Mobile Space

Protected: password protected post test 3

Jeremie — Thu, 19 May 2011 17:25:42 +0000

Protected: password protected post test 2

Jeremie — Thu, 19 May 2011 17:20:03 +0000

Protected: Password Protected post number 1

Jeremie — Thu, 19 May 2011 17:13:20 +0000

Sending an offer reminder – email versus texting

Jeremie — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 15:22:28 +0000

You have made a really great offer to your list. A few people signed up, but not as many as you would like. It is time to send out a reminder to your list.

Up till now this hasn’t even been an option: you type up an email or a newsletter, build a campaign in your favorite mailing program, and send it out to your followers.

Now there is another option: what if you sent out SOME of your reminders (notice I am not saying ALL reminders) via a text messaging campaign that your followers have signed up for?

Check out the two examples below of my own offer reminder. Sent out first as an email, then as a text. After reading both read the questions at the bottom and share your answers in the comment section. There is a LOT of thinking to do around how to make this work, so let’s get to work!

Example 1: Traditional email marketing

Hello!

As the title suggests I am about to head out to Disney
Land with my family for my son’s third birthday. This
Trip was not in the original plans, but when fortune
smiled and sent me to San Diego on a business trip
it seemed like too great of an opportunity to have an
amazing adventure with my wife and son.

While enjoying my time in the Magic Kingdom I will
be keeping my eyes open for any mobile technology
use by the Disney folks.

———————————————————————-
Disney Land is expensive so in the hopes of generating
some extra cash for some Mickey Mouse ears for the
whole family I want to make a special offer to those of you
who sign up before October 28th.

If you sign up at November Mobile Lab
by October 28th you will receive a free
copy of my Mobile Technology Survey to use with
your list. I am taking marketing research training
to develop this survey so I guarantee it is going to
be great stuff!

(Don’t worry if you already signed up, everyone that
has already joined the Lab will get the survey too!)

So join me in the November Mobile Lab now. The
more minds that join, the greater our collective
results.

Jeremie

Example 2: Text message marketing

Sign up for the Mobile Lab in the next two hours and
receive a free copy of my Mobile Tech Survey to use
with your list. jeremiemiller.com/ms/november

What are your thoughts on the differences in the
two approaches? Pros and cons of each?

Mobile blog post experiment

Jeremie — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 05:04:52 +0000

Quick experiment this evening to check on the viability of updating the blog from my smartphone.

Three fairly simple steps were required in order to post:

1. I had to download the wordpress app from the Android Market.
2. I needed to enable mobile posting in the”Writing”options page in WordPress.
3. Enter the blog information into the WordPress app so that my phone and the blog are connected.

That is it, post written from my phone. Total time under twenty minutes.

Update

The experiment wasn’t entirely successful. The post from my phone saved onto my blog, but did not go public. I am not sure why; something to investigate.

At the very least, while on the road, the application gives you the ability to write posts for publishing at a later date.

Next experiment will be publishing a post through the Android browser and logging into my blog as opposed to using the application.

My Current Mobile Setup

Jeremie — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 04:37:40 +0000

This one definitely falls into the category of “is it useful for other people?”

However, I always find examples extremely useful, and it is my business, so here it goes.

My current mobile technology arsenal

As I have mentioned before one of my main goals for my new business is to allow me to live a completely mobile, nomadic lifestyle when I choose too. In order to successfully run my business while being mobile I am using the following:

1. 13 inch Macbook: I was a Windows user until just over a year ago, but am now a full convert. My Macbook is small, light, and best of all (and most different from my Windows laptop) it always works.

2. Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant. I went with this phone for a number of reasons:

My mobile carrier will let me unlock the phone after 30 days. This will allow me to purchase a SIM card when I travel to the US (or any other country) and not have to pay roaming charges.

3G connectivity and tethering: vital to working while moving around, the Vibrant allows me to access the internet through the phone and attach my laptop to the internet through the phone.

The 4 inch screen is amazing to look at and use. I end up reading emails, books, PDFs, and watching a lot of video on my phone. The larger sized, and bright screen makes all of these tasks enjoyable instead of a hassle.

Swype. More on Swype in a later post, but if you can get it for your phone I highly recommend it. Swype allows me to type, one handed on my phone, fast enough to write blog posts and emails in a reasonable time. Not as fast as I type on my laptop yet, but it is getting faster everyday.

Removable battery. If I am running my business from my phone I don’t want to run out of battery power, so being able to pop in a spare battery is a great option.

3. iPod Touch: This was my mobile tool before getting the Samsung Vibrant. It only has Wifi which limited its use as a business tool. However, I am keeping it around as it allows me to check out different websites and applications using Apples operating system.

4. Plantronics Voyager 510 Bluetooth headset, and stock Samsung Vibrant headphones: I use the bluetooth headset when using Skype on my laptop and the headphones when taking calls on my cellphone.

Future mobile additions

This setup allows me to effectively work from anywhere with cell coverage, but isn’t perfect. Additions to come:

I tend to run out of juice at the most inopportune times so extra batteries for my laptop and phone are a must have.

I plan on buying a second set of all my power cables so I can leave them in my travel bag and not have to worry about forgetting important cables at home.

I travel to the US quite a bit so I will soon be adding a SIM card and monthly plan with one of the US carriers.

There you have it, my current list of mobile technology, which, I imagine, will be ever changing as the mobile space continues to evolve.

Rapidly they text – What does this mean for entrepreneurs?

