"Stable, consistent growth" a model for company and destination marketing industry overall 

TUCSON, September 27, 2010 - For the fourth year in a row, simpleview has been named to Inc. magazine's Inc. 5000 list, an annual ranking of America's fastest-growing private companies.

simpleview ranks #8 in the travel industry category on the 2010 list and #2308 overall based on a three-year growth rate of 109 percent. simpleview debuted on the list in 2007 and has made the list every year since.

"We see ourselves as a mirror of what we want for destination marketing overall," said simpleview CEO Ryan George. "We believe in stable, consistent growth built on incremental but solid gains, and that's what we work towards with our clients. More than anything, I think making the Inc. 5000 list four years running is an indicator that we can help lead the industry towards reliable year over year growth."

Inc. president Bob LaPointe shared a similar sentiment with the media, noting that the companies on this year's list employ a record 1.4 million people and have "figured out how to grow their businesses during the longest recession since the Great Depression." LaPointe characterized this year's represented leaders as "a particularly hardy group of entrepreneurs."

Complete results of the Inc. 5000 can be found at www.inc.com/5000.

About simpleview
simpleview helps destination marketing organizations (DMOs) succeed on every front, from convention sales to tourism marketing and day-to-day operations. The company offers integrated products and services including the industry's most advanced CRM and CMS platforms, powerful forecasting and reporting tools, dynamic websites, sites for mobile web, search engine optimization and interactive marketing. Founded in 1991, simpleview employs 70+ people with offices in Tucson, Dallas and San Diego serving 165+ domestic and international destination marketing organizations.

Media Contact:
Cara Frank
Director of Marketing & Communications, simpleview, inc.
520-575-1151
cfrank@simpleviewinc.com   

This article begins a series on mobile that we'll continue in the coming months, updating stats and information from time to time as this fast-moving marketing channel continues to evolve.

Mobile Breakdown: Smartphones @ 19% Sales Worldwide
Industry analysts broadly divide today's mobile market into two categories: smartphones and everything else. According to recent research by Gartner, smartphones accounted for 19% of worldwide mobile device sales in Q2 2010, a 51% increase year over year.

Competing Smartphone Operating Systems
Not long ago, a smartphone meant a built-in calendar, address book and to-do list. Today, these are entry-level features. "Smartphone" indicates a phone that can run third-party applications ("apps").

Like a PC, a smartphone has an operating system (OS). But unlike the world of PCs, Microsoft is a minor player in mobile. Instead, the most popular operating systems globally are (in order) Symbian (Nokia), Blackberry (Research in Motion), Android (Google) and iOS 4 (Apple).

The fastest-growing OS is Android, which recently shot to #1 in the United States. Unlike other top contenders, Android is the only OS not tied to a single manufacturer (e.g. iOS 4 only runs on iPhone).

The Difference between Mobile Sites and Mobile Apps
The difference between a mobile site and an app is a lot like the difference between web-based CRM and CRM that lives on your local server. Here's a quick look at key differences:

What kind of mobile marketing do people do?
Mobiles sites are today's foundation in mobile marketing. SMS messaging is the next step up, but the channel includes self-tours, quick-response codes and more. Watch for more info on these options in a later post.

Want to learn more?
simpleview has launched more than 50 mobile sites, multidevice sites and apps specifically designed for DMOs.  If you'd like to learn more, contact your Account Manager. We can help you evaluate the market and determine the right strategy to meet your mobile marketing goals. 

simpleview's partnership with NAVTEQ offers free, turnkey access to one of the fastest-growing content channels: information for location-based services or LBS (we know you don't need another acronym, but this is one you need to understand).

In a nutshell, LBS goes hand in hand with GPS - global positioning systems popularized in devices by companies like Garmin and TomTom. The most popular LBS is turn-by-turn mapping, but LBS includes everything from localized weather info on your smartphone to tracking lost pets through microchips.

