The company said it realized there’s too many mobile networks that are willing to take adverting dollars without providing any sort of analytics to show whether a campaign had a measurable affect on the advertiser’s goals.  “It’s too easy in mobile to spend money on campaigns that produce no usable data to optimize against,” explained TapIt’s co-founder Justin Barr.  “Tracking conversions shows advertisers which creatives, platforms, sites and more are converting and the advertiser can immediately stop spending where they’re getting little or no return.”

The company’s new conversion tracking feature helps advertisers understand where their campaign’s success is post-click while exposing low performing channels, devices, times of day and other key factors that can make or break a mobile campaign.  The technology uses a cookie-less method of “postback” tracking without the need for UDID & IMEI that can track iOS and Android downloads as well as lead generation, sales and other actions.  With methods for device identification becoming more and more fragmented, it’s important to not be tied to a device ID for tracking purposes.

Just like the Online space, post-click analytics in mobile is a key component of optimizing campaigns to yield the highest ROI, and TapIt! is once again ahead of the curve in terms of closing this loop for mobile advertisers.

The post TapIt! Adds Conversion Tracking for Advanced Mobile Ad Campaign Optimization appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

“With its new size and features, the iPhone 5 can end up costing a lot more than the surface price of the phone itself,” the company said.

Consider these stats; replacing accessories can cost upwards of $400 for consumers, building for a different screen size causes a 15% increase in time for developers, and building for higher resolution causes a 12% increase in time for developers, according to Velti research.

The post Infographic: What the iPhone 5 Costs Consumers & Developers appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

One of the larger disappointments felt within the mobile commerce industry was the lack of Near Field Communication (NFC) on the iPhone 5.  But does it matter?  This was the question posed by AIRTAG CEO Jérémie Leroyer, who provided the following statement to MMMW;

“The iPhone5’s incompatibility with NFC does not drastically affect the Mobile Shopping eco-system at this point in time. Right now what will continue to move things forward enough so that eventually an iPhone will be NFC compatible, are Mobile solutions that focus more on the end user and transforming behavior. To get people shopping by mobile, especially in the in-store environment will make the idea of using an NFC enabled phone much more relevant. PassBook in a way is still an introduction to Mobile Shopping; but there has been no time to affect behavior, so in a year an NFC enabled iPhone would be much more relevant.”

In terms of the iPhone 5’s impact to the mobile advertising market, Anne Frisbie, VP & MD North America for InMobi provided the following statement to MMW;

“Rich media on mobile has grown significantly through 2012 and we have seen a recent surge in mobile advertising innovation. Today’s news is great for the mobile ad industry, the iPhone5’s richer display, ability to display larger apps and faster operating speed will allow brands to really take their offering to the next level and more deeply engage through mobile.  Apple is the leading device manufacturer in the US and its technology developments drive serious innovation across the mobile ad market.  We expect rich media mobile advertising to become even more immersive and broadly adopted in the coming 12 months.”

The post Industry Reaction & Commentary on iPhone 5 Announcement appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

This webinar will discuss every facet of push messaging; including how it works and why some of the largest brands around are using the technology for user engagement and retention.  “While the number of connected consumers continues to skyrocket, brands still struggle to drive core business goals using mobile marketing,” the company explains.  “Consider changing that with a mind-blowing mobile opportunity: using relationship-driven push messaging to increase consumer engagement, conversion, and retention.”

Brent Hieggelke, CMO of Urban Airship, will discuss how different types of organizations deliver real-time, context-driven interactive engagement using push technology.  Based on real-world examples, the webinar will also uncover best practices and new technologies to help put these practices into place.  The goal is that attendees will walk away knowing how to bring together customer location, CRM, and customer-stated preference data to build relationships that translate into improved customer lifetime value.

The webinar is scheduled for Tomorrow, August 21st at 10am PDT.  You can register to attend here.

The post Webinar Tomorrow: Mobile App Engagement & Retention Using Mobile Push Messaging appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The new round was led by Evergreen Venture Partners along with new and existing private investors from both Europe and the U.S.  Evergreen had led inneractive’s series A back in 2010 as well.  The company said it plans to use the new cash infusion for continued global expansion and to bring on additional talent.

“These are exciting times at inneractive as we are scaling faster than ever before,” explained inneractive CEO Ziv Elul.  “This new round will help us bring more talent on board as well as facilitate our plan to increase our impressive growth and open new offices in NYC, India and Singapore in addition to the ones in London, Tel Aviv and the Silicon Valley.”

The company has been busy lately — recently introducing the ability for mobile developers to manage, control and optimize every aspect of their mobile ad revenue through the use of so-called “super auction” functionality in which 120 demand partners, RTB and non-RTB, compete in real-time.  The company also powers private ad exchanges for top developers communities such as Corona Lans, StackMob, LiveCode and others.

“inneractive is showing tremendous growth and traction. The mobile advertising and monetization space is growing exponentially and inneractive is at the cutting edge with a leading exchange that is already monetizing apps across all platforms,” said Adi Gan, General Partner at Evergreen.  “We are excited to be an active partner on this journey.”

