If you’re like most of us, email lost it’s novelty decades ago. In fact if you still heard the old “you’ve got mail”  as each message dropped into your inbox,  you’d be tearing your hair out in no time flat.

Not so for text messages. When your cell phone alerts you you’ve received a text, you pay attention.

Now, if the stats in this video don’t convince you, then I really can’t help you.  But if you can see the possibilities for your business and would like to try it out for a month, I have a recommendation for you:

Yep Text is one of my favorite text message  software companies. Not only can you manage your campaigns easily and handle business text messaging right from your desktop, but they have a very consumer-friendly interface. With the yep text tutorials, you can easily learn how to use sms marketing even if you’re not a techie. You can find them at www. yeptext.com.

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In February 2010 Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that Google will consider “mobile first” in all future endeavors. Anything Google creates from here on out will be first placed on the mobile platform and then be worked around for the desktop.

He concluded by saying, “Mobile is pretty much the answer on everything,” announcing a major shift in Google’s strategy.

Local search is driving foot traffic & sales for local businesses

• Almost 1/3 of smartphone users who search for local businesses via mobile end up visiting or calling the location.

• Approximately one in three Android and iPhone owners discovered at least 2 new businesses in the first quarter as a result of using the local search on their phone.

• The most popular types of information being looked for is an address, more information on a business in the area and a phone number.*

• Google has seen a 500 % growth in mobile search from 2008 to 2010 and a 67 % increase in mobile queries in the last quarter alone.

“Everything is leading to search,” Mike Steib, director of emerging platforms at Google  due to the growth of mobile Internet usage and the surge in GPS-enabled devices, Juniper Research predicts that locationbased local search and information services will be used by nearly 1.5 billion mobile users by 2014.

Mobile has the broadest reach, with 4.8 billion users vs. the Internet’s 1.7 billion users.

So why does Google think Mobile Marketing is HOT?

It’s simple: mobile users are action-oriented. They don’t spend a lot of time reading lengthy bodies of text or “surfing”. They generally want to  accomplish a task, such as  looking up a phone number or address, or quickly finding some information about a business or destination.

The statistics speak for themselves:  At the end of the day, mobile has 5X better sales conversion rates than online.

*Source: Q1 2010 Smartphone Intelligence survey by Kantar Media’s Compete.

To get your online and mobile presence established, consider putting together  a cell phone marketing campaign. It’s not difficult.  In fact, it may be on the list of the least difficult and most cost-effective types of marketing for you to put into action today.  Here are four very effective ways to get started.

1. Games or Polls

Text message polls and contests ( often called “Text-to-Win”) have become increasingly popular with quite a few small business owners. This type of prize drawing calls for ways to get people to mail a message via their cell phone to a designated SMS (Short Message Service) code. By doing this, the person gets into your contest or drawing for a chance to win a prize. Once they do, you now have their cell phone number so that you can keep marketing to them.*

Prize drawings deliver such great results for the reason that access is instantaneous and the confirmations happen quickly as well. Not only this, but they also increase shopper discussion and entertainment while helping to create your new customer database (or list) simultaneously so that you can market to all of them later on.

A majority of these special offers also deliver top results due to the fact they can be ideal for word of mouth marketing promotions and are particularly powerful when it comes to generating news and anticipation with regards to your business.

Be sure that you provide an enticing prize so you get hold of as many people that want to enter as you possibly can. Remember that an “attractive prize” doesn’t have to be an “expensive” prize but rather an item which all of your subscribers will find appealing .

2. Mobile Social Groups

Text message Groups (often known as Mobile phone Clubs) are an easy way to establish client interaction. It usually is as easy as customers opting-in in order to get regular text notifications on their cellphone regarding new products, in-store sales along with cellular coupon codes intended for in-store redemption.

If you’re a brick and mortar business, Mobile Clubs could be a fantastic way to stay in touch with all your purchasers and be sure everybody is simply up to date regarding what is going on in your company.

At the time you start a Mobile Club, you are able to include text message notifications (also called SMS Notifications), which in turn allow for you to engage with clients with focused facts to keep your brand on top of their minds. SMS Notifications are speedy textual content concerning beneficial new services, a purchase you may be having at the store, or simply bursts of up-to-date information to keep your opt-in list informed on a topic of great interest.

This process will definitely continue to keep these people returning!

Give it some thought… are there any aspects of your small business that might benefit from a simple yet effective, real-time conversation approach? You’ll develop customer commitment and increase your bottom line at the same time.

