We’ve Got an App for That

Anthony Wayne    Mobile Apps     apps, create, develop, mobile

When Apple Computer launched the iPhone 3G in 2008, a whole new world of mobile marketingemerged with the creation of the Apple App Store.

Advanced provides mobile apps for Comcast SportsNet in several markets, including Chicago.

The Apple App Store is a collection of software programs or applications that can be downloaded to, and run on, a “smart” phone or other mobile devices. The range of apps is bewildering with over 100,000 iPhone apps in the App Store, all accessible only through the Apple iPhone.

But, although Apple created the “App” buzzword, iPhones represent only 5% of the overall mobile phone market share and 25% of the smart phone market. Blackberry, in contrast, has 43% of the smart phone market. Hence, to have a completely accessible product to reach your entire marketplace, your app needs to also reach Google’s Android operating systems, Palm’s webOS, Blackberry’s App World, and Windows Marketplace for Mobile. Unfortunately, each needs to be designed separately, as Apple’s Apps exist in a “walled garden” and will only work on iPhones.

Development of Mobile Apps

Advanced Telecom Services’ applications development group designs, develops, and hosts custom mobile apps solutions for businesses and brands. Our solutions are all designed to be carrier agnostic, thus resulting in complete access to the smart phone market and not just to iPhones.

Our development team has been developing mobile solutions and apps together since 2004. Our impressive client list includes: internationally known businesses such as AT&T, IBM, and American Express; media partners CBS, Turner Broadcasting, The Golf Channel, Versus; sports organizations including the PGA of America, NCAA, National Hockey League; the United States Golf Association.

Unlike some other organizations, all of our mobile apps are developed in-house in the United States to ensure they are user-friendly and compatible with all North American mobile phones. Remember, a mobile app needs to work on more than just iPhones to maximize its valuable in the marketplace.

The Mobile Apps Marketplace

In 2009, $6.2 billion was spent on mobile apps, according to the Gartner Group. That figure is up over $2 billion from just a year prior. Revenues for mobile apps are projected to exceed $29.5 billion in 2013.

Mobile apps represent a marketplace that your brand cannot afford to ignore.

What is a QR Code and How Can It Help my Marketing?

Anthony Wayne    QR Codes     build a bear, custom, free, marketing, QR Codes

A QR code is a specific matrix barcode that is readable by dedicated barcode readers that are most commonly contained on smart phones.  The QR code usually consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background.

Custom QR Code created for Build a Bear

At Advanced Telecom Services, however, we like to generate custom QR codes with some branding for you, just like the one on the left.  Through our proprietary software, we are able to add your logo or message to the QR code.

We also create mobile websites for use with your QR code.  These mobile web sites are optimized for the smaller screen of the mobile phone.  Virtually anything that you can do on a web site can be done with a QR code.

There are so many uses for QR codes that it’s difficult to know where to start.  Virtually anything that you can do on the internet, can be accessed through a handy QR code.  When you scan a QR code with your smart phone, you can link to digital content on the web or activate a number of cell phone functions such as email, IM, text message, or connect the mobile device to a web browser.

Some ways that QR codes are being used today include:

• Magazines and newspapers
• Additional advertising information
• Web site traffic
• Video link
• The back of your business card
• Outdoor advertisements
• Product tags and packages
• Convention name tags
• Menus
• Tickets
• Directions to your store
• Mobile coupons
• Downloading e-books

QR codes have been popular in Japan and Korea for many years, but are just beginning to have a significant impact here in North America.  QR codes are just one of the many important elements that you need to incorporate into your mobile marketing plans.

If you wish to use a standard QR Code, use our Free QR Code Generator.

Take a look at some of our new Custom QR Codes.

Be Mobile Friendly

Anthony Wayne    Mobile Web Sites     friendly, mobile, websites

Party City and the New York Giants partnered for a great mobile website promotion.

Just because you can see your web site on a mobile device doesn’t mean that it is mobile-friendly.  When it comes to mobile web sites, size truly does matter.  Mobile websites need to have easy navigation and be designed for the smaller screen of the mobile phone.

With internet access via the mobile phone projected to outpace that of desktop access by 2015 (Source – IDC), it’s time for your web site to be mobile ready and mobile optimized.

At Advanced Telecom Services, we have honed our craft over several years of developing mobile web sites.  We don’t develop our mobile websites to win awards; we develop them to GET RESULTS for you.  Your site can use its existing software architecture or you can have an entirely new mobile web site that fits your specs.

Your new mobile website will be search engine optimized to enable your site to show up higher in the mobile search engine rankings and it will offer an intuitive user experience.

