InSequent and Morris team up to provide mobile to local advertisers
Morris will be selling mobile as a standalone and in bundles with other print/digital products in the following markets after a successful Pilot in Augusta:
The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle
The Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville
Athens (Ga.) Banner-Herald
Amarillo (Texas) Globe-News
Bluffton (S.C.) Today
Brainerd (Minn.) Dispatch
Juneau (Alaska) Empire
Log Cabin Democrat, Conway, Ark.
Lubbock (Texas) Avalanche-Journal
Peninsula Clarion, Kenai, Alaska.
The St. Augustine (Fla.) Record
Savannah (Ga.) Morning News
The Topeka (Kan.) Capital-Journal
Additionally, Times Shamrock Communications has also signed and will be doing likewise in these markets:
The Scranton (PA) Times-Tribune
Wilkes-Barre (PA) Citizens’ Voice
Pottsville (PA) Republican-Herald
Hazleton (PA) Standard-Speaker
Shamokin (PA) News-Item
Petersburg (VA) Progress-Index
Read the press release here: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/6/prweb8597612.htm
Will the iPhone 5 contain an NFC chip?
Interesting stuff going on in the world of NFC (near-field communication). It’s only a matter of time before all phones will have this built in and rumors are that the forthcoming iPhone 5 will.
The idea of no longer needing to carry a wallet or credit card is coming to reality. Soon you will not only search, shop and socialize with your phone. You’ll pay with it also.
Side note: The problem with Aztec codes is not enough readers out there support them yet. When they do, they could become more widespread than QR codes.
Good article here.
5 Innovative Mobile Marketing Campaigns to Learn From
With our QR code generator launching in days it’s interesting to see how others are using them. This article (link above) has a few.
I particularly like using QR codes for quick link to a Facebook “Like” which in this case also gets you an instant discount. Also, Macy’s understanding that not everyone a) understands QR codes and creating a how-to video and b) also giving consumers the option to text and get the same result.
Add SMS opt-in link to your Daily Deals quickly, cheaply.
For just $150/month you can add SMS/mobile web delivery of your Daily Deals to your customers. How easy is that?
InSequent now supports Daily Deals programs for Publishers and Resellers
InSequent has created a custom template for you to present your daily deals via the mobile web. Have customers text a keyword of your to our short code (or yours) to instantly receive your deals of the day right to their mobile phone.
QR Codes coming soon to InSequent!
We will be automatically assigning a QR code which links to your keyword/mobile site. Photographing the code with any QR code reader app will deliver the exact same functionality as does texting of the keyword.
A QR code – or Quick Response code – is a specific matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) that is readable by dedicated QR barcode readers and camera telephones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded may be text, URL, or other data.
The QR code was created by Toyota subsidiary Denso-Wave in 1994, it is one of the most popular types of two-dimensional barcodes. The QR code was created to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed. QR codes are catching on now so the time is right to give our customers this feature.
Four new White Labels went live this morning
Details coming soon. Three new markets in Florida and one in N. California.
More thoughts on Groupon, local
I’ve written a few posts and commented on a few others about Groupon and their pending IPO. To be clear, I believe they have to, and will, continue to add to their service offerings and therefor flourish. If they don’t, they won’t. My opinion.
I think they need to provide more value to the retailer and there are many ways to do that. There are many, many companies calling on these retailers trying to sell them everything from advertising, search, websites, mobile, banners, yellow pages, daily deals, etc. At some point this needs to get centralized or retailers will feel like they are being assaulted (they probably already do) by legions of well-intentioned sales reps.
Groupon, with their sales force, could move to consolidate these services under one roof. Someone will (ReachLocal, AT&T (YP), large media company, Yahoo, AOL, Google, Micorsoft, other?). Right now it is like the wild, wild west when it comes to local. Too many players, too many service offerings and thus too confusing for the merchant who is just trying to make sense of it all.
The local space needs a leader and thus far none has emerged. Groupon is a candidate for that spot as are a handful of others.
Who’s going to figure it out first and capture this enormous market?
Smartphones Preferred Over Computers for Web Access
More than one-half of smartphone owners (55.9%) say they prefer using a smartphone to a computer when accessing the Internet, according to a new survey from Prosper Mobile Insights. Moreover, some 52.9% of smartphone owners say they use all of the functions of their smartphone, so much so that “it’s their life.”
Asked which device function they can’t live without, most smartphone owners cite texting (21.6%), accessing the Internet (16.7%), or sending/receiving email (15.7%). Fewer users can’t live without calling features (7.8%), GPS (6.9%), access to Facebook (5.9%), or apps (4.9%).
But they also raised privacy issues citing the following as their biggest concerns:
Location being tracked: 35.3%
Someone accessing personal information: 31.4%
Someone accessing financial data: 21.6%
Online behavior being tracked: 11.8%
Good news for retailers: 81.4% of smartphone users say they use their smartphone to browse for products and services, and more than three-quarters (77.5%) use their smartphone to find information on retail stores.
Among other shopping-related activities conducted via mobile, smartphone owners cite the following as their favorite:
Reading customer reviews: 57.8%
Researching specific products: 57.8%
Receiving text messages with special offers: 53.9%
Making purchases: 50.0%
Scanning QR codes: 34.3%
Writing customer reviews: 20.6%
Click the link above to read the press release.
Got a Bad Review? Explain Yourself
We have now added a cool new feature to our Reviews/Comments tab on our mobile websites. Now a business owner who is subjected to a particularly nasty or untrue comment can respond using the new “Explain” feature.
At least now you can get your side of the story in. Then it’s up to the customer.
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