Nicole Mayraz EVP of Marketing and Co Founder of Ping Mobile explained to AdMarkTech how Ping Mobile is achieving its objectives and becoming a top contender in the world of mobile marketing. Offering a service called PingRewards™, Nicole and fellow Co Founder Shira Simmonds, devised an exciting and innovative way to reach consumers utilizing mobile technology. “When we started the company the idea was just really to provide marketing campaign solutions and we thought that we would license the technology from any other company……” Turning out to be cumbersome and expensive, they mapped out the technical functionality that they needed and brought in developers to bring alive their vision.

With operations based in the US and Israel, PingRewards™ offers clients a web based campaign management solution enabling them the ability to remotely handle all of the aspects of their PingRewards™ mobile campaign. The graphical interface provides a wizard to enter the text of SMS campaigns and a simulator to view the message prior to the campaign going live. Additionally, each campaign is reviewed and approved internally. Running a strict policy of not sending any unsolicited messages, campaigns are run in conjunction with offline advertising ranging from Billboards to radio and to television. Each campaign is based on consumers sending a text message containing a pre defined keyword. Using this information, it is easy to measure the campaign success rate. In addition, due to a double opt-in requirement, the consumers who finally become part of the campaign database return a very high value once presented with offers. Additionally, consumers can also amend their opt-in preferences for offers using a web based interface. This provides valuable behavioral data analysis for future campaigns.

Using strategic partnerships with high profile advertisers such as Cox Communications, Ping Mobile is a thriving business. Working in conjunction with the ad sales team at Cox, PingRewards™ fulfills the mobile element of their televised commercials. When commercials are shown asking for consumers to “Text in for this offer” it is the Ping Mobile technology and the PingRewards™ service that collects the data and holds the proprietary database that remains the property of the client.

Working closely together with their clients, Ping Mobile offers advice on how to maximize the potential of running mobile campaigns. Nicole explained what makes Ping Mobile such a unique service and how advertisers can benefit “This is really exciting for clients who can now track the success of their traditional media in a way that was never available in the past. Hundreds of thousands or maybe even millions of dollars are spent on commercials without knowing how much of the clients’ revenue is coming from which ad - until now.” She added “Using keywords, clients know exactly who is watching the commercials, where they are and for which kind of offer they are sending a text.” Using this information and analytics, clients are then able to optimize campaigns by determining frequency, dates, times and target groups. To send text messages PingRewards™ utilizes the SMS aggregation services provided by mBlox, which is the largest mobile transaction network in the world.

As more advertising budgets are gradually moving to mobile, PingRewards™ are seeing the results as a diverse client base. With customers in retail, consumer goods, finance and banking and travel and leisure they are also seeing an increase in the media industry. “What’s interesting about mobile marketing is that it can be effective for any type of client… we have even been discussing campaign options with a school system – our goal is to deliver mobile marketing solutions that can connect parents and students alike to their educational community.”

But what does the future hold in store for Ping Mobile? “I just see us growing and trying to keep a balance and a vision which has the same values for the client as for the user, everybody wins. That is the thing that is at the core of our business strategy. Our vision is to provide a truly well balanced proposition to both sides of the coin. It also depends on where the market goes in the next couple of years. I can also see us doing a lot more strategic partnerships within the media industry. It makes a lot of sense economically and creatively.”