For some time we’ve been looking at how our clients obtain, build and manage their lists of mobile numbers.

Most accumulate subscribers by asking people for their mobile number and  manually uploading the details into textburst.

This works well, but does require manual work to get the contacts loaded into textburst.

And it doesn’t easily allow the subscribers to opt out of the list. A person still has to call and request their removal, and in turn our customer has to login and delete the relevant person.

It’s all a bit cumbersome and littered with possibilities for error e.g. not dealing with an un-subscribe request.

What can we learn from email marketing?

Think about how email marketing lists work:

1. You add your email address on a form
2. You receive an email confirmation
3. To opt out you click a link at the bottom of an email

The whole process is fully automated and controlled by the person joining the list, it puts the end user in charge of their subscription, and makes it far easier for the list manager.

This has become the standard for email marketing and justifiably so. It’s quick, easy, requires no manual intervention, is fool proof, and very cheap.

Let’s do the same with SMS Marketing

To bring the same standards to SMS marketing we’ve made a few changes to our online SMS product textburst.

1. You can now login and set your own keyword or keywords on the shortcode 84433.
2. Configure your own automated responses.
3. To join your list a subscriber texts your keyword to 84433.
4. The subscriber receives an automated SMS response to confirm your subscription, and instructions of how to opt out in future.
5. To opt out a subscriber simply texts “STOP” to 84433 at any time. It’s fully automated.

So now a business owner can put up a sign, advertise, ask, or by however means they wish, advertise they offer an SMS marketing list.

All their clients do is send a text in to join the list, and send a text to leave.

Our clients can login to textburst, see how many and who’s in the list, and send text messages to everyone.

So what’s the big deal?

Auto responses and opt outs are nothing new in the SMS market, so what’s the big difference here?

First off, we’ve automated everything, from choosing your keyword to setting the auto response and managing opt outs.

And secondly, with this level of automation we can pass the savings onto our customers.

We will only charge you for the messages you send to the subscribers.

• Access to the shortcode is FREE
• Choose a keyword, or as many as you like FREE
• The auto response to the subscriber FREE (yes, a free text message)
• The opt out mechanism FREE

With this update you can actually now build a database of mobile numbers completely free of charge, the only time you’re charged is when you send out marketing information.

So now there’s no excuse, login to textburst, click “campaigns” and reserve your keyword for free.

During that period everything will work just fine, the techies will be monitoring the platform, online purchasing will be up and running and you can send texts till your hearts content.

If you do need to contact us during Christmas send an email to hello@mediaburst.co.uk or submit a support ticket.

The mailbox and support system will be checked in on in the morning, lunch time, and evenings, hence it may take a little longer to respond than normal.

If all else fails you can email the boss (me, Gary) on gary@mediaburst.co.uk.

We rank about 3 on Google for the search term “first ever text message sent“, just behind Wikipedia, so we picked up a bit of traffic.

I wonder if you can optimise for future questions!?

We asked a free form question so we’d get the information in their own words. Then, we put the results into wordle.net.

Interesting eh?

We’d fought off competition from a plethora of iphone apps by the likes of Tesco, Manchester City FC, Racing Post, and Waitrose.

Apparently the standard of entry was exceptionally high but Florence stood out way beyond the competition.

I guess no matter how cool your iphone app is, or what latest trendy technologies you use, you can’t beat the simplicity of SMS, and you can’t beat savings lives.

Happy days!

This one produced by smsglobal highlights mobile messaging stats and facts for 2011. The highlight for me was obvious but, a mobile coupon is 10 times more likely to be redeemed than an equivalent in the mail.

For this graphic we’re focusing on shopping environment and how retailers need to consider mobile habits of their customers. We can see massive increases of people scanning bar codes, SMS being the most used application (as always), and a quadrupling of purchases made from mobile phones.

We’re not just talking about getting notified by SMS when you receive new tickets, you can configure a wide range of events to trigger the SMS. Maybe changes in ticket status or when a ticket is assigned to you. Pretty handy if you run a small company and can’t be sat in front of a screen on a permanent basis.

I’ll run through a basic set up here, but if you need any assistance just give us a call.

I’ll assume you have a Zendesk account, if you haven’t already you’ll also need a mediaburst SMS API account.

Zendesk SMS Setup

First you need to setup the target in Zendesk:

Under the ‘SETTINGS‘ menu item select ‘Extensions‘.

Click the tab ‘Targets‘ and then ‘add target‘.

You’ll be given a load of options, you want the one titled ‘URL Target‘.

You now have a set of options that looks like this:

Title: We called ours “mediaburstsms” but feel free to call it what you want.

Url: We’ll come back to this in a second.

Method: select ‘GET’

Attribute Name: type the word ‘Content‘ into this box.

Url: The Url field is where the most important info goes including:

• your username and password for the Mediaburst SMS API, and
• the mobile phone number where the notifications will be sent to

You need to copy and paste the following line of code, but replace some parts with your security information. Don’t worry you don’t need to be techy, just read through the code and replace:

YourMediaburstUsername

YourMediaburstPassword

YourMobilePhoneNumber

Replace these words only, nothing before or after them, don’t replace any ‘=’ or ‘&’, literally just those words above.

Here’s the code:

http://sms.message-platform.com/http/send.aspx?Username=YourMediaburstUsername&Password=YourMediaburstPassword&To=YourMobilePhoneNumber&From=Zendesk

Once you have put this code in the Url field you should be able to select ‘Test target‘ and you’ll receive a test SMS.

Save the settings before you click away from this page.

Now you’ll need to set some triggers i.e. events that will give rise to an SMS being triggered. You’ll find them in Zendesk in the main menu under ‘MANAGE‘, then ‘Triggers‘ and ‘mail notifications‘.

I set up a trigger to notify me when we receive a new ticket. To make the information more useful I’ve included the requesters name and the subject field in the SMS.

Here’s a screen shot of my trigger configuration, and the resulting SMS.

And that’s it, I accept the URL mechanism isn’t the most user-friendly for non techies but it’s flexible and, as I said above, if you need any help then give us a call.

It’s interesting to see 83% use their phone to take pictures. You can imagine how this fuels the rise of photo sharing, and how imagery seems to be so prevalent on social networks.

But if only people would have a touch more consideration when using their phones. I personally only ever use vibrate mode for incoming calls and get particularly hacked off when people leave their ring tones on max volume when they’re on the train.

It’s a mashup of both electronics and a C# application that accesses the mediaburst SMS API. The result is a text message being sent to his mobile every time the door is opened. Simple, but effective.

You can read the full details and spec on Damien’s blog

If you know if any creative uses of our SMS API then get in touch and we’ll do a write up.

It’s called Snappr and lets you send photos to twitter via MMS. We’ve launched a product website with full details here MMS to twitter.

We did some research and were surprised to see only Orange currently offering a similar service to their UK customers.  Twitter don’t do anything directly with MMS, although I imagine it’ s on their radar.

We’d love to expand this worldwide, we know how to do it, but you’ve got to start small, and hence, we’ve included all UK networks utilising our shortcode 84433.

Try it for yourself:

Text PIC (followed by your twitpic email address) to 84433 to register.

We didn’t want to get involved in image hosting, the legalities for one thing are both a nightmare and a hot topic. As twitter don’t provide image hosting our project submits photos to twitpic who in turn post the tweet.

There’s been a huge rise in photo orientated social media applications, facebook and flickr have clearly paved the way but more innovative applications like instagram and hipstamatic are on the rise as more people get into photo sharing.

Snappr is our attempt to jump on the bandwagon by making it easy for you to tweet a photo no matter what phone you have or where you are.

So there it is, you can now take a photo and send it to twitter via MMS.

We hope you find it useful.

Naturally we want to expand this valuable SMS project but with healthcare there are steps you have to take, you can’t expect to launch a system that medical staff and patients can rely upon without some kind of 3rd party validation or independent assessment.

In the case of Florence The Institute of Digital Healthcare based at Warwick university will be conducting the evaluation.

The evaluation project is being led by Jeremy Wyatt, an experienced hand who’s worked in health informatics for 25 years. His research explores use of evidence and new models of care to innovate in clinical practice.

Using SMS for healthcare is so cheap yet effective that we’re confident Florence will fit the bill.

To help us understand the Institutes’s approach we asked Jeremy a few questions:

Have Warwick evaluated any other significant telehealth systems?

Yes, we have looked at a number of telemedicine and similar systems, eg. teledermatology to reduce unnecessary clinic referrals and an instant messenger channel to communicate with NHSDirect nurses. We are also looking at telestroke in Scotland and persuasive web sites for promoting exercise and the NHS Organ Donation register.

What in particular interests you about Florence?

The fact that it is quick and easy for people to sign up to with almost no technology, is very flexible, and is strongly supported by West Midlands NHS.

What approach will you take to evaluating Florence?

We always try to match our evaluation approach to the questions or decisions that need to be made. In this case, the key questions are around acceptability and impact on the use of GPs and other services.

We are starting with a simple form for every patient using Florence and their community based nurse to fill out, and will then validate the responses with data collected by Florence and by the West Midlands data warehouse. We will also planning some specific studies around certain patient groups, aiming to explore the different methods Florence uses to alert care givers.

We’re confident Florence will pass with flying colours, so as soon as the evaluation is complete we’ll let you know the results.

Hopefully we can assist. Each Monday we’ll be publishing the best infographics we’ve stumbled across,  they’ll have every statistic you could ever need and cover everything from SMS to QR codes, from apps to txt spk, and the odd splattering of humour.

1st is this little beauty from Upstream in association with YouGov.

This time 160characters, the SMS and mobile messaging association has selected us from an international line up to win the prestigious “Effective Use of Mobile Messaging for Healthcare”.

This is the first time Florence has been put into a global award scenario, entries were literally from all around the world so taking a prize was no mean feat.

We also got a “highly commended” in the Innovation in Messaging category.

Here are the winners logo’s:

What’s particularly cool is, this is the second award for Florence in a single week, having scooped the award for “Best Public Sector Project” at the Big Chip Awards last Thursday. In the case of the Big Chip Awards we were up against not only SMS Providers but also digital agencies from all over the North of England.

