Written on Thursday, September 02, 2010
I've just finished watching a really interesting online course from Google, in the
AdWords Online Classroom. It is a presentation with a lot of interesting information specific to
mobile advertising in the mobile web, and contains Google's approach to this growing marketing sector.
The presentation starts with a lot of background information around the penetration of mobile, the mobile web, mobile applications, etc.
Google then presents a range of background information around mobile search, where Google is the (surprise, surprise!) the dominating search engine, and a number of interesting statistics about how mobile search compares to traditional desktop search.
They discuss different mobile search trends and the different ways people are currently using mobile search on smartphones (they take high-end devices into consideration separately, namely the iPhone, the Android and the Palm Pre).
Finally, there is a pretty detailed presentation on how you can set up mobile web advertising campaigns through your Google AdWords account, so as to take advantage of the mobile local advertising opportunities Google offers you.
They round off the presentation with a range of seven tips for creating the optimum mobile advertising campaign through Google AdWords.
To view the presentation go to the Google
AdWords Online Classroom and click on the "Get started with mobile advertising" link in the "Free On-Demand Tutorials" section. I'd definitely recommend viewing this to anyone looking to open up their business to mobile web surfers.. It is targeted more towards business owners, and adwords campaign managers rather than a mobile marketer, but it certainly is recommended viewing for us lot too.
Posted in
mobile advertising,
mobile services
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Written on Wednesday, September 01, 2010
I don't know how popular basketball is in your parts of the world, but it's the second most popular sport here in Greece, so I've been following the ongoing Basketball World Championship quite closely.
And working in the mobile marketing field you just can't help but notice, during the matches, all the advertisements from Nokia for its
BBall Ovi Store app. The first feeling I had from this was that it seems like an (expensive) attempt to push Mobile Apps for Nokia, and its Ovi Store, and that's why there's so much advertisement around it.
I was pretty intrigued to see the mobile app so I took a quick look online, but only to find there's no other platform supported apart from Nokia phones. Yes, granted getting an app to work on all Nokias is kind of cross-platform, and yes, granted, it did only say Ovi store, so I don't know why I was expecting anything more than just that.
But from the point of view of FIBA, the International Basketball Federation, wouldn't you want your mobile app to be accessible to the majority of users?
Here's the description on the Ovi Store page:
FIBA and Nokia have teamed up to bring the world of Bball to your court. Get the latest play-by-play news as 24 teams go for gold at the FIBA World Championships in Turkey from August 28 - September 12. Access live courtside blogs, great user-generated content, action-packed videos and so much more. Chat with other Bballers across the globe and search for courts and other Bball players. Note: You need to have a Nokia account to be able to use Bball. Create one at www.ovi.com.
Ok, so obviously Nokia are in this as a joint venture or something similar, it seems, so that they can promote their Ovi Store. But why not expand the mobile app to other platforms as well. Surely you want all fans to be able to follow the World Championship on their mobile? Even if it's not a Nokia!
I know I did. Alt+Tab, switch to iTunes, head to the App Store, search for 'basketball', quickly find an iPhone app called TR 2010, that provides me with what I needed. It does cost $1, (i.e. it's not free) but it's still cheaper than getting a Nokia...
It's a shame though becsaue FIBA could have developed this app, and achieved presence on a much broader range of smartphones (incl. iPhones) than they currently possess.
Posted in
mobile entertainment
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Written on Wednesday, August 25, 2010
During the latest patch of updates I downloaded for my iPhone apps, there was also a Facebook app update. The thing I have with updates is that I never know if it's just a bugfix release, or bringing out major changes to the app.
I sometimes like the way an app is, and don't want it to change (the developers suddenly decide to change it completely), but wouldn't mind a few bugfixes. I still haven't figured out how to do this, but that may be just me (so suggestions welcome ;) ).
Anyway, next time I opened my Facebook app, there it was, right bang in the middle of my screen, a link to Facebook Places.
What's this then? It turns out Facebook have finally taken the first step towards implementing Location-Based Services! Wow, this is exciting, I thought, and eagerly clicked on it to see what I could do...
Disappointment... But nothing more we can do here, is there? So I had a quick look online to see what it's about..
I came across this very helpful article on
businessinsider.com, with a
series of screenshots tha show how Facebook Places works (where it IS available).
Take a look -- it seems very promising. I certainly look forward to seeing something like this available here in Greece soon! Any comments or experiences from using Facebook are welcome, as usual, via email or the comments section..
Posted in
iPhone,
location-based services,
social networking
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Written on Monday, August 23, 2010
Pretty amazing piece of news!
Mobile Marketing Watch reports on a 16-year old entrepreneur from the UK, who has already managed to earn his first million, and is now using it to fund a new
mobile advertising startup that he says will take him to 100million.
And, ok, you would normally doubt a 16-year old who goes round saying that, but given what he's achieved so far, wouldn't you at least think twice about it? I know I would...
Not to mention that I think his choice of business sector, combined with the right business choices certainly has the potential to take him there!
(...) UK teenager Christian Owens, 16, has done just that. His company, called
Branchr, is a provider of PPC ad-services for traditional and mobile Websites as well as mobile apps. In its short existence, Branchr is already serving more than 250 million adverts to 11,000 websites/apps every month and has even acquired a second company, Atomplan, which provides business software.
Working on the company after school each day and on the weekends, Owens surpassed the $800,000 revenue mark before the startup’s first year was even over, and has plans to “become a leading name in the world of internet and mobile advertising and push myself right to the top of the game.” With big-name clients like betting site William Hill and social networking site MySpace on its roster, Owens is on track to reach that goal. ”I don’t know where I will be in 10 years time but I won’t leave Branchr until it has reached £100 million,” he said.
Owens was no stranger to being an entrepreneur before he founded Branchr. At age 14, he founded a simple website called Mac Box Bundle which resold discounted Mac software. Owens was able to negotiate big discounts with select developers to create lucrative bundles of popular Mac apps worth about $400, but sold for $50. That little venture earned Owens his first million dollars and helped the teenager fund Branchr. We cover mobile-ad startups all the time on MMW, but none that have such an interesting back-story as Branchr, we’ll definitely be keeping a close eye on this one.
And with clients like the ones he's already got, including major betting sites, or other betting sites with a
gambling affiliate program, that are flourishing in today's online betting world, and a
social networking site (MySpace) already on track, how can you argue?
I'm really looking forward to seeing how it turns out for Christian, and sincerely hope him all the best in what's looking as a very promising career.
Posted in
mobile advertising
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