by anton | May 23, 2016 |
Many of us were raised with the view that one doesn’t talk about money – ever. Unfortunately, this attitude is preventing some mobile marketers from doing what they should be doing. That’s cutting to the chase and asking current and potential customers for their orders. The placement of an actual order for our clients’ goods and services should be the primary goal of every mobile marketing campaign. Now while that seems pretty obvious, sometimes it isn’t because many mobile marketers have a long history in traditional media. This is where huge budgets and a lack of accountability brought on by poor return on investment (ROI) tools mean very often all that’s going on is so-called “brand building”. Translation: ‘brand building’ refers to those over the top TV ads where a voice with an accent you can’t place is reading a never-ending script you can’t stand. Only after the longest 45 seconds does the brand make an appearance, as does the flimsiest of links between the company and whatever cringeworthy life’s lesson was being narrated by the bearded wonder. Perhaps if there was a short code or a QR code displayed beneath the brand identity, all of the above would have been worth it. Mobile marketers are ‘back to basics’ kind of people and we understand that clients really should be moving product when they’re embarking on any kind of marketing campaign. This is why InTarget tells its clients that there is nothing wrong with inserting a bit of hard selling in mobile campaigns. It has to be that way, or else all of the wonderful reporting tools that are...
by anton | May 13, 2016 |
SMS tends to get a lot of airtime (forgive the pun) when it comes to mobile marketing but there is another ‘old reliable’ mobile service that’s also earned its stripes over the years. If you’ve ever used a prepaid airtime recharge PIN or sent a ‘Please Call Me’ message, then you’ve used a USSD service. USSD has nothing to do with Russia and is, in fact, short for Unstructured Supplementary Service Data. USSD specifically refers to messages sent and received by users in real time over cellular networks. USSD is different to SMS because it is menu-driven. In other words, the mobile user types what is called a USSD string and pushes the green call button to bring up a menu. Users then respond to the menu by transmitting responses back over the mobile network. These responses typically perform a function, request a snippet of information, and so on. However, as with the Please Call Me example given above, some USSD services are single requests, without the need for a menu or further navigation. USSD’s great advantage for mobile marketers is that there is no need for the mobile user to remember a short code as would be the case with an SMS-based mobile campaign. Of course, users do have to remember what USSD string to input but once this is done, a whole world of menu-driven information can be opened up that is simple and logical to navigate because it can be displayed on any GSM cellphone, not just smart phones or feature phones. You could think of USSD as an automated helpdesk. Getting the information you require...
by Marius du Plessis | May 3, 2016 |
News this week is that the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) is, for the first time ever, attempting to ascertain the state of mobile marketing in South Africa and the rest of the EMEA region. Assisted by the MMA’s South African Local Council, the survey results will serve as a snapshot of the market right now, as well as help assess future growth prospects. For an industry that continues to hammer home the importance of a plan, or blueprint, before you embark on anything, it’s great news that the MMA’s SA Local Council is staying true to the fundamentals of mobile marketing. The South African market is a key mobile player – especially if one looks at volume metrics – and certainly deserves to be analysed, and recognised. After all, we practically invented prepaid mobile, refined mobile money, and developed such landmark products as Please Call Me that have found great acceptance North of the Limpopo. Our leading mobile network operators and top mobile marketing firms like InTarget have all expanded well beyond South Africa. Yes, it’s time indeed that our market was surveyed. Only time will tell what the results of the MMA’s survey will reveal. However, as one of the founders of mobile marketing in this country, InTarget can make some pretty informed guesses. We believe the survey results will show that mobile is trusted by more South African consumers than any other marketing medium. This is due to the highly personalised nature of mobile campaigns that speak directly to individual consumers and do not employ a ‘one size fits all’ approach. It will furthermore be shown that...
