Retailers focus on introducing more Mobile and Social Marketing Efforts

According to a new study by Forrester Research for Shop.org, a growing number of retailers are expanding their marketing strategies to include mobile and social initiatives.

This study finds that 91-percent of retailers currently have a mobile marketing strategy in place, up from 74 percent a year ago. In addition, it finds that an additional 72 percent of retailers reported they plan to increase spending on social networks this year, according to “The State of Retailing Online 2011: Marketing, Social and Mobile” report.

Many consider 2010 as a year of exploratory efforts and first initiatives for retailers in social media and new mobile technologies. This year is being spent looking at tablet devices, such as the iPad according to Shop.org head of research Fiona Swerdlow. “As sales channels continue to blur in retail, companies are creating mobile apps that make their brands seem current, entertaining or fun, while at the same time creating a unique opportunity to connect with more shoppers than ever before.”

Some surprises find the following:
21 percent of all mobile traffic is coming from tablets
48 percent of retailers report having a mobile-optimized website
35 percent have deployed an iPhone app and 15 percent offer both Android and iPad apps.

Retailers’ interest in social networks has also increased when compared to last year, according to the report, which showed that social networks ranked fourth on the list of successful customer acquisition sources. However, concerns remain over the ability to clearly track ROI from social-network marketing, with 62 percent of retailers saying the returns on social marketing strategies are unclear. (Nearly the same amount of retailers said the primary ROI from social media is a better understanding of consumers.)

“The data indicates that significant investments in social and mobile tactics will be in place this year,” said Sucharita Mulpuru, vice president, principal analyst at Forrester Research. “Retail executives should have modest expectations for the benefits of social commerce. With regard to mobile, retailers should be working to increasingly integrate features and functionality into the physical store experience. While consumers may not be extensively exploring product information yet, basic store information, transparent pricing and easy checkout capabilities are likely to be the most pressing opportunities for most sites in the near term.”

BOTTOM LINE: Retailers are currently using one ore two successful solutions aimed at attracting and retaining new customers via the mobile channel. As they continue to more effort behind growing the effectiveness and reach of their platforms, they will grow both revenue, but also increase ROI. These approaches include the fluid use of Apps (device and tablet), Messaging (Mobile Messaging and Social Messaging) and Mobile Web. Without a clear view into the data across these services, retailers will remain in the dark.

May 31, 2011 in Blog   |   No Comments

Mobile Marketing best at fostering brand-consumer relationships

Research finds most retailers have still not adopted a mobile strategy.

While reading Response Magazine the other day, I ran into a few articles that looked at the adoption of mobile at various retailers. While nothing shocks me, it still resonates that most businesses are operating without a concerted mobile and social strategy.

Consider some of these statistics:

• Only 33 percent of businesses currently have a mobile strategy in place. All respondents to a survey suggested they plan on having one in the next 12 months (source: King Fish Media).
• Less than 20 percent are currently conducting mobile commerce, mainly through the mobile web, and respondents suggest it will grow next year – in 2012.
• 24 percent reported that their mobile strategy “exceeded or performed as expected” while another 30% had not measured it at all.
• 34-percent of the group said they would be keeping track of results.

As retail continues to embrace mobile marketing and mobile commerce, data analytics and reporting will become the focus and centerpiece for this key channel. Another statistic from the survey also found that forty-one percent of those surveyed said “future mobile marketing programs will need to show a positive return” for them to continue with such initiatives. Without key metrics in place, it will be like the wild-west with direct response and brand marketers shooting into the air versus shooting fish in a bucket.

At QWASI, we recently unveiled our updated Synchrosy Methodology for enterprise clients. Specifically within retail, we have had great success helping our clients analyze their business through a variety of lenses and then we create solutions that drive the desired interaction and/or transaction. It is different for each business, so our engagement approach varies too. However, based on the variety of ROI metrics retailers embrace, it’s most effective for their management team to monitor and track while staying in the drivers seat running their day-to-day business.

We hope you’d give us a chance to introduce your business to Synchrosy and drive results with a fresh, innovative and results-oriented mobile and social strategy.

May 26, 2011 in Blog   |   No Comments

The BMA Selects QWASI to Power Mobile Marketing for its 2011 International Conference.