Jeremie — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 02:34:08 +0000

One of my earliest thoughts involving business and the mobile space occurred while teaching my Math 12 class last spring.

The class was busy (well mostly busy) working on an assignment while I strolled around the room helping anyone in need. At various points in time, I noticed different students pulling out their cell phones and rapidly typing out a message to one of their friends, then popping the phone back into their pocket, hoping I hadn’t seen (if any of my former students read this, I noticed).

Over and over again it happened: glance around the room for my location, pull out the phone, type out a message with thumbs speedily blurring, then phone shoved back into pocket.

Brief, but constant interaction

I continued to observe the texting behavior of my students over the next few days, and began to realize exactly how huge texting was as a form of communication for my students. I had always known my students were texting each other, but I hadn’t realized the frequency.

(Interesting Note: even the spell check on WordPress seems to be behind the time, it keeps highlighting “texting” as if it wasn’t a word)

I realized that this would be my last semester working as a teacher, and that I would be moving into my business full time.

I realized that I knew pretty much nothing about texting.

I realized that if I didn’t learn everything I could about texting as a form of communication I would be losing out on a huge way of reaching potential future clients.

Texting as a platform for business communication

Now that my business ideas are starting to move into the mobile space, my thoughts return to the question I think we all need to ask when thinking about our marketing, content delivery, and communication strategies:

How can your business take advantage of texting as a form of communication with prospects and clients?

Intelligent Stamp Technology

Jeremie — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:36:16 +0000

Imagine this…..

You get a letter from a company in the mail with an especially interesting offer inside. You want to know more about the company so you pull out your phone, point the camera at the stamp on the envelope, and up pops online content including a video about the company, and a free audio of one of the company’s classes.

No it is not science fiction, just another example of an augmented reality application for smartphones.

Postage stamps are going mobile

Moving from imagining into the real world, the Royal Mail has released a postage stamp that, when you point your phone’s camera at the stamp (works for iPhones and Android phones at the moment), it launches online content based on that stamp’s theme: listen to audio, watch a video, or read up on the history of the stamp’s theme.

Marketing and content delivery possibilities

If your business contacts prospects and clients in the real world there may be a use for this technology in your overall strategy. Maybe not paying to develop your own official postage stamp, but the concept would work equally well with a sticker you could add to promotional material, or an image you could print right on the material you are sending out.

(The computerized “stamp” at the bottom of Mobile Space is an example of a virtual application of this.)

Brainstorming Business Ideas

Place images in a book you have written that allows quick access to multimedia content related to passages in the book.

Link your class audios directly to workbook sections, so users point their phones at the image and the audio starts playing.

Place your image on flyers or brochures so people can access more information, special offers, or coupons

Place an image on tags in your clothing that launches information on new styles, washing instructions, or offers coupons for new purchases

Send out different promotional materials, with different images, to different groups in your target audience. The different images take people to specific content that fits them personally, instead of general information for everyone

What possible uses can you brainstorm for using this mobile technology in your business’ marketing, content delivery, or communication strategy?

Share your ideas in the comments below so everyone can benefit from what popped into your head.

Read the article that inspired this post.

The Mobile Glossary

Jeremie — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 03:25:35 +0000

It doesn’t take long for all the special terminology, acronyms, abbreviations, and lingo to get confusing when trying to learn about a new technology.

To help with this the plan is for all of us to work together and provide a mobile glossary to help each other navigate our way through all of this terminology so that the posts you read here, and elsewhere make more sense.

How the Mobile Glossary will work

You can check out the Mobile Glossary here, or use the navigation at the top of the page to find terms you need to decode.

You can add to the glossary by sending an email or resource link to jeremie@jeremiemiller.com with a term(s) and definition(s) that you have found or deciphered.

You can get help with a term by sending emails to jeremie@jeremiemiller.com with the term, abbreviation, acronym, etc that you need help figuring out.

Over time we will construct a useful glossary that will help all of us obtain mobile as a second language.

If you already have a definition you are looking for check out the glossary now.

Mobile Internet versus Mobile Apps

Jeremie — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 03:10:00 +0000

I had an interesting shift in my mobile surfing practices last night that opened my eyes to a potential change in how people access information on their mobile devices.

Looking for financial information

I needed to check on some loan figures for a calculation I was figuring out for my business. Normally, I would just visit my banking site, or Google “loan calculators” and pick whatever came up first.

Last night I found myself checking the Android Marketplace instead. Within moments I downloaded a loan calculator app, punched in my numbers, and had my answer.

Was it faster than using Google? Probably not, but I now have the loan calculator app on my phone and don’t need to search for one ever again, it has a permanent (or at least for as long as I keep it on there) place on my phone.

Small business communication/marketing opportunity

As phone apps start to do more of the heavy lifting for internet users there definitely seems to be an opening for marketing opportunities.

What if one of the major banks had their own, branded, free loan calculator app?

Would it benefit the finance and budget coaching aspect of my own business to offer such an app? What if I got my business name attached to one of these apps?

These apps are getting long term real estate on people’s mobile devices. If you create an app, or market your business on someone else’s app then your business now has long term potential to attract a new client every time they use that app.

Something to think about

Setting aside the technical and money challenges with creating your own app, or marketing your business on someone else’s apps, ask yourself:

Do you have any products or services that you offer that could be delivered or promoted through the use of your own app or by adding your branding to an app that has synergy with your business?

This is a pure brainstorming question, don’t worry about specifics of how to do it, just think about what you could offer.

Leave your ideas in the comments below.