LBS for Destination Marketing
LBS will ultimately help DMOs in many ways beyond making it easier to get around. Imagine sending special offers by text message automatically when your marketing engine detects registered devices entering your region.

Already, navigation devices and smartphone apps use LBS to show users lists of nearby restaurants, attractions, museums, shopping and more. As the digital map system provider to Yahoo!, BMW, Motorola, Garmin, MapQuest and others, NAVTEQ currently provides LBS users with information more than 100 million times a day. That's where our NAVTEQ integration comes in.

LBS applications use a variety of data sources, but they aren't always accurate or complete. Our NAVTEQ integration makes your DMO the primary data source for all of your tourism assets and businesses throughout the NAVTEQ family of products, so that "show nearby restaurants" always pulls from your simpleview CRM or CMS database, not some other, possibly less accurate source.

Bottom line: LBS providers will find info for your destination somewhere. Their business model depends on it. The only question is will they get that data from you or someone else? This integration provides another touchpoint where your DMO stands alone as the authority on your destination.

Where GPS and LBS are Going
LBS already has traction in mobile navigation, but analysts expect it to expand dramatically within a few years. Expect GPS to be standard technology in all phones (not just smartphones), digital cameras, netbooks, e-readers (like Kindle), mp3 players and just about any other mobile electronic device.

Researchers behind the 2010 Global Consumer Telecommunications Survey expect the market to rise at a compounding annual growth rate of more than 50%, taking it beyond $13B by 2014 from less than $2B in 2009. The survey also forecasts that proximity-based search and advertising will be the fastest growing segment within LBS, reaching 780 million unique users and 15.6 billion click-throughs by 2014.

If you would like to learn more, please contact your Account Manager. 

We're excited to be working with many new DMOs across the country and around the world. If you know someone at one of these organizations, please drop them a line and help us welcome them!

Recent New Contracts

City of Lancaster, CA
Convention & Visitors Bureau of Dunwoody
Hamilton County Convention & Visitors Bureau
Irvine Chamber & Visitors Bureau
Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors, Inc.
Positively Cleveland Convention & Visitors Bureau
Roanoke Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau
State of Delaware Tourism Office
Tourism Richmond, B.C., Canada
 

Clients formerly with New Media Gateway

Albany County Convention & Visitors Bureau
Arlington Convention & Visitors Bureau
Athens Convention & Visitors Bureau
Austin Convention & Visitors Bureau
The Cascade Highlands (North Caroline & Virginia)
Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau
Destination DC
Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau
Greater Hartford Convention & Visitors Bureau
Greater Houston Convention & Visitors Bureau
Greater Phoenix Convention & Visitors Bureau
Greater Raleigh Convention & Visitors Bureau
Hawaii Convention Center
Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau
Irving Convention Center
Irving Convention & Visitors Bureau
Kissimmee Convention & Visitors Bureau
Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority
Melbourne Convention + Visitors Bureau
Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau
Oklahoma City Convention & Visitors Bureau
Palm Beach Convention Center
Palm Beach County Convention & Visitors Bureau
Pensacola Bay Area Convention & Visitors Bureau
Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau
Rochester Convention & Visitors Bureau
San Antonio Convention & Visitors Bureau
San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau
San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau
Santa Fe Convention & Visitors Bureau
Tourism Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Visit Baltimore

It's been a while since we've announced new sites! The list below covers April through August, 2010.

Charlottesville Albermarle Convention & Visitors Bureau
www.visitcharlottesville.org

Go Wichita
www.gowichita.com

Experience Grand Rapids
www.experienceGR.com

Jersey Shore Convention & Visitors Bureau 
www.visitthejerseyshore.com

Santa Barbara Conference & Visitors Bureau
www.santabarbaraca.com

Solvang Conference & Visitors Bureau
www.solvangusa.com

Travel Lane County
www.travellanecounty.org

Visit Newport Beach Inc.
www.visitnewportbeach.com