QWASI brings real-time mobile interaction to the Business Marketing Association.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PHILADELPHIA, PA May 26, 2011 – QWASI, a leading mobile marketing and communications company providing cross-market interactive solutions, announced today it has been selected by the Business Marketing Association (BMA) to power mobile marketing and event communications at The 2011 International BMA Conference in Chicago, IL June 1-3. In partnership with Syniverse, QWASI will power text messaging for all pre, during and post event communication for the show using the BMA shortcode – 26246 (BMAGO). The tools provided to the BMA are part of QWASI’s Mobile Marketing Center Platform that’s designed for companies to power mobile marketing campaigns and communication.

Along the lines of this year’s BMA theme – Unleash – QWASI plans to introduce many business marketers to the potential mobile marketing brings to their bottom line. “QWASI is pleased to have been chosen by such an important organization such as the BMA to power their message. We see an unique opportunity for business to embrace all that mobile marketing and communications hold to reach today’s consumers and business decision makers,” shares Leon Samuel, President & CEO of QWASI, Inc. “B2b marketers have been slow to adopt and implement a mobile strategy as part of their b2b campaigns. The time is now for them to use the mobile channel to attract and retain their valuable customers and future prospects. The results from other channels show its immediate effectiveness across various areas of business.”

One of the tools QWASI provides to its clients is a website widget for pre-event registration for alerts and notification. It also includes a Vote2Screen program that allows participants to vote on select questions with a simple reply answer. The live vote is calculated in real-time and can be broadcast via projectors and screens throughout the event. Text2Screen sessions also allow participants to pose a question or share a comment. Using a moderator display, the organization or presenter can choose select questions and post them on screen for attendees.

Other features include surveys, auto-responders, 2D Barcodes, a Mobile Website builder and reporting and analytics. Benefits of this powerful communication channel include driving participation, enhancing engagement, collecting valuable feedback, and building a mobile database. These conference tools combine the power and convenience of text messaging with great visuals that promote participation throughout the event.

ABOUT BUSINESS MARKETING ASSOCIATION
Started in 1922, today’s Business Marketing Association (BMA) works to increase the importance, impact and value of marketing in businesses worldwide. BMA is the only professional organization with an exclusive focus on business-to-business marketing and its key drivers: Customer engagement and relationships, product and service innovation, value pricing, channels, online/offline marcom, and analytics. BMA’s members represent state-of-the art expertise in business-to-business marketing and communications, and share best practices for the benefit of the global business community. For more information about BMA, call 630-544-5054 or visit www.marketing.org.

ABOUT QWASI
QWASI, Inc. is a leading mobile and social communications and solutions provider of interactive applications for clients around the world utilizing Social Messaging, SMS, MMS, Mobile Web and Apps. Through its world-class Synchrosy® methodology, QWASI creates and implements mobile strategy for enterprise business simplifying complex problems with mobile marketing, social messaging, mobile commerce, text ordering, mobile coupons, mobile chat, and customized interactive alerting for Fortune 1000 businesses.

in Press Releases   |   No Comments

QWASI unifies Mobile Marketing, Mobile Messaging and Short Code Services

Mobile Two-Way API 2.0 from QWASI brings together SMS, MMS and Interactive Mobile Marketing.

PHILADELPHIA, March 7, 2011 – QWASI, a leading mobile marketing and communications company providing cross-market interactive solutions, announced its Mobile Messaging API 2.1 for enterprises, agencies and brand marketers. By using the QWASI Mobile Application Programming Interface, known as an API, a company can program mobile marketing services including mobile coupon delivery, mobile ticketing, mobile voting, polling, keywords, text2win, info-on-demand and more. The two-way messaging gateway utilizes either a shared shortcode or dedicated short code to power messaging via SMS (text messaging) and MMS (multi-media messaging) to users in the US.

“The time for companies to tap into the power of mobile is now. Over the last twelve months, we have seen a tremendous push by small and medium size businesses to adopt mobile marketing for their customers,” states Dave Geipel, Founder of QWASI, Inc. “With the ability to use our mobile marketing platform, a company of any size can now embrace mobile marketing for pennies a customer. We are seeing many new Fortune 1000 companies moving to dedicated short codes to support their business needs.” QWASI provides an easy short code search tool from its website.

