Downtown Boulder Launches Mobile Web Site

We just launched our mobile site today (http://m.boulderdowntown.com)! When we decided to move forward on this project in late fall, it was a no brainer...of course Downtown Boulder needs a mobile Web site! Funny how fast my opinion shifted from a little over a year ago.

When the idea was first presented to me (in late 2008), I was still using my hot pink Razor phone (don't ask). I balked at the idea of spending money to have a mobile site created thinking that consumers (aka me, myself and I) were years away from utilizing that type of technology. By April 2009, our marketing strategy began embracing the social media craze and after successfully launching and maintaining very active Facebook and Twitter accounts and relaunching BoulderDowntown.com, it became crystal clear that the next avenue to pursue was mobile marketing!

While Downtown Boulder is not the very first business improvement district to launch a mobile site (completely my fault), we are still among the few who have done one to date (thank you Geocentric)! After meeting with several techies, we decided to pursue the mobile site route rather than the iPhone app route for two reasons...one, to be inclusive for virtually any web-enabled cell phone, smartphone or other mobile Internet device and two, money (enough said)!

Here are some of our cool features (directly from our press release): mobile visitors can quickly and easily search for events and business listings, as well as maps and directions through this location-based site. Mobile users tend to be action oriented (“I’m looking for XYZ right now”) and their queries often contain a strong geographic context (“How do I get to XYZ from where I’m at?”) Downtown Boulder's mobile Web application will automatically locate users on iPhones, current Blackberry, Android and other GPS enabled smartphones. Other mobile users can set their location by selecting a nearby business or street intersection.

BTW, I traded in the hot pink Razor for Blackberry late last year...it is, however, a light pink one!

-Terri