Mad 4 Blog

Many businesses suffer a kind of modesty when it comes to the idea of creating a mobile app. Why should they make an app, and why would anyone be interested in using it? For example, Dunder Mifflin, Inc. might not see what good would come of creating a portal into their paper supply distribution world (although, considering the types of people running the company on “The Office,” it seems more likely that they’d embrace the concept fully – and with hilarious results).

However, recent studies have shown that whether your business type complies with the norm for obvious mobile applications – such as social media and entertainment industries – you can still benefit by having a presence in this arena. Branded apps boost not only brand awareness, but also brand favorability and purchasing intent among those who interact with them.

That doesn’t mean that you need to be hawking wares or soliciting sign-up information via the app; nor do you need to earn money by each download (free apps are much more popular to use and share). The benefit of it existing with your logo on it while engaging the user and giving them valuable face-time with your brand increases how they see and like it – and how willing they are to use you in the future. Plus, just by having an app in existence that you can advertise on your website and promotional materials, you may come across as more modern and tech-savvy, which is practically never a bad thing (unless you’re, for example, hawking Amish wares).

A 2011 study from America and Australia also found that informational mobile apps are better for brand engagement than apps for fun and games. For example, an app that offers tips and price comparisons about what services or items you’re selling would be more popular than making your own Mario Brothers world where battling anti-Dunder Mifflin bad guys saves kidnapped reels of parchment and helps them find a good home. That’s because people tend to become more internally invested in informational apps, which gives them more personalized connotations. Games, music and videos tend to bank on external and impersonalized engagement.

Take a few minutes at your next team meeting to brainstorm some ideas about what your app might look like and how you would promote it – and then maybe it’s time to strategize how you can make your very own branded mobile app into a highly rewarding reality.

Marketing your brand may be beneficial to you – but can it also be entertaining for the people you’re advertising to? If the latest mobile app games are any indication, the answer is a clear “yes.”

This year, one of the hottest new phone-based games in Apple’s App Store is called Logos Quiz Game. In mid-2012, it was already topping the charts for iPhone and iPad downloads. It’s a free download that tests players’ knowledge of familiar brands. For example, the words are omitted (the brand name), while the coloring and shape of the familiar logo remain the same. Then, players have to guess the company within a limited time frame. Some are easier – like UPS – while others are surprisingly difficult to guess, like Levi’s. It’s a great way for advertisers to learn how familiar their brands are to their audiences, without any helpful acronyms, slogans or jingles to help jar users’ memory.

Players can also accept clues to help them figure out the correct response. Hints might include a brand’s mascot, slogan, year of origin, field of business or lyrics to the brand’s commercial tune. Players can both see how many clues it might take for them to figure out the brand – even those they see every day! Companies can also gauge how many of these elements are helpful or familiar or recognizable to figure out which are worth investing in for the future.

Rival games with the same concept, like TT Logos Trivia, have also cropped up due to the trivia game’s increased popularity with smartphone users. Some games are broken down by category, like car brand logos or corporate logos.

Some powerful brands have recently chosen to omit their names, relying on common knowledge for people to associate an image alone with their distinctive companies. A few examples are Starbucks, Nike and Apple itself.

So what do you think? Would your logo withstand the test of Logos Quiz Game? Would strangers in your industry or community know your logo by its context alone? This might be a fun game to introduce at a convention or industry event to see where your logo stands among your competition – and if maybe it’s time to add some targeted brand-building or logo redesign to your marketing plans for 2013.

Everyone’s favorite social media can-do giant Facebook hit 1 billion users last week. Despite shaky ratings in recent months – and its notoriously troublesome debut on the stock market last May (as of August, it fell to half its public offering price) – the landmark prompted CEO Mark Zuckerberg to announce it as his own Facebook status on Oct. 4.

And by the way, that’s active users, not just those dummy accounts used to exploit friends and earn extra tools in Farmville. That’s one of every seven people on the planet.

What does this mean, exactly, for social marketers?

For some, it might indicate a crowded marketplace where everyone already is and has been. These people might choose to put their energies into developing social media where they can catch the wave of newness and hook an untapped crop of customers and investors – a new audience, a fresh set of eyes. Maybe Google+? (Just kidding.)

Others might see that number as 1 billion existing opportunities to advertise, network and connect. This might be the time to sit down and look at existing Facebook strategies to see if you’re up-to-date and doing all that you can to communicate with your friends and followers through this powerful (and still preeminent) forum.

But it doesn’t only matter where Facebook has been or even where it is now. Marketers may want to consider where Facebook is going from here. Zuckerberg has promised that Facebook is now focusing intently on developing for mobile – which may be that new forefront that advertisers seeking the ‘next best thing’ are actually seeking. Sometimes you have to look backward to look forward.

