Back from Travels and a Free Whitepaper

I’m back after travels to Spain, Chicago, New Orleans, Atlanta,
and Orlando. Throughout the trips, I came across many exciting mobile
initiatives and am reminded how much I love the mobile industry. Everyday marketers
are finding new ways to deepen the relationship with their customers through
their mobile device and I feel fortunate to be a part of that. Unfortunately,
the United States is still the laggard in maximizing mobile benefits.

Speaking specifically to SMS, a study from late 2009 shows
that 37 percent of people say they would participate in a mobile customer
loyalty program from a brand they trust. However, 83 percent say their favorite
brand has not yet marketed to them via their mobile phone. This is changing in
2010. We have felt the increase in business since January 1. Brands who had no
interest in mobile in 2009 now have interest in more than one tier of mobile
marketing, such as tying both SMS and a mobile website into a campaign.

I bring this up to focus on one major point. As brands do
gravitate towards a mobile interest, they face a steep learning curve. Even if
they had never purchased a radio schedule or newspaper ad they could figure out
the parameters, variables involved, and make a purchase fairly easily. But with
mobile, all companies price differently, package differently, etc. and the
industry still sits in a Wild West mentality of pricing and selling.

For this reason, we
put our recent focus into publishing one whitepaper simply discussing how to price
mobile.

For a marketer this will help them compare apples to apples
and ensure they dodge the silly setup fees, maintenance fees, etc. that some
mobile companies charge. If you’re a marketer who is interested in reading this
whitepaper, please email me, as we are not posting it very many places but
rather on a per request basis. My direct email is Dave@BallyhooMobile.com