As I always say, we’re not in this for the awards, but undoubtedly recognition from your peers is a great motivator and will help spur us onto even greater wins, which, in this case is improving patient lives and saving the NHS heaps of money.

So a glittering prize studded week at mediaburst, happy days!

This is great news for us, although we don’t work for awards, gaining recognition in this way is a welcome pat on the back, and helps motivate us through the next stages of development.

We fought off stiff competition but ultimately the judges loved our application  and could see the benefits it brings to both patients and clinicians in the NHS. The judges said of Florence:

“The winner in the Best Public Sector category is a deceptively simple yet innovative application of SMS technology, which delivers significant cost-saving benefits to the commissioning client and potentially life-saving benefits to its users.”

It’s still very early days for Florence but we’ve already managed to signup 14 primary care trusts, and as their patients start using the system we’ll have success stories to share of not only big savings for the NHS but also quality of life improvements for their patients.

And to top it all off, I received a note from the 160 Characters organisation just this morning to say we’ve been short listed for their Global Messaging Awards too, fingers crossed there’ll be more recognition to come.

Here’s some photos from the night.

So here’s what the new “send page” looks like: (click the image to enlarge it)

and here’s what it used to look like:

Yep, I know, not massively different, the changes are subtle, but we hope lead to the application feeling just that little bit more friendly to use.

Improved campaigns screen

The most significant change is on the “Campaigns” screen where users of keywords and shortcodes will now see an improved summary of their results. This includes information such as the total number of subscribers, how many have unsubscribed, and a pretty graph which provides an “at a glance” view of what’s happening.

Here’s a screen shot of the improved campaigns screen:

We hope you like the improvements, everything we do is orientated around making textburst simple to understand and easy to use. So do send us your feedback and let us know what you think?

Coming soon…

And finally, we don’t normally go for teasers but this design update is a precursor for some new functionality in the coming months. We’re very excited about the next update because we’ll be offering something no other SMS provider currently offers and will have huge appeal to you SMS marketeers out there…stay tuned.

I can hear you already, “what’s the problem?”

Here’s the abbreviated story:

One of the recipients (we’ll call him John) wasn’t happy about receiving the text message, he considered it SPAM.

So John picked up his phone and complained to his network provider (Orange). During that conversation John mentioned that the message contained the shortcode 84433.

Orange know that 84433 belongs to mediaburst and so they referred John to us.

When someone complains to us about a text message the first thing we do it search our system. We need to verify the complaint, we check to see when the message was sent, which of our customers sent the message.

Of course in this instance our search delivered no results for John, no text message had ever been sent through mediaburst to John.

And that’s where the confusion starts, we say it wasn’t from us, Orange say it was, John is more inclined to believe orange so thinks we are lying or incompetent. And between us all, we can’t figure out what’s going on.

All this confusion leads to frustration and no one’s reputation is enhanced by confusion and frustration. Then there is wasted time, we had 3 people working on this trying to find out what happened. Orange were working on it, John was spending time on it.

We did eventually get to the bottom of it. A customer of ours had rented a keyword on 84433 but for the purposes of trying to save a few quid had sent the text messages out using a cheaper supplier, a supplier that didn’t sell keywords or shortcodes.

Ultimately it fell back to the customer to explain what had happened, but the fall out has been much larger than I have room for. John was only one of many complainants, there have been dozens of emails, phone calls and conference calls. None of which add value, earn money, or are pleasing to deal with. It’s just hassle and problems form the fall out of mixing SMS providers.

So my advice is this: whether you use textburst, our SMS API, or another provider; please don’t mix your providers, choose one, get to know them, think of it like a long term relationship, share information, explain what you are trying to achieve, work with them, and you’ll reap the rewards.

All messages regardless of coming through the SMS API, from Textburst, or Outlook Mobile Service will be dealt with in this manner. You don’t need to change a thing.

This is a big step forward in deliverability to the USA. The shortcode 43704 is fully registered with the Common Short Code Administration so complies fully with their network and regulatory requirements.

North America has some unique complexities in their SMS industry that mean delivery to mobile numbers in the USA can be problematic. Before this upgrade we could deliver SMS to the USA but had to disclaim the service, which, I admit didn’t feel comfortable.

In addition to our discomfort we are also receiving a greater demand for messaging to the USA, and, have a product in the pipeline that will squarely align our services with a large body of software developers in the USA.

The general problem was messages were classed as arriving from an international destination meaning a recipient of the message could be charged (some pay for SMS received in the USA) the rate of an international SMS.

Not only that but all machine to handset orientated messages in the USA should come from a numerical number (rather than an alpha numeric that we use in Europe) so that the recipient could reply to opt out of receiving further communication.

All our SMS to the USA came from a numerical long number but that wasn’t actually a proper reply path for opt outs.

With this upgrade we are now in the fortunate position of delivering on a dedicated and registered short code, we deliver via a fully registered carrier based in the USA, and can process the opt outs as is the requirement.

A big step forward indeed, if you have any questions at all about SMS delivery to America then get in touch.

There wasn’t much debate about which payment gateways to choose. Paypal is certainly the most popular and trusted payment method on the web and Google Checkout is on the rise. If these are the methods you use online then you should be able to use them on our site too.

You can use them on both signup, and repeat purchases from within our online SMS software textburst or the SMS API.

The reason for bringing these two mechanisms on-board is twofold:

1. We’re sick of Sagepay. We’ll continue to run it (for now) for credit and debit cards but the frequent outages don’t make for a good supplier. When they are down it reflects poorly on us, and that’s not good.
2. We wanted to align ourselves with you, we want you to be able to pay by the mechanism that suits you best.

When you visit a restaurant, you can pay by cash or card, you choose. When you buy petrol, you choose, when you buy milk, you choose. So hey, you’re used to choice. So you can choose, debit or credit card, Paypal, or Google checkout.

We hope it makes things easier for you.

This first demo was a simple affair, we manually copied the page HTML, output by textburst, into a few new files and then ran them through a shell script which called sed a dozen or so times to replace anything that didn’t work without the full application behind it.

Since putting the new design live we felt we needed to show off all the features to prospective customers. What really surprised us was just how much work is involved to create a fully featured demo.

Our requirements seem simple at a glance:

• Look and feel like textburst
• Include all major textburst features (except payments)
• Be easy to update
• Don’t really send text messages

For various internal reasons the demo needed to run on the same server as this website, this left us needing to run a C#, ASP.NET web application on a server running PHP and Linux. To make this work we came up with the following steps:

1. Log in to textburst on our development platform
2. Grab a copy of all the relevant pages
3. Run some standard find and replaces to remove ASP.NET specific content
4. Add PHP include files at the top of each page
5. Add in page specific PHP includes
6. Remove any development data
7. Copy this altered page and any includes in to a directory ready for release
8. Create some demo contacts and sends using PHP Sessions for display to users

Just over 800 lines of perl later we have a wonderful jumble of regular expressions and a dozen or so php files that make textburst into the simple demo you can see today.

By automating this step we can just re-run the perl script each time we do a release keeping the demo perfectly up to date and preventing any surprises once you’ve signed up.

We do still have to create page specific include files for some of the pages to show how the product actually works. For example, we add an include to the send message page which displays either a sent successfully or failure message depending upon whether all the form fields were completed. It also adds the sent message to your session so it shows on the sent messages page.

Much more light

We have windows both sides of the office and the old internal walls cut the light from one side of the building. The environment is much more open, light streams across the office and our mood is much better.

Collaborative working

You can see we have moved to a huge central desk, we all face each other.

Conversations are held in open plan and everyone is welcome to contribute. It means as a collective we find better solutions to problems and at the same time knowledge is shared. With that we can provide a better service to our customers.

Here’s the time lapse

The future

It’s amazing how much stuff we had accumulated over 10 years, and refitting the office really drew it all out, we need to remove this clutter and clear our workspace.

We also need a break out area. We’re not going for cliché bean bags and table football, we’re much too old for that. We’ll make do with a few sofas and a coffee table.

Time for a refresh

The nature of an online SMS business means we have very few client meetings in the office, and we operate with almost zero internal meetings. For this reason the boardroom and two meeting rooms were wasted space that cut off a lot of light from the main open plan office.

We’re in an old sixties block that could have only been designed by a failed architect on his day off. But hats off to the designers, they have come up with a scheme that makes much better use of the space and provides a friendlier environment to work in.

No more partitions

So down come the partition walls and in goes a single glass wall to provide an area for occasional meetings and some quiet space, yet still allowing light to freely pass round the office.

Fancy bespoke desk

Out go the banks of desks and in comes a single bespoke desk that we all sit round. This was the most important factor for us. We work very openly, collaborating, sharing ideas and thoughts as we go through the day.

Our current setup left some team members with their backs to one another. The new desk will be one huge square that we sit on the outside edges all facing into the centre.

The time lapse is still running so once the refit is complete we’ll post again.

This time our application Florence has helped our collaboration partner Stoke NHS become a finalist in the Health and Social Care Awards, Transforming Community Services category.

Wow, this is great news.

Update: 8th October 2010 – winner!

We’ll put more details up here in the next few weeks as the application goes through trials, but for now here’s the teaser page.

http://www.getflorence.co.uk/

Once again we’ve worked with the excellent Phil Thompson and he’s produced something that echoes the main mediaburst site.  It’s simple, attractive, and most importantly fits nicely onto an iPhone screen.

If you need a link it’s on http://www.mediaburst.co.uk/m/

Let’s get straight into some screen shots…

As you can see the site’s very much iPhone orientated. Google analytics showed that 95% of our mobile visitors are using iPhones, hence anything other than an apple orientated site would be illogical.

That’s not to say it doesn’t work on other smart phones, we’ve tested on Blackberry and HTC’s with no problems at all.

We also made an assumption based on our own iPhone browsing habits. That is, none of us searched for products on iPhones or bought using our credit cards. We all tended to read article type information, be it on blogs, wiki or news sites. We use it more of an instant research tool, perhaps to flick through while our better halves are trying something on in the changing rooms.