Are you already taking advantage of Facebook’s many tools and techniques to connect with those who might be interested in your brand? Have you looked into emerging strategies and updated your toolbox? Or are you still just sending out a message to existing friends now and then to remind them that you’re still there? Are you ready to give up on Facebook and move to somewhere shiny and new?

With Facebook hitting its 1 billionth user, it’s a great reminder for you to take stock of your social media game to find out where your time, attention and budget should be allocated. Let us know if you need any help checking to see if there’s any room for improvement in your long-term social media outreach plan – and please share with us about what you’re doing to stay relevant in these fast-changing times for online and mobile marketing!

The latest in the line of one of the world’s most popular smartphones, the iPhone 5, is set to launch on Sept. 12. One of the selling features is that the phone is actually bigger than its predecessors.

Yes: Bigger.

For the most part, technology aims to get smaller and sleeker as it evolves. But today, technology users are learning to embrace slightly bigger devices for better functionality — as long as they’re able to trade it for something else.

In this case, a bigger phone means lugging around a tablet a lot less and using a desktop or laptop computer even more infrequently. For many, this is a fair trade. The smartphone continues its march to overtake larger and staler computer technology, but only by becoming bigger itself.

And of course marketers — both from and outside of Apple — love this feature as well. That means they’re able to assess the new phone’s size as a means to create and integrate even bigger mobile ads and media-rich units.

iAds started in 2010 as an Apple-unique platform for digital and mobile advertising. It syncs with devices such as iPods, iPhones and iPads and targets Mac consumers by embedding marketing messages directly into its applications.

The iPhone 5 is considered the next and greatest upgrade in the line, although the last device in the sequence was actually the iPhone 4S, the first phone upgrade since the loss of Apple’s founder, Steve Jobs. The iPhone 4S saw preorders of approximately 1 million in the first day alone, but the iPhone 5 is projected to see as many as 1.5 million in the same time span.

It seems like Apple is banking on that increase in consumer interest to translate to mobile marketing power as well.

The iPhone 5 is slated to hit markets in the U.S. starting Sept. 21.

Digital agency Modea recently released a report about the massive audience now using Pinterest. You might find some of these statistics surprising (e.g., most Pinterest users shop at Kroger grocery stores), while others are more predictable (e.g., most Pinterest users are women). Either way, if you’re currently selling items online, this is one asset you’re going to want to keep up with and add to your social media marketing arsenal. And that starts with understanding who is using Pinterest.

Here’s a look at some of the more interesting figures from Modea’s collection:

• Top magazines: Good Housekeeping, Better Homes and Gardens, Family Circle.
• Top TV networks: Fox, CBS, NBC.
• Top vacation destinations: Disney World, Florida (not Orlando), Las Vegas.
• Top credit cards: Visa, MasterCard, Discover.
• Political affiliations: Mostly independent, republicans beat democrats by 1%.
• Top job titles: Administrative assistant, sales, education.
• Extracurricular hobbies: Cooking, crafts, dining out.

In March 2011, the iPhone app was first launched and immediately pulled in more users than the developers expected, which helped the business continue its skyrocket toward becoming one of the web’s most popular social media sites. Interestingly, Apple isn’t even one of the leading mobile carriers for Pinterest users today. At the top of the list of carriers is Verizon, the preferred choice of more than 35% of Pinterest visitors. Other top contenders include AT&T and Sprint. In terms of phone models, Pinterest users are sporting Motorola, Samsung and LG. Furthermore, Pinterest users are more likely to go mobile than Internet users as a whole, and

Does it sound like Pinterest users might be a good fit for your products and services? This fad is growing fast with no end in sight, so now might be the perfect time for you to find out. Next week, we talk about ways you can optimize your website for Pinterest.

Yesterday, car manufacturer and longtime advertiser General Motors hit reverse and pulled out of its advertising contract with Facebook. The company announced that this decision was due to poor performance and low ROI. This decision also followed closely on the heels of an MSNBC report showing that Facebook users don’t really trust the paid promotion of products and services through their go-to social networking site.

Thanks to Facebook’s free business pages, companies are able to create their own space on the website and promote it without cost. They’re able to monitor and analyze people’s interaction with this page and communicate directly with those who view it, “like” it or comment on its Wall. So why pay extra for small, non-interactive banner? Well, one reason is simply for the promotion of brand awareness – getting your logo out there and keeping it top-of-mind on a site where people spend an average of 16 hours of viewing time each month in the U.S.

