NEW YORK - Pregnancy and parenting tips service BabyCenter launched several new mobile initiatives to enhance the media brand.

Jon Stross, vice president and general manager of international for BabyCenter LLC spoke at the Mobile Marketing Association's Mobile Marketing Forum. Hi session was titled, "Case Study: BabyCenter -- Enhancing the Media Brand with Mobile."

"For us it was all about getting the right type f content to the right people at the right time," Mr. Stross said. "The mobile initiatives helped us to extend our emotional connection to moms past the Web."

Apparently for BabyCenter, mobile was imperative in order to enhance the brand and extend its reach.

Why?

Well only 15 percent of moms-to-be are online, while a whopping 40 percent have access to a mobile phone. That's out of 357 million expectant moms worldwide.

BabyCenter's first mobile initiative consisted of getting helpful pregnancy tips to one's mobile phone.

Expecting mothers were asked to send a text message with the keyword BCDATE and the baby's due date to 44166.

Also, BabyCenter created a mobile Web site at http://babycenter.mobi, which is accessible from any from Web-enabled mobile device.

Subscribers receive weekly texts chock full of pregnancy advice. Once the baby arrives, the Parenting Tips service sends new parents helpful parenting tips twice a week till three months.

Women can also set up their partner's mobile phone number to receive alerts as well.

The site expanded its reach with a new Booty Caller service for women who are not pregnant, but trying to conceive. The service was sponsored by First Response, a pregnancy and ovulation test maker.

The service offers a series of 18 text messages -- three for each menstrual cycle - that tells women when they're most likely to be fertile and provides fertility advice.

To sign up for the Booty Caller service, women are asked to text BCBC to 44166.

Also, BabyCenter's sponsors wanted in on the action.

Aveeno Baby, Cord Blood Registry, Johnson's Baby, Saturn, Viacord and VW Routan are giving interested users the opportunity to opt-in for special promotions.

All users need to do is send a text message with the keyword BCOFFERS to 44166.

Mr. Stross broke expecting moms down into categories. The first is women that have access to a mobile device and can also access the Internet from the device. Second is women who are mobile but don't have Internet access. The last is women that don't have a mobile phone or Internet access.

"Apps should be complimentary and should not stand alone," Mr. Stross said.

BabyCenter offers an application with most of its services offered through it. The app is geared towards the tech-savvy mom-to-be.

The text alerts are geared towards women that have a mobile phone, but can't access the Internet from it.

Once BabyCenter saw the uptake and participation in its mobile offerings skyrocket, the company realized the potential to monetize.

The company lets baby brands sponsor text messages that are sent to moms-to-be with a branded message comprised of tips and reminders.

Brands could also run banner advertisements on the site at http://www.babycenter.mobi and even have their own tips and bets practices included in content on the company's site.

"Advertisers didn't have a hard a time to get users to choose to engage with the ad because this is such a specific demographic with very unique needs and interests," Mr. Stross said.
The BabyCenter's mobile offering got site-wide promotions.

"Women with phones and no access to Internet are the fastest growing segment worldwide," Mr. Stross said. "For them a mobile phone could be a life-changing device."

However targeting this demographic has its challenges: limited phones, language issues and low literacy.

"We created an experience using both SMS and voice," Mr. Stross said. "We created the text alerts and had voice alerts for women that were not as literate so they could listen to the alerts in their own language, Hindi."

Also, the SMS alerts for India's mom's to be were also available in Hindi and in English for the U.S.

"The launch of the iPhone and other smartphones has changed the way that consumers behave and is worth experimenting in," Mr. Stross said. "The SMS marketing segment will only grow and become more important."