With this in mind we have made the site really simple by focusing on:

• Who are mediaburst? (home page)
• How to get in touch with mediaburst (it’s on the bottom of every page)
• Some quality reading material (case studies and the blog articles)

So we hope you like it, go and have a play, send us your feedback and let us know what you think?

The book constitutes a number of short essays containing their advice on how to run a business.

Anyway, here’s our essay on service levels:

Punish Poor Service

We recently had a situation where one of our suppliers was processing messages slowly. We are talking about a small percentage of our Bulk SMS traffic running up to a few minutes too slow.

For us this is not acceptable. The messages our clients send can be time critical. Imagine someone staring at their phone, waiting to receive an SMS before they can get on with the task. Anything more than a handful of seconds is not acceptable.

We need to report this situation to our supplier and get it sorted quickly.

On referring to their Service Level Agreement it would appear a slow platform has a low priority assigned to it. It means when we report the issue they will “initially respond” within 24 hours and “aim to fix it” in 3 days.

This level of non-service is almost industry standard, it’s certainly replicated across our other major suppliers.

We can’t operate like this, we can’t wait 24 hours for an initial response. We can’t wait 3 days for them to resolve the problem, we have customers to serve.

You’ve got to take control of the situation, so here’s what we do now:

If we see any sign of an issue with a supplier or their SMS routes we switch them off instantly. No discussion, no phone calls. Just switch all the traffic to an alternate supplier. Job done.

It means our number one priority (our customers) is attended to. It means we continue to deliver all our messages in the rapid timeframe they are used to.

We then report the issue to the supplier and inform them as soon as they get it sorted we’ll switch them back on.

It means while they are reviewing the issue, initially responding and trying and fix the problem they are losing money. That should help focus their minds.

So it doesn’t matter what your supplier SLA’s are, take control, implement your own.

What’s in this release?

This milestone release doesn’t contain any major new features for you, our users, it’s all about making our lives easier at mediaburst and allowing for future changes.

We’ve changed to .NET 4

Microsoft released version 4 of their .NET framework a couple of months ago, along with it came Visual Studio 2010. Although there are no groundbreaking changes in this new Visual Studio it solves various day to day niggles.

Code rewriting

We’ve re-written some internal code that passes messages around between systems. It’s just housekeeping really, making use of the improvements between versions 2 and 4 of the .NET framework. The biggest change is the switch from ArrayLists of messages to strongly typed Lists using the new support of covariance and contravariance in generic types. This change allows the compiler to check what we’re adding to the list at compile time, rather than run time, hopefully avoiding any mistakes.

No more image messages

We’ve removed support for Nokia and EMS image messages. They’re small black and white bitmaps which look awful on modern phones, a much better choice, with wider handset support, is MMS. Processing these took large chunks of bespoke code, without them our sending scripts are so much easier to maintain as there’s only one set of logic.

Updated logging

And finally we’ve tweaked our sent message logging to make a number of internal reports run off a single database table. We currently have to link two databases on different servers if we want the same level of detail.

How does white labelling work?

Our Online SMS product textburst is the main one, but we also get requests for our SMS API, and our email to SMS product.

The reseller offers the service to their customers or markets in any way they feel fit. They take care of the billing, collect the money, provide support etc. We just exist in the background as their little secret.

The truth is we have offered while label services for many years but have had little success other than via a few reputable organisations such as O2.

The Problem

Many resellers see your application as a nice piece of technology. They think if they rebranded it as their own they could sell it to their existing customers, make a million and retire on a beach in the Bahamas. But it just doesn’t work like that.

We used to do loads of free while labels in the hope that we’d benefit by extending our reach, but so few come to anything it’s not been a priority.

About 2 years ago we introduced a nominal £500 to while label textburst, what happened was interesting. We certainly scared a few would-be resellers off. In my mind anyone not willing to pay £500 was indicating that they were not confident of their own ability to sell the product. Those that did pay in general sold more than those that hadn’t.

A solution?

Back in January we released our latest version of textburst and removed the ability to produce new white labels easily. Hence the £500 option is now gone completely. All white labelling is bespoke and we don’t look at it unless we feel the potential reseller can actually resell.

But the question I’m now left with is this: In our experience very few while labels have been successful at all, so why does anyone do it? We spend an inordinate amount of time developing our services and intellectual property, should we really be passing this on to anyone who thinks they can sell SMS?

There are literally hundreds of web applications out there who offer white label services, but is that not undermining the value of your own investment and brand. If your application is so great why would you want to make it look like someone else and let them take the brand value?

What we do now is much simpler, we say just introduce the client to us, we’ll do what we are good at, you do what your good at, and by way of a thank you we’ll give you some commission. Surely that can’t be wrong?

To put textburst onto our smartphones the first step has to be a site optimised specifically for the most popular devices. iphone and blackberry sping to mind instantly.

This being the first release of a Smartphone version of the application we wanted to keep it as simple as possible. The theory being we use our smartphones to access applications when we don’t have time to fire up the PC or when we’re out of the office. Either way, when using a small screen we really don’t want to be presented with a cluttered mess and too many choices.

Fortunately Google analytics backed up our suspicion. We found phone users spend less time on the site and use less pages.

                  Pages per visit                  Time on app

Mobile                3                                     3:55
PC                     4.5                                   7:20

Here’s the spread of smartphone usage, notice the heavy skew towards apple devices, at least this was conclusive about what design style we should opt for, iphone it is!

iphone or itouch          71%
Blackberry                   26%
Sony                              3%
Android                          0% (very interesting!)

So here it is:

After logging in you’ll find a simple, self explanatory menu:

Send message screen

As I type the send screen is still giving us a few headaches with the curved corners on the boxes, and hopefully will be rectified before we launch.

Sent Items and Inbox provide a scrollable list of your 20 latest messages

And clicking through to a sent item will show you a summary of the campaign as follows:

Hopefully the use of standard iphone formatting and navigation will make this as simple to use as the iphone itself. I personally can’t see any iphone user struggling with this in any way.

Just to clear any risk of users needing specific functionality there is a link on every page to use the full version.

So there we have it, simple, clean, easy to use, and due for release early next week.

Very simply, the plug-in provides a gateway so you can receive Nagios SMS alerts and notification.

It uses the Nagios pager confirmation to send SMS through our HTTP Gateway.

You can see more details on Nagios’s site and we should appear on the Nagios official plugins directory pretty soon.

But not when you play Buzzword Bingo!

Download our bingo sheet, get your dabbers out and pay attention.

David Cameron is first up at 14:30!

Click here to get the bingo card

Shared Groups

Sub users can view and send to groups shared by their admin user.

Quicker Uploads

Contact uploads now only require the mobile column, all others are optional.

Outlook 2010 Compatibility

oms can now be used from Microsoft Outlook 2010.

Clearer Pricing

To make pricing clearer message prices are now displayed both with and without VAT.

Enhanced Merging

Merged messages correctly count the number of characters in fields, in a small number of situations a send failed if one contact had a much longer name than the others.

IE6 tweaks

No one loves Internet Explorer 6 but we can’t ignore it completely, O2 branded products now work much better in this (legacy) browser.

Summary Pie Charts

Sent messages now shows a little pie chart rather than a bar graph, this gave us space for the next feature…

Quick Resend

You can resend messages from the sent page.  Just click the icon next to the pie chart and it will fill in the contacts and message text for a new send.

Clearer Buttons

Disabled buttons are greyed out making it very clear they can’t be clicked – You’ll see this on the received page, the add to phonebook button is greyed out if they’re already a contact.

See Who you are sending to

When you reply to a contact we now show their name in the To box.

Improved Statistics

The send date and originator are now shown on the Send statistics page.

If you do have any feedback or suggestions then leave a comment or head over to our customer forum.

Place your orders early for Christmas!

Step 1 Listen to client

The first stage in redesigning textburst was purely investigative. It involved listening to mediaburst staff and trying to gauge what it is this product of theirs did; along with what it did wrong and what they would have liked it to be able to do.

Step 2 Stop listening, start thinking

Once I’d gauged in my mind how I thought mediaburst wanted their new app to work; I thought about it for a few days. Sidenote: Thinking time is so important; diving straight into creating a working model may make the client happier but in the long run it can lead to more design revisions later in the process.

Step 3 Create interactive ‘wireframes’

This was the first stage where the something actually tangible was produced. A wireframe is simply a stripped down version of the website/app. With a web app (as opposed to web site) it’s more important how it works than how it looks so creating these simple mock-ups of how the app will work gave mediaburst a great idea of how the new textburst would work.
In textburst’s case, the idea was very much to strip back any excess features therefore making it easier to use. Luckily, this was mediaburst’s philosophy too.

Step 4 Get client feedback

Once wireframes had been produced it was time to go back to mediaburst and see if what I’d produced matched their needs. I knew how I wanted Textburst to work in a perfect world but the world isn’t perfect.; Textburst sends over 4million SMS a month and they have a lot of clients to keep happy.

Wireframe for the textburst send form (First version)

Wireframe for the textburst send form (Final revision)

The mediaburst team printed out every screen of the wireframes and stuck them on the wall and checked that all key functionality was still present. It’s all every well stripping back features and simplifying but alienating existing users wasn’t part of the plan.

Step 5 Start design work (in a sandbox)

The wireframes were finally approved and it was time to commence designing the textburst Initial designs which incorporated the ‘textburst green’ were eventually thrown away in favour of a more corporate looking blue which we all felt would attract more customers.
I was very interesting in making sure this design looked and worked like web apps people are used to. With this in mind I studied Facebook, CampaignMonitor and tried to mimic what made them so simplistic and obvious.

Textburst's send SMS form

Textburst's sent messages screen

Textburst's stats screen

Step 6 Think about client needs and change accordingly

The designed got handed over to the development team who then started to integrate the design into the current working version of textburst.
When the system was built it was then time to fine-tune it because it was apparent that the design wasn’t as complete as it needed to be. In particular we found ourselves asking the following questions:

• Was that screen’s purpose clear enough?
• Did we need another option in there and if so where would it go on the screen?
• How can we maintain simplicity when we we’re adding extra features?

