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Palmtop Publishing > Marketing in the Palm of Your Hand

Words by Erez Reuveni
March 2005

Palmtop Publishing creates handheld software used primarily for marketing and communications purposes. The company creates “digital marketing giveaways” for companies who want to put their message in the pocket for such clients as Boeing, Procter & Gamble, MasterCard International, and the American Kennel Club. We recently spoke with Trina Clickner, Palmtop’s founder and president, about her company and the Apple market.

MD: How and why did you start Palmtop Publishing?
TC: I was only a few years out of college when Steve Jobs introduced the Macintosh - it was a magical, exciting time - unlike any I have ever known. Living in the Silicon Valley, I knew a handful of people who made their fame and fortune surrounding Macintosh. While I was too young and inexperienced at that time, I remember saying to myself that someday I would be at the right place at the right time. I would be in on the ground floor of a new technology with the right experience and contacts to make a significant impact and to make a name for myself. And that’s just what happened in 1997. It was after four years at Apple in Newton Engineering and while I was working in Developer Relations Palm Computing. I had some very strong visions of what could be done with handheld computers – that is, turning them into innovative marketing communications vehicles. The corporate environment had started to make me feel like I was bound up in string, wings clipped and unable to achieve. So it was time for me to take action and so I did. Within one day of leaving the corporate world I had my first client. I am thankful each and every day that I chose to be bold.

MD: How did you decide to get involved with the Apple market?
TC: The Palm is the only handheld that works with the Macintosh so Macintosh plays a key role here. Personally, I have been an Apple lover since my first Mac - a Macintosh 128 with that “Talking Moose” program. I fell in love with it. Years later, when I worked at Apple in Newton Engineering, I knew that my wish for being in the right place at the right time with the right skills and the right connections had finally come true.

MD: Can you describe a typical marketing campaign you run, from incipience to delivery through handhelds?
TC:: Each project is wonderfully different, based primarily on client communications objectives. The American Kennel Club portable breed standards project is still a personal favorite.

Even dogs benefit from a high tech twist at http://www.akc.org/breeds/portable.cfm. Clients usually come to us with a messaging objective and an audience to reach. First we make their message sparkle on the small screen and then second, we ensure their message is distributed to their targeted audience. This is accomplished via infrared beaming stations, web sites of all kinds, and/or person-to-person contact. One project started with a picture of a million-dollar platinum and ruby shoe - it was a program we crafted for famous shoe designer Stuart Weitzman. The software we crafted was used as an invitation to a private, invitation-only Oscars party and the guest list was media moguls - even Katie Couric used our software program on a Palm Tungsten W.

MD: What demographic do you find utilizing your services?
TC: Our clients are primarily sales and marketing executives who want to reach a high-tech, mobile, professional audience with their long-lasting, branded message. We call it a digital marketing giveaway. Sometimes clients have been struggling too long with in-house handheld development, are fed up, or sometimes they just want things done right the first time, or don’t have the time or budget to develop the expertise required to make a PDA program really sizzle.

MD: Is it difficult for a company to adapt to a changing company like Apple and introduce new products?
TC: Because we use Macintosh and Macintosh-based software tools to craft software that runs on Pocket PC and Palm OS handheld computers, we don’t feel the impact of OS and hardware changes as much as other developers. Apple is a continual source of software design and marketing communications inspiration to me, which manifests itself in our spirit, our designs on the small screen, and in our new advertising campaign right here in MacDirectory!

MD: What percentage of your business derives from the Apple market?
TC: I estimate that about 5% of our clients and 10% of the end users we support for our clients use Macintosh. It is always a delight to establish Macintosh in common with someone I meet - it’s like nothing else needs to be said because there is an immediate understanding and kinship that is silently established.

MD: Do you own an Apple or any Apple products?
TC: I am primarily powered by a Blueberry iBook and a pink iPod mini.

For more information on Palmtop publishing log on to > www.palmtoppublishing.com