3. Text Polls and Voting

Do you need suggestions or ideas on your new product lines from your shoppers? Or maybe the general public on the whole? Textual content voting could possibly be your solution.  It means that you can engage with customers and get valuable feedback on products and services, or maybe the store experience.

The simplest way to supply customers what they want could be to ASK them what they really want. Cellular promotion makes it possible for you to complete this approach efficiently by means of Text message Voting. Consumers carry their mobile phones with them virtually 24 hours per day,  7 days per week. So marketing to them on their mobile device simply makes good sense.

On top of that is the fact people like to provide their thoughts and  recommendations on product or service which they pay for.  If you doubt it, just check the product reviews on Amazon! By inviting people to actually vote on particular components of your small business, you’ll generate a level of confidence with them that will take you a long way.

As icing on the cake, text message voting helps you add to your list of clients,  since people who aren’t currently on your list will be incorporated when they place their votes!

4. Partnering With Other Brands

If you really want to boost traffic to your local mobile site,  consider forming partnerships with other, more recognized and frequently-visited mobile services. A partnership with Foursquare, for example (a location-based social networking app) can deliver your site’s deals through their “specials” feature.  Here users can search for local deals within a certain radius. For example if I search for deals in the Furniture/Home category within a 10 mile radius of where I’m located, I get a “Check-in Special” for Mattress giant. (Checking in is Foursquare’s method of letting your social network know where you are.)

*You needn’t worry that you’ll be harassing customers who don’t want to get your texts;  folks can easily opt out of an SMS campaign by responding to your message with the word “stop”.

Mobile devices are our modern portal to the world; available anywhere, any time.

Over 4.6 billion mobile phones are in use around the world as of Feb 2010.  That’s double the amount of people that use home computers and more than any other electronic device in history. Everyone has a mobile device, it’s always switched on, and we’re always messing with it. And if we’re not messing with it, it’s either in our pocket or purse or sitting on our desk.

Worldwide there’s over 125,000 iphones and over 325,000 droids being sold per day.

By 2012 about 10 trillion text messages will be sent globally.

4 out of 5 teens carry a cell phone

Nokia estimates that by 2015 some 5 billion people will have access to an always on mobile internet connection and there will be an incredible 100 fold increase in mobile network traffic.

Research has shown that over 70% of people feel SMS is the most important feature on their phone. 80% of Americans feel they get the quickest response from a text.

Over 250 million Americans carry cell phones. Over 86% of Americans own a mobile phone.
68.7 million of them are frequent texters. Twice as many people own cell phones as use personal computers.

By 2012 about 10 trillion text messages will be sent globally.

Over 90% of mobile devices today are internet ready.

Mobile marketing combines the wide reach of television and the precision of direct marketing, with the tracking power of the Internet.

Text messaging gets 7 to 15 times the open rate of an email;
an astounding 97% of all SMS messages are opened:
83% are opened within one hour. Compare this with email of which today is
90% SPAM and unread by the recipient.

Customer time spent on cell phones is rising faster than time spent on any other form of media, including TV, movies and the internet. It is expected that 42% of consumers use their phone to check a store location, 31% use it for mobile promotion, and 17% use their phone for the actual purchase.

Not only is it one of the cheapest ways to communicate, estimated to cost 95% less than any other form of direct communication, but with the increasing ubiquity of mobile phones, the easy-to-use technology makes it a guaranteed channel to reach more people.

The use of mobile phones and tablets has grown dramatically in the last 5 years to the point where more people are now connected to the internet via mobile than via desktop computers. Now THAT is something to write home about!

Let’s examine why mobile is so popular.

Because most of us are always on the move, we’ve come to rely on smart phones and tablets to help us find what we’re looking for when we’re out and about. A google search can help consumers find a local restaurant or gas station. Mobile searches allow comparison shoping online while in a store deciding on a purchase.

Mobile devices also allow us to multitask so we can use our time more efficiently. We can stay in touch with friends or surf the internet while waiting in line, or we can exchange texts discretely from the workplace.

When it comes to businesses holding video conferences, they used to be limited to using PCs or laptops. But with the video capabilities of mobile phones like the iphone 4, it’s now possible to hold conferences and meetings on the go.

With all of this mobile usage, chances are your website is being viewed on a much smaller screen than the PC or laptop version it’s been optimized for. You need to have a site that’s easy to view and navigate when a mobile user lands there, or they’re going to search elsewhere.

Sure, you can add code to your site to tell it to appear smaller when it detects a search coming from a mobile phone or tablet. But you’re just going to get a “mini” version of your site, and searchers will have to scroll around and expand the areas of the screen they’re interested in. That’s not user friendly.