This was a very interesting stage as it marked the point when the rest of the mediaburst team started to feel more involved. The engineers started to get really interested in all the small UI decisions and on one day in particular we spent a good few of hours discussing the positioning of micro-copy (and its wording) on one screen.

Step 8 Sit back and launch

Launching textburst was quite a scary proposition – thankfully the engineers did all of the work. Mediaburst had informed all of their clients about the changes before-hand but even so updating a core part of your business like this is no walk in the park. We all sat with baited breath in the office waiting for the deluge of complaints from angry customers but they never came.

This work follows on from our network upgrades in Derby last week and will bring our network fully up-to-date.We’ll be starting mid morning (around 10) and should be finished by early afternoon.

What we’re doing

We’re upgrading our remaining Cisco PIX firewalls to shiny new Cisco ASAs.

We’re setting up a backup link between our sites to keep your data safe.

And finally we’ll upgrade our Manchester backup database servers to make sure they can always keep up with the load.

Technical details

Our Manchester site is on the 217.20.43.96/27 network (217.20.43.96 through to 217.20.43.127), whilst we do the work you won’t be able to reach any servers running on these addresses.   Our Derby site will be up and working fine on the 89.248.48.192/27 network (IP addresses 89.248.48.192 to 89.248.48.223).

This afternoon we’ll take the Manchester servers out of service by removing the DNS records, we’ll then change them back once everything is tested and finished.

If you login to any of our products you can see which site you’re currently using, our Manchester servers always have a number 3 near the start such as textburst3.mediaburst.co.uk, Derby uses a 3 instead.

If you have any questions give us a call on 0845 050 0000 or drop us an email.

For once I’m lost for words….let the cake eating commence!

It’s not often that we find ourselves (or our processes) the focus of much scrutiny as our industry tends to be more about the visible results. The behind-the-scenes stuff stays, well, behind-the-scenes. You can imagine our surprise and trepidation then when we were invited to write a guest article on this blog about the design process behind the new Mediaburst website. Well we’re not ones to shy away from a challenge, so here goes…

Consultation

Our redesign began with a meeting between Managing Director Gary Bury, developer Phil Thompson and ourselves at Mediaburst HQ, Alderly Edge in mid September 2009. We had already worked with Phil on a website for Cheadle based agency Squad a few months earlier so were very pleased to be collaborating again with such a skilled design and development savvy individual.

Gary had a very clear vision of what he wanted for Mediaburst: clearer segregation between bespoke services and core SMS product offerings. It was refreshing to work with a client that really understood the power of effective design and communication. The consultation gave us an insight into the inner workings of Mediaburst, where they were and where they wanted to be in the future. This combined with a rough sitemap and some design likes/dislikes and we were ready to get stuck in.

Scamps

First off, we tackled the homepage with some ultra high tech pencil scamps.

These quickly gave us the ability to try out some layouts before swiftly moving on to the creation of three initial Photoshop concepts.

Initial Concepts

Three is our magic number when it comes to initial concepts, it allows us to explore different approaches and also gives the client that all important element of choice. We tend to get an immediate impression of what works well and usually, the client picks our favourite. Thankfully this occasion was no exception.

Initial homepage concept with placeholder illustration inspired by Tom Pearson

A key challenge for us was the introduction of a brand personality that clearly communicated and unified Mediaburst’s core products. These products also needed to have the visual strength and impact to stand alone. We decided that illustration would be best suited to this task.

Illustration

Gary and the team loved the personality that illustration lent to the designs but were keen to avoid anything too cutesy or “CBeebies”. We explored the impact of differing styles before commissioning talented illustrator Stanley Chow to create a family of birds that represent Mediaburst and their three products: Textburst, Ooutlook Mobile Service (OMS) and Email to SMS.

Bird illustration evolution

Concept Application

During the evolution of the bird illustrations we kept ourselves busy with the application of the chosen homepage concept to the product pages. The products were designed to exist as separate entities and present their attributes in a concise, easy to follow manner. The aim was a user journey that flows effortlessly from description to price plans to sign-up.

Final homepage concept

Textburst product page design

Textburst price plan page design

Textburst signup page design

Mobile marketing page design

Copy

Of course copy plays a vital part in the creation of a successful website. This aspect was capably executed throughout the design process by copywriter Andy White (read about Andy’s involvement here).

Final Artwork & Design Review

Upon delivery of development-ready artwork for the homepage, product pages and mobile marketing page in mid November, it was agreed that Phil had everything he needed to continue the development of the website, rolling out our concepts across remaining pages of the site and building a beta version of the site by the end of 2009. We carried out a thorough design review of the beta website in early January 2010 so that Phil and the team could make final amendments in preparation for launch on Wednesday, 20 January.

Result?

If we’ve done our job properly, the real measure of success of the new website will be an increase in traffic, new business and a return on investment for Mediaburst. Only time will tell but early signs are positive. We believe that we have helped to create a vast improvement on the site’s predecessor and an enjoyable user experience. If you think otherwise feel free to buy us drink and tell us why!

Materials & Tools Used

Consultation:

• Tea, coffee, biscuits (one chocolate) and sandwiches.
• Brains, pens, pencils & paper.

Project Management:

• Google Apps
• Basecamp

Design:

• Pencil and paper
• 960 Grid System
• Adobe Creative Suite

While Derby is turned off  we’ll also be upgrading our network and servers to make sure we offer you the best service possible.

We’ll be starting mid morning (around 10) and should be finished by mid afternoon.

What we’re doing

We’re upgrading our Cisco PIX firewalls to shiny new Cisco ASAs, they’re considerably more powerful and should make our life much easier.

We’ll also install new servers for our mobile marketing services, the old ones currently work fine but we don’t want to take any chances.

And finally we’ll upgrade our backup database servers to make sure they can always keep up with the load.

Technical details

Our Derby site is on the 89.248.48.192/27 network (IP addresses 89.248.48.192 through to 89.248.48.223), you won’t be able to reach any servers running on these addresses while we do the work.  Our Manchester site is on 217.20.43.96/27 (217.20.43.96 through to 217.20.43.127) these addresses will all work fine.

On Monday afternoon we’ll take the Derby servers out of our DNS so that our service addresses only point to Manchester, we’ll then change them back once everything is tested and finished.

If you login to any of our products you can see which site you’re currently using, our Derby servers always have a number 5 near the start such as textburst5.mediaburst.co.uk, Manchester uses a 3 instead.

If you have any questions give us a call on 0845 050 0000 or drop us an email.

The latest thing, (and I realise this may well be old news to you hip, swinging cyberpunks out there ) is that “over the air” malarkey. It’s already big news in some Asian markets and the basic gist of it is this.

In the very near future we won’t really need all the credit cards we have now, (of course a great many people will still want them. Nothing says so much about you as slapping your Amex Centurion card on the marble effect bar and saying “keep ‘em coming”), we’ll be carrying out all our transactions with our mobile phones.

All our bank details, our credit worthiness, our medical records and possibly even sexual preferences will be stored in a teeny weeny chip inside our phone. We wont even need to key in any old-fashioned PIN numbers, (and there’s a funny thing, PIN stands for “Personal Information Number”. So every time you get asked for your PIN number you’re being asked for your “PIN number number”), We’ll simply choose an item to buy, wave our phones at a compatible Pay point and the sale will be made.

This of course gives an old technophobe like me great cause for concern.

What happens if I’m taking a short cut through the lingerie department of Debenhams, (it could happen), and I inadvertently switch my phone on as I brush past a rack of brief ‘n’ bra combos? Next thing I know, I could have a selection of ladies’ undergarments delivered to my home causing no end of consternation and awkward questions.

And another thing, I don’t want to be calling British Rail Enquiries to check my train’s progress, only to find that I’ve pressed the wrong button and have purchased the Manchester to London Pendalino. For one thing I’ve got nowhere to put it, for another I just don’t want the responsibility.

I’m sure all of these potential problems will be ironed out by the time we get to use the technology but I implore you to be on your guard when that day arrives.

Remember, when you’re phoning for the latest movie screening times you’re only one digit away from buying a Multiplex. And you’ll never get that home on the bus.

The site went through a great many changes to arrive at the finished product. There’s a lot to consider. Does it all work? Will people take the time to read it? Will they click in the right places? Will they go from homepage to sign up in a few fluid moves?

Inevitably compromises are made and inevitably copywriters get upset. Well, this one does anyway.

Because, while I love the site, it’s design and it’s execution, I loved the earlier versions more. They had more words you see. Clever words, warm fuzzy words, “come in and get to know us” words and snappy little lines that showed how clever I am.

However, as a professional, ( please stop sniggering at the back ), I’m used to this. I shall gather up all those clever words, dust them down and put them back in my bag for the next job. And when that job goes to press or appears on the screen I’ll gather them up, dust them down and put them back in my bag again. That’s how it is for us poor, misunderstood copywriters.

Compromises and sour grapes aside though, I think it’s a great site and it was a pleasure to work with Stiff Rowlands, Phil Thompson and, perhaps most of all Gary. It’s not every client that lets you have a good old gripe on their own blog you know…

The jargon trap

We’ve liked all our previous websites but they have all been based on providing information on mobile technology. We’d fallen into the trap of using industry jargon and overcomplicating everything. This made it difficult for those new to mobile to understand our products. We’d used cliché photo’s of mobile phones and a site structure that didn’t lend itself to growth. Have a look here

So as well as making everything simpler and easy to understand, the key driver was to allow users to sign up and buy online. Such a radical change in direction for a website required a complete overhaul. The conundrum we faced was to retain all the useful information but create a site structure users could easily follow to the products they are interested in or obtain the information they are looking for.

The result

I think we’ve done this exceptionally well. The navigation into key products is easy, each product page contains links to relevant supplementary information, and pricing is crystal clear. Alongside this we’ve beefed up the blog and will use it to publish articles on how to get the most from mobile as well as company news and interesting facts and figures.

