IM-Mobile

Kirsten McMullen of 4INFO

In the past several years, major brands have embraced mobile marketing and mobile advertising, concurrent with the explosive growth in mobile phone technology. Apple’s iPhone, in particular, is now considered by many marketing and advertising professionals the catalyst that legitimized mobile as a powerful marketing channel to reach consumers in unique, effective ways.

With a growth rate of 30%-50% per year worldwide, mobile advertising is rapidly expanding while total global  advertising revenues from online, print and broadcast media shrink, due to the recession, in part, and mobile’s unique strengths.

Small-to-medium size companies are slowly adopting mobile advertising to promote their own brands, increase sales and connect with their customers. While SMB’s don’t have the megabucks of large, national brands, SMS text advertising is an affordable alternative to mobile banner ads.

Combined with online and off-line media, mobile text advertising can generate significant market response when used in creative marketing campaigns.

With headquarters in San Mateo, CA 4INFO is a mobile media company that connects brands, agencies, and publishers with mobile audiences across all types of media. 4INFO pioneered the development of ad-supported text message information services, and is now the largest provider of SMS content and information services in North America with 23 million mobile users.

60% of 4INFO’s consumer users are between 24-54 years old.  As experts in mobile advertising, 4INFO offers SMS as an activation point to drive rich media experiences on mobile phones.

Kirsten McMulllen, 4INFO’s Director of Marketing, manages execution of 4INFO’s marketing efforts, including brand management and development, communications, business-to-business and consumer marketing.  She is active with several industry associations and is a member of the mobile advertising committees for both the Mobile Marketing Association and the Interactive Advertising Bureau. Kirsten has an MBA from Santa Clara University.

In this podcast interview with Brian Prows, Kirsten discusses 4INFO’s mobile advertising services for SMB’s, how text advertising creates positive interactions with mobile users and best practices when designing and implementing mobile campaigns.

Kirsten cites two case studies–a restaurant chain that successfully used mobile text advertising to target women through special promotions and a younger audience for a sports entertainment network. In the campaigns, 4INFO’s recommendations resulted in its clients improving brand awareness and increasing participation in special events.

According to McMullen, SMB advertisers should first carefully define goals–whether building brands or increasing sales. Then, based on the advertising budget for mobile, advertisers determine campaign length to reach defined goals, write compelling text ad copy for the intended audiences and proceed with mobile campaigns. 4INFO’s staff works with its clients to accomplish each of these steps.

Depending on the number of targeted mobile users, 4INFO charges advertisers on a CPM basis with beginning campaigns costing only $2,000 to start. Since mobile advertising is very measurable, 4INFO provides full reporting and evaluations of each mobile campaign: number of impressions, interactions, click-throughs, call length, conversions, keyword response and more, depending on the nature of the campaign.

To ensure SMB’s succeed, Kirsten recommends advertisers consider the number of mobile users in the area (metro and dense population areas work best) unless the advertiser is selling mobile or other products via its mobile or regular website. According to McMullen, having a quality mobile website is essential for successful mobile text campaigns.

Listen to this very practical, informative podcast about SMB mobile advertising.

Links to the Podcast:

Kirsten McMullen’s LinkedIn Profile:

4INFO for mobile advertisers

4INFO for mobile content users

Mobile Marketing and Ad Serving System

4INFO Mobile Advertising Research and Case Studies

“Rock the Vote” article in Mobile Marketer (getting young people to vote

SMS Marketing: Direct Route to Consumer Engagement PDF (7/09)