by anton | Jan 25, 2017 |
The fact that we are clearly, and very deeply, in the mobile era can seen from a casual observation of the people around us – and ourselves! It’s not just that so many people have their mobile phones right in their hands and the rest have them within arm’s length, it’s that it is acceptable. In decades past, one was frowned upon for not paying adequate attention to the person directly in front of your eyes. Now, that person has become secondary. We seem to respond faster and interact more with people behind our cellphone screens. While the overall societal implications of all of this may be up for debate, what’s not debatable is the wonderfully positive contribution mobile technology has made to marketing. Mobile might be bad for conversation but for conversion, it’s a fantastically strong tool! We’ve said before in this blog that mobile marketers should not be afraid to directly ask mobile consumers for their business. While television might be renowned for ‘brand building’ where there’s no clear call to action but the viewer is left with a warm and fuzzy positive impression of the advertised brand, in mobile things are a little more competitive. Mobile marketers simply do need to get down to business and prioritise converting eyes on screens to rands and cents transactions. Let’s look at three mobile marketing tips for acquiring outstanding leads that are very likely to result in cash conversions. Firstly, don’t treat all mobile users as if they are at the same point in their purchasing lifecycle. As always, mobile marketing is about personalisation and you need to take...
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 30, 2015 |
From a personal point of view, forwarding a text message to 20 people doesn’t seem like a big deal. However, when companies use Bulk SMS they do it on a very large scale and that is why a gateway is needed. Companies sometimes send a hundred or even up to a thousand messages to their customers at the same time. That is a lot to handle for a single person with a single phone! Luckily, the Bulk SMS model was configured in such a way that a business can handle their mobile messaging without breaking a sweat. From computer to mobile A gateway is what allows you to send a message from your computer to the cell phones of your customers. So, instead of typing it on your own phone, you can do it from the comfort of your computer – a big convenience for those of us who struggle with those tiny mobile keypads. Plus, the gateway can handle a very large amount of messages at one time, so it is not like you have to retype messages or wait for one to go through before you can send the next one. And yes, it also eliminates the problem of employees scurrying around to find the company cell phone in order to get messages out. How does it work? Usually, sending Bulk SMS messages works something like this. You create your messages and your phone list in a document like Microsoft Excel. When you are ready to send your message, you can simply import all your data to the Bulk SMS gateway. From there you can choose what...
by anton | Mar 23, 2015 |
Easter is a great time for promotions via Bulk SMS. The biggest question? What do you put in your messages to make them appealing to your customers? Not all brands have the kind of products or services that are directly related to Easter. For such brands it can be very hard to configure their content. If you don’t sell chocolates or offer holiday accommodation, what on earth can you do? Start by thinking about how people normally spend their time during April. You know that the schools are closed and we have a few public holidays as well. This means that people are spending time with family, buying treats, going on holiday, attending religious events or concerts and having a good time overall. The secret? Using a play on words and events related to Easter in your Bulk SMS Campaigns. Try one of these lines: Our products are better than chocolate You don’t have to go on a Easter Egg hunt to find prices like ours Our deals are egg-stra special Give your customers something extra that isn’t necessarily related to your products. Include links in your Bulk SMS message to valuable content on blogs and online articles. During this time, people usually want to know about: Recipes for family meals Fun activities for the whole family. How to keep the kids busy with arts and crafts – painting eggs, making bunny masks etc. Interesting events that are happening in their vicinity – e.g. Easter Egg hunts, Easter plays, exhibitions etc. What to do if they can’t afford to go on holiday – e.g camping out in your own...
