Well, OTAir can fulfill your wishes. Today, OTAir published an enhancement to our web based platform to receive such codes from consumers via an incoming text and validate the code using a pre-populated database or by querying a POS system in real-time.

The received codes can be in a variety of different formats, can often be submitted without the need for consumers to start the text with a client specific keyword, and we can ensure that only one valid code is honored for each phone number submitting a code.

The new functionality is an effective way for restaurants, retailers, personal service providers and product manufacturers to enable instant engagement by their customers in an effort to foster increased loyalty to the product, service or brand. Enablement of the capability takes less than a week and, since it uses text messaging, works on every carrier OTAir has connectivity with and almost every mobile device…not just smart phones.

Email sales@otair.com or call 888.898.8247 today to learn how incoming code receipt by text message can help lift sales, cost less than competing code redemption methods, and boost customer loyalty.

UPDATE (May 12, 2010)
The capability was recently utilized by a national restaurant chain on one of the busiest dining days of the year…Mother’s Day. The vast majority of customers correctly submitted the code printed on their receipt and received the promoted significant discount for a future visit by email.

For example, a restaurant that offers a welcome promo to consumers that join their mobile VIP club, can specify a date formula, such as [date+3d] for an expiration date rather than a static expiration, such as 03/31/2010, when that might be weeks away for a consumer texting early in the month or hardly useful for a consumer texting on that date.

A dynamically generated, variable “rolling expiration” provides incentive for rapid redemption of the promo for all consumers regardless of when they text in, thereby keeping it fresh. The marketer does not need to remember to update a static expiration date to keep it valid.

There are a number of other variable data placeholders that can be inserted into pre-configured response messages. We won’t list them here as we certainly don’t want to help our competitors out. But, if you are a retailer, restaurant or other company or organization that can benefit from such enhanced mobile messaging, please email sales@otair.com or call 888.898.8247 today.

All possible with automated distribution of unique promotional, redemption, source or virtually any type of tracking code using text messaging. OTAir mobile solutions has pushed text messaging to new capabilities once again with this innovative means of benefit your customers while also tremendously aiding your ability to track their actions that lead to increased sales.

OTAir can distribute virtually any type of alphanumeric code, even those containing symbols, in response to a consumer texting in to receive such a code. The consumer may be initiating mobile engagement due in-venue signage, a print ad, a direct mail piece, or an ad on TV or the radio…doesn’t matter…but we can track that too.

Codes for distribution can be pre-populated into the OTAir platform in advance or queried from a POS system in real-time. The OTAir platform will record the distribution of each code to make sure it is sent only once and online reporting shows the mobile numbers receiving the codes, along with date/time of distribution and even the consumer’s email address and/or zip code, should they be asked to submit such info.

Along similar lines, we will soon be adding the capability to RECEIVE unique codes from consumers. The reverse will serve as a great way for consumers to text in survey, rewards and source codes that may be printed on receipts, product packaging, direct mail pieces and more.

If your company can benefit from such granular tracking of media effectiveness, marketing message and consumer follow up, contact us at sales@otair.com or call 888.898.8247 today.

UPDATE (February 22, 2010)
A month of implementation of unique code distribution has proven how powerful this functionality is. A national tax preparation firm has successfully utilized this latest OTAir innovation to track the lift in branch visits stemming from radio and print ads inviting college students to text in for free tax prep services.

Consider, if you will, just a sampling of many utilitainment applications available for the iPhone that could have and should have been brought to life by brands…

• ColorSplash & Juxtaposer, amazing photo editing tools both created by an individual, Hendrik Kueck… why not by Kodak, who almost went extinct once by not foreseeing the migration to digital photography (note Kodak does have an iPhone app for accessing your online Kodak Gallery…whoopie)?
• Libris, an ebook reader created by Hillbilly Interactive… why not Barnes & Noble or Borders, especially as a way to compete with Amazon’s Kindle?
• i.TV, a TV & entertainment guide overflowing with capabilities and developed by a new company of the same name… why not TV Guide, are they not looking for renewed relevancy as their readership falls?
• Gas Cubby, a MPG & vehicle service log & reminder app by new company, App Cubby… where’s Firestone, Jiffy Lube, Advance, Pep Boys or any other national car maintenance brand to take advantage of the many opportunities available?