A web site or web page that is truly optimized for the mobile interface is built differently and has a different look and feel from a traditional, “large-screen” site. It’s optimized somewhat differently for the search engines too.

See The Difference?

If you haven’t taken this critical step yet and created a mobile site for your local business, now is the time.

With social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace practically taking over the internet, the way we interact online has been permanently changed.  Businesses are jumping on board in droves,  looking to invest in this new viral trend. So isn’t it time for you to do the same with your business?

The answer is a resounding “yes”.

But hold on a second; let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater. Using email and text messaging to build your customer base is something that should not be ignored. Marketing your services via email and text messaging comes with unique benefits that other media can’t provide.

So what’s so special, you may ask? Well first off, email and text messages sent are received by the recipient almost instantly so this can prove effective when you are providing a time sensitive offer.   Secondly you will find that around 94% of all text messages sent today will be read. And unlike email, which can sit for hours or days in your recipient’s inbox, texts are read on average within 2 hours or being received. So nearly everyone who subscribes to your SMS (text messaging) program will see it.

Furthermore, since those who have subscribed to your email list or SMS program have chosen to receive your offers or promotional messages, you know that they’re actively interested in your product or business.  So of course there’s a greater possibility that they’ll make a purchase from you.

A written marketing plan defines how you’ll reach your audience and the steps you’ll take for implementation. It allocates your time and resources efficiently and effectively. And over time, it creates a series of improvements as your business grows.

Knowing what’s working and what’s not and how to get the best return on your marketing dollar is just good business. And with today’s technology it’s easier than ever to measure results. So you’ll know early on which marketing campaigns are profitable and which to ditch.

We trust that going through this checklist will help you assess where you are now and where you want to go. You may even get new ideas or remember some marketing tasks you overlooked or have questions about.

At the end of the checklist, don’t forget to include your biggest challenges and frustrations with marketing.

General Questions
1. I have an existing marketing plan in place for my business. Yes No
2. I have at least one person responsible for managing marketing. Yes No
3. Our staff is familiar with how we market our company’s products and services. Yes No

Market Research
4. I know who my target market is and I have a full written description of this market. Yes No
5. I’ve narrowed down who in my target market is my most likely customer (age, sex, income level, location) Yes No
6. I’ve estimated the number of customers in my target market who could potentially buy from me. Yes No
7. I know who my closest 3 competitors are, what services they offer and what their prices are. Yes No
8. I’ve done a price comparison between my business and my closest competitors and have made notes on why someone would choose us over them and why someone might choose them over us. Yes No
9. I am aware of what income my business is capable of producing at the level it is currently at right now. Yes No
10. I subscribe to a newsletter or trade journal for my industry so that I stay current on what is happening within the industry. Yes No

Marketing Methods
Website –
11. We have one and the address is:
12. We have more than one website and the other addresses are:

13. I have a keyword list for my business and check it regularly to keep it updated. Yes No
14. The information on our site is current and updated regularly. Yes No
15. Our website is easy to navigate and visitors can find the most important information from the home page. Yes No
16. Our website collects visitor information through a newsletter or special sign up offer. Yes No
17. We have an automatic email message (autoresponder) that is sent out when someone subscribes. Yes No
18. Our phone number and address is listed on the home page and is easy to find. Yes No
19. We have a contact page on our site with a map or written directions (if appropriate) Yes No
20. We use a tracking number on our website to determine what calls are coming from it. Yes No
The website answers the following questions:
21. An “About Us” page or something that tells the company’s history. Yes No
22. Services and Products we offer are easy to see on the home page. Yes No
23. Different pages on the site give more information about the products and services we offer. Yes No
24. Enough information to answer a customer’s questions, perhaps a frequently asked questions section. Yes No
25. The site has several informational articles on our area of expertise. Yes No
26. Client testimonials are posted that include a picture and name. Yes No
27. The site has clear, attractive photos of our products. Yes No
28. The site has a price list, prices with the products or menu *restaurant. Yes No
29. Photos of our personnel. Yes No

Email –
30. We have a system in place to collect email addresses for clients and potential clients. Yes No
31. We use a “spam protection” email marketing service like Constant Contact or iContact. Yes No
32. We produce regular email newsletters for our customers and clients. Yes No
33. We keep track of the responses to our email mailings to our email list (opens, clicking on links, unsubscribe rates) Yes No
34. We occasionally send out special mailings such as one-time offers or alerts. Yes No
35. We have email sequences that we use for events such as welcoming a new customer, a list of tips and hints, etc. Yes No

