In 2010, it will be all about your mobile phone. That was the prediction made by one of the trend-trackers that I follow back in Spring.

Yup, the next trend that will affect you will be from those pushing “mobile marketing.” You may have already seen or heard the commercial for KGB KGB - or 542 542. “Got a question? Text it to 542 542 (kgb kgb) and a kgb Special Agent will send the answer to your phone.”
Hold that thought; there’s more.

By now, the word “app” – short for application – has probably already been added to Merriam Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary (yes, they have their own “dictionary app”). Apps are icons that one can click on a smart phone (Blackberry or iPhone) that are designed to help the user perform a particular task. It is estimated that there are over 100,000 apps for the iPhone alone – everything from OpenTable, Facebook, The Weather Channel, and CNN to apps of the more unusual nature. For instance, there are apps that turn your phone into a flashlight; apps for those trying to find a nearby 12-Step meeting or an app whereby one could buy a movie ticket (Fandango) from one‘s phone.

Mobile marketing is coming at us – and in this office – at a rapid pace. In the last month, three different technology companies offering mobile solutions to reach new or existing customers have approached us. Here’s a run down:

1) There’s a company out there that for $500 - $1,000 will provide you with a template to create your OWN app for you. One of our clients signed on and we’re happy to help with a consult.

2) There’s another company that creates mobile websites - sites that are easily opened on one’s smartphone and in some cases can provide a Google map to your location (great if you own a restaurant or store). This company can also market your message via texts (just like an e-blast, now you can do text blasts) – in fact we are partnering with them via Long Island Restaurant Week. They offer: real-time alerts, notifications, and reminders; coupons and deals; programs; sweepstakes, contests and trivia games; voting and polling instructional, or important corporate communication. Wow.

3) There’s a group that will make a promotional video of your business and host it on an application that accommodates browsers, iPhones, Blackberries and other smartphones. Think of it as YouTube specifically for restaurants. (This one is in its infancy.)

If you were in business back in the mid-90s, then you remember the pleadings by those early web developers for all of us to have a web page. Remember that push? These days a business isn’t a viable business if it doesn’t have a website. Cell phones became the rage in the mid-90s too. They were big and clunky compared to today’s sleek models, but you could take your phone with you. Imagine that? And you could send a message via text. Pretty cool.

Let’s recap: every business has a website. Every consumer has a cell phone. These cell phones function like computers; many can view websites. But they can now view websites more quickly and more easily if the company has a mobile website.

So it’s no surprise that cell phones have come into their own as vehicles of marketing messages. Most mobile marketing solutions are opt-in/opt-out. The good news is if a customer has signed on, they want to receive your message.

And if you have an iPhone, you can: send/receive texts and emails; surf the web quickly (really quickly); make and receive calls. And click on that restaurant app to see what’s on the menu tonight and then make a rezzie on OpenTable because you were notified via text that said restaurant is offering a special Porterhouse for Two and be lead there via Google Map.

Ta-dah! Welcome to 2010.

For the last several months we’ve all witnessed – if not personally experienced – upheaval and change. We have downsized, made painful cuts, seen our savings account dwindle and made personal and professional sacrifices that we wouldn’t have imagined making a year or two ago. The actions we took were necessary for the survival and strength of our businesses. But now what to do? Do we simply hold on, try to ride out the storm, a storm that has no foreseeable abatement?

Perhaps.

But we cannot afford to congratulate ourselves, stand idle or even exhale. Because we have one other problem/situation (whatever you want to call it): the ever-changing forces of THE MARKET. Through this economic malaise, know this: the market changes ever day. The market – the all-encompassing word I’m using to describe your customers, trends, consumer patterns – is a pulsating organism that never dies, that lives and breathes, that makes decisions that affect us. It’s up to us to adapt – or die. Whenever there’s a push, there’s a pull; a cause, an effect. These market changes are rapidly taking place in the world of media.

Because The Media is Dying

In fact, it’s been dying. There are at least three market forces contributing to this funeral march:

1) The rapid advances in technology that has your customers tethered to laptops, iPhones and Blackberries. They no longer wait to get the morning paper, they log on. They no longer send letters, they email. They Google for information instead of using encyclopedias, and they use OpenTable to make restaurant reservations. They trust Zagat or TripAdvisor (both feature user generated content – NOT editorial) more than they trust Food + Wine or Conde Nast Traveler. They bookmark certain blogs. They want instant answers; they want convenience.

2) The tsunami called social media (Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and Twitter). These online communities are just that – communities. And they are now sources where people get their information; it’s where they are influenced, where messages are sent and received – in many cases, marketing messages.

3) An imploding economy that has paralyzed print advertising spending, let alone newspaper and magazine sales, let alone increasing the costs of printing. Paper costs money. Printing a paper does too. Having desks and offices for editorial staff costs money as rents rise.

So how bad is it? Is the media really dying? On Long Island, Distinction Magazine, Long Island Weddings and Parents & Children have ceased publishing. Ditto Builder/Architect. Nationally Domino, Lipstick and dozens of smaller magazines have folded. The Wall Street Journal, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Newsday, New York Observer, Denver Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Newark Star Ledger have all cut staff and eliminated sections – so have scores of others.

It is the smart business owner – you who have already survived – that needs to now completely rethink your marketing approach. Is your ad buy really effective? How about your entire marketing program? The media may not be dead, but it sure as hell is changing. You, like them, must adapt – or die.

Have you adapted? Are you willing to adapt? Have you seen changes in yourself as per how you get your news or information? Does your company have a social media marketing plan yet?

Tell me what you think. Your comments are not only welcome, but necessary for this conversation.