The folks at Text Marketer, a firm on the other side of the pond in the UK, have put together a neat infographic charting the rise of business text messaging use:

National Survey Says: Smartphones to Drive Marketing Efforts in 2012


Smartphone applications and mobile barcodes -- those funny-looking, pixilated squares appearing on everything from bus shelters to price tags -- will spur innovation and sales in the marketing world in 2012, according to a new survey commissioned by AT&T*.

Key Findings:

•88 percent of respondents expect their mobile marketing program to increase in the next 12 months.
•Mobile marketing strategies companies are interested in deploying in the next 12 months include:

◦Mobile apps rank the highest at 43 percent
◦Mobile barcodes - 41 percent
◦Banner ads - 40 percent
◦Mobile web - 35 percent
◦SMS messages - 34 percent
◦Digital signage - 17 percent
◦All of the above - 17 percent

•66 percent of respondents agree that mobile barcodes will drive innovation in mobile marketing in the next year.

•Consumer demand, security and cost are the three most important factors when considering mobile barcodes as part of a marketing program.

 
AT&T commissioned a survey of 501 marketing or advertising professionals working at U.S.-based companies to better understand the opinions and attitudes of marketing and advertising executives toward mobile marketing, specifically mobile barcodes, and the factors that potentially could accelerate their use in the future.

The majority of executives surveyed said they view mobile barcodes as innovative and rank mobile barcodes the second highest mobile marketing priority for the year ahead. Executives point to security, affordability, and consumer demand as key factors when considering mobile barcodes as part of their marketing programs, which can be easily scanned on smartphones and, in moments, link consumers to additional content via the mobile Internet.

"With the growing popularity of smartphones and the increasing dependence on mobile devices, it's only natural that marketing executives want to turn up the volume on their mobile strategies next year," said Chris Hill, Vice President, Advanced Mobility Solutions, AT&T Business Solutions.

Source: FierceMobileContent 

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Record Black Friday sales have given retailers hope that business will pick up a bit this holiday season. For many people, that news conjures images of crowded mall parking lots and busy big-box retailers.

But the news also offers opportunities for small businesses like those that line Hopkins’ Mainstreet.

Hopkins Patch spoke with Doug Denny—a local marketing consultant and copywriter—about how local businesses can make the most of the season. His company, DeJa Local Marketing, has done work for businesses ranging from Hopkins Auto Body to Chili’s.

Here’s what he had to say.

1) Connect your business to local holiday events.

Hopkins has plenty of seasonal festivals that local businesses can often tap into better than big-box retailers. Small-businesses owners should tie their sales into these events in order to emphasize how local they are, Denny said. For example, stores open during Hopkins’ Old Fashioned Christmas celebration could offer an “Old Fashioned Deal.”

2) Tie in to local successes.

Hopkins’ sense of community is one of its greatest strengths. While the standardization of big-box stores can make it hard for them to capitalize on that sentiment, local businesses don’t have that problem. Their owners often live in the city and have a pulse on local happenings.

Find out what’s successful in the schools, in churches and elsewhere in the community, Denny suggested. Then connect promotions to those local highlights. When the boys basketball team won its third championship in a row, for example, stores could have offered three deals for the three-peat.

“Think local,” Denny said. “Don’t just think about your customers. Think about your customers’ lives.”

3) Connect with customers on the go.

That means going mobile.Use text message alerts, smart phone apps, mobile websites and other options to reach potential customers as they go about their day.

The good news is that these products are no longer the domain of big corporations. Small businesses can hire someone to put together a functional app for less than $2,000—with financing plans available to spread the cost out, Denny said. Mobile websites are even cheaper, as low as $750 for an easily navigable site tailored to smart phones.

When you have the mobile pieces in place, promote them heavily at point of sale locations and other traditional ways in order to let customers know the options are out there. Offer mobile-only deals with coupon codes.

Local stores may offer products and bargains as good as those in a crowded holiday mall. But that doesn’t help if customers aren’t reminded about what’s available.

“Reach them where they are, so we can shop Mainstreet,” Denny said.

4) Avoid “interruptive marketing” whenever possible.

These are messages that force potential customers to stop whatever they’re doing to pay attention to the ad—whether that’s a commercial breaking into a TV show or a newspaper ad interrupting an article.  Customers, especially the younger generation, have become adept at tuning out this type of marketing.

