by anton | Jan 20, 2017 |
Many blog readers will be familiar with the fact that InTarget is entrusted with the achievement of the mobile marketing objectives of some of Africa’s most valuable brands. Whether venerable finance houses, large footprint retailers, critical fuel companies or state-of-the-art start ups, InTarget regularly gets the call to design bespoke mobile campaigns that deliver on overarching strategic objectives. Some readers, however, might not be entirely clear on why exactly InTarget is most often selected as the preferred mobile marketing partner of leading organisations across two continents. We’re one of the Top 25 African & Middle Eastern Mobile Ad Networks because we have the unique ability to offer short codes in over 41 African markets and commercial SMS delivery capability to over 200 countries globally. In essence, InTarget can take your great mobile campaign idea and turn it into a commercial reality faster than anyone else. In addition to providing ever-popular SMS short code plug-and-play solutions, InTarget is also the preferred partner for multinationals looking for fast, reliable and affordable VAS aggregation services across Africa. For example, we can offer brands a single USSD integration that taps into the awesome potential of tens of millions of potential customers across nine leading African mobile territories. Our solid relationships with dozens of mobile operators have been cemented over 15 years and this radically reduces the amount of time it takes to get your message to consumers. InTarget is today a trusted provider of mobile marketing and advertising solutions with a 33-country African and Middle East footprint and we look forward to providing your brand with unparalleled mobile flexibility and speed of...
by anton | Jan 16, 2017 |
The shiny new year of 2017 has kicked off and judging by the flurry of predictions streaming in, it’s going to be a grand one for mobile! We were just getting to grips with the exciting news that mobile overtook desktop for the first time globally in 2016. That is to say, for the first time in the history of the human race (not to sound overly dramatic), there were more consumers globally accessing purchasing-enabling browsers from mobile devices like handsets and tablets. That really speaks to a workforce and a society on the move and our industry is perfectly-positioned to tap into the move to mobile. Our own Mobile Marketing Association confirmed in April last year that mobile has also “outstripped growth in desktop adoption and is now driving internet access in South Africa”. This was according to the MMA SA’s Mobile Report for 2016. We eagerly await the 2017 installment of what InTarget Mobile Advertising is hoping will become a regular feature on the local mobile marketing calendar. Smartphones will continue to be the dominant access device in South Africa and the world and that’s great news for marketers as we can really let our creativity test the limits of cellular functionality. Just this month, respected ad rag Advertising Age is using phrases like “mobile marketing’s awesome potential” when referring to likely trends in 2017. They’re backing up their glowing and possibly new-found respect for mobile with stats like this: research firm BIA/Kelsey predicts that mobile-ad spend will exceed $40 billion. Because we’ve just come to the tail-end of another December / January holiday season, this time...
by anton | Jan 10, 2017 |
A new working year has commenced. Along with the new year comes the usual and necessary review of the year that was, and predictions of the coming year. When it comes to taking stock of 2016, we have to mention that the stand-out biggest thing for mobile marketing was the news that the tipping point had finally been reached. Or, desktop’s superiority was finally breached! For the first time ever, the number of human beings accessing the worldwide web via mobile devices exceeded the number of clearly late adopters accessing the Internet via desktop computers. With a fixed / mobile development that significant, it’s almost appropriate to simply disregard whatever else happened in mobile’s 2016. So speaking of earth-shattering developments, what’s the biggest thing mobile marketers and brand owners can expect in 2017? Here at InTarget, we’re big into video and believe in the potential video formats have for mobile marketing. This is especially true when it comes to boosting brands’ goodwill amongst consumers. Everyone loves sharing a warm and fuzzy moving picture with a brand name tastefully tagged to it. US Marketers agree that videos bring the highest ROI and in that market, well over 70 percent of all traffic is already video. We believe that South Africa will reach a video tipping point in 2016 that will see the lion’s share of mobile traffic going video in 2017. Not only are social platforms like Facebook helping to grow the adoption of video by optimising feeds to improve the viewing experience, one must remember that Google owns YouTube. The implications of this are obvious: having more videos improves...
