The Mobile Marketing Blog - TellMyCell

Six of the Best Pet Care Apps

 

Pet care hasn’t been limited to looking in books for quite some time, thanks to the internet. Now, technology has gone a step further with the creation of many helpful pet care apps that can provide answers to burning medical questions, find pet sitters for you, and much more. Let’s take a look at six of the very best pet care apps in case you want assistance raising Fido or Fluffy. 

 

Pet First Aid By the American Red Cross

This $0.99 app from the Red Cross is unsurprisingly ideal when emergencies occur. It helps you find the nearest vet hospital, determine if your puppy’s behavior is normal or cause for concern, and deal with allergic reactions, bleeding, and more. 

 

Pooper

If you’re tired of scooping up your dog’s waste, or sick of inconsiderate neighbors who seem incapable of picking up after their canines, this app is what you want. Pooper is an app that locates people to come and pick up waste, whether it’s on the sidewalk, lawn, or elsewhere. It’s similar to Uber in that you open the app and pinpoint where your animal has done its business. It’s also similar in that you obviously pay for the service. There’s no waiting for the ‘scooper’ to show up; you can simply vacate the premise and go on with your day. The app has reportedly received tons of signups for both customers and employees already. 

 

Pet Coach

This free app makes it easy to talk to a vet, pet trainer, or other pet professional when you require advice. For example, if your dog is looking heavier than usual, use the app to send a photo of the animal to a pet nutritionist and find out what kind of diet plan you need to implement. 

 

MapMyDogWalk

Want to know just how much exercise your pooch is getting? MapMyDogWalk is the doggy version of MapMyRun. Keep track of how much your dog is working out—though you might be reluctant to find out that long jog/walk you just embarked on was only half a mile. The app is free.

 

Walkio

Walkio might be the ultimate pet-sitting app. It’s similar to Uber in that all pet sitters must undergo background checks. The app takes care of administrative dog walking work, such as scheduling and appointments, payments, and the exchanging of keys through lock boxes. And the chat feature makes it easy for pet owners and sitters to communicate about appointment times, including when the dog will be brought home.

 

iKibble

iKibble Free is the app that helps you figure out what the heck your dog just ate. Canines don’t exactly use discretion when it comes to eating things they find on the floor or anywhere else. So, if you want to look up what Rover just consumed, and how healthy it is or isn’t, this app is for you. 

SMS Marketing for Lawyers

Law firms, as well as other businesses, should be using SMS marketing to their advantage. Also known as text message marketing, SMS marketing is a marketing service that uses an opt-in service for potential clients that might be interested in using your law services to receive text messages right on their smart phones.

SMS text messages enable you to send anything you want your clients to know about. They should always include a call to action to prompt clients to contact your form. 

Why Should Your Law Firm Use SMS Marketing?

• There are more than six billion mobile subscribers worldwide
• Consumers are looking at their mobile devices at any time of the day
• More than half of U.S. mobile spending is local
• More than 4.1 billion texts messages are sent every day in the United States alone
• 86 percent of consumers will read a text within five seconds of receiving it
• 30 percent of consumers will interact with a brand via text

How SMS Can Benefit Your Law Firm

Text message marketing has the ability to greatly benefit both well-established and smaller firms. Many lawyers choose to utilize this service to generate leads, meaning a new way to garner potential clients. If you have something valuable to offer them, such as a free consultation or percentage off of their bills, many clients will subscribe to your list. 

SMS marketing can not only be used to gain new clients, but can also keep clients who are already on your roster informed and engaged. You can go paperless and use this form of communication to deliver appointment notices, send bill due dates, and much more. Be sure that you get permission from existing clients before you send these messages. 

How to Use SMS Marketing Effectively to Increase ROI

Ensure that you have permission. Never randomly send out text messages to individuals who have not indicated interest in your services. Ensure that they have opted into your system.