The post App Monetization Exchange inneractive Lands $3.5M Series B for Continued Global Expansion appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Urban Airship, the largest provider of push messaging technology, is sponsoring a new webinar right here on MMW to discuss every facet of push messaging; including how it works and why some of the largest brands around are using the technology for user engagement and retention.  “While the number of connected consumers continues to skyrocket, brands still struggle to drive core business goals using mobile marketing,” the company explains.  “Consider changing that with a mind-blowing mobile opportunity: using relationship-driven push messaging to increase consumer engagement, conversion, and retention.”

Brent Hieggelke, CMO of Urban Airship, will discuss how different types of organizations deliver real-time, context-driven interactive engagement using push technology.  Based on real-world examples, the webinar will also uncover best practices and new technologies to help put these practices into place.  The goal is that attendees will walk away knowing how to bring together customer location, CRM, and customer-stated preference data to build relationships that translate into improved customer lifetime value.

The webinar is scheduled for Tuesday, August 21st at 10am PDT.  You can register to attend here.

The post New Webinar: Mobile App Engagement & Retention Using Mobile Push Messaging appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The survey found that 46 percent of smartphone owners have viewed a mobile ad, and 64 percent have completed at least one purchase as a result of mobile advertising.  However, a surprisingly high 74 percent replied that their favorite brands have not advertised to them on their mobile devices, representing “a significant missed opportunity for companies and their advertising agencies,” according to the company.

Survey results also revealed substantial interest and participation among the 25-34 year old demographic and consumers in higher income brackets.   The survey also found that in addition to consumers who have purchased a product or service in response to a mobile ad, 45 percent of respondents have referred a product or service to a friend as a direct result of mobile advertising.  “For years we have known that smartphone owners are very active on the mobile Web, presenting a powerful opportunity for brands to engage with them through relevant and highly targeted advertisements,” said Doug Stovall, Hipcricket Executive Vice President – Sales and Services. “This survey illustrates the compelling nature of mobile advertising, not only from a brand awareness standpoint, but as a powerful driver of sales transactions.”

Some other interesting findings have to do with overall engagement and ad context; with survey 58% of respondents saying they’re more likely to engage with brands if they include a reward, coupon or deal.  Further, 44% are willing to exchange personal information in return for a reward, coupon or deal — yet, to date, just 28% have done so.  For those who have yet to engage with a mobile ad, the reasons were varied — led primarily by context: 43 percent stated the ads weren’t relevant to their interests and 39 percent responded that “it did not appeal to me.”  For the full results, download the survey here.

The post Hipcricket Survey: 64% of Smartphone Owners Make Purchases from Mobile Ads appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The following is a guest post by Greg Hickman, a mobile marketing consultant and founder of MobileMixed.com.

Have you ever been in a meeting where you’re told your ideas are not “innovative” enough?

“We just need to be more innovative” the meeting organizer says.

Your boss chimes in, “I’ve seen other people doing something similar, Let’s come up with something more cutting edge.”

You sit there and nod your head in disgust because you know that others are focused on new shiny objects vs delivering true results.

Let me tell you, “Cutting edge” can mean many different things based on what type of business you have and what industry your business is in. If you worry too much about what others are doing, you can never focus on what you SHOULD be doing.

For example, Coca-Cola’s view of “innovation” is a lot different than that of a small business. Before we dive any deeper let’s make sure we’re all on the same page when defining “innovation”.

Merriam-Webster defines “innovation” as

1. The introduction of something new
2. A new idea, method or device”

Pretty simple right?

Let me ask you a question. Do you receive emails or texts from your local mall?

See, I help a network of 300 shopping centers incorporate mobile marketing into their marketing strategy and let me tell you, they just got used to sending their own email newsletters within the last few years.

They just started using SMS to connect with shoppers and drive them to mall with exclusive offers yet brands have been tapping into SMS for nearly a decade.

Now, you’re probably thinking to yourself, “Email and SMS have been around for years, that’s not innovative. Well my friend,  depending on the type of client you have:

Innovation is relative and it may even drive your business backwards.

See, innovation is relative to the industry, the type of business and to those operating the business.

Let’s look at Email and SMS marketing. Although these aren’t new technologies, when a small business (such as the shopping centers i mentioned) introduce them to their customers, it’s new.

It’s a new method for their customers to connect with them.  It doesn’t matter that their customers may have been receiving text’s from Coca-Cola or Target for the last few years. For them, it’s new. and their customers receive better experiences.

As marketers, we need to help our clients realize that innovation doesn’t equal results.

In fact, Jeff Hasen recently wrote about “why savvy marketers won’t bet on new shiny objects” reflecting on a recent event in NY where dozens of savvy marketers joined together to share knowledge and learnings.

Jeff said: “Each brought impressive mobile success stories, none of which included the use of a so-called “shiny object” or a product sprinkled by pixie dust at South By Southwest this past spring. These pros know that none of those types of products and services will move a business. In fact, if anything, they will move a business backward.”

The brands that were discussed were those such as Ford and Macy’s that have generated big results leveraging SMS, mobile websites and even QR codes.

