From Mobile Commerce Daily

Cost Cutters ran a mobile coupon campaign in eight markets across the United States as part of a customer relationship management program to drive consumers into its budget hair salons.

Cost Cutters tapped mobile marketing company Qittle to let customers get discounts on haircuts and hair products to build a database of opted-in consumers and promote customer loyalty. When consumers texted in a keyword to a short code and opted-in to the campaign, they received a mobile coupon with a six-digit code that they can enter use at the point-of-sale.

“Cost Cutters wasn’t collecting a lot of information about its customers at the various store locations, so having a mobile campaign allowed them to start getting consumer info and building an opt-in database in-store,” said Casey McConnell, CEO of Qittle, Aspen, CO. “Everything is driven through going back in-store for redemption of the mobile coupon.

“It’s more about consumer convenience than branding, as a big component is getting you a mobile coupon at the time you need to get a haircut,” he said. “Having a coupon sent directly to consumers’ phone encourages them to come into a Cost Cutters store instead of a competitor.

“The redemption rates were pretty phenomenal.”

Cost Cutters is a national hair-care services chain that includes more than 850 salon locations across the U.S.

The ability to manage their databases per region is very important to Cost Cutters, so Qittle set up several campaigns for specific regions, each with its own keyword.

Cost Cutters distributed “Savings to your phone” fliers with the mobile call-to-action at its bricks-and-mortar locations within the campaign’s target regions.

The flier distributed at Colorado Springs locations of Cost Cutters read as follows:

“Let us text you a reminder to get your hair cut. You’ll get a coupon texted to you every time you need a trim as well as other special savings offers. Text COSTCUTTERSCS TO 32075.”

The keyword Qittle used for Quad City, IA, was COSTCUTTERSQC, Central Wisconsin was COSTCUTTERSCW, and Glenwood Springs, CO, was COSTCUTTERSGS.

Cost Cutters did not do any marketing support outside of its stores.

Each of the text messages sent to opted-in consumers contains a link to Cost Cutters’ new mobile Web site, which contains a store locator feature letting customers search for the closest Cost Cutters salon.

The rebate offers of the mobile coupons range between $2 and $5 off a hair cut or hair product, and 30 days after a particular consumer opted in, Cost Cutters sent a follow-up mobile coupon for a discount on a haircut.

Cost Cutters tested a similar mobile campaign with a competing vendor in four other markets.

“We got the national account and are looking to roll out nationally for Cost Cutters,” Mr. McConnell said. “One challenge was getting buy-in with every store, making sure the front line knows about the mobile call-to-action and that the franchise owners are motivating their staff.

“The salons that made the mobile campaign a priority saw fantastic opt-in and redemption rates, whereas other markets where stylists didn’t know about the campaign saw lower opt-ins because the front line didn’t talk it up,” he said.

THE ASPEN CANARY INITIATIVE SUPPORTS QITTLE’S 60 CITY BUS TOUR

Mobile Marketing Tour to Promote “Live the Dream” Goes Green

Aspen, CO (October 28^th, 2009)— The Qittle “Live the Dream” bus tour will promote environmentally sustainable behaviors with the support of the City of Aspen’s Canary Initiative.

The Canary Initiative is donating Canary Tags—investments in local projects that reduce carbon—in order to make the bus carbon neutral. During the five month tour, Qittle will use text marketing strategies to encourage large audiences to “avoid, reduce then offset” their carbon impacts.

Kim Peterson, director of the Canary Initiative sees it as a great opportunity and a perfect match for what the Canary Initiative is attempting to accomplish.

“We will be able to help other cities establish their own carbon reduction programs through this effort,” Peterson said. “This type of marketing is cutting edge and targeted toward an ever growing tech savvy market.”

With support such as the Canary Initiative, Qittle will hold educational seminars throughout the U.S. helping businesses use new media tools like mobile marketing to relay their message. The bus tour will also promote Qittle’s “Live the Dream” campaign where one person will win a free year in Aspen, complete with a place to live, ski pass and the essentials to survive in the mountain town.

The Canary Initiative was created by the City of Aspen to serve as an action plan that identifies steps to reduce global warming pollution; inform the public about impacts from, and solutions for global warming; and to advocate for action on a regional, state, and national level.

Qittle helps businesses create, customize and manage a mobile marketing initiative. Launched on the dawn of a worldwide mobile reign, Qittle brings the message to the customer through the mobile phone-a device most customers don’t leave home without.  www.qittle.com

Great article from Ian Lurie

10 Questions to Evaluate a Social Media ‘Expert’

If you know more than 5 people, chances are you now know someone who declares themselves a social media expert. How can you tell if someone’s claim of expertise is legit? Here’s my quick quiz. Ask each question and take the appropriate action:

1: Do you have a blog?

If the expert answers ‘no’, that may be OK. Follow up with something like ‘Oh, you’re using Posterous instead?’. If they look at you blankly, end the meeting there. No sense wasting your time.