If you’re currently advertising directly through Facebook, you may want to analyze the results and cost efficiency for doing this rather than activating and maintaining a business page. If you’re active enough with your contacts, you can still get your brand out there in the social media sphere, but in a much more impactful way. If you already have a business page as well, there may be ways to invest marginal fees and more page management time to get greater – and more measurable – results. Then you, too, may find it best to stop paying for advertising. On the other hand, your company may be better suited to the Facebook audience than automobile brands.

Chrysler and Ford continue to buy advertisements with the popular social media network, which stands to launch its public stock offerings this Friday, May 18.

We’ve been talking about holiday shopping trends – especially with regard to viral spending – for the past few weeks. Now it’s time to look at some key figures and report back on how the major shopping event actually went down.

You may be surprised to learn that even all the hype for Cyber Monday 2011 failed to anticipate the actual numbers that e-commerce retailers would see. They were actually even higher than either the optimists or analysts predicted. In fact, Search Engine Watch reported that November 28, 2011 was the biggest online shopping day in U.S. history based on data from such sources as comScore, PayPal and IBM.

SalesTracker reported that online sales rose 33% from the average on the Monday after Thanksgiving, according to IBM Benchmark (comScore reports a 22% surge). Each individual purchase rose 2.6% from the average order. The total amount of sales recorded by comScore was $1.25 billion in that 24-hour period. The same source concluded that more than half of all purchases were conducted from office computers as workers spent their post-holiday, back-to-work breaks (we hope!) on shopping to catch limited-time, heavy online markdowns.

With regard to the importance of mobile marketing, we have to also note that transactions conducted via smartphone – both Web access and specific shopping apps – represented 7.37% of sales this past Monday – which is a strong surge from last year’s 2.25%. (Figures as reported by The Washington Post; may vary slightly depending on statistics source – for example, IBM reports the surge as 3.9% in 2010 to 10.8% in 2011.) Sales conducted by iPad rather than phone clocked in at 3.3% of mobile purchases, states IBM.

Top e-tailers across the board on Cyber Monday were Target, Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Amazon. Retailers can earn up to 40% of their annual income during the span of the holiday season, especially with highly promoted shopping days like Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday.

Did you feel like you adequately prepared your company for visibility via online advertising on Cyber Monday? Are you interested in taking advantage of mobile marketing as this phone-based shopping trend continues to explode? Let us know!

In today’s economy, traditional mass media advertising (newspapers, TV, radio) may not be within your budget. A grassroots approach—using alternative media and promotional tactics—is the perfect way to make a big impact with your campaign. The grassroots approach might even be the most strategic way to get your business noticed, because it largely relies on thinking outside of the box.

We explain how nontraditional marketing was used to promote a unique client: Satori, the first eco-friendly apartment rental community in Fort Lauderdale. Which of these strategies might you use to make a big impact with a limited budget?

#1: Be Creative with Media
With a small portion of the budget allotted for print advertising, placement decisions had to be very strategic. By running ads in community newsletters and local niche magazines (especially issues focused on eco-features), targeted readers were informed of all the unique ‘green’ amenities at Satori.

Taking advantage of roadside space at the construction site to flaunt colorful, billboard-sized signage further increased awareness and name recognition.

#2: Interact with the Community
To complement the apartment rental community’s Zen theme, pedi-cabs (also known as “rickshaws”) were hired to give free rides at special events, like the Las Olas Art Festival. The cabs–and drivers!–were branded with Satori graphics, and riders were provided information and handouts. Not only did this improve local brand awareness, but the free rides extended good will throughout the community.

Satori was also advised to make strategic decisions to sponsor local events, such as an eco-friendly exhibit at the Museum of Discovery and Science and a membership meeting of the Gay & Lesbian Community Center, which was hosted on-site at the leasing center.

#3: Expand the “Dot Com”
The ad agency’s web development team utilized SEO tactics, blogging and a controlled pay-per-click campaign to achieve weekly site visits of over 500 unique visitors–generating an average of 50 leads per week for Satori. Today, the website ranks on the first two pages of Google with over 200 keywords.

#4: Befriend Technology
Website functionality was then expanded to include an interactive touch-screen display. This cutting-edge feature allowed potential renters to select floor plans by defining their own criteria, and then acquire real-time rates and availability. They could also click to explore local points of interest.

Mobile marketing was employed to boost awareness. Ads encouraged viewers to text a special code word to #34343 to get directions to the leasing center and updates about upcoming promotions. The code word changed for each campaign  so the response could be tracked and measured. The big sell was that each text automatically qualified its sender to win six months of free rent!