We’ve now got a dedicated section for agencies regarding mobile marketing. This area is small but crystal clear in what we are offering and how we can help agencies in the mobile marketing arena.

There is a dedicated customers section to showcase the brands using mediaburst and relevant case studies. Over the coming months we’ll be adding more content.

Significantly there is now a SMS API section. Not only does this contain the API code and samples but also an online signup mechanism and a showcase of products that are already using the API.

What do you think?

So there you have it, a new year, and a new site. It’s the most significant customer facing redesign we have ever made. It’s the culmination of 6 months of hard work, and we hope you like it?

Beyond the visual

Over the past 6 months we’ve really got into User Interface design. We’ve gone beyond visual appearance to understand how our products are used and how we can help users get more out of them.

This revamp of textburst has led to an interface that is built around the most used functionality.  We didn’t want to cram in tonnes of new but unused functionality. If we did that we’d create an unusable monster. We are all busy people these days and so simple interfaces help us quickly benefit from the tool we are using.

Oh, an on the visual appearance, we couldn’t help but apply some polish, it needed it!

Improvements

So what have we done?

The menu system is paired down to the key functions and logically structured. We’ve included a hot link to the send message page and tips on how to get the most from the product.

We’ve streamlined the Account Setting and Options to put the various features under logical headings that are easily understandable and configurable.

Uploading contacts in now streamlined and you can continue using the product while the upload processes.

Due to popular demand we no longer log you out after 20 minutes of inactivity. Once you have logged on in we’ll remember for up to 8 hours.

A significant difference is the elimination of a user guide. Instead we’ve included instructional micro-copy to guide users through the product. This is much a change in company ethos as an elimination of a user guide. This decision is about being honest with our self. Users don’t want to trawl through instruction books, they want something they can use instantly. The theory is, if you need a guide to get started on our products, then it’s us who’ve designed them wrong.

So if you see something you don’t understand, tell us, we’ll look at it and make it understandable.

More of an internal factor is that we’ve consolidated various web applications (Web SMS, Promobi, textburst) into a single product, still called textburst. With a single web application with harmonised price plans it’ll make support more consistent and upgrades both easier and offered to all users.

Grand designs

So as you’ll see this isn’t Changing Rooms slapping a quick coat of paint on. It’s more like Grand Designs building something for the future that goes beyond the visual appearance to consider how you use the end product.

We’re confident you’ll like it, so take a look around and let us know what you think?

Upload Contacts

Our largest source of customer queries surrounds uploading bulk SMS contacts. This is in part because the current page is not exactly what you’d call intuitive. (click the image)

The sheer length of the page scares users. The instructions are at the top, perhaps logical, but most users forget the latter steps by the time they have completed the first stages. The “select fields” and “groups” sections in particular are confusing.

We’ve made a few tweaks and come up with this draft which we believe will make the process much smother.

You’ll notice the page is now much shorter with clear instructional copy to guide you through the process.

To de-clutter the page we’ve removed the instructions of how to convert excel to CSV. These is no reason to force you to read these instructions, we’ll include a link to a popup window so you can choose.

We’ve also introduced a preview sample of the uploaded data for you to confirm before committing. And, importantly, you’ll now be able to continue working in Textburst, sending and receiving SMS, while the upload is processing. The actual upload will process in the background, no more waiting for the screen to refresh.

A much improved process, I hope you agree?

Timeout Settings

We currently time out a session on 20 minutes of inactivity.

On this point we’ve listened to you, we’ve heard your requests, we know you don’t like this, so we’ve transferred power back to you:

You log in

You stay in

You log out.

Improving the “To” Field

As web technology improves it’s important to include those developments which add to the usability of our products. To make the send message page more fluid the inclusion of a clever bit of coding will certainly help in the “to” field.

I’ve struggled to describe this in a non techy manner but I think this series of images speak for themselves.

On the send an SMS message page, you have the “To” box that you can type numbers, names, or groups into:

As soon as you click in the box a menu appears:

Start typing and the Ajax functionality will automatically find relevant SMS contacts and groups, simply click the contact or group you were looking for.

Personalise

Finally, you may have noticed the addition of “Personalise” in the image above.

The current version of merging fields in a text message is cumbersome and hence frequently overlooked.

Recipients of SMS messages will undoubtedly respond better to a personalised message and hence why we have drawn more attention to this functionality.

As you are typing a message, use your mouse to click the relevant field to insert into the message.

Simple, effective, and helping you improve communication.

Until January

Hopefully you’ll see your feedback is being taken into consideration and an improved product is just around the corner, scheduled for release early January.

There are too many occasions when we arrive on websites to be confronted by bewildering amounts of copy. When this happens sure as eggs are eggs we’re thinking, “do I really need to read this or is it ok for me to shut it down and do something else”.

It’s on this principle that we are attempting to cut down the copy for the new website. We certainly don’t want potential customers arriving at our site and running a mile because we didn’t spend the time to create copy that was informative, easy to read but most importantly, concise.

Our web based text messaging service is called Textburst and the old description is as follows:

“Textburst: Our product Textburst is a web based SMS service that enables you to fully manage your SMS needs quickly and easily via an internet browser”.

I hope after that mouthful you are still reading?

Complete drivel, it repeats Textburst twice in the first 4 words, instructs you that it’s a web based service that can be accessed from, guess what, a web browser! It also hints that that managing your SMS needs is insufficient and FULLY managing your SMS needs is more appropriate”.

So the process starts by deleting unnecessary words which leaves us with something like:

“Textburst: Web based SMS service”.

Strangely, although it’s a very accurate description it falls short on actually selling the product and it’s features. I also think there will be some potential customers to whom “Web based SMS” doesn’t mean anything, so now we need to add a few words, be more descriptive, more friendly.

This is our current draft:

“Web based application to send and receive SMS. Upload Contacts, personalise, send.”

The first 8 words accurately describe the product to a wide audience. The last 4 are an attempt to put more context into the application and what you can use it for, they’re also chronological in terms of how you would use the application. Upload your contacts, personalise your message, and send.

So there we have it, it may change before we release in January, and indeed post release when we have some user feedback, but I think we’ve come up with something short, punchy, descriptive, readable, and entirely free of drivel.

Innovative, exciting, and good fun.

Enjoy watching it.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDExeXPxE-U

We have spoken to both users of our site, employees, friends and relatives.

Opinion seems divided on the subject but here at Mediaburst we felt that in 2009 most users have scroll wheels on their mouse and aren’t afraid to use them.

The advantage for us is we can use the top half (above the fold) to draw attention to the key aspects of our SMS products and provide more detailed information as you scroll down the page. The obvious advantage is by using this mechanism we can reduce the number of pages on the site making it quicker and easier for customers to find the information they need.

Fortunately I’ve just stumbled across this presentation by the respected Chuck Mallot which validates our position both conceptually and with some nice stats.

A copy of the presentation is available at SlideShare

Original mediaburst logo

Design 1 – change is good

Design 1 took the existing logo and placed it on a textured background of grey…. and got a big universal thumbs down.

New logo: option 1

On reflection mainly due to it being the same logo. What it did do is crystallise in our mind we wanted something new and fresh. Where as previously we were happy with the logo, now we were not, and not for any other reason than the launch of the new site will herald a huge step forward for the company and we want to reflect the fact in everything we do and are, including the logo.

Design 2 – we are mediaburst

In design 2 we took a different approach by incorporating more of a strap line in an attempt to convey our passion and belief. Hoops are remove and colours changed.

New logo: option 2

It’s clean, fresh, easy to read and we liked the concept, but it fell down on 2 accounts.

Firstly, on our past experience of using a strap line so close to the company name. We used to have “Inspiring Communication” and it amazes me how much post we still get addressed to “Mediaburst Inspiring Communication Limited”. Our decision was any logo must be absolutely clear that we are called Mediaburst.

And secondly, while we do love mobile, our name is a name and not a statement, we are Mediaburst and that is what we shall be called.

Design 3 – the anti logo

This design really caught us, it’s bold, the colour fresh, and the textured background provides depth that allows our company name to stand out as a logo.

One comment was that it’s an “anti logo”. In contrast to the capabilities of that web 2.0 thingy people talk about. Here we have simple text, the font is Arial, there are no icons, hoops, loops, telegraph poles, mobile phones, robots, or bleepy signals.

It also carries on the use of red in our corporate identity providing us with valuable continuity.

It’s not confusing, easy to read and gives us that fresh vibrant feel we strive for.

Decision made.

New logo: option 3 - the winner

A word about the process

While I’m on I felt it worth sharing a few words on the process we employed to make our decisions.

The honest truth is, there were no focus groups or structured appraisal techniques used.

We haven’t spent days on this or thousands of pounds on brand consultants.

We’ve made the decision as a group of employees using gut feel.

We’ve all bought into it, there was no selling required

We like it, and we hope you will too.

A sneaky peak

Finally, sometimes a logo doesn’t look like much unless placed in context, so here’s a sneaky peak, a taste of what’s to come!

Sneaky peak at new website design

The worst offender to date failed to change “Mediaburst” in the copy to that of their own name, very poor!

Today however we steep to new lows of copying, this time it’s the site template that’s been ripped off, and they’ve not even done a thorough job of it. They have copied images, left links to our site and even the Google tracking code in the pages. Standards of plagiarism are definitely slipping!

Anyway take a look for yourself booknpay.net and feel free to send them an e-mail telling them how poor their copying skills are.

The stereotypical representation of a text message is some kind of mobile phone or an envelope on a mobile phone screen, the image is usually an icon or photo from one of the online photostock sites. The problem with this concept is its overuse leading to many SMS suppliers displaying remarkably similar icons or even worse, the same stock images.

In redeveloping our site we are keen to ensure our visual representation stands out and hence we have enlisted the assistance of an illustrator to draft icons that will represent our core products. The lucky artist is the highly regarded Stanley Chow.

