Archive for September, 2009

Pocono Raceway is one of the latest sports stadiums to use Advanced

Text message alerts are being used by Pocono Raceway for fans to notify security of unruly spectators.

Telecom Services’ 84444.com to stay in touch with problems in the sports venue.

Pocono Raceway, which has been operating since 1968, has been a NASCAR venue since 1974.  It ran its first 500 mile race in 1971.  The fastest lap was by Kasey Kahne at 176 MPH.

The Pocono Raceway seats over 76,000 race car fans.  So, you can imagine that there’s bound to be some problems when you put this many excited racing fans into such a large venue.

Like many other sports stadiums, Pocono Raceway has incorporated a text message alert system where fans can report unruly spectators that are causing a ruckus in their section.  In the past, fans might be afraid to ask an usher for help and be a target of possible violence from the fan, but the text message alert system can notify Pocono Raceway security without indicating which fan is reporting the problem.

Numerous college and professional sports venues now use 84444.com for trouble alerts at stadiums and arenas.  Text message alerts work so well, because fans can anonymously alert stadium security of the problem.  This makes for a better experience for all attending fans.

“Some companies are charging thousands of dollars for an emergency text message stadium alert system,” said Bob Bentz, president of Advanced Telecom Services.  “With our system, stadiums can pay $99 and get up to 1000 text message alerts for the venue.  That’s way more than most need,” added Bentz.

Thankfully, several states in the US have banned the act of texting while driving. 84444.com strongly promotes that no one text while they drive. The results can be deadly.

This year, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association, the number of states that ban texting while driving doubled. There are 14 total states that have some type of texting while driving bans plus the District of Columbia.  The GHSA expects this number to grow.

So far states that have laws against texting while driving are, Alaska, California, Utah, Colorado, Washington, Minnesota, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, D.C. Maryland, New Jersey and Connecticut.

The Kelsy Group, a division of BIA, has found that local mobile ad revenue is expected to reach more than $3.1 billion by 2013, up from $160 million in 2008. The bulk of this is mobile search, at $2.3 billion. SMS had only $100 million in 2008!

Local ad revenue may hit a low of $135.8 billion in 2010 before climbing a bit in 2011. And, local advertising in newspapers, direct mail, TV, radio, yellow pages, outdoor, magazines and online is expected to slip to $144.4 billion by 2013, down from $155 billion last year, says BIA.

Radio and TV Internet revenue will climb to $1.9 billion in 2013, from $805 million last year.

Local mobile advertising will be the next hot trend, especially in terms of local mobile search according to The Kelsey Group study. Local mobile ad revenue will hit $3.1 billion in 2013, mobile search will reach $2.3 billion, and local searches, which were 27.8% of all searches in 2008 is projected to hit 35.1% in 2013.

The report states that currently, 54 million people use the mobile web, and should reach 95 million by 2013. Local search will make up more than half of mobile advertising at 56%, though local search will only be just over 35% of all searches.

Mobile Marketing, including mobile coupons and text message sweepstakes, is the newest medium for advertisers and promoters.  Mobile marketing site 84444.com is now available for promotion by affiliate marketers.

Several recent studies, including one by eMarketer, say that $670 million will be invested in mobile marketing this year by American companies.  Growth is anticipated to reach $3.3 billion by 2014.   read more

For the full article featured in the Sept. 1, 2009 article on PRWeb, please click here.

The number of text coupons being sent on behalf of business services and products is increasing daily.

More and more, Americans are signing up to receive coupons through e-mails and text messages. According to research, about 8% of US households get coupons through email or text, with users tending to be young, affluent, educated and female.

Text message coupons are typically sent only to consumers who have signed up (opted-in) to receive them. This increases the relevancy of the offer and the potential for the consumer to act on that offer. Not only are these types of coupons convenient, they are environmentally friendly because no paper is used!

A recent poll conducted by AdweekMedia/Harris Poll found that consumers are for the most part influenced by “somewhat interesting” advertisements.

Consumers were asked to say how influential ads they had seen or heard had been when they made their most recent big purchase. 6% said the ads were ‘very influential” and another 29% said they were “somewhat influential”  Twenty nine percent said the ads were “not that influential” Twenty five percent said they were “not at all influential” with the rest saying the question didn’t apply to them or declining to choose.

The polls 18-34 year olds were the most likely to report that ads were at least somewhat influential in guiding their most recent big purchase, with 45% saying so vs. 37 % of the 35 – 44 year olds, 28% of the 45-54 year olds and 29% of 55 plus.  All this would suggest that young adults are still comparatively impressionable while elders remain more resistant.

The same group was then asked if they considered recent ads interesting. A majority said they find it either “very interesting (8%) or “somewhat interesting” (47%). Just 13% said it’s “not at all interesting”.  The polls 18 – 34 year olds were the most likely to find ads at least somewhat interesting (66 percent); while the 55 and olders were the least likely (46%).

1. Research In Motion (RIM) BlackBerry Curve (all 83XX models)

2. Apple iPhone (all models)

3. RIM BlackBerry Storm

4. RIM BlackBerry Pearl (all models except flip)

5. T-Mobile G1

In an age of ever faster communications, fewer people have time for voice mail.

More than 30 percent of voice mail messages remain unheard for three days or longer, according to uReach Technologies. More than 20% of people with messages in their mailboxes rarely check them.

Traditional voice mail it seems has become less acceptable because everything around it has changed. We are conditioned for instant forms of communication.

A survey done for Sprint by Opinion Research Corporation found that with the exception of people age 65 and over, adults respond more quickly to a text message than to a voice message. Those under 30 are four times more likely to respond within minutes to a text message than a voice mail. Adults 30 and older are twice as likely to respond within minutes to a text message than to a voice mail.

For those who can’t be bothered to listen to VM messages at all, a number of companies now offer voice-to-text transcription. The best known is Google, which at the end of June began a rollout of Google Voice, a service that offers voice mail transcriptions free of charge.

The average person checks their voicemail six to eight hours after it was left.

According to StatCounter data, Google controlled 96.2% of the market in the first half of the year.

StatCounter primarily tracks internet websites instead of mobile versions of those sites and StatCounter depends on cookies and JavaScript for its count, which don’t always work on mobile phones. A recent comScore report from September showed Google had 63 percent of the mobile search market in the US, while Yahoo had 34.6 percent.

This is likely to change soon since Microsoft and its BING search engine announced a deal with Verizon earlier this year to become the default search provider on Verizon phones.