by anton | Dec 27, 2016 |
Sometimes, Intarget and our clients are so eager to hear about what’s likely to be new on the mobile marketing stage for the next 12 months, we forget to analyse what went down during the current year. So many mobile marketing predictions are made annually, it’s difficult to determine which ones came true and which ones remained proverbial “pie in the sky”. For me, one mobile marketing prediction for 2016 that kept coming up was related to the ability, as Mark Zuckerberg says, “to be able to message a business in the same way you message a friend”. That’s quite an interesting concept and “conversational commerce” as it is increasingly being called is a brand new opportunity for mobile marketers and one that they grasped with both hands in 2016. Chatbot technology has already been integrated into Facebook Messenger and it is InTarget’s belief that it will spell big news for mobile marketers and their brand clients over this coming year. If you didn’t already know, chatbots are designed to replicate human interaction using algorithms and are very similar to digital assistants like Apple’s Siri. The idea is that the consumer is able to interact with a chatbot just as they would a contact centre. Artificial Intelligence (AI) allows the chatbot to change the subject, suggest related topics, and even demonstrate humour and emotion to the customer. The relevance for mobile marketers, of course, comes in because the numbers tell us that this interaction is more than likely to be taking place on a mobile handset. Leading South African insurance firms, financial institutions, airlines and others realised the potential...
by anton | Dec 18, 2016 |
Small business is the engine of the South African economy with over 60 percent of jobs being generated by SMEs. Recognising the power of small, medium and micro-enterprises to make progress towards the country’s developmental goals, government fairly recently established a small business ministry for the first time, while SMEs are receiving more attention in successive State of the Nation Addresses. It’s not just government, but business, too, seems to be customising products, services and tools towards the needs of SMEs. Today, any would-be business owner with limited funds and a great idea can register a co.zadomain and build a website in 15 minutes for just R80. Banks are offering ridiculously cheap SME accounts for the equivalent of a cup of coffee. Mobile marketing tools also represent a highly-affordable way for start-ups to get their businesses going in a flash – for little cash. Bearing all of this in mind, let’s take a look at some expected mobile marketing trends for 2017 that are particularly relevant for small business. These days, it is not enough to just be “mobile friendly”. Because the number of consumers accessing the web via mobile devices now outweighs desktop users, your SME definitely needs to be visible via mobile search in 2017. Simply confirming that your SME’s website is “mobile responsive” (automatically adjusts to the device being viewed on) will immediately help your rankings with Google, ensuring you don’t lose potential customers by not appearing in Search results. SMEs should identify key mobile word searches relevant to their industry. It is imperative to figure out what potential customers are typing into their mobile searches,...
by anton | Nov 21, 2016 |
Live chat is becoming the new next big thing in customer service. And, judging by some recent informal polling conducted over dinner, South African consumers seem to love it. It’s easy to see why if one considers how we like to communicate these days. Text is king. Few of us relish dialing into a call centre for reasons as simple as the fact that most local consumers do from our cellphones and mobile calls to customer care centres still aren’t toll free. Aside from how we communicate in 2016, let’s also look at when we communicate. The explosive recent growth in free Wi-Fi hotspots means many South Africans are doing their admin in coffee shops and other semi-public areas. This, of course, means few of us are comfortable dialing a contact centre and having a very public and loud spat with whatever large corporation is annoying us that week. Even if hundreds of thousands of us do still work in traditional office environments with desk phones, the ever-popular open plan design again means text-based communication with call centre agents is preferred for privacy reasons. How utterly convenient to be able to engage in written customer communication while one’s furious keyboard typing is mistaken for work by impressed colleagues. When it has become so obvious what connected people prefer, it’s disappointing to read that over 70% of online retailers do not care enough about their customers to properly address their communication preferences, according to OpenMarket research after polling a selection of online retail operations. The eye-opening research revealed that 64% of consumers prefer texting vs a voice call for customer...