It’s not all bad, there are some brands that don’t have their heads in the sand…

• iFood Assistant by KRAFT …amazingly, this brand even gets away with charging for their app, and for good reason…it’s a great app
• Target …the only branded gift finder that I’m aware of, but still with major faults being no promotion of it, not even a mention, on the Target web site, and no comparison shopping capabilties in an attempt to capture market share from competitors
• LIVESTRONG.COM Calorie Tracker …while there are plenty of diet & fitness related apps, unlike Weight Watchers & Jenny Craig, the Lance Armstrong Foundation recognizes an opportunity to provide mobile brand engagement

Despite there already being over 15,000 applications in the Apple AppStore, there are still plenty of opportunities for brands to become the premiere utilitainment providers in certain categories; and besides, the Android, Windows Mobile, Palm, and Blackberry application outlets have just recently launched.

There’s no time to continue waiting and it’s obviously quite inexcusable to repeat the same mistake that many brands made by not being the premiere provider of utilitainment online. The mobile application ship’s about to leave port and brands better get on board, or even better yet, captain their respective vertical’s journey.

Certainly, this change is not surprising by any means… long anticipated and previously demonstrated by the evolution of the wired web to what it is today, mobile internet capabilities are actually positioned to go beyond desktop computing experiences… but that’s a blog post for another day.

Companies should no longer delay launching a mobile internet presence nor be ignorant of it… we can look back to the wired web and review in retrospect the calamity of doing so. However, as a word of caution, the business community must not simplify the process and consider it appropriate or expedient to just port their existing PC-oriented web site to the mobile access. An addition concern is with web sites, software, and companies that claim to perform “on-the-fly” translation of existing sites to mobile devices… most of these simply result in sites that look like crap.

A truly mobile-optimized web or application presence is one that is not only aesthetically oriented for the smaller, confined and varied displays of mobile devices, but is also purposely architected for the audience, what users will need to quickly accomplish, low bandwith and input methods that are more limited or differ from a full-size keyboard and mouse.

In a mathematical way of speaking, the core of the question we use a variety of experiences, collected stats and case studies to answer is simply this… what x% response rate ABOVE ZERO are we likely to realize?  Oh, and of course marketers would just absolutely love us if we could guarantee the result we predict.

What I find interesting is that the only question that ever seems to be considered is the response rate IF mobile marketing IS implemented or a marketing campaign IS launched.  What is never considered, never questioned, and therefore never answered is the response rate realized IF mobile is NOT implemented, if the instantaneous response mechanism is NOT available for the target audience to engage the marketing message.

Well, I’m not only going to answer that question today, but I’m going to go on a limb and guarantee the results!  You heard me right… I am willing, after many years of marketing experience and based on the many campaigns we have executed, to guarantee marketing results… that you absolutely will realize a 100% of your audience NOT texting in, NOT instantly engaging your ad using their mobile phone, NOT going to your mobile web site anytime and anywhere, IF mobile marketing is NOT included in your marketing strategy, tactics, and media buys.

We’ve seen that there’s rarely a good reason now for not including a mobile call to action within virtually every aspect of a long-term marketing strategy and short-term specific campaigns/promotions.  Our society is comfortable with the promoted response mechanisms of a phone number and web site prominently displayed in most ads. We know that not every one is going to call the phone number, not every one is going to go to the web site, yet they are displayed anyway.  Why?  Well, we want to make sure the consumer is aware of the response options.

With over 55% of Americans using text messaging weekly and upwards to 45% using the mobile web, we are long past the point of it being an important and strategic move to include a mobile call to action in every ad as well.  Why? Well, we want to make sure the consumer is aware of the response option… an option which has the benefit of being significantly better, in many ways, for both the marketer and the consumer to take advantage of.

If you are a marketer and are satisfied with the 100% response rate you are getting by NOT including mobile in your marketing mix, then please don’t contact us.  But, if the opposite is true… if you are looking to realize an improved ROI with your limited marketing dollars, if you are struggling with the effectiveness of your current marketing efforts, if you feel the need to better engage your audience, if you want better results, increased sales, and decreased marketing costs… then please give us a call or click the link to our Contact Us form.

In full disclosure, we are not going to be able to guarantee, or even deliver a 100% positive response rate by including mobile marketing in your marketing efforts… but we can at least work hard to get considerably away from the 100% negative response rate to mobile that you are currently realizing in your marketing efforts!

Certainly, this is very bad news for most media outlets. Anything print related is going to continue getting slaughtered…newspapers, magazines, yellow pages and other directories are all looking at significant declines in revenue. TV will be impacted due to the high cost of the medium. Direct mail, outdoor and radio will also likely see some decline, but not as bad because of the relatively low cost for such campaigns.

Digital media is likely to see an uptick, though. Online advertising, email marketing and mobile are all very, very inexpensive versus the cost of traditional media. Digital marketing formats are also much more capable of facilitating efforts to target a marketing message to a niche group. Digital formats allow the intended audience to converse with the marketer or brand, providing an engagement opportunity and, is therefore, much easier to measure ROI against.

