Welcome to the ITI Blog!

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We are glad you found us, and we invite you to get into a conversation with us!

The travel and tourism industry is evolving ever so fast and makes it a very interesting playground. Yes, a playground we’d like to call it, because in fact travel is a fun activity, and our work in the tourism and travel industry is entertaining and engaging.

ITI Marketing, Inc. is a global destination marketing company with over 25 years of experience in the travel industry. We work with international and domestic destination marketing organizations and help them market their brands on the Internet with the ultimate goal to align online initiatives with  their other more traditional marketing strategies. ITI Marketing, Inc. is at the cutting edge of the new destination marketing paradigm, helping clients imagine, implement and re-invent off- and online strategies and mobile solutions.

The company is lead by CEO Franci Edgerly (connect with Franci at LinkedIn). Other key staff include:

Andy Uhlig, Director of Business Development (connect with Andy at LinkedIn)

Christina Warren, Director of Marketing (connect with Christina at LinkedIn)

Marie Fuehner, Mobile Business Development Manager (connect with Marie at LinkedIn)

Chris O’Flaherty, National Sales Manager (connect with Chris at LinkedIn)

We look forward to sharing and discussing the many facets of our industry.

Fun Video: Into the Twittersphere

Learn more about the Social Media tool Twitter.

Mobile marketing in 2010: “A Year of Experimentation”

R2Integrated of Baltimore released their own mobile marketing survey last week, which signaled that marketers will play it a little conservatively in the space in the coming year. Basically, it seems, marketers still need to teach themselves how to best take advantage of the different tools mobile marketing has to offer. Afterall, it’s a new way to reach people who are usually on the move — which is different than marketing campaigns devised for TV and even the desktop Web.

“It appears that 2010 will be a year of experimentation and education on mobile marketing as marketers struggle to come to terms with its practicality and ROI,” said Matt Goddard, co-founder and CEO of R2I, said in a statement. “This shouldn’t suggest that marketers ought to table their mobile marketing plans, but that they should pay considerable attention to how they can connect the dots back to driving revenue.”

View all result charts of the R2I Mobile Marketing Survey Summary here.

Read the original article.

What will this year portend for mobile messaging?

Pioneering technologist Alan Kay once said that “the best way to predict the future is to invent it.” Reflecting on another year gone by, this comment rings especially true.

For mobile, 2009 marked a year of outstanding innovation and growth; communication in 140 characters became all the rage as Twitter reached mainstream consciousness; Apple delivered its one billionth application download from the App Store; Orange and T-Mobile announced plans to merge their British business to become the Britain’s largest network provider, and O2 overtook BT in British revenues.

After so much development in 2009, where will 2010 take us?

Revenues rising, profit margins tightening
The challenge for carriers in the coming months will be to begin to prepare customers to pay premiums for high usage or optimal quality of service.

SMS revenues
According to analysts, SMS revenues will continue to grow rapidly, breaking the $100 billion-mark next year.

Location-based services
The industry is realizing that location alone is not a revenue-generating service in its own right – but is recognizing that it can provide valuable enhancements to existing services that will greatly stimulate services such as mobile search, mobile advertising and social networking, making these services more relevant, actionable and personal.

Mobile payments
In developed markets, the challenge had been about building consumer trust. Now, issues such as security, regulation and quality of service are dominating peoples’ minds.

Mobile social networking will come of age
Until now, the flood of unbillable Mobile Terminated messages from social networks were an issue for using SMS and MMS to address the mass market. But now enhancements such as MT charging, anti spam, location, ad insertion and hash-tagging will enable the carrier to engage in new business models for two-way social networking traffic.

Android – iPhone
We will see more Android-based phones entering the market this year, so it will be interesting to see if the semi-monopolistic iPhone hype will be reduced to normal proportions as the open model for Android provides a good alternative to the relatively closed iPhone.

Carrier app stores versus handset app
Carrier app stores have the ability to reach the mass market and can be enhanced with a range of capabilities including messaging, security, location, charging and user profiling. The stakes will only get higher this year as the battle rages on.

Proliferation of mobile security
The increased opening of networks and handsets release myriad new threats, will lead to increased customer care, higher infrastructure costs and more churn and brand damage. It will also hinder the uptake of services such as mobile financial services and mobile advertising.

Wait and see, but be prepared
As we did with SMS and MMS, we need to focus on how we can use IMS and RCS to add value to enhance third-party applications and services.

Network sharing
The sharing of radio networks is the most obvious cost-saving opportunity. But for service delivery infrastructures it is also important to be as flexible as possible.

Read the original article here.

Apple’s iPad: Exploring The Massive Mobile Marketing & Advertising Potential

The announcement of the Apple iPad ushered in a new wave of mobile technology unlike anything we’ve seen in a long time, and with it came unrivaled potential for mobile marketers and advertisers to explore new possibilities.

Apple has taken the same initiatives with the iPad- bringing the simplistic approach of the iPhone, combined with the processing power of larger laptop computers, to create a device that would appeal to just about anyone.  The iPad, and tablet devices in general, are an entirely new segment of mobile technology, and with it comes endless opportunities for brands to engage users in brand new ways.

The iPhone opened new possibilities in the areas of mobile advertising, branded mobile apps, in-app advertising and content distribution in general.  Adding iTunes-based payments to the mix created the vibrant ecosystem we see today, and that success will parlay into the iPad as well- with a larger screen to engage users further.

The large screen provided by the tablet allows for the display of much richer media.

It can display hi-res videos and other content that’s always been cumbersome for users on smaller screens- this aspect is one of few hurdles mobile marketers and advertisers needed to overcome to make their content standout and bring the best of both worlds: the relevancy and location aspects of mobile devices, with the large-screen vibrancy of desktop and notebook computers. Video will be a huge asset to marketers on the iPad- the iPhone opened up the possibility of truly “watchable” video on mobile devices, and the iTunes store made access easier than ever.  With the iPad, that concept is taken to yet another level, and marketers will put it to good use.

Read the original article here.