Subscribe
11.29
2012

How The Mobile Mighty Fall & Cloud Computing Rules

Françoise Rose
By
0
Email to a friend

The newly elected Leader of the Free World loved his Blackberry. So much so that a special secure version of the device had to be acquired so that he could continue to use it in the White House after his election. The product beloved by the POTUS received a ton of press as a business essential designated by its own nickname “CrackBerry”. In the four years since, the fortunes of Blackberry have changed dramatically. The latest sign of the protracted coffin-sealing that has become all too familiar for RIM, is the recent news that the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency announced its close to twenty thousand employees will be switching to iPhones when their eight year contract soon expires. How can a company fall so fast from favor? I speak with many business owners that once used Blackberry and all of them have moved from their once beloved Blackberrys to iPhones and Androids. Why? Convenience. In the smartphone world that means apps. It’s not just email that we need quickly any more. In fact many business owners and professionals need to keep up with their social media management as regularly and efficiently as they do their email management. There … Keep Reading...

Beginner, Mobile Marketing
Tagged: , , ,
11.26
2012

Mobile Marketing And Your Small Business

Françoise Rose
By
0
Email to a friend

We are living in a mobile world, some of us more than others. A recent mBlox survey revealed that 90 percent of 18-24 year old consumers spend between 1 and 5 hours per day on their mobile devices. The other 10 percent spend a whopping 5 to ten hours per day using mobiles. As a mobile marketer I don’t even come close to what most 18-24 year olds manage via their devices, but the reality is that whether your customer base is heavily skewed to that demographic or not, your best bet is to have a mobile strategy for your business because your customers are mobile. Streaming technology has gone mainstream, from septuagenarians instant streaming Downton Abbey via Netflix, to proud young parents skyping with their baby to say hi to Grandma and Grandad. Personally, my family uses Skype and FaceTime to contact family and friends overseas, and we are constantly moving files to and from the cloud in the course of our personal and professional lives: photos and word processing files, as well as hour long audio interview files. As far as live TV broadcasts, in our house that means some sporting events and singing shows. Everything else we … Keep Reading...

Beginner, Mobile Marketing
Tagged: , , ,
11.21
2012

Adapting Your Email For Your Mobile Audience

Françoise Rose
By
0
Email to a friend

Change is the only constant in business. We constantly find ourselves adapting, morphing and upgrading, and that’s a good thing. As a business owner myself, I see that the product offerings and core of my business has changed significantly over the past fifteen years. What comprised my entire business then is about ten percent of it now. Email marketing is a very important way to stay connected with your customers, or potential customers. Over the last couple of years though there has been a decrease in long, graphics-filled ezine type email newsletters that look great on computers, but most folks never have the time to read anyway. When I think of mobile marketing, email is not a component that immediately comes to mind. But I want to share with you some great new data that explains how email marketing has been affected by mobile: 36 percent of all email is opened on a mobile device. Anecdotally I would have surmised that a lot of people check email via mobile. Smartphone usage just becomes an expected organic activity since your phone is with you all the time. The only emails I read at home anymore are emails that require extended responses … Keep Reading...

Beginner, Mobile Marketing
Tagged: ,
11.19
2012

The Small Business Mobile Wake Up Call

Françoise Rose
By
0
Email to a friend

In the not too distant future, the idea that intelligent, well-meaning business people thought that a mobile marketing strategy was unnecessary, will be seen in the same light as Western Union’s decision to pass on the telephone. With the growth in mobile technology booming, recent studies have shown that the expectations of smartphone users are growing faster than was predicted, even as recently as last year. Google estimates that the average smartphone user navigates away from desktop sites within five seconds. Small business owners definitely don’t want to be in the position of showing potential customers to the door via their online experience. The imperative to hold onto mobile visits is even more serious when the behavior of the mobile user is fully understood. A smartphone user is in a position to get a phone call or text reminder from a person, or the phone’s built-in calendar app. That reminder will tell them to do something, or get something that has been forgotten, or procrastinated over until that very point in time. It prompts an action. We just don’t use our desktop computers in the same manner as we use our phones, which have amazing computing power in and of … Keep Reading...

Beginner, Mobile Marketing
Tagged: ,
11.15
2012

A Big Mobile Lesson From The Apple Maps Epic Fail

Françoise Rose
By
0
Email to a friend

Deliver a compelling mobile experience and the average customer looking for your business on their smartphone or tablet will be very grateful. Users of the mobile web haven’t had as long to get to grips with browsing on mobile as they have on its desktop relative, but that hasn’t stopped them from amassing a set of definite expectations ranging from appearance to usability and reliability. Apple’s new iPhone 5 debuted recently to positive reviews. However, the accompanying iOS 6 has a major failing that is getting a lot of attention, and in some cases, providing a lot of laughs – the “Maps” app. Until a couple of weeks ago the default app to locate and get directions, to someone or something, was Google Maps. The new default app for doing this is now the in house Apple maps app. Maps’ failure has been equal parts bad directions to found places, wildly inaccurate graphical representations of found items and the inability to find the most obvious of modern places. Apple Maps found that my closest Starbucks was 942 miles away! What I realized through all of this is how much expectations have risen since the introduction of smartphones. These aren’t just … Keep Reading...

Beginner, Mobile Marketing
Tagged: ,