We chose Stanley because of the simplicity of his illustrations and his ability to produce work that aligns with the subject matter yet avoids the cliche’s. In particular we liked the work he completed for Vodefone and The White Stripes.

The brief for Mediaburst is to produce icons that reflect the key notion of our services i.e. communication, yet avoid the predictable such as mobile phones, and envelopes.

I develop a hint of nervousness at times in this process because once you issue the brief all goes quiet for a week or so while the designers do their thing. But this nervous feeling is tempered by excitement knowing you’ve got some really creative thinkers on board. So here’s looking forward to seeing the first drafts.

Google Wave Overview

www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6pgxLaDdQw

We’d initially realised a refresh of Textburst was appropriate, to bring it up to date of its look and feel and use the latest web standards. But as always what starts as great idea soon grows into a bigger monster.

So- not only are we looking at Textburst but we are redeveloping the entire website. Not just a simple re-skin, but a wholesale redevelopment. We’ll be focusing not only on image and content but on navigation and user experience. Our users need to find the products and services easily, but it needs to be backed up with all the informative content on how to benefit from mobile communication.

We receive thousands of visitors every week and that’s where they generate a perception of us, that’s where they find out about our products and services. Obviously there are a lot of factors to consider and balance so this won’t be easy. Fortunately though, we have assembled a crack team of internet geeks that have immeasurable amounts of experience of turning dreams into internet realities.

So Let’s Introduce the Team:

James Stiff and Simon Rowlands These guys are handling the creative and design aspects and will ensure our site not only looks good but is easy to navigate and find information.

They come with excellent credentials having worked for the likes of NME, Man United, and Talk Talk. Not only do they have creative talents beyond my comprehension but they have passion, belief and a shared vision of internet heaven, a perfect combination!

Next in line is Phil Thompson, freelance web developer extraordinaire. Phil lives and breathes internet, a true geek, he’s well respected in the Manchester digital community and works for the best agencies. He’s in demand, but we got to him first, he’ll turn the designs into mouse clicking reality.

Andy White will craft the words. Andy, enthusiastic and dedicated, has been tasked with communicating our products and services in a concise and professional manner, but at the same time transferring the personality of Mediaburst into words. No easy job, but he’s got the skills.

And last but not least Epiphany Solutions. Gavin and Abi at Epiphany have been watching over our site for the last year, they make sure we don’t upset those Google bots and help us rank high on relevant search terms. They are part of a bigger team that has a fantastic understanding of what makes a site relevant and will ensure the new site is top of the list.

So What Next?

In truth I’m humbled by the talent we have assembled, the collective experience is massive. Not only do they carry numerous award nominations but, and most importantly, they understand the web, they understand users of the web, and they believe in the power of the web.

The end result will set a new standard in our industry and will be a bench mark site that others aspire to, I’m truly excited!

The process may indeed take a number of months but keep checking back to this blog because I’ll update you with progress, the thought process that goes into the site and screenshots where possible.

Send your thoughts to the usual address…

Airwolf

Blue Thunder

.

I quote,

“At some point in the next year you will be contacted for your views on our overall service proposition”.

At some point during the next YEAR. Well thanks very much for the information.

Duly filed in the basket to my right.

Does anyone else get these letters?

We started out by saying there was only 2 ways to get noticed, win or lose. Unfortunately our general knowledge, particularly in respect of TV shows and random sporting events turned out to be pretty poor, and it’s something we’re not ashamed of. Therefore win was never an option. On this basis losing seems a pretty good second place!

So the wooden spoon assumes its place in our reception area among the campaign artwork for Kelloggs, Maltesers, Heineken, and so on, and we are just as proud of it.

We had a great old time and can’t wait to defend our title!

Paper surveys

A few weeks ago I received a “how are we doing” type survey from one of our suppliers. It came through the post and contained about 4 pages of questions for me to fill in, and an SAE for the return. Needless to say it found its way into the waste paper basket. Not that I’m averse to completing a survey but the whole 4 pages of real paper just put me off.

Online surveys

Have they not heard of online surveys? A single monthly fee on surveymonkey would be cheaper than the stamps on the letters, not to mention the increased likelihood of me completing the survey.

The worst of both worlds?

Today’s occurrence wins though, I have just received a letter from a supplier, through the POST, asking me to take part in an ONLINE survey. To cap it off, they will be sending me an invitation to take part by e-mail in a few days time.

Clearly we need to spread the word about digital communication before there’s nothing left of the rainforest.

As of today we have a demo that you can have a look at:

text VIDEO to 84433.
Rich media direct to your mobile!

In particular, to Code Computerlove for the Original Source site which won the Tasty Website award…as voted for via text message….systems and technology provided by the one and only Mediaburst!

Oh, and a special mention to Sarah who had sufficient dutch courage to plough on over to Bill Bailey and force him into a photo!

Well done to all the winners and well done to Out There Events and Manchester Digital for putting on a great do.

The application, called “Ocado On The Go”, places users within virtual aisles so they can buy food, drink, books and toys.

Incredibly they are over 18,000 products stored on the iPhone so that users can keep shopping even when offline with orders updated when an internet connection is made. The application ia available to customers from today, but officially launches following final testing on July 13.

Crains will be publishing more details of the nominations in their June 29th edition. So all I can say for now is that it’s great that Mediaburst is being recognised for its achievements, I like to think we have done some good work over the last 12 months….and long may it continue.

The year you’ll see Mediaburst focus on becoming the SMS provider of choice for Britain’s SMEs, as well as the mobile marketing provider for brands and agencies alike. We’ll also be introducing new products and services such as MMS for mobile applications.

Over seven out of ten of us admit delegating difficult tasks at work by email and text. More than half use an email or text message to apologise for mistakes. One in eight of us has resigned via email or text message while 2 per cent of bosses have fired someone with an email or text message, according to a survey by Post Office Telecoms. Also revealed is that 3 per cent of adults admit to ending a relationship by text in the past 12 months.

“Each generation’s communication style can differ dramatically, sometimes leading to inappropriate behaviour or cultural insensitivity, says Stewart Fox-Mills, head of telecoms at the Post Office. “Digital technology is constantly giving us new ways to communicate. But we’ve found that many are using modern technology to avoid face-toface or verbal confrontation.” Gary

A panel of judges described his skillset as a “powerful combination of innovation and growth in mature markets” and for his “contribution to the wider community on issues relating to advertising to children, and a whole series of excellent below the line initiatives.” Kellogg’s King Tut and Zookeeper for a Day mobile marketing campaigns run via Mediaburst’s SMS Gateway are recent examples.

Brennan joined Kellogg’s in 1999 and has also held senior marketing roles in Europe and Australia. He quickly acquired a reputation in the grocery trade as a marketer who knows how to grow and develop his company’s share of both mature and growing markets.

Healthy eating and lifestyle are now the key drivers behind Kellogg’s formidable £72m media spend – not including the substantial sum invested in below the line activities. Brennan is the highest ranked North West-based marketer in national trade title Marketing’s Power 100.

Mobile marketing company Mediaburst today announces that its secure and robust text services are being integrated into a bespoke online electoral roll system for local authorities. For the first time, voters will be able to register to vote by simply texting a unique ID and Pin to their local authority.

Part of a system called Democratic Solutions, the product will be available from local authority provider Dsi from August 2008 onwards and its deployment will enable the general public to securely register their voting intentions with a local authority during their annual canvass by telephone, the Internet and SMS.

Dsi is a trusted provider of fully auditable “closed loop” solutions to over 150 local authorities in Britain. Its product portfolio used by the authorities includes electoral registration and management software, revenue and benefits billing systems, case load management tools for councillors, consultation software, as well as printed postal voting packs, poll cards, annual canvass forms and ballot books.

Dsi’s extended software will be win-win for voters and local authorities alike. On the one hand, the public will have more choice in the way they wish to register with a local authority during their annual canvass … by calling a hotline, by visiting www.securemyvote.co.uk and completing an online form, or by texting a unique ID and Pin received in the post to the authority’s long or short code. On the other, local authorities will be able to leverage the public and their mobile phones and the Internet to compile electoral rolls faster and at less cost.

“Compiling electoral rolls today is traditionally a costly, paper-based exercise for local authorities and an online solution offers voters a more convenient method to ensure that they get involved in local elections and democratic issues,” says Simon Verdon, Dsi’s business development director. “By integrating Mediaburst’s highly-secure SMS service into our new online registration system, Dsi again demonstrates how it is helping local authorities to better engage and interact with the voting public and for the public to protect their democratic rights.”

For further information on Democratic Solutions, local authorities can contact Simon Verdon on 07957 880 480 or by email to simon.verdon@dsigroup.com

About Dsi

Dsi was established in 1993 to provide software, document production, management and distribution services. With a turnover of £110m, 5 Communication Centres based around the UK and 1100 staff, the business provides services to a wide range of client from the Public and Private sectors.

Based in Guildford, Matelco is part of the privately owned Ampito Group, which is a hybrid IT solutions provider, looking at emerging and leading technologies. The group ethos is built on the principles of good service, customer care and an innovative approach to solutions and doing business.

Heather Menzies, Matelco’s business development director, comments: “Mediaburst is a best-of-breed mobile marketing company offering products and support that are unrivalled in today’s marketplace. Our customers will be well served.”

Stuart Brown, Mediaburst’s sales and marketing director, adds: ” Matelco are precisely the kind of forward thinking organisation that Mediaburst wishes to partner with and we look forward to supporting Matelco as they promote and sell our text and business continuity solutions.”

About Mediaburst

Mediaburst is an award-winning mobile messaging and interactive telephony company. Created in 2000, the company is today the trusted mobile campaign partner for advertising, marketing and media agencies and the preferred supplier of messaging solutions and aggregation for businesses, developers, and network operators. Mediaburst’s interactive platform allows companies to automate communications with their audiences in a reliable, cost effective, and scalable manner.

At Mediaburst we take time to offer blog content that we hope will be of interest to those involved in SMS text messaging in all its many guises; Business Messaging, Mobile Marketing, Business Continuity and simple SMS Gateway applications. We believe that it should always be us who take the time to post appropriate blogs and as such some months will have more entries than others, but we always aim to have our website as a valuable source of current and useful content. We hope our time is well spent and we are always keen to receive feedback on the blog.