Here are just some of the many elements that can be included in your new mobile website:

Analytics
Theme Editor
Menu Editor
Content Editor
Image Editor
Video Editor
Social Media
Traditional Web Site Synch
Mobile Blogging
Maps
Store Locator
Click to Call
TextChat
IVR Integration
Custom QR Codes
Site Maps

Your new mobile website from Advanced Telecom Services will enable you to remain competitive in an ever-changing market while scaling your product to the mass market that now prefers to access your content via mobile devices.

Text Message Marketing

Anthony Wayne    Text Message Marketing     marketing, text messag

Text Message marketing provides a one-to-one relationship with your consumer in a way that no other medium has ever done before.

There is no better way to reach young adults and teens than with text message marketing.

The cell phone is an incredibly personal device. It’s so personal, in fact, that even husbands and wives don’t ever share it.

The cell phone is with the individual 24 hours a day, even when asleep. Ever forget yours? It’s like leaving your wallet or keys behind and you’ll likely go back to retrieve it immediately.

Text Message Marketing is Opt-in Marketing

Text message marketing is opt-in marketing. It is subject to the same SPAM laws as email marketing. While the regulations haven’t done a very good job in keeping your email SPAM filter any less busy, with mobile, opt-ins are rigorously enforced.

You must have permission or an existing relationship with a consumer to send mobile marketing messages to his or her cell phone. And, that’s precisely why text message marketing works so well. Consumers have actually requested to receive your marketing messages.

Creating a Database of Opt-Ins

The key to a successful mobile marketing campaign is to build a large and highly targeted database of opt-in participants. The opt-in is best obtained through an interactive mobile marketing program where the consumer texts a unique keyword to a short code. An example is this:

Text RESULTS to 84444

In this case, “RESULTS” is the keyword and “84444” is the short code. The carriers require that a short code be used for all promotional and marketing messages. You can’t simply get a list of cell phone numbers and start sending text messages to them like you would to your friends.

Once a consumer has participated in an interactive mobile marketing campaign such as the one listed above, the marketer has now created an opt-in since it has an existing relationship with the consumer.

There are, however, other acceptable means to creating an opt-in. An opt-in can be created through a web site or through any other acceptable means where the consumer has requested that he or she be contacted via text message.

Through opt-in means, the marketer has now created a very valuable database indeed. These are consumers who want to hear from you in the future.

What to do with Your Opt-In Database

Once you have created an opt-in database, you can now send broadcast text messages to that consumer. These messages might be to notify your database of upcoming events, sales, or simply to keep your brand in front of the consumer.

One of the best things about mobile marketing is that you can create various categories of opt-ins based on geography, demographics, or interests. That way, you can send the most relevant messages to the individual consumers.

You can also reach the consumers when they are most likely to act on your offer. For example, if you were a sandwich shop, sending your broadcast text messages just before lunch time would be an ideal way to generate more business for your restaurant.

The Best ROI in Marketing Today

You want the best return on investment for your promotional dollars and mobile marketing, when paired with a proper marketing mix, delivers that.

Text message marketing is surprisingly inexpensive. For instance, with Advanced Telecom Services’ 84444.com product, you can open a mobile marketing account and then get started in mobile promotions or mobile advertising for as little as $79 per month. Since you are using a shared short code, you won’t have to pay the required $1000 per month and high initial investment to get started in the mobile marketing business. We’ve already done that for you.

Reaching your best customers with a personalized mobile message has never been easier or more economical than with the do-it-yourself mobile marketing tools provided by Advanced Telecom Services.

We’ve got your customers…right in their pockets.

A One Stop Mobile Marketing Shop

Anthony Wayne    mobile marketing     apps, marketing, mobile, products, website

A great mobile marketing platform uses several touch points with consumers.

Mobile marketing – is an all-encompassing array of products that your business or organization needs to stay current.  You need a fully integrated and complimentary mobile marketing strategy that engages customers and prospects on a variety of levels. Advanced Telecom Services, a Philadelphia-based mobile marketing company, offers its customers a One Stop Mobile Marketing Shop where you can obtain all of the important elements of your mobile marketing program.

Text Message Marketing – is the pillar that holds up the mobile marketing building.  While not the sexiest element of mobile marketing, it is the most pervasive and therefore, the most important aspect of a mobile marketing campaign. You can utilize our Do-it-Yourself Mobile Marketing site on 84444.com or you can benefit directly from our experience and expertise by using our Text Message Concierge Service offered at PromoTXT.com.

TextChat – is a web-based solution that allows your sales and CSR’s to interact with consumers real-time via two-way SMS/Text conversations on their desktop PC or tablet.  All communications and contact information is archived and easily exportable to CRM tools.  Moreover, your personnel can be alerted via email or text message whenever a new message arrives.

