The following information was provided to a series of questions from a trade show that ultimately hired me to be a speaker. I thought it might be helpful to those of you seeking an experienced mobile marketer for your upcoming event.
I have been involved in mobile marketing since its infancy. In the late 1990’s, mobile marketing in Europe was about 3 years ahead of North America. By virtue of my company having an office in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Czech Republic, and Slovakia, I was made aware of the industry long before most Americans.
In 2002, based on success we had seen in Europe, we began one of the first ringtone businesses in the USA. Four years later, this business was sold to a publicly traded company in Canada. Based on that experience and knowledge gained, I began working with companies to provide mobile marketing agency solutions.
In October, 2013, our company sold its Cars2Go business to publicly traded AutoByTel. Cars2Go is a suite of mobile marketing solutions for auto dealers that includes a mobile app, custom QR Codes, mobile website, and text message marketing solutions.
Today, I am involved with the CTIA (Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association) and the MMA (Mobile Marketing Association). The two aforementioned associations are the most reliable source of best practices and research in the mobile marketing industry. I am also active in regional associations such as the Philly Ad Club and the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.
I am an active author and links to much of my work can be found on my personal website at http://bobbentz.wpengine.com . I am also a frequent guest speaker at industry events. In fact, last year, I was invited to be a featured speaker at the World Telemedia Conference in Marbella, Spain. In addition, every three weeks I conduct a webinar called the “Mobile Marketing Knowledge College” that is attended by 100 people involved in marketing. You can find many of the webinars on You Tube.
Some of the high profile clients that I have worked with include: Cititrends; Toll Brothers; Arby’s; Met Life; Nu Balance; Bank of America; Subway; Princeton University; Cheerwine; Clear Channel; ESPN Radio; Huntington Learning Center; Kent State University; Fed Ex; Aldi Supermarkets; Party City; Sprint; Ralph Lauren; Washington Capitals; Comcast SportsNet.
Each day, I am involved in the evaluation and implementation of mobile strategies that includes, but is not limited to: text message marketing; mobile website development; mobile apps development; mobile advertising buys; the corresponding marketing of such solutions.
I am one of the foremost experts and am frequently called on to comment in published articles about text message marketing strategies. I am often credited as being the inventor of the Custom QR Code (a colorful version of a QR code that includes the brand’s logo). In addition, my team and I were the first company to come up with a way for a mobile website to drop an icon on the user’s mobile phone much in the same way that an app does.
One of the greatest things about mobile advertising is that it offers pinpoint targeting of a client’s customers and prospects. Facebook advertising, for example, provides a scary amount of data enabling a brand to target its best prospects and when they are most likely to buy. I am personally involved in analyzing statistics every week as to how to best optimize our mobile advertising buys based on the most important KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators). This includes mobile advertising on the social media networks, the advertising network channels, and native advertising on both mobile web and in-apps.
Nobody seems to want image and brand building advertising campaigns so one thing that I take great pride in is the evaluation of statistics related to mobile ad buys. There’s a wealth of KPI’s to analyze the effectiveness of the campaigns we implement and I am actively involved in such evaluation.