by Marius du Plessis | Jun 11, 2016 |
Some readers of this blog would have seen the series of fairly new Telkom television adverts. It basically shows a bunch of young people being amazed by the lack of technological savvy displayed by some older people when it comes to online awareness. The kids all laugh when an old guy asks “don’t you go to the mall anymore?”. The implication is that your future customers are all shopping online. The company’s use of the medium of television is ironic, of course, but that fact clearly escaped their marketing department. The Telkom ads are pretty good, I must say. They’re rare entertaining gems in a very predictable TV ad world. However, one wonders whether the conclusion is a bit overdone – are all the kids really not going to the mall anymore? Of course they are. A visit to any mall around South Africa will reveal an assortment of top-end hoodies and entry-level cellphones en masse. What’s interesting is that in many cases what got the kids to the mall with its brick and mortar retailers is mobile marketing – proving, once again, that traditional marketing and mobile marketing really do complement each other very nicely. Brands should worry less about the split between traditional and mobile and focus instead of their overall bottom lines. What got me thinking about all of this was an article this week about a very clued-up someone called Mary Meeker from a certain venture capital fund called Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers. She had conducted an ‘exhaustive study’ on Internet trends and presented the findings at a conference in Silicon Valley – findings...
by anton | May 27, 2016 |
Forbes Magazine, that illustrious periodical known to make appearances in boardrooms and rap songs, just this week wrote about mobile marketing. It presented some excellent advice to consider when embarking on a mobile marketing campaign. Let’s take a look at two key points highlighted by the magazine. The first mentioned a fairly new phrase recently coined by Google: ‘micro-moments’. Forbes says we’re seeing users turn to their mobile devices for quick, in-the-moment advice, help or information. Essentially, instead of sitting down to research a topic or issue in depth, they’re more likely to take immediate action, and to expect instantaneous answers. Google terms these rapid, mobile-driven queries ‘micro-moments’. Users want an accurate, bite-sized piece of information in that moment. No graphs, chart or other data-heavy overkill information. It’s great that Google has come up with a special turn of phrase for this phenomenon. However, here at InTarget it’s just called keeping it simple. Secondly, Forbes mentioned the importance of using QR codes to streamline the user experience. QR (or Quick Response) codes are a type of barcode that can be read by smartphone users who have downloaded a QR code reader. We believe QR codes are still a neglected – although growing – element of mobile marketing today. Forbes confirmed that they really do help provide relevant info as quickly and seamlessly as possible to mobile users. One of the most popular uses of QR codes among consumers is for comparison-shopping. This is when a smartphone is used to scan an item’s QR code to compare prices. Having a QR code for product comparisons means being present for those...
by Marius du Plessis | May 24, 2016 |
Marketing in general, and mobile marketing in particular, runs on statistics. The fact that firms like InTarget can accurately measure such indices are clickthrough rates, average cost per user and others means that numbers feature prominently in mobile campaigns. Many of us here at InTarget can quote the usual mobile marketing-related numbers with ease. For example, over 90 percent of adults keep their smartphones within reach and almost half of millennials check their phones within five minutes of waking. Stats like these have become such accepted wisdom that they’re often quoted and never credited. A brand new statistic that caught my eye this past week is from Opera Mediaworks’ new report. Looking at data from the top 100 apps that use Opera’s mobile ad platform to monetise their traffic, it’s clear that mobile users are spending about 30 minutes each in popular apps. That’s really significant and especially good news for mobile marketers as this research seems to indicate that brands have got as long as half an hour to make an impression. Other highlights from the research includes the fact that Games is the top category for ad impressions and also have long average session times. Ads also convert at a higher rate on Games apps than any other category. Music, Video & Media is no. 1 for engagement (as measured by clickthrough rate), followed by Travel and Lifestyle. finally, although the volume of impressions on mobile apps versus the mobile web are comparable, apps generate more than twice the engagement and 13.5X times the revenue. Food for thought indeed and definitely stats to be bourn in mind...
by anton | May 11, 2016 |
With the continued evolution of mobile marketing it is easy to forget just how effective some of the discipline’s original workhorses are. SMS, for example, is the original mobile marketing bearer. This familiarity is a great advantage because it means the humble text message is both personal and trusted. Let’s take a brief look at the available variations of SMS in mobile marketing: Bulk SMS Sending and receiving large numbers of SMS messages to multiple recipients is the most cost effective way to reach a guaranteed audience. Bulk SMS by InTarget means that in a matter of minutes your brand can be visible on the most personal of consumer devices. Bulk SMS, however, doesn’t imply a ‘one size fits all’ type of approach because InTarget can send the same content to all recipients or each message can be personalised. BulkSMS replies How many times have you wanted to reply to a commercial email or text message that annoyingly stated it was being sent from an unattended mailbox? Inexplicably, marketers often expect consumers to engage in two-way conversation using a variety of mediums, instead of just one. Two-way bulk SMS enables your current and potential customers to continue the conversation using a text-based medium that is convenient to them. No phone call or email necessary. InTarget’s bulk SMS replies feature taps into the growing trend for all of us to talk less and text more. Premium SMS Premium SMS offers all the advantages of text messaging technology, with a convenient payment element included. Consumers are able to pay for goods and services simply by sending keywords to short codes using...
by anton | Apr 26, 2016 |
Africans in general and South Africans in particular tend to be a humble lot. You can see this in the business world where many of us are reluctant to receive public praise, no matter how well deserved. Cast an eye over to certain countries in the developed world and you’ll notice how different the business culture is with individuals eagerly trying to lap up as much of the limelight as possible. I was thinking of this difference as I watched The Donald singing his own praises on the news this morning. After I stopped laughing, I must admit I thought to myself, perhaps South Africans and South African businesses do need to promote themselves a little harder. So, with this in mind, below are some very forthright reasons why your brand should partner with InTarget: We’re the best. Seriously. But read on for a little more detail on why we’re awesome and how that awesomeness can count for you. We can measure everything! One of the biggest benefits of partnering with InTarget is the measurability of our campaigns. For scientific marketers interested in a stats-based approach, mobile marketing by InTarget will appeal. We can track number of downloads, recurrent usage, time spent, click through rates, leads generated, social media sharing, cost per conversion and more. We are everyone’s mobile marketing partner of choice. While InTarget has crafted effective mobile campaigns for some of the African continent’s best-known insurance, banking and automotive brands, we’ve also worked with start-ups who needed a bespoke and humble beachhead into the world of mobile marketing. We are a ‘can-do’ company. InTarget offers clients a...