If the expert answers ‘yes’, get the address and go look. If they’ve been blogging for less than 2-3 years, and there’s no explanation like “I had to move my blog”, again, end the meeting.

Any social media expert has been somehow participating in the conversation for a long time.

2: When did you start in social media?

“6 months ago”. Yeah. OK. Bye.

“2 years ago”. Hey, not bad. Worth a chat.

“In 1992″. Er. Um. They’d better be referencing BBSes and Usenet.

3: What is social media?

“Blogging and Twitter and stuff”. Excuse yourself for a bathroom break and don’t come back.

“All of the conversations going on between people and people and businesses and such online”. Not bad.

“A trendy term to describe a new kind of mass media”. Totally acceptable.

4: What’s a social media campaign?

“Voting something to the front page of Digg using my proxy server and 35 computers”. Flee the scene, and get to a minimum safe distance as soon as possible. The Digg brigade may be on its way. Whatever you do, don’t hire them. While this is a valid tactic (I guess), it’s not a campaign. Nor does it generate long term results in most cases.

“Developing a great message and then reaching out to people, while giving them an incentive to ‘pass it on’”. Yeah, OK, keep ‘em around.

“I have this great software that will put a link to your site on 21,000 forums and 10,000 blogs…”. Push them down the garbage chute. Don’t be seen with them in public.

5: How do you monitor social media for a client?

“Huh?” Hopefully your next step is obvious.

“Google alerts”. Not bad, but wait and see if they add in stuff like subscribing to Twitter searches and the like.

“I use a 3rd party tool”. Fine, but make sure they do more than plug in some keywords and wait for e-mails. A human being needs to review what the tool reports or its worthless.

6: How do you measure ROI?

“Oh, shut up”. Perfectly OK, especially if the expert turns purple for a moment first. They’re just sick of hearing this question, which means they’ve been around the block a few times.

“It’s complicated, but here’s a high-level view…”. Nice!!!

“I track clicks from Twitter”. Nope, sorry.

7: How do you build an audience?

“I auto-follow 20,000 people on Twitter”. If you’re OK with it, kick them in the groin for me. If not, nod politely and move on.

“I follow interesting, relevant people on Twitter, comment on relevant blog posts and try to get into the conversation”. Home run. Try not to weep with joy.

“We need to figure out the campaign first”. Good answer. Give them a hypothetical campaign to be sure, but clearly you’re on the right track.

8: Do you offer a guarantee?

“Yes, I’ll get you 1000 links and 20,000 clicks”. See number 7, first action.

“Yes, that I’ll work my butt off for you”. I like it.

“No, because we’re marketing to people, and it’s hard to say what they’ll like/not like, or what might happen in the world that will affect behavior”. Also good.

9: How did you learn all this stuff?

“Oh, I read this book I bought from Amazon.com”. Wargh. By the time that book went to print it was out of date. No go.

“I’m always learning”. Good answer.

“I read a lot of blogs, and try to use as many different tools as I can”. Also good.

“I go to conferences”. Yeahhhhhh. Might be OK. Answers to the other 9 questions should tell you.

10: How does social media impact SEO?

“It doesn’t”. Slap them and tell ‘em that’s from Ian.

“It builds links”. That’s half the answer.

“It builds relationships that turn into links later”. HIRE THEM NOW.

Bonus question: How often do you write?

“I hate writing”. Cough.

“Oh, I try to but I don’t have much time”. Cough. Cough.

“Every day”. DING DING DING. A winner!

You won’t want to miss the first hour of the Aspen Tweetup on Tuesday Oct 27th from 9am – Noon. A candid conversation with Andrew Israel of Aspen Spin and Sally Spaulding Community Relations Officer for the City of Aspen.

Aspen Spin

Current: Editor, AspenSpin.com Ski bum/ blogger. AspenSpin = 4th season, 5000+ Photos, 2 mil+  page views

Past Experience: Finance / Money Management. Morgan Stanley (NYC) High Net Worth Group

Education:  BS, Accounting,  Michigan State University MBA  Finance /Management   The Wharton School Univ. of Pennsylvania

Sally Spaulding

Sally Spaulding is the community relations officer for the City of
 Aspen, where she handles communications and public relations. She
 previously worked as the public affairs specialist for the White River
 National Forest in Glenwood Springs and as the environment beat reporter
 for the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel newspaper. She is a graduate of
 Wellesley College and originally hails from Birmingham,  Alabama.

Click here to register for this free Aspen Tweetup

On October 24, people in Aspen will gather to spell the words SAVE SNOW on Aspen Mountain as part of the largest global day of climate action ever.

The event—one of nearly 2,500 rallies in more than 150 nations—is coordinated by 350.org to urge world leaders to take fast and effective action on global warming. This is the first global campaign ever organized around a scientific data point: 350 parts per million CO2 is the safe upper limit for the atmosphere, according to the latest scientific data.