Earlier this year, Tom Daly of Coca-Cola shared that that 70% of their mobile strategy is built around effectiveness.

“Once you focus 70% of your strategy on effectiveness, you can put 20% towards efforts that tie into your overall mission and leave the last 10% for trying new things:…read innovation”

The biggest mistake I’ve seen businesses make when getting started in mobile marketing is trying to replicate the success of bigger brands, when it’s really just the 10% of innovation getting the press.

You have to do a little bit of digging to find that Ford saw a 15.4 percent lead conversion by including an SMS mobile component to dollars already being spent.

When Coke looks at the mobile landscape and realizes that just over 50% of the US has smartphones, “SMS is still the most effective way to reach a consumer.”

“ It is important to invest your energy into things you know works, and we know that SMS works and it is a thing to focus on,” Mr. Daly said.

Coca-Cola has developed 30-40 apps but they still find SMS to be one of the main workhorses in their mobile strategy.  Yet, many business still want to jump into mobile by building an app.

Now, I’m not telling you that you shouldn’t try to be innovative. Innovation is very important BUT it has its place and it shouldn’t be the core focus of your business.

Focus on what works for YOUR business because your customers are not always going to be the same as all the brands you read about.

Don’t be ashamed if your business is just getting started with mobile and leveraging technologies like SMS or email marketing (if you’re really far behind. )

Just because it’s not the sexiest solution doesn’t mean it won’t drive significant results for your business. If it’s new for you and to your customers to connect through a new channel….guess what. You’re innovating.

So before you jump into mobile and try to replicate tactics from the big boys make sure you’ve done your homework. Make sure the strategies you implement can drive the results you’re looking for. That means define your goals up front. Even Coca-Cola got started small.

Don’t get caught focusing 90% of your efforts on something that even the biggest brands spend only 10% of their time on. Innovation will always be relative to your own business. Don’t allow another brands level of innovation keep your business from moving forwards.

Don’t be afraid to fail and start by building your mobile strategy around effectiveness.

Are you guilty of letting innovation by other companies steer you down the wrong path? If so, I’d love it if you shared your story with results  in the comments below.

About the Author:

Greg Hickman is the founder and host of MobileMixed.com, a mobile marketing talk show and blog resource where he’s interviewed the top mobile marketers such as Jeff Hasen of HipCricket, Louis Gump of CNN and Jonathan Stephen of JetBlue. Get email updates on the latest episodes by signing up here.

Reference Articles:

Referenced Articles:

http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/content/13081.html
http://jeffhasen.com/why-savvy-marketers-wont-bet-on-shiny-objects
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/strategy/11935.html

The post Innovation is Relative. Don’t Let it Move your Business Backwards appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

“At inneractive, we took a good look at the space in which we operate and realized there seems to be some confusion among developers regarding all the different types of monetization solutions,” the company said.  “We set out to make some sense of it all.”

From exchanges, ad servers, providers of so-called “virtual currency,” and Rich Media providers, to agencies, in-app payment and analytics providers, the graphic below does a great job putting it all into perspective.  Click the image to view a larger version, or click here to download the original.

The post Infographic: Mobile Monetization Global Landscape appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Dubbed TatangoPlus, the new version of its popular SMS platform comes with a variety of enterprise-level features such as dedicated Strategic Advisors.  These Advisors, given to each TatangoPlus client, work one-on-one with customers on things like planning, dedicated short code provisioning, campaign setup, training, execution, report analysis and more.

In addition, TatangoPlus offers enterprise clients exclusive features such as advanced data collection tools, advanced SMS subscriber segmenting, enhanced analytics/reporting, custom message routing capabilities, design services, and priority access to Tatango’s technical support team.  The company has provisioned 10 new dedicated short codes for use with enterprise-level accounts, and is in the final stages of provisioning a shared vanity short code (33733) for larger clients not yet ready to provision their own dedicated codes.

“When I first started looking at the players in the enterprise SMS marketing space, I realized rather quickly that most SMS providers gave their clients the needed technology, but not the industry expertise to turn that technology into a successful SMS campaign.” says Derek Johnson, CEO of Tatango.  “Now with the launch of TatangoPlus, enterprise level clients can get the best of both worlds with enterprise-class SMS marketing software, accompanied by industry leading expertise through our dedicated Strategic Advisors.”

Tatango has seen impressive growth since its founding in 2007, growing well beyond the group-SMS focus it began with five years ago.  It’s last financial quarter saw revenue up 112% over Q4 2011, and launching an enterprise offering was the next logical step in it’s growth.  “We thought long and hard about expanding into the enterprise market, and finally the demand became too great for our team to ignore. We’ve already started work on SMS campaigns for a handful of Fortune 1000 businesses, and our team is excited to bring both our industry expertise and creativity to these and many more enterprise campaigns to come.”

The TatangoPlus platform is currently available to clients in the US and Canada, with plans to expand internationally in early 2013.

The post Tatango Launches TatangoPlus, An Enterprise Version of its Popular SMS Platform appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.