When I got the e-mail announcing a BMW mobile marketing campaign to promote the 3 series, I was pretty excited. I’ve been keeping an eye on mobile marketing for years, and see a lot of potential for the medium.

Then, I actually looked at the BMW campaign. Here’s how it works. You phone a number (703-286-BMW3) on your Internet-enabled mobile phone, and hear a recorded message. Then, you receive a text message on the phone (presumably, caller ID technology allows the company to harvest your phone number). If your phone is capable (my late model, $400 Nokia phone apparently isn’t), you can click the link in the text message to visit the mobile Web site. What I finally had to do was type the fairly lengthy URL into my phone’s Web browser.

What I saw was overwhelmingly underwhelming: several pages of text and a few images. What was missing? Meaningful interactivity, a trivia quiz, for example. Or wireless-specific features, like ringtones and wallpaper. In short, it lacked anything that would have made it appropriate for the medium.

After all these years, marketers are waking up to wireless. BMW deserves kudos for innovation. Yet now that marketer adoption is finally happening, let’s not screw it up. To succeed, mobile marketing must be a good, rewarding consumer experience. It also needs to achieve success for marketers. Mobile marketing has been around a while now, particularly in Europe and Asia. Let’s learn from that and move ahead.

Even a fan like me must admit there are good reasons marketers have, for years, shied away from mobile. According to a JupiterResearch survey conducted in December, only 6 percent of online adults have received an SMS from a business. More promising, are figures from the same survey showing 38 percent of online adults have sent or received SMS messages from friends. When you break it down to those aged 18 to 24, the number climbs to 75 percent.

Consumer adoption of mobile messaging, especially among attractive youth demographics, is certainly attracting interest from marketers of late. Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) Executive Director Peter Fuller tells me the group (formed through the merger of two organizations in 2002) has grown accustomed to signing up about one new member a quarter. Last quarter, 10 new members joined. While most members listed on the MMA’s site are technology vendors, Procter & Gamble is prominently involved, as are agencies like Starcom MediaVest Group and Carat Interactive.

“It’s such an exciting medium that advertisers are diving into because it allows instant access to people wherever they are,” Fuller told me.

The key terms there are “instant access” and “wherever they are.” For mobile marketing to work, there must be a compelling reason to reach people instantly, wherever they are. If BMW were to put its opt-in phone number on all print marketing collateral, on billboards, on TV ads, etc., the campaign would make more sense. The company would capitalize on that instant when consumers saw the offline ads and entice them to begin an interactive relationship. As it is, BMW reportedly plans to post the phone number only on its Web site. Hello..? If you’re only offering text and pictures, why not do it on a Web site in the first place? I would have asked BMW this myself, but the company didn’t respond to an inquiry about the campaign.

Key things to think about as you launch your first mobile marketing effort:

Capitalize on the impulse. Think about occasions or locations at which you’d like to engage a consumer when they’re unlikely to have PC access. Do you want to put a short code on your cereal box and invite consumers to enter a contest? Do you want to invite people to get more information when they see a billboard?

Make it interactive. There’s a good reason why games are popular mobile phone applications — they’re fun. Your marketing should be fun, too. What better way to inform people about your product than to engage them in a trivia quiz? (Warner Brothers and Yahoo! did something like this recently for “Oceans 12″.)

Make it unique to mobile. Elements like ringtones and phone wallpaper are conducive to carrying brand messaging. They fulfil people’s need to change their phones’ look and sound every once in a while. If they do and express a preference for your brand, so much the better.
Jim Manis, global chairman of the MMA and senior VP of industry development at m-Qube, thinks we’ll be seeing some campaigns that embody these principles in 2005. “Integration of mobile with television and radio and print is occurring at quite a rapid clip right now,” he told me. “The last three months have seen a significant bump, and my guess is over the next quarter you’ll see an increase in the sophistication of the programs.”

BMW’s campaign got on my nerves because mobile marketing has so much potential. In this case, it felt wasted. JupiterResearch wireless and automotive analyst Julie Ask wasn’t as negative about the effort. She points out mobile phones are more ubiquitous than PCs, and young people (the 3 series’ target audience) are the ones interested in trying out mobile data technologies. Julie added the promotion will provide BMW with valuable data that will ultimately help it conduct better mobile marketing in the future.