Utilize mobile keywords. You can do this for each practice that you offer. For example, “Text Bankruptcy to 91000” for information on the bankruptcy services that you offer. With this strategy, you can segment your leads based off your clients’ interests and ensure that you send the right messages to the right audiences every time.

Keep them clear and concise. In order to get quality leads, you need to keep your text messages clear and concise. This ensures clients will look at them. Get to the point quickly and keep messages short enough to gain interest. More information can be obtained if they act on your call to action to find out what else you are offering.

Use the beauty of timing. Time is of the essence when using SMS marketing. Ensure you start sending the texts after you make contact through another channel and always follow up when you get a response.

Lawyers can utilize SMS messaging to their advantage, not only to gain new clients, but to keep in touch with existing ones as well. 

 

More and More Research Tells Us Millennials Can’t Do Without Text

Many recent studies into the preferences and habits of millennials found that they are more engaged with mobile technology than any other group. They also delivered some important insights about the ways in which millennials use smartphones.

Some 500 young people, surveyed by Retale, responded to a series of questions about mobile usage; the research found that 94% of millennials regularly use geo-location technology, and 84% say they act on push notifications. Nearly two thirds use their smartphones to look for coupons or discounts for immediate use, while a third use them to research product information for later purchase.

Whatever they use their mobile device for, the very presence of the device on or near their person is non-negotiable. Zogby reports that 87% of millennials are never without their phone, and 80% start their day by reaching for their device.

Another piece of research - from the OpenMarket - reveals that 76% of millennials would rather sacrifice phone calls than text messaging, citing convenience as the reason. But most interesting to mobile marketers is the fact that millennials would rather receive text messages for business transactions, including payment and appointment reminders, and special promotions. 

Furthermore, a Gallup poll surveyed 18 to 29 year olds and found monthly texting rates have more than doubled in the last two years.

And still the number of phone calls made by this demographic continues to decline. According to the Zogby research, 4/5 of young people spend at least two hours per day on their phone. Yet hardly any of them use it to make calls. For older generations, this may be hard to understand, but there are a few factors at play:

 

• Many young people view phone calls as intrusive and presumptuous, putting expectations on the recipient of the call to drop everything they’re doing and pay attention to the caller. Texting eliminates this problem because it doesn’t require a real-time response. 
• Privacy is not something millennials care too much about. They’ve been giving up personal details and consent regarding how their data is shared since they can remember, all in exchange for the convenience of increasingly sophisticated technology. The notion that you would mind companies knowing what you’re talking about is an alien one, and thus no bar to sending reams of your most personal information into the digital ether.
• Texting does away with a lot of the niceties of a phone call, while maximizing the useful information. If you need to simply find out where you’re meeting people for a night out, an address can be stated in a text message - a message that’s also a hyperlink to the map of the location which you can plan the best route to with GPS, all while checking out the menu as you walk. If a millennial texts such a request to their friend, a phone call returned would be annoying!

 

This understanding of what phones are for is so radically different to what baby boomers and - for their childhood at least - Gen Y-ers used them for, it can be difficult to get your head around. But seeing the smartphone from the perspective of young people will help you craft a more effective mobile marketing campaign. Hope we’ve helped!

Can Mobile Technology Revolutionize Healthcare?

One of the hottest topics to hit the campaign trail this year is healthcare. Both Democrats and the GOP have spent time discussing the sustainability of President Obama’s universal healthcare system (Affordable Care Act), spurring much political debate along the way. However, what you haven’t heard any of the presidential candidates talk about is mobile technology, and how smartphones could be the key to revolutionizing our crippled healthcare system. 

 

A Booming Industry 

This year, at the Mobile World Conference and South by Southwest Interactive Conference, people were talking about mobile technology and healthcare—and they weren’t just talking about new jogging apps and calorie calculators. More than 100,000 mobile health apps are in app stores worldwide; it is estimated that by 2017, these apps will reach a combined total value of $26 billion. If apps are any indication of smartphone users’ interests, it’s clear that healthcare and wellness are fast becoming a priority in the online mobile space. 

