Next Generation Mobile Marketing – The Birth of Nanosites

The mobile phone has revolutionised everyday life as well as the way we do business. A less well-known fact is that it also opens up fantastic opportunities for interaction between companies and their customers.

According to the latest statistics, mobile usage in the areas of SMS, MMS, WAP Push, J2ME, .NET, and Bluetooth are ever increasing:
-65% of people send business text messages daily.
-50% of people receive business text message from a member of their team/department/office.
-36% receive business text messages from a customer or client.
-71% of people use business texts for setting reminders of meetings and appointments.
-There are 4.9 million T-zone users worldwide (Q4 2004)
-£4 billion estimated mobile operator revenue from MMS.
-12.9% of mobile users use mobile applications to access news in the US.

While creating, designing and developing mobile application solutions, we found that there is a lack of proper corporate branded marketing and have found the solution: Nanosites.

Nanosites

What is a Nanosite? A Nanosite, one the latest mobile marketing terms coined by Stefanos Cunning and Saji Varghese, is nothing more than a downloadable offline mini-website tailored for mobile phones. Utilising both J2ME and .NET, they have been able to create corporate branded Nanosites that can be easily downloaded to a mobile handset via WAP push, GPRS, WiFi or Bluetooth.

Each Nanosite can include not only the standard brochure-style information but also:

-mCommerce capabilities
-mCorporate Directories (another mobile marketing term coined by Stefanos Cunning and Saji Varghese)
-Location Based Services
-Price Comparison Applications
-Relevant tools

The possibilities are as endless as the capabilities of the mobile handset.

mCorporate Directories

What is a mCorporate Directory? A mCorporate Directory is an application included within a Nanosite that contains a multimedia-style guide for a company's contacts. This mCorporate Directory can include:

-Small images of key directors, managers, and staff
-Contact information
-Autodialing capabilities for each contact
-Email links in order to send a contact an instant email
-A directional map to the corporate headquarters

Mobile marketing is a new addition to the media mix, with great opportunities for direct interaction with customers and cost-effective data collection. By using Nanosites, leading brands can not only achieve consumer brand awareness but also embrace the ever growing mCommerce opportunities.

Selecting a supplier that understands the medium as well your requirements is key to success - we hope that this overview will help you to make the most out of this exciting media channel. For further information and case studies from your industry, please see www.unilabplus.com or contact Stefanos Cunning, Director of Unilabplus Ltd and Head of Technical for Panlogic Ltd or contact Saji Varghese, Lead Developer of Panlogic Ltd.



About the Author
Stefanos Cunning is the Director of Unilabplus Ltd, a London-based online business marketing and management software house.