Mobile Web Sites – Your web site probably does a great job of serving your internet customers, but your mobile customers are simply not the same as your traditional internet customers.  A great mobile web site offers easy navigation and clear content delivery that is customized for the smaller screen of the mobile customer.

Apps – are red hot and our team has been developing apps for some of the largest media companies and sports teams in the country.  And, one of the benefits of our mobile apps development is that it is done right here in our offices and right here in the United States.

Custom QR Codes – You’ve certainly seen those black and white boxes all over the place in the past year.  QR Codes provide a convenient and quick way to reach some of your most prized content, but at the end of the day, most look the same and offer no branding for your company.  Not with Advanced Telecom Services’ Custom QR Codes.  We provide the same QR Code, but customized with your brand and an enhanced usage rate that is 3.2 times greater than traditional QR Codes.

IVR – While mobile is clearly the future, not everybody has embraced it yet.  And, if your brand reaches more traditional consumers, you should have an Interactive Voice Response element to it as well.

INFOGRAPHIC: History of the QR Code

Anthony Wayne    QR Codes     history, QR Code

We love the QR Code and we saw this infographic about the History of the QR Code, we just couldn’t resist.

61% of USA, 68% of Canada Households Have Wifi

Anthony Wayne    mobile marketing    

There are a lot of interesting statistics when it comes to mobile, thus making mobile marketingthe go-to promotional medium for now and in the near future.  Here’s a look at some interesting mobile stats:

• 630 million NFC (Near Field Communication) enabled phones shipping in three years. This would be an increase from 44 million NFC phones shipped last year, according to KPMG.

• 23 billion tickets delivered to mobile phones within four years. This would be an increase from four billion delivered last year, says Juniper Research.

• 61 percent of U.S. households and 68% of Canadian households have Wi-Fi. That may sound like a lot, but other countries are higher. To wit: South Korea 80%, U.K. 73%, Germany 72%, France 71%, and Japan 68%, according to Strategy Analytics. The world is becoming wired.

• 10 billion mobile connections by 2016. This would be a rise from the 6 billion connections today, but Cisco is also predicting roughly a doubling of overall data consumption each year until then, with video accounting for 71 percent of all mobile data.

No matter how you look at it, the numbers around mobile just keep getting bigger.

Is That Ringing in Your Ears Due to TV Commercials?

Anthony Wayne    Canada, media     commercials, loud, television

If you are like me, you turn down the sound, or worse yet, mute it, during television commercials.  That’s because the volume of the television advertising is incredibly high so if you would like to talk, you almost have to.  Finally, the CRTC is doing something about it.  Canadian television stations will need to tone down their advertisements come September.

The CRTC hears you (barely) and is moving to lower the sound of TV commercials.

OTTAWA-GATINEAU — Today, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) published the final regulations requiring Canadian broadcasters and broadcasting distributors to control the loudness of TV commercials by September 1, 2012.

“The rules we published bring us a step closer to our goal of eliminating loud TV ads,” said Leonard Katz, Acting Chairman of the CRTC. “We have every expectation that the industry will take the necessary steps to meet our deadline and provide relief to viewers.”

The regulations require Canadian broadcasters to adhere to the Advanced Television Systems Committee’s (ATSC) standard for measuring and controlling television signals. Adherence to this standard will minimize fluctuations in loudness between programming and commercials. The ATSC is an internationally recognized body that sets technical standards for digital television.

In December 2011, the CRTC published draft regulations for comment after responding to Canadians’ concern that commercial advertisements were too loud.

Broadcasters are also responsible for maintaining the volume of programs.

They must follow these rules and ensure that both programs and ads are transmitted at the same volume by no later than September 1, 2012.

Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2012-273

How To Make a Successful App

Anthony Wayne    Mobile Apps     apps, development, successful, tips

Developing an app is a significant investment.  And, while developing a mobile website costs 85% less on average, there are just some things that an app does better.

An app is a piece of software that is installed on your smartphone.  If you need to do some computing or work with a large database of information like our Cars2Go platform does, then you are better off with an app.

Making a successful app is a different story.  Here’s some tips on how to make your app successful.

Mobile apps are very difficult to do right so consult the experts.

Zim Corporation Plans for 2012 Growth

Anthony Wayne    Company News     Dr. Michael Cowpland, Jim Stechyson, Ontario, Ottawa, Zim Corporation

Advanced Telecom Services is a part owner of the publicly traded Zim Corporation of Ottawa, Ontario.  President Bob Bentz attended meetings with Zim founder Dr. Michael Cowpland and chairman Jim Stechyson earlier this week.

The Zim Corporation building in Ottawa, Ontario.