Yelp Not Coming Back to Google Places

via google.com

So Yelp think that Google are not giving the customers enough choice ! Is a directory listing not just filler content on Google pages any how ? A search result should give the person searching a choice.

Astounding Mobile Facts

Astounding Mobile Facts.

Successful Marketing in the very near future will include mobile devices.

“In the last twelve months, customers around the world have ordered more than US $1 billion of products from Amazon using a mobile device," – Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com (July 2010).

“There are more than 150 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices. People that use Facebook on their mobile devices are twice more active on Facebook than non-mobile users.” – Facebook official statistics (August, 2010).

Those statistics -

1) Mobile subscribers will surpass 5 billion in 2010 (that's over 70 percent of the world population) and growing rapidly, led by China and India.* What other medium offers that reach?

2) Half a billion people accessed mobile Internet worldwide in 2009. Usage will double within five years as mobile overtakes the PC as the most popular way to get on the Web.

* But with 233 million mobile Web users in China alone, is this estimate conservative?

3) By 2011, over 85 percent of new handsets will be able to access the mobile Web.

* Please note that this does not mean smartphones – you do not need a smartphone to access the mobile Web (but it does make for a richer experience).

4) The number of 3G handsets is growing fast. 3G means faster access the mobile Web (assuming a 3G network is available).

* While very high 3G handset penetration helps to keep Japan at the pinnacle of mobile Web, very low 3G penetration in China hasn't stopped rapid growth.

5) Mobile devices sales fell slightly in 2009, while smartphone sales showed strong growth albeit from a small base.

6) SMS is still king of mobile messaging with five trillion messages sent in 2009. Despite the popularity of mobile email, IM and MMS, SMS is predicted to exceed 10 trillion in 2013.

7) Estimates for expenditure on mobile advertising and marketing worldwide ranged from US$1.4 billion to $7.5 billion in 2009, all analysts forecast rapid growth. But with annual mobile advertising expenditure of US$1.14 billion in Japan alone, are these estimates on the low side or is Japan still light years ahead of the rest of the world?

8) What do consumers use their mobiles for? According to this US data: 1. calls; 2. SMS; 3. mobile Web; 4. apps; 5. games; 6. social networking; 7. music.

How will consumers use their mobiles in the future? The key drivers for mobile usage are expected to be (in order of importance) money transfer; (Local) location-based services; mobile search; mobile browsing; mobile health monitoring; mobile payment; near-field-communication services; mobile advertising; instant messaging; and mobile music.

9) The top five mobile network operators worldwide that derive more of their revenue from data than other operators are all Asian: Smart Philippines, Globe Philippines, SoftBank Japan, NTT DOCOMO Japan, KDDI Japan. Also four of the top five MNOs for (loyalty) are also Asian. Also includes top five for subscribers, revenues, monthly average revenue per user (ARPU).

Japan, Asia and Europe are light years ahead of the United States in the mobile marketplace.

Information collated from mobithinking.com

Animoto - Successful Marketing

via animoto.com

97% of searches are now for local information.The majority of which are done with mobile devices.Can your website be found by your customers and is it mobile friendly ? Go to http://www.annoco.co.uk for a cost effective solution and more new customers.

10 Methods to Promote Your Mobile Text Marketing

Let's face it, it's easy to sign up for a text marketing service and have your own keyword and a short code for your customers to text into. But that alone won't make you any money and you will be no better off 30 days from now from when you first signed up to start mobile marketing. In order for text marketing to really increase your sales you need to promote your short code and give your customers a reason to text in. Here are the ten easiest ways to promote your mobile text marketing  call to action:

1) Add a new post to your blog or Facebook. Do this every other day as other messages will push yours down the page.

2) Use Twitter and add "Retweet please." This will get the message to  spread further than just your followers. People who know your business will share it with friends.

3)Inform your customers.Major stores, at the check out always ask if you want to sign up for their credit card and save 10% on the spot. Same goes for your mobile marketing campaign. Offer an immediate reward for signing up now.Your auto-reply message will display on their phone instantly after they text your keyword to the shortcode.

4) Put a call to action on one of your business reviews. Readers only visit an average of three business listing before deciding on a place to visit. Give the readers a good reason to visit your business by placing a mobile call to action that puts your offer right on their mobile device.

