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To All Our Friends,
As we enter the Holiday Season, two thoughts seem common among most of us. First, is the special time spent with family & friends making memories. Second, is a natural self-reflection of where we’ve been and what we’ve done in this journey called life; combined with fresh ideas and rekindled hopes to better our lives in the new year that lies ahead.
At TheLocalProject we’ve come a long way since our launch 30 months ago; the CONNECTLocal platform which started as an idea is now a reality.
What sets CONNECTLocal aside from all of today’s popular platforms is our approach to the User, their privacy, their personal data, and the delivery of advertisements. It’s front page news that platforms like Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Yelp all collect the User’s data in order to sell it to advertisers, so advertisers can then target “us the consumer”.
If you use these platforms “you are the product” and “access to you” is what’s being sold to generate revenue for these platforms. Recent reporting shows there’s little discretion in what information is sold or what access is given. Nearly everything we enter into these platforms including our private messages is offered to 3rd parties so they can market to us. Even the microphones in our cellphone, Alexa, and Echo are used to listen for when we say keywords like Bahamas, Chevy, eye-liner; so digital ads can be “targeted to us” whenever we touch a digital device.
As an alternative, CONNECTLocal utilizes the concept of MyChoice Advertising which puts the User in full control of what advertising they see. In our model, we never compromise the User, their data, or their privacy to an advertiser. Our revenue model calls for businesses to pay a flat-fee to have their business represented in the network and allows Users to select which advertising and businesses they want to access.
Much could be shared about TheLocalProject’s Mission, credo and CONNECTLocal. We are a grass-roots initiative of people working together to build a network for their community that they would like to have. The modern term is “crowdsourcing”, however the principal is the same. We believe people can do a better job building their town’s network than those in the Ivory Towers of Silicon Valley.
That’s where you come in! You can play a role in expanding the platform nationally, statewide, regionally, or simply where you live. Get involved as little or as much as you like. When you support the “Project”, your contributions combine with the contributions of others to create a local network built by Users for Users.
We’re looking for people at all levels to join the effort. Opportunities include equity ownership of the national parent organization, State Sponsorships, Regional Management, and more. If you have interest, we’d like to talk with you.
I find the last 2 weeks of December the most special time of the year, a loving, peaceful time to reflect on the past year and prepare for the year upcoming. If you would like to discuss the role you can play in expanding our operations I both welcome and encourage you to reach out during this holiday season. Other than the important times such as Christmas Eve, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve…I’m available to visit with everyone who shares in the passion of our mission.
All of us at TheLocalProject would like to wish you and your family a joyous Christmas and a prosperous New Year!
George W. Bogle Jr.
Founder & Executive Partner
TheLocalProject
Building a Better Internet
724-725-8000 – 281-500-1450
Text Us 844-307-1500
bogle@localproject.net
www.thelocalproject.net
Mobile messaging capability is a feature on almost every mobile device out there. In fact, SMS messaging is usually included in mobile packages for free, or at a very cheap rate, because so many people are more likely to use their phones to text than anything else. Statistics show that the majority of people check their phones immediately after receiving a text message, usually within just minutes. All of this means significant ROI potential for savvy marketers who take advantage of mobile marketing.
A recent report claims that Coca-Cola is investing a whopping 70% of their mobile marketing budget in SMS marketing. Tom Daily, the Director of Mobile, Search, and Global Connections said, “It is important to invest your energy into things you know work, and we know that SMS works and is a thing to focus on.”
If your interest is piqued and you’re ready to plan an SMS marketing campaign, consider these tips before you launch.
- Integrate mobile messaging into all your marketing: Approaching mobile marketing as a completely separate initiative may not be the best plan. Though your SMS campaign will have its own, individual goals, don’t forget that it is also meant to impact your business goals overall. Review your complete marketing strategy and consider how your new SMS capabilities can integrate with your other marketing to improve conversion and response rates.