Mediaburst brings a gamut of incredible features to its ever-growing client base with its web-based SMS text messaging service, more popularly known as ‘Textburst’. We offer you a unique opportunity to integrate with your mobile phone and enable text messaging to individuals or groups though an online mechanism. Textburst now also provides its clients with data management services so that they can create numerous distribution groups such as product-specific, location-specific, quantity-specific and much more.

We assist you in designing ‘Template’ messages that can be used over and over again and save you time and effort in retyping the same message. We are also pleased to acquaint you with the feature of ‘merge’ through which you can personalise your message with your contact’s name. In addition, with Textburst’s text messaging service, you can even generate business enquiries and increase your response rates by using a short code with a keyword. Simple Data Entry is another incredible feature through which your numbers can be uploaded into the phonebook and save you time and effort of manual entry. We also help you with the effective management of your marketing campaigns through promotional messaging strategies and keeping track of the delivery status of your messages and the responses even whilst you are on the go. Customer Service

I have become aware how companies are getting used to the fact SMS is a way of life. It can be used in so many ways; keeping in contact with staff, marketing to customers, competitions, information services and the list goes on. But there is still some that are not convinced at what SMS services can offer a business. It is so much more than just keeping in touch. I can understand the apprehension when it comes to SMS and what is involved for a company; because this is how I felt when I had to remember everything that I was taught about how it works. It was very daunting task when trying to retain all the information but it is worthwhile.

My advice to businesses thinking of using a SMS solution is, go for it; it will improve communication within your company and can be used in so many ways. Those of you that are unsure speak to the experts and see what they have to say and see how they can help your business. Finally I would like to thank everybody at Mediaburst for their support; I have really enjoyed my time here and will miss everybody. I promise that I will come back and visit soon.

Therefore I was pleased to read that O2, the last remaining network to enable these services, is due to make the functionality available sometime in April 2008. Advertisers and media owners will now be able to offer their consumers just one number to interact with them, irrelevant of how that consumer wishes to communicate. This will hopefully be another reason for the Direct Response agencies and other areas of the advertising industry to adopt mobile marketing as a key channel. Now all the networks need to do is bring the prices down and make unified shortcodes comercially viable to the masses. Jeremy

According to the National Consumer Council, 6 million families in the UK are already struggling to make repayments towards their debt. But how much of this debt has been overcharged?

The LoanCheck Foundation helps individuals to freely check to see if they are being or have been overcharged on a loan or mortgage. It also assists charities, good causes and community initiatives and allows their members or users free access to the LoanCheck facility, through LoanCheck’s calculator available on its website www.loancheck.co.uk.

The Loancheck project has been developed and refined over the last 6 years, and has involved the collation of data and information from lending institutions, and the development of a computer-based assessment process to enable anyone to find out whether or not they too have been a victim of overcharging.

All consumers need do to benefit from Loancheck’s services is to visit its website, fill out a questionnaire and the online calculator generates a full audit of a mortgage or loan account and all the reports necessary to pursue lenders. The process brings together nationwide firms of solicitors allowing consumers anywhere to pursue potential cases to a satisfactory conclusion on a no-win, no-fee basis.

Since inception, Loancheck has helped protect the interests of several thousands of consumers and has even managed to stop their homes being re-possessed.

“Consumer awareness is the key to the Loancheck service, together with ease of access and use,” says John Whittaker, Loancheck’s managing director. “To this end, we have decided to run an SMS campaign through Mediaburst and we see this as a vital piece in the accessibility jigsaw.”

The campaign begins today and runs for 4 weeks.

I called in to take the time to personally thank Ewan for his efforts in putting together such a strong daily industry blog, not a small commitment, and was taken a back by just how many of my peers, competitors and even the team from PhonepayPlus were all in attendance.

Such events help build contacts and promote discussion in a relaxed atmosphere. Well done Ewan, keep up the great work

Davis Langdon chose the SMS Providers web-based tool to provide a trusted and proven Business Continuity solution for use during a traditional Disaster Recovery event to communicate with staff, suppliers and customers. However, having worked with Mediaburst’s consultants, the company also uses the solution to provide initial business-critical communications in the event of the loss of one or more of its Microsoft Exchange servers.

Davis Langdon already had Business Continuity solutions in place for email in the event of a loss of service, but the challenge to the company’s IT department was how to communicate the cut over to the Business Continuity email solution without using email or swamping the Support Centre with thousands of incoming calls.

“With Mediabust’s assistance, we have implemented a robust communications solution that takes the risk out of this element of the Business Continuity scenario,” says Ant Daykin, Head of Davis Langdon’s I.T. Business Support. “Mediaburst shared their deep knowledge of Business Continuity with us, and this collaboration enabled IT to deploy possibly the most robust solution on today’s market.”

Mediaburst’s Business Continuity tool is a web-based enterprise-class solution that allows businesses to securely communicate with staff, suppliers and customers during emergencies. Text messages do not rely on voice channels for transmission, and travel as small packets of data on a wireless carrier’s control channel – the same portion of the spectrum that keeps a mobile network apprised of a particular phone’s location and status. Being isolated in the control channel, SMS messages are therefore usually unaffected by heavy traffic or adverse conditions that overwhelm wireless networks during emergencies

“Clearly, we’re delighted that Davis Langdon has adopted our Business Continuity tool,” says Stuart Brown, Mediaburst’s sales director. “This highly-secure and flexible service takes the cost out of possible business downtime during emergencies whatever their nature.”

A UK-wide study, commissioned by online security company Garlik and conducted by YouGov, found that around 15% of the population were engaged in writing or contributing to blogs, while one in five were blogging at least once a day and spending an average of 30 minutes doing so.

Blogging certainly seems to have developed a rapidly growing fan base, and creates an exciting new communications channel for a business.

We hope that our blog offers useful thoughts and advice for those interested in Mobile Marketing and SMS technologies.

More interestingly there are now 25% more text messages being sent than the same time last year. Such growth was never anticipated and has triggered the Mobile Data Association to revise their 2007 forecast from 48 billion to 52 billion.

Coincidently, Mediaburst have also just recorded its monthly highest volume ever, representing 140% increase on the same period last year and is backed up by consistent growth over the 12 month period.

The media are attributing the growth to new “all-you-can-eat” mobile deals, I have no doubt this plays a large part but I think it’s wider than that. The younger generations are always first to embrace new technology and have certainly driven increases thus far, however, it’s taken until earlier this month to receive my first text message from my Nana, and my parents growing use is testament to it’s overall acceptance across all age ranges.

The latest report into pandemic planning was published jointly by Marsh and The Albright Group earlier this month providing some interesting thoughts. It would appear that modern transport networks will distribute the influenza virus more quickly and more widely than previously.

Anybody who has been travelling recently will agree to this as they reach for the Kleenex! The report continued- “However while the modern transport infrastructure provides a factor which may increase the likelihood of a pandemic, today’s communications infrastructure may increase the chance of preventing a pandemic. Warnings can be passed very quickly amongst governmental and healthcare sectors allowing for increased vigilance and the swift introduction of preventative measures. Accurate information can also be quickly passed to businesses and individuals enabling wide-spread awareness of the necessary preventative measures and also enabling people to watch out for disease symptoms and to seek rapid help and treatment”

Business Continuity is planning for the consequences of many business affecting issues, not just the headline grabbing disasters. Take a look at our news section to learn how SMS Providers mediaburst have helped our customers by implementing SMS for business continuity.

Following the successful showing of its Business Continuity tool at last week’s Convergence Summit at Sandown Park, SMS Provider Mediaburst today announces that it will showcase its product this week at the IP07 exhibition (Earl’s Court, London, October 16 – 17, 2007). Presentations will take place throughout the show on the stand of Mediaburst business partner, TeleWare (Stand 566).

Mediaburst’s Business Continuity tool is becoming central to the disaster recovery plans of businesses nationwide. The web-based tool enables them to instantly communicate with staff, suppliers and customers during emergencies because text messages to not rely on voice channels for transmission. Instead, they travel as small packets of data on a wireless carrier’s control channel – the same portion of the spectrum that keeps a mobile network apprised of a particular phone’s location and status. Being isolated in the control channel, SMS messages are therefore usually unaffected by heavy traffic or adverse conditions that overwhelm wireless networks during emergencies

City law firm Reynolds Porter Chamberlain (RPC) LLP views Mediaburst’s solution as one of the most cost-effective and efficient means of instantly communicating and interacting with people during emergencies. It’s a view now shared by the latest business to subscribe to the service, property and construction advisers Davis Langdon LLP.

“Mediaburst is breaking down the resistance barriers to rolling out business continuity plans,” says Stuart Brown, Mediaburst’s sales director. “For under £1,000 each year, businesses can instantly deploy our highly-secure service with the minimum of fuss and maximum efficiency.”

Notes for Editors

Mediaburst’s Business Continuity tool is more than an online communications platform. Its rich features allow businesses to better manage the whole communications process and to analyse the results. How it works.

The Business Continuity tool sits on Mediaburst’s secure servers and customers pay an annual license for the service. Businesses then upload contact details of staff to their licensed phonebook for access from any location. Using the contact management feature, they create specific distribution groups such as “Crisis Team” or “Senior Management” to receive specific group messages.

Mediaburst recommends that users create time-saving template messages for use as appropriate and leverage the “merge name” feature to personalise messages for added effectiveness. Using the instant response feature, they can interact with staff and send response messages and content to individuals seeking information. This is particularly useful when distributing a series of instructions or questions.

Conforming with government guidelines for businesses during emergencies, Mediaburst’s tool records all messages sent and delivery receipts thereby establishing an audit trail covering the status and whereabouts of employees. As part of the business-as-usual process, Mediaburst’s tool provides a Fax to Email feature allowing people to receive faxes directly into their Email inbox.