Improving healthcare in the mobile age isn’t just about people and their phones; it’s about streamlining cumbersome administrative costs and adding much-needed transparency to insurance. This is where a lot of the current debate stems from—financial missteps that have cost the American public its peace of mind. However, these worries might soon have a solution. 

 

Better Technology, Improved Treatment 

One of the greatest challenges faced by our healthcare system today is the lack of resources we have to treat one of our largest aging populations: baby boomers. These individuals will need better access to healthcare, and they’re going to need more of it, as they get older. Mobile technology could greatly reduce the strain of this burden by offering patients more access to their physicians, as well as reducing administrative costs with automated reminders for appointments, prescription refills, emergency services and more, all available via text. 

Reducing administrative costs will also be achieved by streamlining communications among patients, providers, and insurance companies. Digitalized communications, as well as electronic records, will reduce the time it takes to receive services. Electronic healthcare records will also allow physicians to offer more personalized care. Increased data and analytics can provide contextual clues about patient behavior that doctors have never had access to. This is especially true in developing areas of the world, where healthcare is often limited. 

Saving Lives 

Advancements in mobile technology, including Near Field Communication (NFC), iBeacon technology, and geo targeting are tools that we can use at home and abroad to improve healthcare on a global scare. Take text messaging, for example: SMS has already been used in several studies to help manage the treatment of diseases like diabetes. It’s also helped patients kick bad habits like smoking and combat maternal and child mortality rates in countries like Rwanda. We may take SMS text for granted, but when healthcare is severely lacking, it could be the only lifeline available. 

This is a reality that Penn State Associate Professor Richard Lomotley knows all to well. In 2015, Lomotley lost a family member living in rural Ghana to a snakebite. 

“It shouldn’t happen when information about symptoms and emergency instructions [is] only a fingertip away,” said Lomotley. 

But it does happen, all the time. 

Mobile technology is going to give us the tools we need to revolutionize the medical industry, in ways we can’t yet predict. From wearable technology and better user experiences, to real-time monitoring of sick patients, mobile technology should be at the center of the political discussion. 

 

Clear Majority of Millennials Respond to Push Notifications

A recent study into the preferences of millennials found that, unsurprisingly, they are the most highly engaged group when it comes to mobile technology. The research provides yet more evidence that any forward-thinking marketing campaign must take this demographic seriously. 

Among the key findings:

 

• 94% of millennials regularly use apps with geo-location technology, with both Android and Apple users equally keen on such tools
• A majority of millennials (84%) say they act on push notifications, with men responding at a slightly higher rate than women, and more iPhone users (92%) responding to push notifications than Android owners
• In terms of the kinds of information millennials are looking for, 61% like coupons or discounts for immediate use; 35% prefer to receive the latest product information; only 16% of respondents said they used mobile devices for ‘in-store guidance’

 

The 500 millennials surveyed also described the circumstances in which they would not respond to a push notification. The most common reasons were: lack of relevance (39%); intrusiveness (34%); receiving too many notifications (25%) and a lack of attractive deals.

As esoteric as they can appear, these studies provide crucial information to the modern business. Millennials now outnumber baby boomers, and their buying power is at an all-time high. Even with a slower economy and higher cost of living than their parents enjoyed, one can reasonably expect millennials to continue increasing their financial clout. Right now, the median income for those at the younger end of the demographic (ie born in the 90s) is around $25,000; thirtysomethings towards the top of the range earn double that. With 23% having a bachelor’s degree or higher, millennials are the most highly educated generation in history. 

The study - conducted by Retale - is just one fraction of the market research honing in on millennials, and how to predict and capitalize on their preferences and habits. Research from Zogby corroborates the suggestion that millennials are more wedded to their mobile device than any other group, with 87% reporting that their phone ‘never leaves their side’ and 80% claiming the first thing they do in the morning is to reach for their smartphone. Around 78% said they spend at least two hours per day on their phone. 

 

The 2016 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards

These days, there’s an award ceremony for just about everything—mobile marketing included. 

