Before I started writing about messaging technology, I wasn’t sure what the phrase “short code” meant–even though I’d used them all the time as a consumer. So how can someone new to the space, even if (s)he is a seasoned vet of marketing, be expected to? Read Full Story

June is the start of Hurricane Season, and that means public safety officials have already begun preparing for the intense ocean-incubated storms. As the first tropical storm in the Americas for 2009 brewed last week, I got to thinking about how public safety departments can, and should, use SMS marketing technologies whenever a hurricane–or other disaster–strikes. Read Full Story

It’s taken a singing competition to underscore the importance of measurable ROI. Last month I pointed out how mobile marketing really boosted the success of American Idol (whose parent company, FremantleMedia, is a mobileStorm client), much more so than traditional marketing. Specifically, I pointed to the record numbers of voters–the majority of whom had texted-in–who participated in this season’s finale between wholesome, broadly-appealing winner Kris Allen and r... Read Full Story

Last week, I explained that videos and email marketing messages go together like chocolate and peanut butter. Click-through rates for marketing emails increase two or three times with the inclusion of video! This is in part because increasingly larger numbers of consumers (we’re talking trillions!) want to spend time watching online video, and also because it’s becoming easier for them to watch videos sent via email. Read Full Story

mobileStorm’s six messaging types for marketers are all conducive to our stance that multi-channel campaigns are best. We’ve also long suggested that marketers be multi-channel within a single message–for example, by including video in an email marketing message, which engages the recipient and also makes the message viral. Read Full Story

(The following was written by Patrick Knight, Director, Client Deliverability, and myself.) When you send out an email campaign, you need to know how many of your subscribers actually took the time to click on your message and open it. This measurement is called the “open rate.” The open rate compares the number of people who opened an email message to the number who did not. It’s a percentage of the number of messages “delivered.” An open rate is dependent on a nu... Read Full Story

Nearly 100 million votes were cast during this week’s American Idol finale, resulting in Kris Allen winning the competition for the show’s eighth season. Last night was also a win for SMS marketing, just as much as it was for Mr. Allen. Why? Television experts have been saying that Idol ratings have been down this year, and that its popularity seems to have waned. Yet the 100 million votes–sent predominantly via text message–is a record high for the show. Even if ... Read Full Story

(The following is an excerpt from the article “Email Conversion Rates: A Primer” by Director of Client Deliverability Patrick Knight, appearing in tomorrow’s edition of mobileStorm’s Outside The Inbox.) Conversion data should be analyzed to know the effectiveness of an email campaign. Your conversion analysis can tell you how many of your recipients actually did exactly what you wanted them to do. Based on this number a marketer can better understand the audience,... Read Full Story

Staying inspired over a long period of time is not the easiest thing for an entrepreneur to do. Take this blog for instance. I love sharing my thoughts, ideas, and experience, but it’s not always easy to pick up the laptop and bang out an article. Actually, it can be downright difficult, which is why most blogs have a short shelf life and probably why Twitter is growing by leaps and bounds. If you want to become successful, you need to stay the course. To stay the course, you need to constan... Read Full Story

Last week, the shooting death of Wesleyan University student Johanna Justin-Jinich shocked the small city of Middletown, Connecticut. Even though, according to what police have said, it sounds like she was the sole target of an alleged stalker, university authorities did the right thing: They sent text and email alerts to students, canceling events and keeping them updated on the crisis. That’s what’s so great about digital marketing strategies: They can be used for the greate... Read Full Story