local search (the current AdSense model) and real-time physical proximity to the advertised services rendered. If Google ties in payment/reservation services, they will be able to track ad effectiveness not by click-throughs, but by converted, incremental sales. The result could be the end of pay-per-click ads and the dawn of hyper-effective location-aware advertising generating converted sale percentage rev-share." Wilson Kerr November 2007
A Primary Means Of Reaching Out To Our Customers
..Mobile Marketing consists of a unique, complex, mix of technologies, business skills, and marketing expertise. It is a child born of the Internet revolution, and it is critical that today’s marketers grasp its significance. It is one of the first new channels to arise in over 50 years, and will quickly become a primary means of reaching out to our customers." MMA Industry Overview http://www.mmaglobal.com/modules/article/view.article.php/1153
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