Honoring the men, women, and collaborative teams that conceptualize and deliver the most compelling media via mobile, this year’s Effective Mobile Marketing Awards will be held in London, on Nov. 17, 2016. 

Big brands and unknown startups alike will toast one another at this gala-style celebration produced by the industry’s leading publication and mobile authority, Mobile Marketing Magazine. 

 

An International Celebration 

This is the sixth year that the publication will produce the anticipated awards ceremony, covering more than 36 categories of all things mobile, including services like Most Effective Publisher Offering; products like Most Effective In-Car App; and mobile marketing campaigns such as Most Effective Brand Campaign. 

With such broad categories, it’s no wonder that a wide range of mobile marketers gather each year to compete for recognition among their peers. 

Notable winners from last year’s awards include Audi, winner of Most Effective Brand; Start-up of the Year went to UsherU, and Most Effective Mobile First Solution went to Domino’s Pizza and Future Platforms.

The event also serves as a valuable networking opportunity. David Murphy, editorial director and co-founder of Dot Media, is the brainchild behind Mobile Marketing Magazine, founded in 2005, and the awards ceremony.

Murphy also manages the magazine’s speaker program and other mobile marketing events, like the Mobile Marketing Summits. He presented several of the awards at last year’s awards ceremony, and will likely be a big part of this year’s event. 

 

How to Enter 

The entry process has been streamlined this year, thanks in part to a new awards portal system, where you can now submit entries and supporting materials with an account that allows you to stop and start your application process as need be. 

The entry period is open now through August 5. Early bird applicants will receive a discount if they submit their applications before July 22. The cost to enter is £175 per entry, per category.

This year, the awards show has launched a People’s Choice Awards Category, in which the industry picks the shortlist and the winners. 

A new crop of judges has been selected for this year’s awards show as well, including industry leaders like Elaine Smith, head of digital product management at House of Fraser, and Glynn Pegler, CEO of Culture Group.

For mobile marketers, and digital media players of all backgrounds, this annual event showcases a year’s work in vivid color, and recognizes many of the people involved in prolific mobile campaigns. Brands usually get the credit for viral media, but this awards show lets the minds behind the campaigns take center stage. 

FordPass App Promises 'Mobility Solutions' That Go Beyond Cars

Ford is entering the mobile technology ring with the launch of a new app. The company announced the FordPass mobile app in January of this year at the North American International Auto Show. The app is designed to help people get “from here to there,” whether by Ford vehicle, public transportation, ride-sharing or rent-a-bike service, or another car. There’s even a parking assistance feature. 

 

A ‘Marketplace for Mobility Solutions’

The idea behind the FordPass app is to provide consumers with “a marketplace for mobility solutions.” Spokespeople for the renowned vehicle brand note that while the core business concerns selling vehicles, the whole industry is shifting to serve consumers’ general mobility needs. This includes consumers who don’t always require a vehicle to go from “here to there.” 

Vehicle sharing is increasingly commonplace, a fact that Ford recognizes. The company is subsequently crafting a “whole ecosystem” that extends beyond standard vehicle buying and current customers to include non-Ford owners. 

 

What the App Does

FordPass revolves around the ‘My Vehicles’ feature that lets drivers add their cars and trucks and review basic model details, such as when the vehicle was purchased, current fuel level, color, and how many miles it has. Product recalls are also included if necessary. This may be accomplished by scanning a vehicle’s barcode. 

In addition to providing useful vehicle information, the mobile app functions as an extra key capable of remotely locking and unlocking the vehicle and starting the engine. However, this feature is only usable on cars with modern functionalities, such as the 2017 Ford Escape. The feature is indicative of things to come, as key access is one of the biggest issues currently surrounding car-sharing. 

Other app features include parking assistance, which allows drivers to take photos of where they parked and save related maps. The app offers a number of features, but Ford is hoping to create one app to rule them all rather than sticking drivers with multiple car apps. 

