ELGIN, Ill., June 15, 2010 — Innovative Chamber publisher Village Profile(TM) continues to add new mobile marketing benefits to its Convergence Publishing Program(R) with the launch of its new smartphone app component, accessible via both Apple iPhone and Android platforms.
The Village Profile(TM) smartphone app provides the Chamber, its members and advertisers access to their community in one touch, anytime, anywhere, from their handheld iPhone and Android platform smartphone. Downloadable from respective app stores, the new Village Profile(TM) smartphone app is comparable to navigating through http://www.villageprofile.com, with features including the community publication cover graphic; links to editorial chapters; access to the advertiser directory, complete with reciprocal links; one-click, GPS-driven directions to any Chamber business location; as well as direct dial and direct email capabilities. The Village Profile(TM) smartphone app provides an unmatched benefit to smartphone users and participating publication advertisers, who now have expanded reach and exposure in the mobile marketplace.
"Village Profile(TM) is the leader in Chamber convergence publishing," said Village Profile's Western Region Manager, Mark Waligorski. "With the popularity, ease and convenience of smartphone app use, to NOT take advantage of this technology is a disservice to our client Chambers and their members."
The latest endeavor is made possible through an exclusive five-year partnership with MC Solutions, a California-based marketing and communications company. According to Mandy Critchley, the company's owner, "The app marketplace is booming and this new custom app allows people to have a one-touch connection with Village Profile(TM). This app will further add value of why Chambers will choose Village Profile(TM) as a publishing partner."
The no-cost, user-friendly Village Profile(TM) smartphone app joins the company's advanced Convergence Publishing Program(R), giving users enhanced connectivity not offered anywhere else in the Chamber industry. In addition to the several thousand print copies distributed to your Chamber and community, the full-color publication is converted into a high-tech digital version. This premier program goes beyond the traditional print publication to offer: a community publication Website; a FREE downloadable NewView eBook(R); on-the-go mobile wireless access via the vpMobile.us(R) Business Directory Portal; the Mobile Map business locator program; and now the Village Profile(TM) smartphone app, featuring exclusive multi-media marketing benefits unparalleled in Chamber publishing, now available to your Chamber.
Gone are the days of using a cellular phone to simply make a call. Mobile technology has transformed tenfold, reaching far beyond its traditional means and becoming an essential part of our everyday lives. Research shows that, by 2013, an estimated more-than-one-billion people will own and use smartphones. This advanced medium allows people to use mobile devices in a completely new way, and businesses are taking advantage of the latest additions in mobile marketing to remain competitive.
This added smartphone app functionality enhances the already technologically advanced Village Profile(TM) Convergence Publishing Program(R) and Mobile Map Publishing Program(TM). These leading-edge publishing programs convert the thousands of print copies provided to sponsoring Chambers into an online version, which includes all advertisements on the printed publication.
The wireless component of our Mobile Map Publishing Program(TM) allows visitors to pinpoint their desired destination with static versions of its community maps, wirelessly accessible at http://www.vpmobile.us via Web-enabled cell phones, smartphones, PDAs and most other mobile devices. The program also supplies browsers with searchable directories accessible through handheld devices. These directories permit users to direct-dial businesses or connect directly to Websites.
"Among the various local content categories, the number of people accessing online directories has seen the greatest increase during the past year (73 percent), followed by restaurants (70 percent), maps (63 percent) and movies (60 percent)," according to a press release from comScore, Inc.
This can be a boon to Chambers working with Village Profile(TM). A recent article from eMarketer stated, "As a result of rising smartphone popularity, eMarketer projects that mobile Internet access will see significant gains over the next five years, with the number of mobile Internet users reaching 134 million in 2013, in effect, bringing visitors to individual Chamber sites and business directories."
eMarketer also noted in the article that, "Global economic forces are taking their toll on the mobile device market, but smartphones have been spared the ravages of the economic downturn."
For more information about our NO-COST Convergence Publishing Program(R), contact Joe Nugara Sr. at 800-600-0134, ext. 220; e-mail: Email.
For 22 years, Village Profile(TM) has been at the forefront of technology innovation for the Chamber publishing industry. It was the first Chamber publisher, in 1995, to replicate its community profiles, membership directories and maps as online publications. Village Profile(TM) introduced its exclusive multi-platform Convergence Publishing Program(R) to the Chamber industry in 2002, launching traditional print into the digital world with publication websites, the free downloadable NewView eBook(R), CDs, and mobile business directories accessible via web-enabled cell phones and other wireless devices.
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