- A Clear Call to Action – one cause for SMS campaigns not succeeding is the call-to-action is confusing and does not give the consumer a clear understanding of what to do.Look at this example from Express. They ask you to text “START” to 397737Although the offer was clear, a good number of people texted “START” with the quotations (“”) around the word which did not get them added to Express’s program.There are two primary elements that drive the signup, the offer and the call-to-action.Best practices are to: 1) Make the offer compelling and 2) make the call-to-action as simple as possible.Express did a good job of making the offer stand out. Far too often we see companies making the mistake of giving an offer that is not motivating or compelling to the consumer. The consumer has to know why they are joining the list, it’s the old “What’s in it for me” scenario.
Second, make sure your call-to-action and keyword are: 1) clear, 2) easy, and 3) get the real-estate needed to convey your message.
- Offer rewards and other incentives.: You will need more than ads to drive consumers to you. People need something significant in return for allowing you access to their private devices and phone numbers. Offer these loyal customers something extra. This could mean discounts in the form of percentages or coupons, or a particularly low introductory offer. Asking consumers to spend a minimum amount in order to receive something in return is also a classic option.Once your consumers have accepted and opted-in, continue these efforts to ensure their loyalty. If financial incentives don’t suit you, there are a number of things you can do to attract and retain consumers – deliver meaningful news, useful reminders, interactive customer support, early access, or VIP privileges.
- Take advantage of speed and urgency: Most texts are read immediately, or within just a few minutes. Mobile messaging is one of the fastest ways to reach your audiences. Understanding this gives you another avenue to success with your marketing campaign. You have the ability to perfectly time your messages, knowing that the chances are high they’ll be seen almost immediately. Combine that with a clear, concise, 160-character call-to-action message, and you have a fast, powerful communication tool.
- Be consistent, but be relevant, too: Create a messaging calendar and send your SMS messages on a consistent basis. Not doing so regularly is a mistake many businesses make. However, you don’t want to go overboard, either. If you send a message once per week, make certain that it’s relevant to your consumer. You want to find the right balance between frequency of messages and significance of content.
- Integrate all other forms of media that you already use: All forms of marketing have their purpose and value, and they’re at their strongest when you effectively combine them. Mobile marketing is one of the best avenues available today and you could significantly boost your other media programs by promoting them this way. The first step is to look at your current media campaigns and consider which would be better suited to your plans and to your team for mobile marketing. The goal, of course, isn’t to flip a switch to automatically merge SMS and media; you want to create something that increases your marketing potential. You will also need to make sure that all language is clear and legal when you integrate the two marketing forms.
- Always measure your results: Simply put, there is no verifiable way to know if your campaign is working without measured results. There are a few things you can do when gathering information on the success of mobile marketing. You can monitor how much subscriber growth you experience within a time frame, such as each week. You can compare the number of people who opt-in versus those who opt out. With the use of keywords, you can measure which media outlets are performing best in your cross-channel engagement. The amount of people who redeem various offers is also a good indicator of success and allows you to see just how much communication with consumers costs you.
- Don’t forget that you need permission: You cannot simply pull phone numbers for your clients from your CMS. You need clear permission from consumers and they need to opt-in before you can include them in your SMS marketing channel. There are a couple of ways to do this: you can give them a code to text, or they can submit their number into a form online. No matter what, make sure what consumers are getting is clear to them.
- Your campaign must be legally in compliance: Because you’re entering mobile territory, you’ll have to contend with the FCC, the Mobile Marketing Association, and the CTIA. These three groups oversee the industry. The FCC, as you may know, handles the Telephone Consumer Protections Act (TCPA). If you’re using SMS, you’ll have to be compliant with their regulations. These regulations include having an established business relationship before gaining written consent, not making written consent a condition of any purchase, and more. These requirements, and all things relating to consent and purchase conditions must be made clear to customers.Fortunately, the TLP mobile marketing system is already compliant with the TCPA. You just need to make sure you inform your subscribers of the rules when opting in.A good example would be:VIP Connect: By participating, you consent to receive up to 4 text messages per month. Consent to these terms is not a condition of purchase. You may opt-out anytime by texting REMOVE YOURKEYWORD to 844-307-3500. TC’s/Privacy: www.mydomain.com/mobiletc
As you prepare to launch your mobile marketing campaign, consider all of these tips. They are keys to your success.