All of us at Mobivity wish everyone a happy and safe holiday weekend. We also give thanks to the men and women in the military who make huge sacrifices each day to keep us free and safe.

Memorial Day marks the unofficial start to the summer season. With all of the outdoor activities kicking off, now is the time to get your mobile marketing programs in place for the summer. Whether you offer mobile coupons, contests or voting, SMS marketing is  perfect for  outdoor events, getting your attendees engaged and making events interactive.

Whether it’s for fun promotions at sports games, bars and festivals, or a professional speaking engagement, using SMS voting gets your audience engaged and makes the event interactive. 

Mobivity’s 2.0 dashboard and modular system make SMS voting promotions a breeze — both the setup and reporting are built into the software and it takes just minutes to get started.

The first step is to set up the voting campaign before you assign it to a specific keyword. After logging into Mobivity 2.0, click on Modules on the the main navigation bar and then click on SMS Voting:

After selecting the SMS Voting module, the Voting Campaign page is displayed, click on Add Voting Campaign  (upper left) to go to the setup screen.

Once on the voting campaign setup screen, you’ll be able to add the name the campaign, up to four choices and include a thank you response (I’ve included sample text below). When you’re happy with your text, click SAVE.

After you save the campaign, you’ll be taken to the list of all the campaigns you’ve created. You can click on any of the titles to edit, view results or change the name of the campaign from this screen.  If you are satisfied with the campaign you set up, click Dashboard on the main navigation bar to assign the voting campaign to a keyword.

To assign the campaign to a keyword, from the dashboard, scroll to the keywords area at the bottom and click on the desired keyword.

After selecting the keyword, you’ll see the Keyword Detail screen which displays all the data for that keyword and allows you to change the behavior of the keyword. 

To setup the keyword for the voting campaign, click on Change in the Keyword Response Handler section of the screen (lower left). Then use the drop down menus to select “Voting” as the response handler and then select the name of the correct voting campaign for the keyword. Click SAVE and you’re done.

If you have any questions on how to use the voting campaign function in Mobivity 2.0,  contact us at support@mobivity.com or see my earlier blog post on the topic.

The Referral Engine, a terrific book by John Jantsch launches today. Check the site for some bonus offers today only!

Learn to market your mobile business from experts like John, Seth Godin and David Meerman Scott and other veteran marketers with real world experience.

Andrew Seybold’s article on wireless network issues is thought provoking. In the past applications for new cell sites for wireless coverage could take years. The FCC just made a change that is important to those of us in the mobile industry:

Recently, the FCC gave network operators a new tool in the form of a "shot clock" that requires planning commissions to meet deadlines of 75 days after submittal for a new site and 45 days if the site is existing and to be shared by another network operator. This new tool does not guarantee that the permit will be approved, only that it will be acted upon within the stated length of time.

My suggestion to all of you is to find out when there are hearings in your city, town, or county for tower sites and attend them if possible. Sign up to speak and be someone who stands up for the network operator and the new tower application. If you cannot attend a hearing, directing an email to all of the planning commissioners is the next best thing. In my community, I try to attend these hearings whenever they are held, and the planning staff usually appreciates having supporters there to offset those who make it a habit to show up and complain–not only about cell sites, but in many cases, every application that is submitted.

Read more about this important issue on Fierce Wireless.

Media Connections published this article yesterday and I agree with Lisa Donohue’s viewpoint that while it’s challenging, now is a a great time to be in marketing.

Following more than a year’s worth of conversations about recession, budget cuts, and having to do more with less, I’m afraid we may have lost sight of something very important: It’s a great time to be in marketing. 

Our industry has become about constant change — this is the new reality. There’s a new medium developed every day, for which we are required to become instant experts in the way consumers use it. The era of three-network simplicity has been gone for some time, and it’s not coming back. A new era — one that includes digital channels, mobile media, and social networks  — is upon us and will continue to expand exponentially. We can meet this era with trepidation, or we can meet it with a New Optimism. I choose the latter, and I urge you to make the same choice.

Mobile marketing is a great way to work in the new reality. Most vendors offer real time results and it’s simple to start small,  measure and optimize campaigns.  Understanding how consumers want to communicate with you is paramount to success, and interactivity is key. Mobile coupons, mobile alerts and mobile contests are great additions to campaigns with an array of media options.

According to Mobile Marketing Watch, LG Electronics is teaming with Marvel to roll out an elaborate marketing campaign ahead of the film’s May 7th release.

The essence of the LG “Iron Man 2″ advertising campaign is rooted in the following tag line: “Is it a lifesaver…a smartphone, or something better?”

From in-store promotions at select Best Buy outlets to a movie-themed micro site, www.lgim2.com (that happens to include an online film-themed game with built-in Augmented Reality experiences and text-to-win consumer sweepstakes), LG is playing a substantial role in the overall marketing strategy behind “Iron Man 2.”

It’s great to see mobile aligned with the franchise and the integrated campaign around the release of the movie. Cool.