Recent reliability and delivery issues for many companies using low-cost providers and second and third tier aggregators have mounted and have brought many new customers to QWASI. This has forced many corporate clients to find an alternative to low cost “bulk messaging” which often isn’t delivered to end users by wireless carriers. It requires a dedicated team to monitor campaigns and traffic to ensure maximum up time for their clients.

QWASI recently released several new updates to its Mobile Marketing Center Platform. The Mobile Marketing Center is a self-service portal that allows companies to create, launch and manage their campaigns with relative ease. The Mobile Marketing Center is available to customers using a their own dedicated short code and works across multiple US aggregators. Mobile Marketing services available through the two-way SMS API include:

• SMS Auto Responders: drip marketing campaigns via text messaging to opt-in users.

• Info-on-Demand: information sent to opt-in users via custom Keywords. Capture opt-in users for future message blasts including email addresses.

• SMS Alerts and Blasts: send text messages to a subscriber lists. Keep customers informed of promotions, offers & events.

• Mobile Coupons: distribute coupons to cell phones of customers who have opted-in to receive your promotions. Track promotional code usage.

• Text-to-Win: Enable potential customers to text in a special keyword to instantly enter-to-win a prize.

• Text-to-Vote: Provide a poll or vote and gain valuable feedback – in real-time.

• Web Widgets: Build a subscriber list from web-widgets.

• Custom Applications: The Marketing Center API allows companies to build any custom mobile messaging application.

With twice as many users of SMS than email globally and over 200 Billion text messages sent every month in the United States, consumer brands continue to look for new, innovative campaigns to reach today’s mobile consumer. QWASI is also bringing two-way MMS to market in the US with innovative MMS Applications to allow end users to participate with brands using picture and video messaging. With a huge shift toward social marketing, QWASI is bringing the power of mobile and social together creating new engagement. And through an easy-to-use white label mobile marketing platform, launching campaigns and monitoring performance is now possible for any client with powered by their own short code.

ABOUT QWASI

QWASI, Inc. is a leading mobile and social communications and solutions provider of interactive applications for clients around the globe utilizing Social Messaging, SMS, MMS, Mobile Web and Apps. Through its Synchrosy® methodology, QWASI creates and implements mobile strategy for business, simplifying complex problems with mobile marketing, social messaging, mobile commerce, text ordering, mobile coupons, mobile chat, and customized interactive alerting for Fortune 1000 businesses.

March 7, 2011 in Press Releases   |   No Comments

Text2Drive powers mobile campaigns at the New York International Auto Show

New Suzuki mobile marketing campaign allows interested car buyers to get quick and easy info on available cars at the last major North American new-car event of the season.

Text2Drive, the leading mobile marketing firm in the auto industry, is in the driver’s seat again – taking car information mobile for auto buyers at the New York International Auto Show. Building on the success Text2Drive achieved by powering the Chicago Auto Show in February with their Mobile Marketing Platform, Text2Drive has recently been selected to promote Suzuki’s mobile ad campaigns during the New York International Auto Show from April 2 – 11, 2010.

Suzuki is using the Text2Drive Mobile Marketing platform to offer car shoppers a very quick, easy and hassle-free method of obtaining vehicle information without the need of the Internet on their phones. Using text messaging (SMS) and picture messaging (MMS), car shoppers can take home important information on different makes and models available from Suzuki. According to Nielsen, only 30-40 percent of consumers have Internet connectivity on their phones. Text2Drive allows car shoppers to get instant information on their cell phone about a specific car including mobile website links and photos sent via MMS.

Text2Drive is powered by leading mobile marketing and mobile commerce company, QWASI, Inc. The Philadelphia-based company provides cross-market interactive solutions for fortune 500 companies, as well as SMBs (Small to Medium Businesses), across the nation.

It’s exciting to see how auto manufacturers are using the Text2Drive service at the New York Auto Show and other car shows around the country. It’s important to provide today’s car buyers with instant information that is easy to access. The power to connect with these car buyers is available through a program like Text2Drive so car manufacturers can also connect with them after the show ends.

We see more and more carmakers and dealers finally beginning to get serious about offering mobile marketing and communications at dealerships, their advertising and direct communication with their customers. Text2Drive can be found online at http://www.text2drive.com

[caption id="attachment_619" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="SX4Sportback MMS (Picture) Message"][/caption]

April 9, 2010 in Blog   |   No Comments