Here’s just one simple thing you can do to ensure you get maximum coverage for all your different mobile channel marketing efforts:  Have your link buttons at the ready…and send them ahead! 

No Buts about Buttons

Mobile marketing means your brand has to work well on the small screen.   This means that your laptop-sized, screen-width banners and multi-color, fancy-font signs are probably not going to render well.   By now we’ve all probably all seen egregious offenses in which graphics overwhelm valuable content.  For some examples of link buttons that work well on the mobile screen, see some QVew examples in the right sidebar.

Solution: create two or three “button” sized graphics with a minimum 300dpi density, using various standard sizes.  One should be exactly square shaped, the second should be approximately 4H x 6W (photo-landscape) dimensions, and the third one should be 6H x 4W (photo portrait) dimensions.    If you’d like some assistance with this, contact us or use  this blog’s comment box below.

Each button should contain information that is visible when the button is approximately postage stamp size, to fit within or alongside two to three lines of copy text onscreen.  Ideally, the final font size for any lettering on each button you create should be no smaller that the equivalent of 12 point Ariel.  Any smaller, and it won’t be easy to view on the small screen.  Preferably, the font size will be as large as possible yet still fit within the dimension of the button you are creating.

Links, Alt Text & Tags

When you submit your graphic buttons to your mobile channel partner, be certain to specify the link URL, so that viewers who click your link button are taken to the appropriate destination online.  Also remember to provide “alt text” – a descriptive phrase – that will be visible to the legions of text-only message recipients.  Many mobile business and consumer customers may receive text-only messages due to either budget constraints, corporate policy or their personal mobile account settings which may  limit file size.   QVew sends messages in both html and text formats to reach as broad an audience as possible – on their terms.  The alt tag  and alt text are a great way to boost audience response, and an essential step for communicating in both a text-only environment and a graphics-rich one.

Reinforce Your Brand

Be sure that your link buttons conform to your own brand guidelines in terms of color choice, font style etc., so your brand and good reputation are consistent and reinforced wherever your link buttons appear online.

Why Buttons Work

Without delving into a lot of science, consider this:  people can’t resist clicking online buttons.  Try it yourself:  how long can you hold a mouse or phone in your hand without clicking on something?  Link buttons are irresistible, and have quickly become a universally understood online navigation aid, making them an essential item in any marketer’s toolkit.  Just by being there, your link button will boost your brand’s credibility.  All you need to do is reinforce it by linking to your great content.   Your audience is waiting, and they won’t wait long if they find better service elsewhere!

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What has your experience been with graphics on the small screen?   We’d be very interested to know, and welcome your comments.   ~Ed

Method #1 (easiest):  Upload your own photos

If you have some nifty photos you want to upload, it’s a fairly simple matter.  At a PC or laptop workstation, follow your camera/phone instructions and load your photos into an aptly named file.   Later, when you are working in your QVew Account’s online work zone, you can use the work zone features to Upload these images.  

If photos tell your story best, then this method is great.  What if you need captions or other graphics, though?  If so, see Method #4 below for info.

Method #2:  Leave It  to Us

We can do any of this article’s stepwise processes as part of a standard service agreement.   Check with your main QVew contact to find out if you have this service.   You can find your QVew account contact by logging in to your Account, selecting ”Offers” and visiting the QVew titled ” QVew contacts, help, FAQ etc.”.  

Method #3:  Outsource to Someone Else

If you engage a photographer or graphics artist to produce images for display in your QVew image galleries,  they will need to know these specifications:

     “photo landscape”  – 300 pixels high x 450 pixels wide. 

That’s it!  This information is all that is needed to ensure that every image loads and displays correctly on any QVew, on any full size Web screen, on any size device – laptop, iPhone, Droid, iPad, Nokia, touch kiosk, etc. 

Method #4:  Do It Yourself – the “EZ Pro” Way

The next 200 words will have you whipping out stunning QVews in minutes, building skills, and never looking back. 

First off, use common tools.  There are so many powerful tools out there, but to help you do this painlessly in terms of time, cost and effort, start with the following tools commonly found on standard business computers running Microsoft (MS) software:

     MS Powerpoint
     MS Paint (in the Microsoft Accessories folder)

1. Set up MS Paint

a) Find the Microsoft Accessories folder and open Open MS Paint.  

b) Select Image > Attributes and set the dimensions to 300 pixels high and 450 pixels wide. 

c) Save these settings as a blank file named “Frame”.   Once you have done this, you can re-open the Frame file in MS Paint and it will re-size your workspace correctly.    You can also Insert the Frame in a blank Powerpoint slide and use it as a handy border to guide placement of design elements in your Image creations. 

