Why Mobile Marketing Works

Cellit Mobile Marketing is an excellent way for you to connect to your intended audience in an effective manner every time. There are several benefits to using this type of marketing and you may not realize the potential it creates for your business. Finding that all important target moment when it will strike the individual just right is the difference between effective advertising and a waste of your advertising dollar. Here are some things to consider about mobile marketing.

One of the many benefits that mobile marketing works well for is the simple fact that it is personal in nature. Consider the fact that instead of advertising on a huge billboard and hoping that those that drive by will see it, you are giving personal attention to the individual. Instead of hoping that the channels don't get changed when your commercial comes on, send it right to the individual and know that when they glance at their phone, they already have your message. This personal touch is quite powerful.

Another option is the immediacy of mobile marketing. You don't have to wait for them to act as many times they have the ability to click through the message to obtain information about your product or service right then. One of the hardest tasks in marketing is getting the message out and then making it stick. This method works well as the action can be taken immediately. That gets you immediate results for your advertising.

With hundreds of products coming online each day, it is hard to make one product or one service stand out against the rest. With mobile marketing, the audience you are targeting gets your message about who you are, what your business is and about what products are available immediately and they can then act on it. Mobile marketing is fast becoming the most successful type of marketing. Look for it to continue to grow as the world becomes even more mobile advanced.

Let's say for instance you run a sportsbar, or club. You can send out a direct message to your customer base to celebrate a big game, or happy hour reminders. Or if you are running a restaurant and have an overstock of a certain type in the kitchen you can send out a last minute special to your customers. CouponZap is a specific product that allows you to perform this sort of direct marketing, with very fast results, and effective coupon tracking.

Another great product is called House4Cell, which allows realtors to directly market to home buyers. How effective would it be to allow your customers subscribe to your service where you send them a text massage as new listings come online, and even send pictures of that listing. Another use of this service could be to send alerts when a price-drops occur in homes in the area. You would be remembered for your effective use of technology to keep your clients happy.

No WiFi for Cincinnati - for now

I really had hoped that city-wide WiFi would become a reality, but the time is not right. I understand that this same problem is happening in other cities across the nation right now, but I hope everything gets back on track.

This is the exact sort of thing that needs to becoma a reality in order to enice young professionals to our city. Also, it is needed as we are lagging further and further behind other nations in our connectivety. If we cannot compete with their speeds, we need to compete with their numbers.

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Cincinnati won’t soon be a wireless city after all.

The wireless broadband market is too unstable now, and similar projects have been canceled across the country, City Manager Milton Dohoney says. So he notified the mayor and city council members this week that his plan to explore citywide WiFi goes on hold.

To study the possibility, the city spent about $18,000, less than the $50,000 council set aside.

When Dohoney’s office announced in May that officials hoped the city would be wireless in three years, the idea drew praise. Ryan Rybolt, president and co-founder of Project Lilypad, a volunteer group that encourages the development of free wireless hot spots, said city WiFi would help draw young professionals to Cincinnati because it helps the city appear progressive.

Mayor Mark Mallory said he hoped to find a way to provide computers to low-income residents so they could use the wireless service, too.

Civitium, a Georgia company that has worked for Chicago, Los Angeles and Las Vegas among others, was hired to advise local officials. According to the company’s blog, “capital-constrained muni WiFi operators have shifted their business models to require revenue commitments from local governments recently, as a condition for agreeing to build Wi-Fi networks.”

That was the problem for Cincinnati – too much money would likely be required from the city, said Meg Olberding, city spokeswoman. It was clear, Dohoney said in his memo, that the city likely would not get a favorable response if it issued a request for proposals to build a network. The projects can cost millions.

Among the problems elsewhere, the city manager said: leading provider Earthlink is restructuring, cutting staff and canceling projects in San Francisco, St. Petersburg, Fla., and New Orleans; Chicago canceled its plans after being unable to reach an agreement with providers after issuing a request for proposals.

The city plans to hold onto its research and wait for the market to change.

“It was a wise investment to do our due diligence,” Olberding said. “It gives us a good base to be ready when the timing is right.”

If a Blog Reports Facts, Is it Gossip?

As many of you know, I use this blog to promote local happening in my community. One of the biggest things I recently promoted was the removal of Ralpf Jacobs as the principal of Locklan Elementary School. While my ultimate goal was his complete firing, I was satisfied when the board did remove him as the principal. I was also very happy to learn that a few friends in the local area were looking for information on this issue and Googled it. I learned that my blog was on the first page when they were looking for information, so I honestly believe that I helped get information out to the public so that they could also express their outrage with the entire situation.

I have recently learned that there is a new series starting called Gossip Girl on The CW. This show follows the lives of several young people in New York's Upper East Side. All while they try to live their lives, there is a blog run by "Gossip Girl", and she stirs the pot informing the world what is going on in the local scene and affects the lives of the main characters. I must say that these teen dramas have not appealed to me for a long time, but the premise of this one is interesting. I may give it a shot.

Chiquita execs cleared

I have mixed feeling on this Chiquita case. On one hand I understand and support the governments ban on giving monies to any terrorist organization for any reason. On the other hand, Chiquita was doing what it felt was in the best interest for both business and employees.

I suppose that Chiquita could have used that same money however and purchased protection services from private security companies to support both business and employee protection. Because that is not an illegal activity, they would also be ahead financially becasue they would not have to pay the stiff Federal fines for violating the law.

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The Justice Department said Tuesday it will not prosecute 10 Chiquita Brands International executives involved in the Cincinnati-based company's now-defunct payoff of Colombian terrorists protecting its most profitable banana-growing operation.

The government's long-awaited decision was part of a sentencing memo urging U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth to fine Chiquita $25 million and have the company serve five years probation for its illegal deals. The sentencing hearing in front of Lamberth is set for Sept. 17.

If accepted, the fine would mark the largest criminal penalty ever imposed under U.S. global terrorism sanctions laws.

Prosecutors dropped potential charges against the executives - most of whom have not been publicly identified - "based solely on the merits and the evidence" against them, said Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd.

"The government gave serious consideration to bringing additional charges in this matter, but in the exercise of its prosecutorial discretion, has decided not to do so after an extensive investigation and after considering critical evidence and information that Chiquita provided," Boyd said.

Fernando Aguirre, Chiquita's chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement from its Cincinnati headquarters that the company was pleased with the decision.

"We believe this is the right decision and one that reflects the good faith efforts of the company - and its officers, directors and employees - to address a very difficult situation involving the lives and safety of our employees," Aguirre said.

Chiquita voluntarily alerted the Justice Department in April 2003 of the deals, which by that time had been ongoing for 15 years. The banana company admitted to paying about $1.7 million between 1997 and 2004 to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, known as AUC for its Spanish initials.

The AUC has been responsible for some of the worst massacres in Colombia's civil conflict and for a sizable percentage of the country's cocaine exports. The U.S. government designated the AUC a terrorist group in September 2001. Additionally, Chiquita made payments to the National Liberation Army, or ELN, and the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, as control of the company's banana-growing area shifted.

Chiquita has said it was forced to make the payments and was acting only to ensure the safety of its workers.

Court documents list 10 unidentified company employees initially suspected of participating in the illegal deals and helped conceal them on company books. Prosecutors would not identity them or say whether they remain with Chiquita.

Former Chiquita general counsel Bob Olson has been identified as one of the 10. His lawyer, Robert Litt, said Olson helped in Chiquita's decision to report the deals to the Justice Department.

"No reasonable person could consider this criminal conduct," Litt said Tuesday.

He said Chiquita "was extorted by paramilitary terrorists who threatened the lives of its employees."