The Mobile Marketing Blog - TellMyCell

Scotiabank Enhances Their Revenue Stream Through SMS Alerts

Scotiabank, one of Canada’s largest banks, has launched a customized email and and SMS alert service to gain an advantage over other leading banks. For a nominal monthly fee of $1.50, Scotiabank customers have the ability to create more than 15 alerts related to their account, security and more.

“Scotiabank has a range of ways to reach out to customers, and they decided to provide proactive notification as well,” said Christy Murfitt, senior manager of solutions marketing at Nuance, Boston. “We provide fully automated and personalized notifications driven by business rules within the organization."

To read the entire article, click here.

To learn more about mobile marketing, visit TellMyCell.

TellMyCell Creates A Useful Guide For Texting Beginners

We recently created a new and extremely helpful 'texting dictionary'. It includes 70 texting terms and definitions which prove to be extraordinarily useful while texting. Every new texter has to read this!

To check it out, click here. 

In Case You Missed It: Last Week's Most Important Mobile Marketing News (July 26th Edition)

Welcome to a brand new weekly feature - 'In Case You Missed It: Last Week's Most Important Mobile Marketing News.' We know how hard it can be to keep up with all the stories that come across our screen, so every Monday we'll recap the previous week's most important stories.

• Why SMS matters in the App Age @ Mobile Marketer "..the reach for an iPhone application is limited when compared to an SMS campaign, and the cost structure is very different as well. SMS wins the reach and cost efficiency argument right now."
• HP: No Windows Phone 7 for us, thanks @ Mobile Crunch "Now that HP’s purchase of Palm  has earned them a smartphone OS of their very own, how do they plan to offer up products running competing operating systems like Android or Windows Phone 7 without dampening their efforts?"
• A Boon To Mobile Commerce, Amazon Now Sells Over $1B Per Year Via Mobile Devices @ Mobile Marketing Watch "...the company today announced that customers are now ordering more than $1 billion worth of products per year via mobile devices."
• Hands-On: Flipboard Turns Your iPad into a Personalized Magazine @ Wired "Flipboard is one of a growing category of iPad apps that build you a personal newspaper by grabbing content from your social networks."
• Location-Based Services: Competition Pushes the Check-In Forward @ Mobile Behavior "As the location space heats up, various contenders are looking to for ways to differentiate themselves. This week, Brightkite, Loopt, and SCVNGR all announced new features and thinking around the way people check-in."

New Trends Due To The Popularity Of The Mobile Phone

In recent polls, people have said that they would rather lose their wallets than their mobile phones. And now, with numerous smart phones on the market, people can do just about anything with the click of a few buttons. Here are some new growing trends due to the popularity of mobile phones.

1-Bargain Hunting: “Bargain hunting has become extremely popular with apps like RedLaser that allow users to scan product bar codes and discover its various prices at different retailers.”
2-Mobile Ticketing: “Mobile ticketing transactions are expected to exceed $100 billion world wide by 2012, according to a study released this month by Juniper Research.”
3-Marketing: “Text message marketing, where customers opt-in to receive news about deals or offer coupons, has been a widely adopted practice as it’s a direct way to engage with consumers that has a high likelihood of being read.”

Want to learn about more mobile trends? Read the entire article here.

To learn about mobile marketing, visit TellMyCell.

New Service Could Revolutionize The Way Indians Use Their Mobile Phones

Tens of millions of Indian mobile-phone users can gain access to the web by a new service developed by Hewlett-Packard's research division. This would give all of the people who are not fortunate enough to own computers the opportunity to search the internet.

“HP Labs' SiteOnMobile allows access to the internet using only SMS text messages and voice commands – potentially opening it to India's 600 million users of mostly low-end mobile phones. By issuing commands to so-called TaskLets – the servers of which are based in the cloud – users can perform tasks such as checking the status of an order, requesting a quotation or booking a doctor's appointment. "In countries like India and Africa, where as a business owner I have a website but the folks that have the PCs are the only ones that can access my website – now I can generate more business for myself with a bigger mobile market," adds a small business owner from India.

Read the entire article here.

SMS Marketing Campaigns: How To Succeed

TellMyCell empowers anyone -- from Fortune 500 Marketing Directors to small business owners -- to easily and affordably run SMS marketing campaigns. If you don't already have a TellMyCell account, you can open one now (it's totally free to try the service out). We're proud to offer a do-it-yourself service that is powerful, flexible, and dead simple to use. That said, if you're new to SMS marketing the lingo can be discouraging - which is why we've put together our easy-to-read ten minute guide, SMS Marketing With Keywords. Our guide to SMS marketing with Keywords will have you marketing like a pro in ten minutes flat:

• Learn about Keywords
• Learn about Short Codes
• Learn how to integrate Keywords, Short Codes & Text Messaging to quickly and inexpensively launch SMS marketing campaigns using TellMyCell.

Want to learn more? Learn how to run successful SMS Marketing Campaigns using Keywords on Short Codes now.

JCPenney's New Marketing Technique

JCPenney is embracing new technological trends with their "New Look. New Year. Who Knew!" back-to-school campaign. They created an iPhone  application which allows teens to upload their own looks and to vote on their favorite outfits. For those teens without iPhones, they can opt to receive text messages which allows them to view the newest styles from the tip of their fingers.

“Through our mobile marketing initiatives, we able to reach teens where they are and provide them exciting, media-rich, interactive content that allows them to explore and discover the JCPenney brand,” said Kate Coultas, a spokeswoman at JCPenney

To learn more about this new marketing approach click here

Want to learn more about mobile marketing for retail? Visit TellMyCell

Thumbs up for texting

Good read on how texting is shaping the wireless industry and what kinds of applications are being developed around this popular mode of communication:

Nielsen tracked more than 60,000 wireless bills from the first quarter of 2009 to first quarter of 2010. During that time, the average number of voice minutes used per wireless customer has declined gradually from 742 to 709 minutes per month, while the average number of billed messages increased sharply over the same time period, from 493 monthly texts to 675.

Read the full article at Wireless Week.

Supreme Court ruling lets employers view worker text messages with reason

The U.S. Supreme court ruled that supervisors/employers can check personal text messages of their employees or staff if they believe that workplace rules are being compromised. This ruling came after Sargent Jeff Quon filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Ontario, California back in 2004. Quon believed that his constitutional rights were at stake after his text messages were audited. The conclusion:

"Unless a 'no privacy' policy is clear and consistently applied, an employer should assume that employees have a reasonable expectation of privacy and should proceed carefully, with a good reason and a narrow search, before examining employee emails, texts or Internet usage," Dempsey said.

Continue reading the full article at ComputerWorld.com. 

Reporting on the Gulf oil spill from your cell phone

This article outlines the many ways that you can participate in "crowdsourced" reporting efforts. The Oil Spill Crisis map, created by Tulane Students and an environmental advocacy group, allows anyone from anywhere to report or make an update about the oil spill. Mobile phones are changing the way we receive information and will continue to shape the way we receive information about future events and stories:

Being able to contribute to the ongoing story -- on the spot and from your phone -- could significantly expand and deepen our view of what's news in coming years.

Read the full story at CNN.com