She has some good points. I fervently hope it’s just BMW’s first, tentative foray into U.S. mobile marketing, and I hope results are positive enough to encourage the automaker to do more experimentation. It’s just the beginning. There’s so much more to be explored. Don’t screw it up before it even gets started.

By Pamela Parker

Reciprocal linking is of great importance to website owners who wish to achieve good rankings on the major search engines. As a result the internet has witnessed a growth in �link’ sites where webmasters can find potential reciprocal link partners. In addition, webmasters are trawling the internet looking for link partners that can benefit their site either through complementary content or high page rankings.

However, as many webmasters can appreciate, when corresponding with fellow webmasters to reciprocate links it can be a very trying process. E-mails are not replied to, links are never added, your links suddenly move or disappear without notice or the proper link details are not used. Such actions lead to wasted time and frustration.

As with most things in life, if a little etiquette is shown and adhered to in dealings between people, matters become a lot easier. Etiquette provides a framework of behaviour within which people can act - drawing lines between what is acceptable and unacceptable. If webmasters begin to show a little etiquette to one another the reciprocal linking process will become a lot less stressful and irritating.

Below are some suggested etiquette guidelines for webmasters engaging in reciprocal linking campaigns:
Have a reciprocal linking policy: If you accept reciprocal links make it clear how other webmasters can submit their sites. Is it simply by e-mail or via link software? Ensure you ask them for all the information you need - i.e. link title, URL, description, reciprocal link page or HTML. If you have categories provide an option. Always provide your link details and state whether or not a reciprocal link must first be added by them in order to be accepted.

Respond to e-mails: When a webmaster sends an e-mail either exploring the possibility of exchanging links or pointing you to a link already added to their sites, respond to their e-mails within 24 hours even if you cannot properly address the issue for a while. This is good etiquette as it lets the webmaster know you have received the request rather than keeping them guessing.

Confirm actions: If you decide to reciprocate a link confirm it with the other webmaster via e-mail. A short simple e-mail providing the URL is enough and shows good etiquette. If you do not wish to exchange links, again send a short e-mail explaining why. This will save the webmaster valuable time either chasing you up or trawling through your links pages to try and find their link.

Stick to your word: If you say you will add a link, make sure you do so. There is nothing more frustrating than being told your link will be added then discovering two months down the line a link was never added. This is very poor etiquette and simply unfair as the other site has provided you with something and received nothing in return. If you plan to add a link let the other webmaster know in what time period it will be carried out even if it is a month away.

Communicate changes: As sites grow and links increase webmasters do occasionally need to rearrange their link pages. Links may be moved to different pages or removed. If either is being carried out let the appropriate webmaster know.

Identify yourself: If your e-mail address does not correspond to your domain name, make sure you make it clear what site you manage. There is nothing more frustrating than receiving an e-mail stating, “Your link has been added,” and not knowing who or where it is from. You are then left to trawl your link details to identify who the new link partner is.

Give others a chance: Many webmasters are busy people. This may occasionally means their etiquette in replying or acting upon a link request slips a little. When this occurs, be patient. If there has been no reply within a week send a polite reminder. However, if there is still no response then it is perfectly reasonable to remove any links you may have added.

Use requested link details: Webmasters have certain keywords they wish to target and therefore use them in link titles. If a webmaster provides you with their link details, pay attention to their request and do not simply visit the site and make up the link details yourself. If no link details have been provided, either provide a link and check whether they are happy with it or simply ask for their details.

Etiquette, etiquette, etiquette: Above all, when corresponding with webmasters be polite, helpful and courteous.

The above etiquette tips for reciprocal linking will hopefully ensure that those involved in the hunt for new links can do so easily and without frustration.

By Neil Payne

During conversations with web business professionals about pay-per-click search engines, “traffic volume” is always a hot topic. Over the last year or so, Google Adwords has emerged as the pay-per-click (PPC) search engine most enamoured for driving “traffic volume”.

Demographic Targets
Effectively Target Your Demographic
Indeed, with Google Adwords providing paid listings for Google Search, the #1 search engine in the world, as well as American Online (e.g. AOL), Ask Jeeves and MySearch.com, the fourth, fifth, and seventh spots, respectively, for the most popular search engines per a 2004 study by Neilson/NetRatings, it deserves strong recognition.