But did these creative grassroots tactics drive traffic to the leasing center? Ultimately, the campaign created enough buzz to keep Satori top-of-mind for Fort Lauderdale’s new lessees. Residents were ready and eager to move in when the property opened this month.

Satori’s success makes it obvious: you don’t need a giant budget to market your business–just an open mind, and big ideas.

If anyone still has doubts about the emergence of mobile marketing, it’s probably only because they don’t yet own an iPhone, the most advanced and efficient handheld web browser on the market today. The latest application for the iPhone is a feature which allows users to deposit their paper checks to the bank without visiting an ATM. They can automatically send the money to their bank account and access those funds without getting off the couch.

USAA, a private bank based in Texas, noticed that users were being prevented from realizing an entirely virtual, wireless banking lifestyle. Even if you were trying to live a more eco-friendly paper-free banking lifestyle, when someone handed you a check, you’d be forced to make a trip to a brick-and-mortar bank to complete the deposit. Now that extra errand might be a thing of the past. USAA’s newest application allows iPhone users to take a photo of the front and back of their check and send it straight to the bank for immediate remote processing.

Between online banking, automated bill pay and PayPal, people are increasingly moving their business to online venues. From paying the electric bill–to buying a car–to ordering movie tickets–to getting this season’s must-have wardrobe staple before it even hits the racks–digital fund transfer is now a staple of modern life. Even the food service industry has been making the move to online purveyorship. Have you tried ordering a pizza or groceries online yet? It’s the wave of the future. With just a few clicks, dinner is on the table. Online shopping, billing and banking are practically outdating wallets. And cell phones are quickly catching up—they not only reflect the same services through web access alone, but offer even faster and more direct applications, platforms and interfaces which streamline the mobile experience.

With handheld mobile devices providing more and more solutions for day-to-day tasks, it’s obvious to draw a connection to mobile marketing. Once upon a time, the mindset was that great marketing should make a big impact and reach broad audiences; think television commercials. Then came the computer, and marketers rallied to target much narrower audiences and address them more personally. Once again, the next giant leap for marketing isn’t about going bigger, but rather going smaller; small enough to fit in someone’s pocket or the palm of their hand. Now, audiences can be addressed anywhere.

As applications like virtual check depositing become mainstay, mobile devices may prove themselves to be the most viewed, most visited, most familiar space to connect with your consumer base. Now is the time to get ahead of the curve and explore mobile marketing opportunities. Ask how Mad 4 Marketing can help you reach untapped markets with focused, creative mobile marketing campaigns.

In 2008, Mad 4 Marketing began a mobile marketing campaign for Satori, an eco-friendly apartment rental community developed by Altman Management Company. Audiences were asked to opt in to the Satori mobile service by texting “Satori” to 34343; this initiative was advertised traditionally through regional newspaper ads, street-side signage and flyers handed out at Fort Lauderdale events. Once participants were linked to the Satori mobile system, they were able to get directions to the leasing center, learn about early leasing initiatives and receive texts about special promotions and updates. They were also automatically entered to win six months’ free rent. Through mobile marketing, Mad 4 Marketing enabled Altman Management Company to stay connected with prospective tenants.

This is just one example of how mobile marketing can be integrated into a larger marketing schematic. As most agencies will agree, mobile marketing is the future of marketing because clients are able to reach out to their audience anywhere and anytime, invoking direct responsiveness for their efforts. Enticing viewers to reply immediately is the major draw for mobile marketing—this is especially fundamental in an economy that wants to see immediate, profitable results. Mobile marketing not only allows the audience to engage and immediately respond to solicitations (while they’re already connected, with phone in hand), it also allows clients to track participation and measure interest from various publics. Rather than a billboard or banner ad reaching as many eyes as possible, the point of mobile marketing is to utilize one private screen to capture one pair of eyes, to see what they look at and how they respond—individually and traceably.

Unlike web marketing, mobile marketing isn’t about brand awareness, it’s about accessibility. Many web ads are simply meant to familiarize viewers with brands, services and logos—which is why CPM (measurable impressions) are key. Contrarily, mobile campaigns are considered wasteful if they don’t prompt an immediate click, call or text response; mobile marketing is all about an effective call to action. This means that an impression isn’t just an impression—it’s one step toward a relationship with a future customer. Even once his or her attention turns elsewhere, that one-time exchange of information is a green light for further interactions and conversations down the line. It’s not just one-way marketing; it’s networking.

In the future, more people are expected to own fully interactive phones with enhanced features and heightened capacities—so the potential for mobile marketing is only expected to climb. Don’t miss this lucrative bandwagon; Mad 4 Marketing’s experienced mobile marketing team will help you learn how that ubiquitous little handheld can connect you with consumers and bring your business big-time results.