Last week, I had a very lively chat with Sam Cece, CEO of StrongMail, about what services he wants to add to the e-mail marketing company’s offerings. It came as no surprise that mobile is at the top of his list.
StrongMail created an e-mail and social CRM agency called ThreadMarketing last month after acquiring Conversa Marketing and Magnetik, two interactive agencies that offered services like social media and web design.
“What we’re seeing now, in terms of the mobile space, is that it’s not only about deploying a campaign to an iPhone — it’s location-based campaign management,” he told me.
Cece said many of StrongMail’s clients have been asking specifically what the company is doing in this area.
He also pointed out the differences in how marketers define mobile.
Some marketers boil it down to sending an e-mail to an iPhone or Blackberry — or another mobile device — that needs to look aesthetically pleasing.
Others define it as the mobile applications deployed on mobile devices to help marketers deliver relevant information, Cece explained.
“I think we’re still seeing definition of what mobile means,” said Cece. “But, I am hearing it more and more and typically when I hear something [with a lot of frequency], it means they are starting to suss things out. So that technology is something I’m looking very carefully at.”
It will be interesting to see how e-mail and mobile converge in the future.
