Mobile & Text Message Marketing

Award Winning New Media - Mobile Marketing For Retail

Just about a month ago, I picked up an award from 1to1 Media for New Media Optimization in Phoenix.  It was an honor to have a campaign that I worked on with my team from start to finish recognized with such a prestigious award.

Just the fact that there are categories for New Media Optimization which now include Mobile Marketing signifies to me that the cell phone has truly & finally been recognized as a legitimate marketing tool.  Honestly, cell phone's are direct marketing at it's purest & when executed correctly become a brand enhancement by adding to the consumers communication choices and providing the abilities of direct contact otherwise not previously available.  You don't have to log into your computer's email to check your text messages...

Here's a quote from our client who won this award expressing some of his reasoning for entering into Mobile Marketing.  Click Here to read SmartReply's release on this award. 

"We work together as a close team focused on common objectives. All of our employees recognize that they play an integral role in our customer interactions. This shared knowledge excites and motivates us to continually focus on how we can best communicate and provide the highest level of service to our customers."

Victor Essoka  -----------------------  SVP & General Brand Manager  -------------------------   Redcats USA

DMA's Marketer of the Year Award

A campaign I co-created with a client, LR TXT for La Redoute USA was in the Top 3 for this years DMA - Marketer of the Year award.  It was an honor to be in the running with companies like Yahoo! who won last year & Microsoft MSN this years winner, and symbolizes to me that we are on the right path with our text message marketing.  I'm not sure what the final deciding factors were, however I do know this:  To compete against companies of this caliber & to be noticed, a smaller company like La Redoute USA must have been doing something pretty innovative and ground breaking! 

It is neat to work for a company with a technology that will actually have a visible impact in the way current & future marketing is done.  Then to be in involved in the design and implementation of these programs is even more exciting.  Long / short form DR, Catalog, Internet & just plain DM in general, it is all changing as the paradigm is shifting towards customer managed communications.

Sorry for the lack of blog postings lately, I've been busy!

As I have found out, blogs can be a lot of work.  At least to keep a good one up and running and my time is limited between 5 & 6 AM before work, so the creative juices aren't always flowing just yet.  Here are a few things, including other blog posts that I have been writing lately.  Please have a look in lieu of active postings on here.

The Electronic Retailer Magazine has asked me to write a series of articles on mobile marketing (text messaging) coming out monthly for the next 4 months or so.  The first one can be viewed at this link: Mobile Marketing: Driving Revenue and Measurable Sales

I now sit on the Operating Committee for the DMA's CRM Council.  And have also been helping to create the content for a new portion of the NCDM's site named the TheCenter@NCDM.  My first post is viewable Here.

So, bear with me.  I have a day job & many other commitments which keep me very busy.  I do believe the content on this blog to be insightful, maybe even innovative at times.  I'll do my best to keep up with the postings...  I'd love to hear more comments from you as both marketers & vendors to help give this blog a life of it's own.   I'll do my part to keep up with the postings, so check back every once in a while.  Thx!

PCI Certification & Data Security

More than half of enterprises are not meeting the data security standards established by the Payment Card Industry, according to a new report published by VeriSign.  According to the Federal Trade Commision, in 2005, customer data theft added up to $54 billion in losses.

Simon Church, head of VeriSign for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, advised firms to indoctrinate better procedures for managing data across their environments.   Church also added that as the data security industry is changing so rapidly, if organisations establish certain processes just to pass the PCI audit, that might not be adequate to meet future standards requirements. Instead, firms need to assimilate good practice for data management and security in their DNA, he advised. 

SmartReply recognizes the storing of valuable customer date to be an area of increased sensitivity   which made it a natural & necessary step for  SmartReply to become PCI Certified.   We are now the only North American voice & mobile marketing services provider who currently obtains "PCI Certification."

  

Award Winning Campaigns - Industry RecognitionInteresting Articles

Awards & Recognition

The Mobile Marketing Association awarded SmartReply and our client Meijer, the 2006 Global Award for Leadership in “Best Use of Mobile Marketing - Relationship Building”

Ranked #368 of the Top 500 Fastest Growing US Companies by Entrepreneur Magazine

Ranked #2,868 for Inc. Magazine's 2007 list of the 5000 fastest growing US-based privately held companies.   

Interesting Article

So long CRM, hello Managed Customer Communications!  Welcome to the next marketing reality - The Choice Generation™.  Coined at the CRMC conference in June of 2007 by Eric Holmen.

Other Sites Linking & Referencing Our Work
nextgen - Progressive Grocer Article - Marketing: Consumer connections