marketing

Microsoft Gulf, a division of the company that is based in the Middle East, is increasing its efforts to make WP7 more accessible and usable to their customers who live in the region. By partnering with digital marketing firm Prototype, Microsoft plans to bring a number of new applications to the Windows Phone Marketplace, all of which are built for purposes and businesses that are unique to the UAE (United Arab Emirates).

The list of new apps includes titles like Time Out Dubai, to give users access to restaurant reviews and locations; Aramex, for tracking courier shipments; and mParc, an exclusive Windows Phone Mango app that will give users instant access to Dubai's paid parking lots.

As more of these localized apps are built, Microsoft is making it clear that they intend to spend their massive marketing budget wisely to increase their WP7 user-base. Expect to see more such programs launched worldwide as not only Microsoft, but soon Nokia, continue to integrate WP7 into the world of smartphone users.

Source: IT Pro Portal

Ignition Studios, developer of Monkey Mini Golf (see our review), has completed a white paper on marketing experiences with pushing their brand and products through media promotion. Starting today, the games studio will use the next few weeks to publish points from this document to aid other indie developers who are looking to promote their own titles.

The article takes the reader through the history of the video game industry and what limitations are imposed as an indie developer or an established studio. Next, strategies are discussed surrounding social media and how a game developer interacts with consumers. Lastly, we're walked through some marketing metrics:

• Exposure
• Influence
• Engagement
• Action
• Retention

It's certainly worth checking out, even if you don't develop games the information can be applied for apps as well.

Source: Ignition Studios

It looks like Microsoft is going to get some well-needed assistance in promoting Windows Phone.  According to Andy Lees, president of Microsoft’s mobile unit, Samsung and HTC have both argeed to upping their marketing budgets, which may include everything from advertising to retail staff to pique consumer interest.  It's a great move for Microsoft, who seems to have struggled with promoting Windows Phone themselves.  Gartner, Inc. analyst, Michael Gartenberg agrees that while WP7 is a solid product, it lacks the PR:

“From a technical perspective, it really does put them on par with the other competitors, but a lot of times Microsoft gets it right with the technology and then fumbles the marketing message.“

He also added that Windows Phone has seen its fair share of retailer bias, which has been reported on previously:

"If you went to store they showed you anything other than a Windows Phone. If you asked for a Windows Phone, they tried to talk you out of it.”

It's good to see some of Microsoft's partners get involved, as they certainly have skin in the game.  HTC has said that almost one third of their sales come from Windows Phone and Samsung has made a commitment to continue working with it as part of their recent Android patent deal with MS.  It would seem silly for them not to have made this move.  Nokia, who has obviously put all of their eggs in the WP basket, have recently seen some of their upcoming ads emerge. Between the three, it may not be long before Windows Phone sees a bump in its disappointing market performance.

Source: Bloomberg

Millennial Media has released some statistics which puts Windows Phone in a healthy attack. According to the mobile advertising specialist Microsoft's platform has increased the volume of advertisement impressions month-on-month by 48%, matching Android. iOS and Symbian remain "relatively flat" while Blackberry grew by 10%.

With Mango just around the corner, we will look forward to comparing data from a number of analytical sources before and after the release of the update and launch of new hardware. We looked at Millennial data back in June and how Windows Phone has a higher CTR (click through rate) than iOS and Android.

The above table shows the top 10 app categories ranked by the number of impressions accumulated. It's interesting to see health and fitness jump into 8th place, while gaming is always a firm favourite to top the chart. Check out the full global report in a PDF below.

Source: Millennial Media (PDF), via: WMPU

Microsoft are kicking off a good number of marketing campaigns. One being the Me video series following Windows Phone users, which we saw fallowing Eagle Rock Yacht Club, a non-profit dodge ball league and community. We've now just seen published on the Windows Phone blog a new written series that follows individuals and how Windows Phone affects their life.