 

Loyalty Program

Ford wants not only to maintain its existing client base, but also to attract new customers through a loyalty program. The program will launch later this year in the U.S. and is set to be the brand’s first-ever “global loyalty scheme.” Points are accrued by buying a Ford vehicle, scheduling a car share or parking space through the app, and filling up on gas at a partnered BP garage, among other things. These points are redeemed to provide free oil changes, free winter check with new windshield wipers, and essentially anything else available through FordPass. 

The vehicle brand is (obviously) hoping for great success with the mobile app, as it aims to be the “Apple of the mobility world.” 

 

Using Mobile Tech to Stay Safe

Can mobile devices help you stay safe under many varied circumstances? The answer is a resounding “absolutely.” Your smartphone or tablet won’t take the place of a muscle-bound bodyguard, nor do they mean you should voluntarily put yourself in harm’s way. However, they will help you remain safe and secure, thanks to a number of apps and alert systems. Check them out and feel better walking down a dark alley (not that you should): 

 

bSafe

bSafe is a free personal safety app designed for both Android and iOS. Features including the ability to notify friends and family of your current whereabouts, letting them know when you’ve arrived at your destination and sending exact GPS location information while en route. The latter makes it easy for your emergency contacts to determine where you are at all times. Another bSafe feature is programming faux phone calls so it looks like you’re talking to someone while around shady characters. Should you require immediate assistance, the app activates an alarm that also triggers your phone’s camera to start recording the incident. 

 

SafeTrek

SafeTrek is the free app to use when you find yourself in a less-than-safe situation. It alerts the police so they can help you as soon as possible. The app is designed to prevent accidental alerts via the ‘Safe’ button that launches the app when you press it. Once you stop pressing, you’ll be asked to enter a four-digit code that tells the police where you are and to make haste to your location. You therefore don’t have to worry about notifying the police because you sat on your phone while at brunch.

 

Disaster Alert

The Disaster Alert app was created by Pacific Disaster Center and remains one of its World Disaster Alerts. This app provides access to several hazard-monitoring organizations, and sends alerts should a severe storm or other natural disaster make its way to your town or city. Its DisasterAWARE platform offers real-time access to current data on natural disasters, both near your location and around the globe, and provides important warnings should you need to get out of town. Disaster Alert has some 1.5 billion users worldwide so far. 

These and similar apps make outstanding practical use of mobile technology, though again it’s necessary to emphasize that such options are not substitutes for 911 emergency calls. It’s still important to contact the emergency number when possible and if the situation calls for it, such as if a crime is taking place or immediate help is required to save your life or someone else’s. That said, emergency and safety apps are a great help as they allow for discretion, which is often required in a dangerous situation. Use one or more safety apps as part of your overall safety plan and remember to avoid anything you suspect as dangerous. It’s better to be safe than very, very sorry. 

mHealth Wearable Market Set for 135 Percent Annual Growth Rate

Pharmaceutical companies are the driving force behind rapid growth in the mHealth wearable market; an estimated 97.6 million devices are expected to ship by 2021. The compound annual growth rate of mHealth is set to increase by 135 percent in the next five years, and the hope is that these mobile healthcare devices will provide quality care to patients and help providers make better decisions.

These healthcare statistics are from a recent study published by Tractica called, “Wearable Devices for Healthcare Markets.” The study covers current devices available, how they’re being used, and adoption timelines within the industry. 

Some wearables are more familiar to us than others. For example, smart watches can track everything from heart rate to dietary habits, and fitness trackers are already being used to monitor patient activity levels. There are new technologies like wearable patches and delivery pods that are administering pain medication and management therapies, as well as a slew of other devices under review by the FDA. 

 

Why Wearables?

The healthcare industry in particular has a lot to gain from mobile technology, such as the wearables just mentioned. Most healthcare providers have taken on more patients as a result of mandatory healthcare legislation, which means medical resources have thinned in some areas. Mobile technology provides doctors and insurances companies with assistance during this dramatic growth by automating, tracking, and administering basic care in some instances, without the need to go to the doctor’s office. It also gives doctors greater insight when following up with patients, to ensure treatment plans and therapies are as effective as they can be. 