But, there’s three very significant advantages that mobile has over the other forms of digital marketing…
1) mobile marketing can be integrated in almost any other form of advertising…TV, radio, print, outdoor, direct mail, product packaging, promos, etc.
2) mobile marketing reaches the individual and is ever-present, always available to the audience
3) mobile marketing provides a wide breadth of engagement options…there’s mobile web, installed applications, mobile advergaming and more…it’s not just about text messaging anymore

So, for marketers looking to have the best possible ROI from their marketing dollars…it’s time to look at mobile!

And, for traditional media outlets needing to fight off a decline in revenue, remain solvent, and develop a competitive advantage…it’s past the time to look at mobile, there’s plenty already doing so, so you better take action now!

The mobile solutions architects at OTAir are ready to provide reinforcements to your marketing woes in 2009. Whether you represent a brand pressured to do more with your advertising but with fewer dollars, an agency concerned or already hit with client drop-off, or a media outlet struggling in these uncertain times…we are here to help, give us a call today at 888.898.8247 or click “Contact” at the top of our site to use our online contact form.

Oh, and if you are interested in the FitchRatings report…

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.printFriendly&art_aid=97404

If there are not yet 20 million iPhone users, there will be very soon. There were over 13 million at the end of last quarter’s reporting by Apple and estimates are that 7 million iPhones will be sold this quarter alone. You do the math…but what you may not know, is that a total of 20 million users will put the iPhone close to the total number of Blackberry users, yet achieved with just two generations of one device on one carrier in just 18 months.

While all this is good news for Apple, it’s great news for you as a marketer. You have an opportunity to engage your prospects in a powerful, creative manner using text, audio, video, imagery, gaming interaction, lifestyle utility, and more. You can deliver news, promotions, coupons, benefits, scores, recipes, white papers, training videos, etc. while receiving in return lead data, feedback, photos, votes, referrals, location info, and other usage data.

Join Sam’s Club, Amazon.com, Audi, KRAFT Foods, Target, GAP, eBay, ESPN, Bloomberg, The Weather Channel, Disney, Stanford University and a rapidly growing list of other brands in providing brand engagement opportunities to consumers through information, utility, entertainment, deals and/or community. But, please keep in mind that a rush to market with a poorly designed application or a regurgitation of your existing web site will result in more harm than good…you will meet the wrath of AppStore reviewers.  So, get in touch with an experienced mobile solutions provider who can guide your brand through an appropriate design, development, distribution, marketing and update process that will result in excellent ratings by reviewers and utilization by consumers.  Give OTAir a call or fill out our Contact Us form today.

Well, when the market…your market as a business…is lean, it’s about time to lean on mobile marketing.

There are four primary flavors of mobile marketing:

1. SMS or text messaging
2. Mobile web site launch
3. Mobile web advertising
4. Installable branded applications, like on the iPhone

There is substantial data now that shows ALL four of the above methods of mobile marketing to be highly effective…and typically much more effective than comparable marketing efforts using traditional media. In fact, there’s now way too many case studies, research papers and stats to share in a brief blog post; but for instance…

- 90-95% of received text messages are read; more than half within 15 minutes of receipt
- Over 150 million Americans use text messaging on a regular basis…it’s not just a teen thing
- 35% of those receiving a marketing message by text will typically respond to it
- Roughly 40% of U.S. cell phone users now access the mobile web
- Average click-thru rates for mobile web ads range from 7%-15% depending on the ad type
- Mobile applications have been shown to result in a response rate 9 times that of PC based internet advertising, which itself solicits better response rates than traditional media
- 35% of mobile marketing campaigns cost less than $10,000 to execute…actually, the vast majority of them cost less than that with OTAir

Lean times necessitate more effective and more efficient investment of what marketing dollars remain. While mobile is not the perfect solution, nor the only solution, it has the sole, unique position of being personal, instantaneous, multimedia, inexpensive, highly effective, portable, and viral at the same time, while also operating solo or as an integrated medium alongside TV, radio, print, direct mail, outdoor, live event promotions, etc.

The most important requirement for an effective mobile marketing campaign though is appropriate execution, via managed solution, from an experienced mobile solutions provider, with an appropriate understand of both the marketer’s needs, as well as, the target audience preferences. You will find those traits in abundance at OTAir, so please give us a call or fill out our contact form.  We can get you quickly started with a sensible, guided crawl-walk-run approach.