5) Create a mobile phone graphic and put a call to action on your website.This can be an easy way to capture and convert web visitors into sales. Write a new blog post about your mobile campaign and what type of offers they can expect from you.

6) Design simple "box Flyers,"  the pizza businesses know how powerful these can be to get customers to return their business. Retail and restaurants should add the mobile call to action on the bottom of receipts or include it on review cards or comment slips that are available for customers .

7) Involve your staff. You can't do it all and the success of any marketing idea often is down to their enthusiasm. Make sure staff know about the text marketing campaign, how it works, how they will benefit  and when they tell customers about it will lead to higher opt-ins.

8) Send emails promoting the text marketing campaign and describe the benefit customers will receive for signing up.Usually businesses that offer something free to the customers on their next visit build a mobile database the quickest.

9) Put a poster in your window. This will help capture new people not visiting your business and will get other customers trying you out for the first time. When has a coupon or special offer lead you to try a business for the first time? Give people a reason to visit your premises.

10) Make it part of other traditional marketing such as newspaper, direct mail or radio . Don't start a new campaign in direct marketing if they are not part of your regular marketing strategy but if they are, adding the mobile call to action will increase the effectiveness by capturing opt-ins and delivering your offer right to their mobile device leading to higher conversion rates.

Most of these ways to promote your text marketing such as social media and blogging takes only a few minutes. Other methods are equally as simple and only take a little time. Building your list with mobile marketing is mostly hands-off and the results in conversion rates and return on investment are the highest of any marketing startegy. Take some time in the beginning and your text marketing efforts will pay off in the years to come.A great attention seeking headline will increase your sales, customers and profits. 

UK Online Sales Booming.

Here is a recent report i found to confirm the expected growth in online business sales. 

IMRG, an industry body for global e-retailing, said web sales leapt 18% in July compared with the same time last year. They haven’t risen that much since 2007.

An incredible £5bn was spent shopping on the internet during the month, a record for 2010, says IMRG, with the average UK shopper spending £81 online. 

Yesterday, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) said sales rose by 1.1% in July, well ahead of expectations.

"It is really encouraging to see growth levels returning to those seen pre-2007 and before consumer confidence was knocked by the financial crisis and the recession."

UK consumers spent £5 billion online in July alone, an increase of 18 percent on the same time last year and the largest increase since 2007 before the recession began. If the trend continues it means people in the UK will spend a whopping £600 billion online over the next ten years, up from the £250 billion it spent over the last ten.

Online businesses have been doing extremely well, seeing an average revenue growth of eight percent and a sales conversion rate of 4.35 percent, but it is actually the companies with both an online and offline presence that did best, with an 18 percent revenue growth and 4.49 percent sales conversion rate.

The evidence mounts that the UK  will need to invest more in their online business presence and put it at the heart of their marketing strategy.

Local business searches are given a high priority on Google and knowing how to get your business in front of your customers with an internet marketing service will be critical to your success.

Facebook versus Google

Facebook Places

 

 Although the service is currently only available in the US, Facebook said it will be rolling out the tool to other countries in the coming months.

What does that mean for your business? Well, it means that Facebook is providing your business with a powerful tool for promoting your business, expanding your customer base, and marketing your brand. That is, assuming you take steps to embrace Facebook Places and use it effectively. Here are three ways your business should take advantage of Facebook Places:

1.With Special Offers. Provide special discounts or promotional items for customers who show that they have checked in with Facebook Places during the current visit. The business can use signs in the store, or at the cash register, as well as Twitter and Facebook to encourage users to check-in to Facebook Places to receive the special offer.

2. Promoting Your Business. Word of mouth is one of the most effective forms of advertising--that is why location-based services like Foursquare or Yelp have grown so much in the first place. Encourage customers to share their experience with your business, and engage them to promote the business for you by providing specials or discounts for customers who post photos or reviews of the business, or share Facebook and Twitter updates from the business with their friends.

3. Rewarding Customer Loyalty. Getting customers is good for business, but getting loyal repeat customers is the key to a truly successful business. Give customers a reason to keep coming back by providing a special discount,the business can create a special offer just for the designated Facebook Places "leader" and exploit the natural competitiveness of customers to drive return visits.

Using the power of internet promotion.