Best practice tips: in MS Paint, select “View” and check “Tool Box” and “Color Box”.  This will place most of your commonly needed tools for positioning, touch-up etc. in handy view.

Here’s a nice benefit in the latest versions of MS Paint:  the program “remembers” the frame size of the last file you created, so if you only use MS Paint for QVew image creation, you’ll find that every time you open MS Paint, it will automatically present you with a window that is 300H x 450W (or whatever dimensions you last used).  If you have this version, you won’t need to use the Frame file ever again.  Frankly, you can just use the Image>Attributes menu to re-size the MS Paint frame, once you’ve memorized the standard dimensions specified in this article.   Finally, note that you can use this Frame method to create graphics of any required dimensions.  All other steps here are roughly the same.

2.  Set up MS Powerpoint   

a. Open up a blank MS Powerpoint document/presentation and save it in a folder named after the QVew where you want your images to ultimately appear.     

b.  After filling out your Powerpoint presentation’s title page, Insert a second blank page and Insert the Picture named “Frame” which you created as instructed in the MS Paint section described in step 1 above.

c.  You now have the correct sized framework for placing design elements into a QVew image file, so have at it!  Stylized text, graphics, logos, photos, composite images, captions, slogans, thought balloons, etc.  – the only limit is your imagination.

Repeat steps (a) through (c) above to create additional image files.  

3.  Convert your Powerpoint pages to Image files (.jpg)

(a) Go to the Powerpoint slide you’d like to convert into an Image, and do a final check to be sure all your slide elements fit comfortably within the 3×5 Frame you had imported from MS Paint.  

(b) Next, delete ONLY the Frame (outline) element from the Powerpoint slide.  The Frame element is not needed for the next steps.

(c) Choose Select > Select All.  This will select all elements on the Powerpoint slide. 

(d) Choose the Copy command.

(e)  Open MS Paint and, in MS Paint, select Edit > Paste.  Your slide elements should now appear within the 3×5 working space in MS Paint.   Use the dotted rectangle tool to select and position your image.

Select the Image > Attributes menu to verify the dimensions are 300 pixels H x 450 wide.  If not, change those entries now.  Make certain your image elements are still positioned as desired.  if not, use the dotted Rectangle Tool on the Tools menu to highlight and drag them into position.

Name and Save the MS Paint image as a .jpg in your QVew work files.

Now when you log on to your QVew account it’s a simple matter to use the on-screen search and upload features to add your new images to your QVews.

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Coming soon:  editing tools and enlarged image libraries right in your online Account workspace!

Got a QVew you’re particularly proud of?  Let us know and we’ll link to it here!

This only points out the value of mobile messaging as a youth outreach channel, but by no means does it denigrate email.   Email is, for most, the predominant channel, as reported by Anil Batra for the Web Analytics Association.  Way more people use email as their primary conversation channel than text or social media.  

Moreover, once children reach high school age, they need an email account to deal with school matters such as online coursework, teacher and administration communications, and the like.  By age 18, they begin dealing with the world of commerce on their own as legal adults – college, retailers, tax entities, etc.  This involves document exchange, which text messaging can’t accommodate, bringing email closer to the center of the communiverse.   

So, while text messaging and mobile messaging are seen as the weapon of choice for reaching people on the go (translation: phone), email is generally viewed as the vehicle for official communication versus friendly banter.

If you are going to use email, it’s time to review some best practice ideas.

Subject line

When sending an individual a personal email, you personalize the subject line, right?  Why, then do so many marketers flip a switch in their minds when marketing to a group, and homogenize the subject line so that it doesn’t appeal to audience members as individuals?   No matter how broad your audience, each fickle audience member is an individual, desires individual treatment, and gets it from other marketers; why not you?   To test this, send a sample of your email marketing message to yourself, and look at it in your own context.  Think: Does it appeal to you as an individual, nested among all your other email?  