An appvert is simply an application designed to promote or be heavily inclusive of a product, service, event or brand. I guess you could say it bears some similarity to a concept those in marketing are already well familiar with…advergaming, or the purposeful inclusion of advertising within a video game.

The disruptive power of the iPhone / AppStore one-two punch to the other hardware manufacturers, wireless carriers and software producers is resulting in a recent flood of appverts, such as:

- Audi’s test/race driving course
- ESPN’s “Cameraman” sports photo comparison game
- the Obama 08 grassroots campaigning organization utility
- Carling’s iPint beer passing game
- the Nine Inch Nails’ version of the very popular Tap Tap Revenge game
- Columbia Pictures’ promoting the new James Bond 007 movie Quantum of Solace
- Trip planning apps from Travelocity and Hotels.com
- The Weather Channel’s just recently released app featuring forecasts, radar and local forecasts in video format

I invite you to query for these apps in iTunes to take note of a extremely important variable associated with each of these appverts…the tone of the feedback left by those who have downloaded and experienced these apps as I have.  Notice the significant variance in the audience comments overall?  Some appverts…ESPN, Pink, Obama ‘08 and some others…are highly rated, while most of the others have been criticized by the audiences they reached.  Why the difference?  Value.  The benefit to the audience in engaging the application.  Some apps have it, and the others…well, obviously lack end user benefit.

Are iPhone owners particularly picky or hard to please? Are we just overly critical? Or, is society so selfish that something has to be in it for me? Some readers may argue affirmatively to each of those questions, and you may be right to an extent.  But, imagine if you will if TV was mostly an advertising medium with little content.  How many would watch an episode of Heroes if the show/ad ratio was flipped…45 minutes of marketing and 15 minutes of Sylar doing his skull slicing trick?

Having now personally downloaded and tried over 180 applications (yes, I’ve hit the maximum nine home screens three times now), I can confidently claim that the problem with the poorly rated appverts is not the audience, it’s the mindset appverts’ designers, sponsors or owners.  Their focus was on their need of having their brand, their product, their message in front of consumers asap. Instead, they needed to first focus on the lifestyle, needs, challenges, personality of their audience. While it’s certainly okay to utilize the power of the iPhone and the AppStore as a promotional channel, marketers need to put at the center of their design or storyboarding efforts the end user.

This gets us to my contention that “appvertising” is not enough. What’s conveyed in that term, that mindset is nothing but an app and advertising.  I suggest that marketers must take their mobile application promotions to the level of “appvertainment” or “appvertility.”  Can you detect the root words in these terms aside from application and advertising?  There’s entertainment and utility/productivity.

I categorize the apps from Audi, ESPN, and Nine Inch Nails as having a purpose of appvertaining, while apps from Obama ‘08, TWC, Travelocity are clearly examples of appvertility.

Now, just taking an app a step beyond advertising by including entertaining or productive features is not sufficient to earning the acclaim of reviewers.  Your app still needs to be designed well with ease of navigation, fast performance, an attractive interface, great content, PC and/or cloud based integration, and social networking opportunities, if appropriate.  Additionally, you have to keep building on the solid foundation with fixes and enhancements fitting to the genre of application you are offering.

Take for instance the test drive application from Audi…definitely entertaining qualities there and reviewers have said it looks nice, but the game controls have been unsatisfactory to most reviewers and it therefore has a mediocre rating.  Travelocity’s application contains a decent amount of utility going beyond just reservations to also offering flight status and other info.  Yet, notice that the application, like Hotels.com’s app, has not been updated since launch over five months ago.  So, the utility which was once praised for going over and above the absolute basic functionality it could have been launched with, now is negatively critiqued by one reviewer after another for being weak. Why the change in perception?  Simple…the standard for a well done iPhone app has been raised by hundreds of other great apps that have gone to market since.

We are increasingly fielding requests for iPhone applications at OTAir from brands in a variety of vertical markets.  Often times, the goals presented by the prospect are limited to their perspective…presenting coupons, garnering lead information, allowing consumers to find locations near them.  While all valid goals, as a full service mobile marketing firm, we understand that those goals have to be achieved from the audience’s perspective, not the advertisers.  Creative implementations of features providing worthwhile entertainment, utility or productivity that appropriately facilitate or bear the advertisers objectives are necessary to achieve a 4 or 5 star rating in the AppStore.

So, don’t fear the wrath of reviewers and refrain from pursuing an engagement opportunity with your audience using an “appvert.” Simply focus on your audience’s needs first and on design, or better yet, find an experienced mobile marketing company such as OTAir to help make your app a valuable “appvertainment” or “appvertility” benefit to your audience.

Jim Washok
CEO & Mobile Solutions Architect