But what about the text message alerts and other messaging that Denny recommends? Those aren’t interruptive because customers opted to receive them, he said, noting that about 95 percent of text messages are opened.

5) Build in a time element.

All that mobile marketing means businesses are no longer communicating with people comfortably ensconced on the couch. Those messages are coming in while people are in meetings, transporting their children or otherwise going about their day. 

Including a not-too-distant deadline—“Come in during the next four hours for a special price.”—encourages customers to stop by on their way home and choose your store for the spontaneous decisions they make while out and about, Denny said.

6) Don’t sweat it if customers share the coupon codes with friends who don’t subscribe to your mobile products.

The whole goal is to increase the number of customers. As long as you’ve included some profit margin, your store will be better off for the extra people stopping by.

7) Make visiting your store enjoyable—especially throughout the holiday season.

“During the holidays, people are attracted to bright lights and fun,” Denny said.

Source: hopkins.patch.com

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To lure customers and boost sales, stores are deploying cool smartphone apps. Will consumers buy into the latest shopping fad?

By Caitlin Keating, reporter

FORTUNE -- Scott Thompson, president and CEO of eBay's PayPal unit (EBAY), says that he is one of those people who drives to Starbucks, sees the long line, and keeps on driving. "I'm on the go. I wish I could have stopped, but I don't have time," Thompson quips over a glass of wine. "No one does."

Not surprisingly, Thompson and his competitors in the fast-growing mobile payments business have a solution for impatient consumers and harried retailers alike: software that lets consumers pre-order and pre-pay for their coffee (or sweaters, or TVs) with a few taps on their mobile phones.

"We all just don't have time to shop," says Thompson, who hosted a recent soiree in New York to unveil PayPal Wallet, smartphone software coming next year that promises to replace both the consumer's wallet (all your credit card information is stored in it) and the retailer's cash register.

But retailers aren't waiting for PayPal Wallet. Many are already going mobile, either offering mobile apps to supplement e-commerce sites, or finding new ways to let potential shoppers get information in stores using their mobile phones.

Sears, for example, has tricked out O'Hare Airport and other high-traffic areas with so-called shopping walls that feature its top-selling products. See something you like? Whip out a camera-enabled phone, scan the Quick Response (QR) code, and you'll be sent to an e-commerce site that lets you purchase the item. By the time you board your plane, the item is already in the process of being shipped.

Tom Aiello, a division vice president at Sears's parent company, Sears Holdings (SHLD), said in regards to this holiday season, "Customers are going to spend more, but shop less. We have seen people use mobile phones when electricity was out to order generators in an ice storm, or an air conditioner during a heat wave in New York City. We've also seen surprising items like lawn tractors purchased on mobile phones and tablets."

The National Retail Federation estimates more than a third of retailers say they have significantly invested in QR codes in offline advertising, such as magazines and billboards. About half of online retailers say they have significantly invested in mobile-optimized websites, and 20% have invested in tablet device apps.

Greg Ahearn, chief marketing officer of Toys "R" Us, has started accepting mobile payments in some of its stores via Google Wallet (GOOG), the search giant's mobile commerce platform. Consumers who have phones enabled with special wireless technology can "bump" their gadgets against compatible cash registers at some 200 of the toy retailer's 870 worldwide locations and complete the sale that way. "It's all about convenience," Ahearn says. "The easier you make it for someone to find the exact toy you're looking for and get it to them the way they want it is the way retail is headed."

But sometimes people can't find that exact toy, or book, or necklace. That's where gift cards come in, and no surprise, gift certificates have gone mobile, too. David Stone, co-founder and CEO of digital gift card purveyor CashStar estimates that Americans purchase some $100 billion in these cash substitutes every year. Cohen's company is trying to shift the business from plastic cards to digital chits. "This is the post-plastic card era, because we are living on our iPhones, iPads, and computers."

Stone's dream scenario: "You're walking up to your friend's kid's birthday party, and you see people bringing gifts, and you think: 'Oh my god, I forgot to get a gift.' So you take out your smartphone and instantly buy the gift, walk into the house, and you say, 'Susan or Debby, I just sent you a gift! Check your phone, and there it is.'"

Convenient, yes, but we're not sure if Miss Manners would approve.

A shorter version of this article appeared in the December 12, 2011 issue of Fortune.