WHO: Everyone! Friends, family, colleagues and neighbors!

WHAT: Participants will be photographed by John Catto, owner of Alpenglow Pictures Inc., from above spelling the words “SAVE SNOW” with their bodies. Everyone is encouraged to wear winter gear (snowboards, skis, jackets, hats, etc.) for the photo. The end result – a photograph of hundreds of winter enthusiasts standing on a snowless ski mountain – will be sent to local, regional, national and international elected officials before the important climate meetings this December in Copenhagen with a simple message: Please act NOW!

Simultaneously, people in every corner of the world will be taking similar action, from climbers with 350 banners high on the melting slopes of Mount Everest to government officials in the Maldive Islands holding an underwater cabinet meeting to demand action on climate change before their nation disappears.

After the photo, participants will gather at Ajax Tavern for free beer, Stranahan’s whiskey, music from the Powder Hounds and a drawing for special prizes. Aspen Paragliding, Eco-Flight, Ute Mountaineer, Rocky Mountain Nordic and the Community Office for Resource Efficiency (CORE) have all donated giveaways to the event.

WHEN: October 24, 2009, from 3 to 5 p.m.

WHERE: Meet promptly at 3 p.m. at Aspen Mountain Gondola Plaza

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: The event is sponsored by CORE, the City of Aspen’s Canary Initiative, Ruthie Brown of Wagon Wheel Associates and Ski Co with donations from Alpenglow Pictures, Ajax Tavern, the Powder Hounds, Stranahan’s whiskey, the Limelight Lodge, Aspen Paragliding, Eco-Flight, Ute Mountaineer and Rocky Mountain Nordic.  Photos from the event will be available at www.aspencore.org and at www.aspenpitkin.com.  Photos from events happening all over the world will be available for free use at: http://350.org/media. For more information on the global 350 campaign, please visit www.350.org or contact Cosa Bullock in New York, cbullock@mrss.com.

ABOUT 350.ORG: Founded by author and environmentalist Bill McKibben, 350.org is the first large-scale grassroots global campaign against climate change. Its supporters include leading scientists, the governments of 89 countries, and a huge variety of environmental, health, development and religious NGOs. All agree that current atmospheric levels of CO2—390 parts per million—are causing damage to the planet and to its most vulnerable people, and that government action at the Copenhagen climate conference is required to bring the earth’s carbon level swiftly down.

Do Your Part to Save Snow in Aspen

Want to blow out 2009 with a bang?  Start planning your holiday promotions now by using mobile marketing.

Mobile communication is immediate, targeted, trackable and cost-efficient.  You’re sending real-time messages directly to the hands of consumers who’ve asked to receive them.  As reported by a recent article in the New York Times, “…at a time when in-boxes fill with hundreds of never-opened e-mail messages from direct marketers, 97 percent of all SMS marketing messages are opened (83 percent within one hour), according to the latest cell-carrier research”.

You are only limited by the extent of your creativity…consider this example

UNWRAP HOLIDAY VALUE THROUGH MOBILE MESSAGING

Google provides Businesses with a lot of free tools and one free tool every business should be taking advantage of is Google Search. Anytime someone searches for a business in Google Search, local results will pop up if there is a listing. You’d be surprised how often businesses are not showing up because most businesses have not taken the time to add this feature to their Google account.

Take a few minutes and go into your Google account to set up your Google listing. Add a coupon as well, that way when visitors search for your business they will have the opportunity to print or text your coupon. Adding a Text Call to action makes a lot of sense when you consider most people won’t print out that coupon, save it and redeem it. However Mobile Coupons are always on a users phone and are readily available next time they visit your business.

So add that Cell Phone Mobile Coupon to your Google Listing and next time folks search for your business on Google search it will appear.

Google Cell Phone Mobile Coupons

Check out Qittle TV

The tanning industry could be the next big business to make mobile marketing a cornerstone of its promotional strategy.

As more news surfaces of tanning companies both large and small initiating mobile campaigns, it comes as no surprise that a large chain of tanning salons in Wisconsin called “The Tanning Salon” is trying to set new tanning industry standards for quality mobile marketing campaigns.

According to Jodi Krenz, owner of The Tanning Salon, “In the past 10 years, we have moved from newspaper, postcards and mailings to web pages, social networking and texting. With our mobile coupons, we have had an 85 percent success rate with customers coming in for the complimentary session and returning to purchase packages.”

For now, the text marketing method seems to be working best for tanning salon franchises in cities both small and large. The combination of mobile coupons and free tanning sessions conveyed via SMS is drawing more fake-bakers out of the shade than ever.

And that’s a booming trend that doesn’t seem poised to change any time soon.

Click here to read the full press release at Qittle

Click here to read the article on Mobile Marketing Watch