As I’m working with clients, particularly those new to WordPress, I’m constantly introducing them to the concept of having a mobile motive in their design. Statistically, most of the sites we build are being view anywhere from 30% – 70% by a small screen. Whether that’s a phone or a tablet the reality is that people are using their mobile devises in their day-to-day browsing. In many of my clients’ sites I’m seeing Safari as the #1 or #2 browser and the reason for that is the iPhone and iPad.
What’s a responsive designed theme?
In short, it’s a theme that automatically adjusts the theme based on the size of the screen that is viewing it. Every time a site loads on a device there is an exchange of information… and one of those things that your device asks a server is, “How big is that screen, big papa?” In responsive design, when your device tells the server… “I’m 500 pixels wide, master” than the theme has a plan for that… it adjusts the design to fix that 500 pixels.
Is it expensive?
Actually, no. Even WordPress’s new default theme for 2012 called… Twenty Twelve… is designed responsively. So really, you have no excuse. Most of the starter themes we are using today for our clients are responsively designed.
Should I convert or should I stay?
Yes, you should convert. The “old way” to handle small screens was to install on of the many mobile plugins. But now that responsive design is taking over and is so cheap, you should really think about moving to a responsive theme.
We were confident this was a product the audience would respond strongly to if we could frame the message. In working with the event organizers we agreed that we would give each person a sample product, play a short video testimonial, and the MC would make a pitch to get them involved. Key to this strategy was getting the audience to instantly convert. Rather than tell them to go home and check it out we knew that our maximum response rate would occur if participants could join the campaign during the pitch. This made text messaging the obvious choice. 100% of the audience would have a cell phone. And we could easily ask them to text to join the campaign in all of the collateral materials.
Collateral
In the lead-up to the pitch our team developed branding, a stand-alone website, produced a video to be played, arranged for participants to be given a free copy of the book, created a rave card which was placed in the book, and worked with the event MC’s to shape the pitch.
Integrating Tatango
Key to making this seamless was activating Tatango’s new auto-responders. So when participants texted in our short code they were immediate sent a response to finish their registration at the URL provided.Early in the process we connected with Tatango to brainstorm ideas to maximize the audience response. We secured our short code and had it printed on the rave cards, added a call to action to the end of the video, and made sure the MC knew that was the call to action for the verbal pitch.
Results
The results shocked us. In the lead-up to the pitch a few people did the text-to-join option as they saw the rave card around the event. Prior to the pitch beginning 17 people had joined. During the 1 minute video that number spiked to over 100 as people connected the rave card to the video they were watching. But when the MC gave verbal instructions to take out their cell phone and text CBEMINI to 68398 the numbers went from about 100 to over 500 within 90 seconds. Within 5 minutes that number settled on 534. (14% of those in attendance)
14% conversion rate
We don’t see many campaigns quite as fast or as effective as this. While there was a lot of lead-up work the action of getting people from passive listeners of the message to actively engaged with the movement of CBEmini was instantaneous. We were able to shape a message that the audience connected with and give them a simple, fast, and intuitive way to join.
A lot of people ask me why I like using Tatango for my SMS marketing. I just point to their continued innovation. Text-to-join with an auto-responder is effective for converting event participants to campaign conversion, pure and simple.
Note: While we are friendly with the Tatango team and have been a fan of theirs for a few years, they’ve not paid for this post, nor discounted their services in exchange for this case study. Yes, if you click on the links to their site and join we may make a few bucks.
Augmented reality is continuing to morph the way people engage with their devices. This idea is fantastic. And it unleashes a whole new genre of travel. It’s one thing to take the tour. It’s another to take the tour and then stand in the same spot as the crew and watch the scene unfold, on location.
As people get used to using QR codes, designers are getting more ingenius in how they integrate them into their campaigns. Here are a few of my favorites.
Photo by Mobile Blog via Flickr (Creative Commons)
QR Codes are popping up everywhere. From magazine ads to airport billboards to live events to street art.
And now that services like bit.ly offers QR Codes for free on any link anywhere, you can really have some fun creating an urban scavenger hunt for your next outing or even gorilla marketing campaign.
Here’s how to get started
Step 1: Like any other scavenger hunt, start with a script of clues and locations. I’ve found it easier to first figure out where the first clue is going, then determine the final destination. Make sure the clue can go a place that is sticker-able. Light poles, garbage cans, or other places people have posted stuff work great. Tip: It also helps to physically visit the places you are going to place the clues first.
Step 2: Create orphan pages on your blog, one for each clue. If you use Formstack, you could make each clue a form they have to fill out, like uploading a picture of themselves completing a task. Formstack also automatically creates a QR code for each form. So you could skip step 3.
Step 3: Create a bit.ly link for each clue page. (Free account) When you go to the links report page you will see a printable QR Code for each link. Save those to your computer.
Step 4: Print each of your clues on sticker paper. Make each QR Code 3-4 inches so it’s easily seen. If you are decent at Photoshop it might be a good idea to wrap the QR Code in your logo or theme it somehow so participants know for sure it’s your clue.
Step 5: (This is the scary part for you legal beagles out there.) Go back to your clue locations and place your stickers. If they are outside you will probably want to do this the day of your scavenger hunt.
Step 6: Connect with your audience however you normally do. Give them the clue and let them know what the prize is. If you’re selling a product and want to get a lot of people playing the game… make the first prize 100% off, second 99% off, etc. But a prize like “The first five to complete the scavenger hunt win ____ is great, too.”
This announcement went out to iOS developers today from Apple:
iOS 4.2 is coming this November. With iOS SDK 4.2 beta, you can add exciting, new features to your apps including the capability to print directly from iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. iPad apps can now take advantage of multitasking, Game Center, iAd, and more. link
My first thought is a humorous one. As a traveler I am very familiar with the look travelers have when they get off a plane with a white USB cord, looking for an outlet to plugin their iPhone with. It’s amazing how people with the look can spot an open electrical outlet from 50 yards away. Now we’ll get to add another look… the “can I login to your printer” look. People at libraries, coffee shops, and other wifi hotspots will now have a new service to provide.
My second thought is more strategic. As iOS gets increasingly more like a handheld computer than purely a communication device, app developers and content providers really have to think through how they want their audiences utilizing their content. Even web developers have got to think seriously about how their properties content will look when printed from an app. Will it display an ad? Will it be formatted well? On and on.
This is just another reason I push my clients to fully developed CMS platforms like WordPress. Rather than thinking purely about developing a website, people now need to think about an app experience and an overall mobile experience. Both apps and mobile devices are going to play nicely with a CMS like WordPress since it is CSS/XML/SQL based rather than some obscure, proprietary CMS.
Rather than reinventing the wheel, I typically suggest customizing and existing wheel to meet your needs. If you are interested in building a site that is app-ready or you want to build an iPhone app, let me know.
