by anton | Mar 20, 2017 |
Many regular blog readers will know that a couple of years ago, Google updated its search algorithms to account for the growing number of people accessing the web from their mobile devices. Essentially, mobile-friendly websites now receive higher rankings that those sites not optimised for the small screen. Investments in mobile make sense, that’s for sure. However, what’s interesting and what’s emerging now – according to recent research – is that we shouldn’t assume mobile users make purchases in the same way they surf the web. Huh? Research documented on US platform Smart Insights indicates that consumers are still making their purchases, for the most part, from computers and not via their smartphones. The numbers seem to suggest that users are happy to use their mobile phones to browse and do basic purchasing research, but many of us are still reverting to our desktops and laptops to seal the deal. So it seems that while users do indeed access the web via Chrome, Safari and other mobile browsers, it is not with the express intent to buy anything. Now, that’s not as scary as it seems for us mobile marketers. This is because this same research referred to above also found that “if you want to capture a mobile market, messaging is still going to be the best way to reach [it] because most people open their text messages…” As we have said before, the beauty of messaging is that messages can be personalised, automated and sent at prescheduled times to literally millions of smartphone and feature phone users. However, the challenge is in composing short SMS or MMS...
by anton | Aug 23, 2016 |
While much innovation typically springs from the corporate sector, business people are naturally conservative. This cautious approach comes from the basic business need to make scarce resources work as efficiently as possible to deliver the best results. That’s the essence of capitalism. It’s natural then for the mobile marketer, who is a business person after all, to want to revert to mobile tactics that work. There’s nothing wrong with this approach besides the obvious downside of never exploring beyond the old reliable mobile channels of SMS and Please Call Me text tags. These are wonderful tactical tools, but as we have seen from the launch last year of InTarget’s USSD-based mobile research survey product, for example, there is so much more brands could be doing with the mobile marketing technology that’s available from world-leading specialist firms like InTarget right here in South Africa. With the above in mind, did you know that brands can create rich mobile experiences for their customers based on location and proximity? InTarget is able to bring location-powered mobile marketing to consumers using micro-location Bluetooth technology as well as macro-location geofencing. Our location and proximity mobile engagement platform can be tweaked to build rich, intelligent and compelling mobile experiences and campaigns to cellular users in the right place and at the right time. For example, a location-based mobile marketing campaign developed by InTarget could mean a conference organiser might provide attendees with a greeting when they land at the airport, the details of the closest driver to escort them to their hotel, and check-in information as they approach the venue’s concierge. Once settled in their...
by anton | May 18, 2015 |
One of the ways you can make your customers aware of your SMS Marketing campaigns, or get them to subscribe to your SMS list, is by promoting it in-store. Here are a few ideas on how you can do it successfully. Posters The first thing you need to do is make marketing material that are bold and in-your-face. You want your customers to see it everywhere they turn in your store. Use bright and beautiful colours and font that is easy to read. Next make sure that the copy contains all the info that a customer requires – it has to contain a strong call to action and instructions on how to sign up for your service. Find strategic locations in your store to place your SMS Marketing posters. Think about the journey your customer has to take from entering to exiting your store. Good examples are: At the entrance to your store. In the aisles. (Suspend it from the ceiling or paste it on the shelves) At the cash register. Till slips People often keep their till slips as proof of payment. Put a short message at the bottom of the slips with instructions on how to subscribe to your SMS Marketing. Make sure that the cashier points out the message to your customers. Wrappers and bags If you can put your logo on wrappers or bags, why not do the same with your promotional messages for mobile? In fact, any object that can be safely printed can serve as a vessel for your message – take a look at the things you use in your store every...
by anton | Jul 14, 2014 |
In Africa, there are about 650 million cellphone users. The majority of them are prepaid users with an inexpensive phone, which means that SMS is still the best and most effective way to reach them. Marketers sometimes forget that their target audience isn’t necessarily following the latest trends – especially those in poorer communities. Just because you have a smartphone, it doesn’t mean your customers have one as well. But the one thing you can be 100% certain of, is that no matter how low-tech a customer’s phone is, it will be capable of sending and receiving texts. According to research done by Cellfind, the “majority of connections are still basic 2G voice and SMS services, and simple 2.5G data services, rather than 3G or LTE connections.” So before you say SMS messages are too simple for marketing purposes – think again. Eight out of ten people on our continent owns a cellphone. They might change their address, but they rarely change their phone number. And as we all know, nobody leaves home without their mobile. People’s love for their phones is exactly what makes mobile marketing as a whole (and especially SMS) such an effective way to reach your customers. We have talked about all the advantages of SMS marketing many times: it is personal, quick, cheap and interactive. But did you know: you could get a better response rate from consumers as well? According to the research, direct mail can give you a poor response rate of 2.6% with published media not faring much better by 8.5%. But. Texting (depending on your campaign, strategy etc.) could give...