Kali Jones, hair stylist, answered some questions with in-depth explanations covering how Windows Phone has changed her life, both on a personal and professional note. One of the highlights about the platform that attracted Kali to purchase her HTC HD7 was the simplicity of the Metro UI. Here's a quick snippet of the article:

For one thing, I’m not going to miss a contact, whether they choose to email, call or text me. My clients will book their appointments through texting, and then I remind them about their appointments with a text. For the Las Vegas clients, one week before I go down there I blast out texts. I think they like that, because people can’t pick up the phone at work, or maybe they’re a cocktail waitress and they can text me back at 1 or 2 a.m. and it’s fine—I don’t sleep next to my phone. And it’s easy to track what happens to the emails and texts, whether they went through or got a reply. 

I also use my phone to take credit card payments. When I started my business after moving back here, I looked at getting onto the Visa machine at the salon, but you have to do a 3-year contract. If you’re in business for yourself, that’s hard because you don’t know how long you’ll be in any one place. Then I got my phone and found an app called Credit Card Machine that only required a 6-month contract. It stores the client’s contact info—all I have to do is enter the credit card number. It emails a receipt to me and to the client, all paperless and totally awesome. You can check online to make sure the payment went through, and it shows up in your bank account in a couple of days.

It's well worth the read should you be looking at Windows Phone Mango as your next investment or know of someone who's looking to switch. Head on over to the blog (link below) to read through the rest of the interview. Also, if you know of anyone who could be interviewed next, be sure to send their details in (email located at top of interview)

Source: Windows Phone Blog

Over at AdDuplex, Alan Mendelevich has published an insightful blog post for developers covering promotion and marketing of Windows Phone applications. Should you have a submitted app that is now available to the public, how do you go about marketing it? 

Alan has listed 22 (AdDuplex is listed four times) tips and tricks that he has seen other developers do. These are perfect for indie developers who aren't backed by brands/companies or investors. The list include the AdDuplex service, word of mouth, beta testers, social media, some cool dudes (WPCentral), website deployment and creating a demo video on media sharing portals (YouTube as an example).

Head on over to the AdDuplex blog (link below) to read the full run-down of ways to promote your app.

Source: AdDuplex Blog

So you've created your Windows Phone app and you now have some presence building in the Marketplace, what happens now? Are there ways for developers to market and promote their app to users? You bet'cha! There are a ton of channels developers can take (some offered by Microsoft) to help bring in more potential users.

Sheeds has published two editorial pieces on his website, which are worth looking into by new and small developers. The first covers what I've mentioned already in this article, what should you do once you've submitted to the Marketplace? The second moves outside the WP7 sphere itself and explains how developers can promote outside the Marketplace.

Some points Sheeds covers include creating a website for your apps as a central hub for information, contact and to use for social media deployment. Twitter, Facebook and other networks will prove to be invaluable for developing your brand awareness and increasing reach. Remember to look around our site for more guides too that cover advertising networks and more. Just because the app (or game) is in the Marketplace, doesn't mean you can sit back and have a cup of tea. There's always work to be done!

Source: WPDownUnder

This is more eye candy than anything else. The chart above states the obvious with HTC owning the WP7 marketshare (along with everything else) by releasing a horde of products. Samsung closely follows behind, surprising since they only offer a single device in America and Europe (Focus and Omnia 7 respectively) - albeit both devices are popular. ASUS is shown to have the smallest chunk of strawberry pie with their limited deployment along with Dell (although is Dell's position down to the hardware/software blunders?).

The chart below shows a device breakdown of popularity, HD7 being the most commonly owned product, followed by the Omnia 7, whey Europe! interesting to see how the hype of each product introduction correlates to the popularity post-deployment. Please note that these charts are estimates only and are by no means accurate.

Source: AdGAC, via: MobileTechWorld

A new advertisement exchange service, called AdDuplex, has recently surfaced.  Its purpose is to help fledgling developers get word of their applications out to Marketplace users.  Here's how it works: a developer creates ads an AdDuplex control to their application and includes an ad for their own product.  That control then begins to display ads from AdDuplex's network of clients, including the developer's and AdDuplex iteself.

Basically "Help other developers promote their apps and they’ll promote yours."

The more users of the service, the more the word spreads.  Think of it like an advertising pyramid scheme, without the shadiness.  The service is free, and if a developer later decides that they want to include advertisements from another source, AdDuplex allows them to do so, though it looks like AdDuplex’s network of ads remains.

Despite the snarky headline, we think it’s actually a pretty inventive way for developers to help each other get their products out there. Sign up for free here.

Source: AdDuplex