Similarly, patients have more freedom to go about their lives while tracking their health concerns via mobile. 

 

Challenges Ahead

Digital health solutions are focused on decreasing quality care costs and expanding patient services, but that goal is not without its own set of obstacles. 

For one thing, mobile healthcare is still very much in its infancy, and early adopters are managing high costs with the prospect of more affordable solutions in the near future.  Moreover, the FDA review process can be lengthy, sometimes taking as long as a year. 

Patient challenges are even more unique. The generation that will benefit most from wearable technology in the midst of our fluctuating healthcare system is also a generation of less technically savvy patients. Tractica’s report suggests that elderly patients have a difficult time using the mobile devices because they’re less familiar with computers and smartphones. Educating patients about mobile healthcare is still too expensive and time consuming, so providers aren’t able to offer much of a solution yet. 

The other major obstacle providers, insurance companies, and clinical trials must overcome involves aggregating and analyzing large amounts of data. In addition to storing and organizing this data, doctors have to become familiar with interpreting it, which means there’s a learning curve for them as well. 

Despite these challenges, mHealth and wearable devices are predicted to make huge waves in the healthcare industry during the next five years—most likely out of necessity.  

Local Mobile Marketing Tactics for SMBs

Small businesses have the most to gain from local mobile marketing. As it becomes harder to compete for consumer attention, the mobile frontier offers greater opportunity; but it can also be intimidating for local business owners more familiar with traditional marketing tactics. However, the mobile tipping point is upon us, and a delay of better tactics due to unfamiliarity is an excuse, not an option. If you’re a local business owner, mobile marketing is the best way to stay competitive. 

Here are a few effective local mobile marketing tactics that you can implement today:

 

The Mobile Experience 

Optimization: this is a word you’re probably very familiar with by now. We optimize retail space, employee productivity, and even websites — but have you optimized your customers’ mobile experiences? 

The reason you should care about this is because mobile use exceeds regular desktop activity—your customers are on their phones more than they are on a computer. Is your website mobile responsive? In other words, does it reconfigure to make sense on a tiny smartphone screen? Users who struggle to navigate a bad mobile website are more likely to give up on their purposes, whether they’re looking for information or trying to make a purchase.

Your customers’ journeys will often begin on mobile devices; be there to capture that experience and optimize it every step of the way. 

 

Mobile Communications 

The mobile experience means that users are generally going to be on their phones when they reach out to a business, but that’s also true in reverse—the communications you send to your customers will also likely be received on mobile devices. Email and SMS messaging are two very popular mobile communication channels. To be effective, these communications must be interpreted for mobile. 

For example, open-and-read rates of text messages are about 90 percent, so it’s worthwhile targeting customers through SMS. To craft an effective SMS message, try to keep the message as short as possible, provide a value to your customers (discount, special offer), and make the follow up action (usually a link) accessible and easy to follow. 

Similarly, emails on mobile should have some structural variances that enable mobile users to read and take action. For example, use a larger font and a single column layout. Keep the content brief and make sure the call-to-action is clear and actionable. 

 

Social On-the-Go

Another thing people do almost exclusively on mobile these days is use social media. Part of your mobile marketing campaign should involve getting in front of your customers in the mobile spaces they frequent most. For many, this means implementing mobile tactics that make sense on social media. 

Some tactical examples include regularly posting short, relevant content with attention-grabbing topics. You should also encourage customers to share their pictures, reviews, and ideas within your brand’s social community. Engagement is invaluable. Use your page metrics to adjust settings, improve content ideas, and reach more potential customers. Local pages enjoy 5 times more reach than their larger corporate competitors, as well as 8 times more engagement from each fan reached. This is largely due to a shift in consumer behavior, which favors smaller businesses and local production. 

Small businesses can use each of these local mobile tactics to their advantages and succeed in a competitive market.