Header graphics

Alt (alternate) text is, or should be by now, common vocabulary in email marketing. Wait, come back!  This is not geek-speak!  Simply put, alt text it is an alternative text label you can easily set to appear in that big blank space at the top of your audience’s email screens, in place of your gorgeous header graphics, photos and title bars which most readers temporarily block to speed delivery.  Without alt text, those (most) of us who turn off graphics to speed receipt (and save money on a limited data plan) will see a blank screen unless we scroll down.  Alt text avoids the following top audience pet peeves about email:

1. I have no idea what the message is about, and couldn’t be bothered to hunt for it -don’t make me work!
2. I am missing the context of your message because your first text paragraph refers to a graphic I can’t see, so now I’m confused.  Don’t make me guess!
3. I have to find and click a link somewhere to permit the graphics to load on my desktop/laptop screen…and if I’m reading it on my mobile phone, I have to wait until next time I poll my email accounts to receive your header.  Don’t make me wait! 

The remedy for all these nuisances and audience turn-offs is alt text.  It’s so simple to do, you need no special expertise to do it, and your audience will thank you.  

Mobile Email – the Fruit Basket test

Lastly, while mobile email usually involves an additional monthly mobile carrier fee for receiving data, that monthly fee is plummeting to the point of broader affordability, so that email is becoming just as ubiquitous as mobile messaging.  Be there!  And if you’re going to be there, consider either creating mobile versions of your email so it works well on the small screen, or save even more time and format all your email for the small screen, no matter what device your audience chooses to read it. 

Which brings us to another curious marketer behavior: testing.   Here’s a way of framing the importance of testing, which I call the Fruit Basket test.  If you were going to order a fruit basket online to send to someone, wouldn’t you expect to see a photo of the product before you send it?  Why, then, do so many marketers not test the appearance of their email marketing before they hit Send and distribute it to their audience?    Test your email for its usability on the small screen, and fix whatever bothers you the reader before you Send to your audience.

To get started:

a.  Collect business/comment cards.  Offer a “thank you” premium for reviews, comments, email, birthday and product info.
 
b.  Create a “Thank You“ QVew and email its link to each new Contact, so they can Join, Forward, Tweet, Share it on Facebook etc.
 
c.  Create more Announcements (Offers) in QVew; link to them in from your Website, Blog, Facebook, Emails, Tweets etc.

 Try new things!  Repeat what works.  Keep at it.   Contact your local QVew sales/support representative with any questions. 

Next up: Boost Your Email Marketing Results with QVew

1. Appeal to their interests. Think about  fans  – or potential future fans – with whom you share a common theme, topic, interest or location.  Then, find them and engage them with a QVew that is based on that common interest.   For example, your local fans could be enticed to visit your premises on the same day if you make a compelling offer.  I am writing this post on a Monday; Howling Wolf Taqueria just posted a Monday Night Foodball offer and tweeted it.  Let’s see how that worked!  Long distance mail order fans obviously couldn’t show, but might have another common characteristic that would be great subject matter for a QVew.

2.  Meet ”on the bridge”.  Think of the various social media channels as an opportunity to build a bridge from your world to others.  You may find that certain groups of your customers are frequent users of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, FourSquare, or QVew.  Engage them there.  Post a QVew that is timely, informative, useful or somehow lucrative.  Share your Qvew’s unique URL on various social media channels using the handy on-screen Share features.  Watch it grow!  We get a number of inbound inquiries every week from people we’d never heard of before, and it’s all because we are out there daily sharing our client stories. 

3. Hug a fan.  Some fans are happy to let you know it, and happy to tell others.  Treat your loyal fans well;  perhaps offer a loyalty program.  Be careful, though, to ask your loyal fans how they feel about that.  Some aren’t in it for a reward; they just like what you do, and don’t want to cheapen the relationship by turning it into a quid pro quo arrangement.  Ask them!  You’d be surprised at their great suggestions.  By the way, how long has it been since we talked?  Got a suggestion?  Call/write.  Somebody needs a hug.  Thanks ahead!

4. Gather ideas.  Again, engage your fans.  Ask them what they value. Listen, without judging, to their suggestions.  They are your virtual brain trust.  If you ask one person per day, you can soon find yourself with no shortage of creative ideas for wowing your fans and minting more. 

5.  Apply what you’ve learned.  Think of the library of QVews you are building with each passing week as a review session on what works and what doesn’t.   We are constantly testing them ourselves, and will devote a section of this blog to sharing some client best practice stories.  Meanwhile, your own needs may be quite particular, so get your QVews out there in the various online communities so you can begin learning what works for your fans.

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What’s been working for you lately?  We hear lots of stories about how QVews are helping build audience and engaging customers.   Feel free to share!

~Ed

This is a living breathing resource.  Feel free to post and share your valuable ideas!