Security and Costs

A total security audit has been conducted by O2 to ensure Mediaburst’s systems are secure, robust, and resilient and that there is no risk to data integrity. The Business Continuity tool is hosted on a secure Mediaburst site with full SSL encryption. Annual licenses for the tool cost just £995 ex VAT and includes 24/7 support for up to 20 working days each year, 3,000 messages and 10 Fax To Email accounts.

The way people get fast facts on properties they might just want to buy could be about to change if SMS and mobile marketing leader Mediaburst gets it way. The company today announced that it has partnered with 8K Media and launched the first managed text response service for estate agents enabling anyone interested in buying a specific property to get key details texted to their mobile and to then book a viewing via their mobile.

The first estate agent to subscribe to this unique service is Helling Massey of Bury. One hundred of its properties now have unique reference numbers pasted on their sales boards. All that anyone passing by one of them needs do to get key details is text the reference on the board to 80889. Texts cost 50p. An auto response is then sent to the potential buyer’s mobile giving key details including price and they can then book a viewing via their mobile by replying VU. A further charge of 50p is incurred.

The details of each property is managed by on-line using textburst allowing Mediaburst’s partner 8K Media to change response messages per the estate agent’s instructions at anytime and from any location. Typical responses include price reductions and new instructions. The tool collates all enquiries for a specific property and sends details at the frequency determined by the estate agent to an assigned email address.

The service also allows for analysis – how many times a specific caller has requested details of properties, for example, and to send proactive messages such as “you recently enquired about 129 Darlington Road, 149 Darlington Road is now on the market. To view rely VU.” Replies cost 50p.

“Mediaburst believes that the mobile is destined to become the new black when it comes to buying homes,” says Mediaburst’s sales director, Stuart Brown. “We feel sure that home buyers will prefer this instant property service and that other estate agents will follow the pioneering spirit of Helling Massey.”

The text apparently read “This is amazing; you can do words and everything.” The second article was all about a new generation of writers in Japan who are now tapping out entire novels on their mobile phones. Stories, called Keitai novels, are proving extremely popular with half the top 10 fiction best sellers for 2007 starting life on mobiles. The success of the stories is due to the intentional use of short sentences and less complicated expressions. STUART

All that shoppers need do is text the word “Summer” to a short code that appears on the in-store screen and they’ll receive the auto response “Save an Extra £50 per booking off last minute summer holidays. For more information call 0870 574 9272, or text “CallMe” to 87103 for a Co-operative Travel booking agent to call them.”

Mobile marketing is another touchpoint for The Co-operative Travel to engage with its customers. Going forward, the company believes mobile marketing will become one of the preferred marketing channels for travel companies in the near term.

The Co-operative Travel is the UK’s largest independent travel provider, with over 400 branches on the high street, state-of-the-art customer call centres and an award-winning website. The Co-operative Travel is not owned by a parent Tour Operator and is therefore able to offer its customers a much wider range of holidays.

Being part of The Co-operative Group, co-operative values underpin the whole of The Co-operative Travel business, which is conducted in a socially responsible manner. In November 2006, The Co-operative Travel became the first ever high street retailer to offer its customers the opportunity to offset the carbon emissions arising from their holiday travel.

“Clearly, Mediaburst is delighted to team up with The Co-operative Travel to support its initiatives in bringing this special travel deal to the attention of Co-operative shoppers,” says Stuart Brown, Mediaburst’s sales and marketing director. “The campaign win follows our recent Bostik win and serves to further strengthen our position as the number one mobile marketing partner in big brand promotions.”

Bostik’s new promotion goes live on 1^st September 2007 and runs to 29^th February. From September, Blu-Tack packaging will feature a promotion asking consumers to make a Spider-Man related model with the adhesive and send their photos to Bostik from their mobiles to a special campaign number.

Calls will cost no more than standard network rates and Bostik is looking for weird, wacky and wonderful entries Spider-Man’s web, badge, himself, a hairy spider, or an idea that breaks new ground. The best 33 entries will win a Sony MP3 player, and the best 33 runners up will receive a Spider-Man goody bag.

Bostik has long been recognised as a campaign innovator and Mediaburst’s multimedia messaging service (MMS) will help the brand to again push the envelope. By adopting Mediaburst’s technology into its new promotion, Bostik will widen its audience and engage with them in a different way.

“Using multimedia messaging for competition entry is a medium still in its infancy, but a channel that brands will increasingly embrace going forward,” says Michelle Hayman, Bostik’s product manager. “The success of our Blu-Tack promotion hinges on making sure people who have taken the time to enter can do so easily and with limited restrictions, and Mediaburst’s MMS allows us to achieve this.”

Bostik selected Mediaburst to enter the world of MMS because “Mediaburst are the pros of the business – they have the knowledge, expertise and deep understanding of what mobile campaigns are all about,” explains Hayman.

“Clearly, winning Bostik’s Blu-Tack campaign is another feather in Mediaburst’s cap and a further example of this company’s leadership in helping brands to engage with consumers in the most immediate and cost-effective way,” adds Stuart Brown, Mediaburst’s sales director.

For those of you not familiar with AdWords this means if you typed “Mediaburst” into Google then the competitor always appeared above us in the listing. The problem isn’t that uncommon, indeed you may want to do a search on your own trademarked brand name. What seems to be lesser known is that Google have a very simple online Trademarks complaints procedure, it took less than a week to submit the complaint to receiving confirmation that the company concerned were no longer using our name as a search term, meaning we were rightfully back at the top. If you are having the same problem then take a look at the following link for more information. Trademark Complaints

Mobile messaging and interactive telephony leader Mediaburst today launches its free SMS MediaDAYS program aimed at helping brand promoters to get the best results out of their SMS-driven mobile messaging campaigns.

“There are now over 56 million mobile subscribers in the UK and Mediaburst is possibly the only mobile messaging business that can help advertising, marketing and media agencies to best engage and interact with them,” says Jeremy Bygrave, Mediaburst’s managing director. “Participants in our free SMS MediaDAYS will be able to tap into our expertise in big brand mobile promotions and then offer even greater service to their brands and brand masters.”

Mediaburst was formed in 2000 and has since partnered with many agencies to help them get the best results out of SMS campaigns. Agencies behind brands such as Bailey’s, Coca Cola, Kelloggs, Sainbury’s and TfL all find that Mediaburst SMS techniques deliver instant results and allows them to develop profitable one-to-one relationships with consumers.

All that creative, marketing and media leaders and members need do to benefit from Mediaburst’s free MediaDAYS offer is call 01625 588 620. Just tell Mediaburst when you want their training team to turn up at your offices, and how many of your colleagues will be involved.

Remember. More and more brand owners are now beginning to seriously exploit SMS as an instant and cost-effective campaign channel. And if the experts are right, about 90% of brands will use SMS as a fundamental part of their campaign tools by 2008. So, if you’re in the business of promoting brands, better call 01625 588 620 now rather than later.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=iM1f_UptvFw

Rising Star in 2005, SMS Provider Mediaburst today announced that it has been selected as the winner in the North and ranked sixth overall in the 2006 Deloitte Technology Fast 50, a ranking of the 50 fastest growing technology companies in the UK and Ireland. Rankings are based on average percentage revenue growth over 5 years.

“Growing the top line enough to make the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 is especially meaningful during competitive times for the technology sector,” said Simon Kerton-Johnson, Chairman of Deloitte’s UK & Ireland Fast 50. “We congratulate Mediaburst on becoming one of the 50 fastest growing technology companies in the Northern Region.”

Jeremy Bygrave, Managing Director, Mediaburst says his company’s emphasis on providing complete flexible solutions has enabled it to take advantage of changes in the market:

“The market has matured. Five years ago there was a lot of ‘spam’ and the telecommunications companies worked hard to eliminate this. The cost of a message has increased to a level where it is not practical to use the network for spam now. But SMS is now being seen as a real business opportunity.”

“We have a wide range of customers, across a variety of sectors who use our applications to send and receive SMS for staff and customer messaging. For example, Tesco use SMS to distribute KPI information to it’s management team. Selfridges use our SMS API to inform customers their garment is ready for collection from their alteration service. Durex receive sample requests via SMS with the text number shown in their latest TV advert. Hachette Filipacchi use SMS for text to win competitions, lowest unique bid, voting, collating feedback- Think Money send automated balance updates to customers to reduce enquiries into their call centre. The opportunities and benefits of SMS are endless”

“Other services include IVR, for example, Kellogg’s used this service for brand awareness for Frosties. Advertised on the radio, listeners are encouraged to ring a freephone number to record their own version of the tune from the latest Frosties ad. The winners will be featured on the radio.”

Jeremy says future growth is expected to come from its virtual services provider (VSP) proposition and what he calls Application Exchange:

“We have the infrastructure that content providers and application developers can use to offer services to others on the network which we see as a big growth area.”

Managing Director, Jeremy Bygrave concludes “It is an honour to be listed in the Deloitte Fast 50 and is testament to the experience, expertise and unique technology capability Mediaburst offers its customers.”

Usave.tv launched a competition to win a massage chair, which retails at around £1,800. Even if entrants are unsuccessful, Usave.tv will provide the chance to purchase the chair at the highly-discounted price of £699.95 – a saving of £1,100!

For a chance to win the chair, viewers watched Usave.tv on Sky Channel 670. Then with the answer to the question, sent a text CHAIR + A, B or C to 87202 (£1.50) or rang 09077 071 101 (£1.50) with their answer.

Usave.tv selected SMS Provider Mediaburst as their communications partner to supply the text and IVR line.

Martin Breffit, Director at Usave.tv, explains: “Mediaburst’s consultative approach and expertise are singular in the industry and are compelling arguments to doing business with the company. They have listened to our needs and created a solution to meet them. That’s why we like many other brands also recommend Mediaburst messaging.”

Stuart Brown, Sales Director at Mediaburst, concludes: “Competitions like Usave’s can be extremely successful. People tend to have their mobile phones next to them when watching TV therefore it’s quick and easy to send a text or phone a number compared with logging on to a website or snail mailing an entry.”