Online Advertising Methods –
What online advertising methods does your business currently employ?
36. Pay Per Click such as Google Adwords. Yes No
37. Search Engine Optimization – a variety of links, keywords and tags that are optimized to help customers find us using our most important offerings. Yes No
Blogs –
38. We have a blog on our website or our website is a blog. Yes No
39. We have a separate blog such as Blogger or WordPress. Yes No

Social Media Marketing –
40. Facebook Like Page (Fan Page) Yes No
41. Twitter account Yes No
42. LinkedIn account Yes No
43. GoogleBuzz account Yes No
44. MySpace Yes No
45. YouTube Channel Yes No
46. Flickr account Yes No
47. Our business is using these social marketing tools competently. Yes No
48. Our business needs help learning how to use these social marketing tools. Yes No

Local Search –
Check off which Search Engines you’ve set up and claimed your local search listings on.
49. Google Yes No
50. Yahoo Yes No
51. Bing Yes No

Mobile Search –
Check off what you have set up.
52. Site optimized for mobile users. Yes No
53. Mobile landing page Yes No
54. Mobile Ads Yes No
55. QR Codes Yes No
56. SMS Yes No

Directories –
Are you using online directories to market your business?
57. Online Yellow Pages Yes No
58. Yelp Yes No
59. Other
Other
Other

Facebook Ads –
60. Are you using Facebook ads? Yes No

Banner Advertising on other sites?
61. Banner Network or Direct Cross Promotion Banners? Yes No

Other Promotions –
What other advertising methods do you use?
62. Referral program for existing customers. Yes No
63. Affiliate program for related business referrals. Yes No
64. Direct mail. Yes No
65. Radio ads. Yes No
66. TV ads. Yes No
67. Val Pak (or coupon deck) Yes No
68. Newspapers Yes No
69. Craig’s List Yes No
70. Angie’s List Yes No

Street Visibility and Signage -
71. (If physical location is important) Our business has a sign that is easily visible from the street. Yes No

Press Releases –
72. Our business uses press releases to make announcements. Yes No

Media Kits –
73. Our business has an online, email ready and printed media kit for media inquiries we might receive. Yes No

Budget
74. I have an annual marketing budget. Yes No
75. Our marketing budget is based on a percentage of our gross revenue. Yes No
76. Average monthly spending for current marketing and advertising.

Tracking
How do you measure the effectiveness of your marketing methods?
77. I keep track of how a caller or new customer heard about us by asking them and writing it down. Yes No
78. I keep a spreadsheet tally of where calls and customers come from. Yes No
79. Our staff is trained to ask where a customer found out about us, including how they got to our website. Yes No
80. We have a system to separately track how our different marketing methods are working for getting new customers. Yes No

What are your biggest marketing challenges and concerns?

Name:

Company:

Position title:

Phone:                                                            Fax:

Address:

City:                            State:                          Zip:

Email address:

Present Website URL (if any):

Hours of operation:

Types of payments accepted:  ___Cash ___personal check ___Visa ___Mastercard

___AMEX ___Diners Club ___Discover ___PayPal ___Google Checkout ___Financing

Brief description of what your company does/sells:

If you were searching for your company, what key words would you use? – please try and use at least 5.

What categories would your company fit under?  i.e. grocery store, fresh food, auto supply, etc.

What are your goals for this marketing search marketing campaign?

What problems would you like this campaign to handle?

Do you want to offer a coupon to people who find your search listing?

If so, what do you want that coupon to be for?  Please be specific.  (i.e. % off what service?  Cash value coupon for new clients, etc.)

Industry (manufacturing, technology, health care, retail, etc):

Market (who do you sell to? Public? Business? Schools?):

Demographics of your market (describe your average customer and who your ideal customer is as far as gender, age, job title, financial bracket- or where they live):

Why do your current customers buy from you?

Do you ask for customer referrals/testimonials?

If so, how is this done?

Main Competition: (list the top two or three)

Competition websites:

What do they do better than you?

Do you have established accounts with:

Google

Bing

Yahoo

If yes, what type of accounts/advertising are you currently doing?

In order to properly manage your local search marketing program, we will need to set up a special email address that copies both you and us for statistics and set up for these search engines.  WE will set this up and send you logins for this.  If you have an e-mail address we can forward this to, please e-mail us at  admin@upingo.com with that information.

If you don’t have a web person, we will be happy to set this up for you, and will need you to provide us with your domain login.

PHOTOS:  You can add up to 5 images with your local listing.  Please email photos to :  admin@upingo.com

VIDEOS:  You can add a video to your local listing.  Please upload the video to YouTube and send us the link.

When you have completed this form, please email it to admin@upingo.com .

Thank you!