However, successful web marketers understand that “driving traffic volume” is only a means to an end - the “end” being website conversion.

Website conversion is when a visitor takes action (ideally your most wanted action) on your website after clicking through your ad. It is important because it leads to financial results for your web business and generates a return on your advertising spend (ROAS).

Every web business consists of unique characteristics created by their market demographics, psychographics and product/service benefits. A PPC search engine that generates visitors who convert well for one web business may fail miserably for another. Therefore, when developing your PPC strategy consider the search engines’ “usage demographics.”

Usage demographics are the profiles of Internet users who prefer one search engine over others based on their perceived functionality, content, and search result placement and relevance. By understanding usage demographics for the search engines Google Adwords and Overture supply paid listings to, a web marketer can develop a relevant message and target an ad placement that most effectively connects and converts their most qualified buyers.

Although Google Adwords and Overture’s partner networks consist of thousands of content and search-based websites, the highest percentage of their traffic originates from the five most popular search engines. Among these, Google Adwords supplies paid listings (i.e. Sponsored Results or Listings) to Google Search, Ask Jeeves and American Online (AOL) while Overture supplies Yahoo! and MSN.

Below are the primary search engine usage demographics to consider when developing your PPC strategy:

A. Gender: Male versus Female
A May 2004 study by Hitwise showed that “55% of women prefer MSN Search while a majority of men favour Google Search”. Yahoo! Search was split even on gender with a greater focus on people 18-34 in age.

A 2004 MarketingSherpa study indicated that MSN’s user profile consisted of time-limited, married females who searched less frequently yet performed greater e-commerce searches. While Google Search was favoured by professional males who performed greater news, media, entertainment and education searches with a lesser intent to purchase.

For AOL and Ask Jeeves, AOL is favoured by women with less buying intent than MSN Search while Ask Jeeves is preferred by children.

Furthermore, an April 2004 iProspect study uncovered that, “women found paid ads to be more relevant than men did when searching across Google, Yahoo!, MSN and AOL.”

These statistics are startling when considering their influence on your PPC strategy since women represent roughly 75% of major household purchases and as stated in a Women.com study, control 80% of all purchasing decisions.

B. Relevancy: Paid versus Organic Listings
Another usage demographic to consider for your PPC strategy is “perceived relevancy” of paid versus organic listings. Ads perceived as having greater relevancy lead to higher website conversions.

The iProspect study referenced earlier also discovered that “Internet users are more likely to click on an organic search link on Google, and a paid search result on MSN.” Organic listings on Yahoo! were considered 61% more relevant than paid listings while AOL was split 50/50.

C. Age: Young versus Adult versus Seniors
A third usage demographic to review is age. Preferences among the top five search engines are fairly mixed among age groups; Yahoo! is a strong favourite with 18-34 year olds; while MSN and AOL have a stronger preference among the 35-55+ age group. As stated earlier, AskJeeves is favoured by teens and adolescents which is growing in their buying power within American households as stated in a recent BusinessWeek research study.

So what does this all mean for your PPC strategy?
First, it is highly recommended to run Google Adwords and Overture campaigns concurrently using keyword-level tracking systems to determine which PPC search engine generates the most cost effective and best converting visitors. Usage data generated from your website is the best market research.

Second, consider your writing style. By understanding the common characteristics of your customers and writing PPC ads best suited to the search engine’s usage demographics; you will increase your probability of connecting with your audience and improving your website conversion. Also make special note that women have a stronger propensity to buy AND a higher “perceived relevance” for paid listings on MSN Search.

Third, although Google Adwords accesses a larger traffic pool, Overture’s partner network, mainly MSN Search, has the highest perceived relevancy for paid listings and the highest propensity for purchasing. Although counter-intuitive to current conventional thinking, Overture may deliver better “converting visitors” than Google Adwords.

In closing, a greater focus on the search engines’ usage demographics when writing your PPC ads, targeting PPC channels and developing corresponding landing pages will enable your marketing strategy to ultimately achieve stronger financial results for your web business.

By Kevin Gold