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Mobile marketingthegame
1. MOBILE MARKETING
THE
GAME HAS
JUST
BEGUNSMS MESSAGES NEAR FIELD COMMUNICATION (NFC)
MMS MESSAGES WIFI BLUETOOTH MARKETING
PROXIMITY MARKETING QUICK RESPONSE CODES
EMAIL MARKETING VS MOBILE MARKETING
RULES AND GUIDELINES OF MOBILE MARKETING
2. 2
CONTENTS PAGE
Page 3.…. AFRICA MOBILE ARENA - THE GAME HAS JUST BEGUN
- Global Statistics against Africa
Page 5.…. MOBILE MARKETING
- Definition
- Types and examples of mobile marketing
Page 6.… Proximity Marketing
-Definition
- Types and examples of Proximity Marketing
- Advantages of Proximity Marketing
Page 9.… Discussion Question 1
Why should every company that wants to survive in
the future consider establishing a mobile strategy to
their overall organizational strategy?
-analysis of the “Global Media Consumption Survey 2013"
-analysis of Email Marketing vs. Mobile marketing
Page 13. Near Field Communication (NFC)
- Definition
- Discussion IS IT A MOBILE PAYMENT SOLUTION OR A
MOBILE MARKETING TOOL?
Page 16 Discussion Question 2
How can your company join the mobile game and
position yourself in the mobile space?
- rules and guidelines in Mobile Marketing
Examples of Mobile Marketing
Page 20 ... Discussion Question 3
WHAT TOOLS AND PRODUCTS CAN HELP YOU IN YOUR
MOBILE MARKETING STRATEGIES?
- Factors affecting choice of mobile marketing tools and
Applications
- Discussion of 3 examples of effective tools Bluevibe, SMSP
Platform and ProSMS
Page 23.…. Revision Questions
-page to write own notes
3. 3
INTRODUCTION
AFRICA MOBILE ARENA - THE GAME’S JUST BEGUN
Have a look at the table below at the 2012 statistics of three countries in Africa:
Country mobile penetration broadband penetration
Zimbabwe 90% 18%
Nigeria 72% 7%
Ghana 90% 19%
The Statistics represent the penetration rates for majority of countries on the
African continent. From a report published by a media publisher in July 2012:
United States economy is 9 times the size of Africa, but Africa has twice as
much the number of mobile phones.
United Kingdom has barely 7% of Africa’s population, but has a bigger
telecom industry in terms of revenue than Africa.
Conclusion:
The tantalizing statistics on the table above would seem to indicate that
Africa mobile era has come but as you can see on the statistics below the
table, subscriber numbers are only part of the story. A deeper look at the
statistics in terms of services and value creation you will see that the Mobile
Arena Game has just begun for Africa.
The mobile game in Africa has been largely dominated by Mobile Network
Operators (MNO). These Operators have control over markets and decision
on products and services. As can be seen from the figures above focus has
been on consumers and its understandable considering the results above but
that constitutes the difference in Revenues between developed countries and
emerging countries.
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In developed countries focus is on consumers and the Enterprise level.
Companies have to come out of their traditional policies and adapt Mobile
policies within their organization and mobilize the way they communicate
internally and with external stakeholders. This includes how they
communicate their marketing strategies to their customers and enabling
employees or decision makers to access critical company data on the go
beyond the four walls of business. There are many benefits that comes from a
well thought-out mobile strategy such as cost reduction, improved efficiency,
value addition, increased sales and customer loyalty among other benefits and
increased returns.
Today in a more technologically advanced world consumers want to access
service on the move and mobiles are becoming the most influential
technology for Marketers. Mobile Media is moving business away from the
traditional Media and is fast becoming an integral part of consumer media
consumption.
This book will not discuss all mobile strategies companies can adapt but will
focus on Mobile Marketing and highlight why Companies in developing
countries (particularly Africa) should adapt this new Mass Media approach
and the benefits that await those who position themselves in the mobile space.
The reason I will focus on Africa is because majority of African countries do
not have Mobile Marketing and a Mobile Policy.
It is my hope that after reading this book it will influence African
marketers to go mobile and realize the benefits of mobile marketing.
I believe it is important for marketers to understand the behaviors of
consumers in today's world where people spend majority of their time on their
mobiles.
To help you understand Mobile Marketing I will discuss the following
questions:
1. Why should every company that want to survive in the future consider
establishing a mobile strategy to their overall organizational strategy?
2. How can your company join the game and position yourself in the mobile
space?
3. What are the guidelines/rules of the mobile game
4. What tools and applications can help you to go mobile?
5. 5
Before we discuss these questions let’s start by looking at what is Mobile
Marketing?
MOBILE MARKETING
Mobile Marketing is Marketing on or with a mobile device. It can also be
defined as the use of the mobile medium as a means of marketing
communication.
Types of Mobile Marketing
SMS MARKETING
This is marketing through the use of mobile devices by using Short Messaging
Service (SMS). Companies send Short Messages to inform their customers of
available promotion and any other news they want to tell to their customers.
MMS MARKETING
MMS MARKETING is an interactive way for business and companies to
market their products by using binary content such as images, videos and
audios in their marketing campaigns using Multimedia Messaging Service
(MMS).
Advantages Mobile Marketing using SMS and MMS
-High impact and timely delivery
-Over 95% of messages are read
-Over 90% are read within 4minutes
-Connect with customers any time of the day as preferred
-Extremely high conversation rate
- Create fun, interactive and engaging campaign which is sure to get attention
Quick Response (QR) Codes
QR Codes allow a customer to visit a web address by scanning a 2D image
with their phone’s camera instead of manually entering a URL. Works with
most of Smartphones.
Bluetooth
A radio based technology which gives wireless communication between
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Bluetooth enabled devices. Allows marketers to send content to Bluetooth
enabled devices. The major advantages of Bluetooth are speed of
transmission, free service and it’s a permission - based technology. Its
limitation is its short range transmission which means it only works as a
proximity tool.
Infrared
More like Bluetooth, allows short range communication using infrared waves.
Proximity Systems
Popularly referred to as Proximity Marketing this is localized wireless
distribution of advertising content associated with a particular place.
Examples of proximity systems are Bluetooth, NFC, Wifi, QR Codes.
Mobile Web Marketing
Advertising on web pages specifically meant for access by mobile devices eg
Google, yahoo. You can also create your own local landing page where people
can see your services and products.
In- Game Mobile Marketing
Brands now deliver promotional messages within mobile games or
sponsoring entire games to drive consumer engagement. This is known as
mobile averaging or Ad- funded mobile game.
PROXIMITY MARKETING
Proximity marketing is the localized wireless distribution of advertising
content associated with a particular place.
Transmission can be received by individuals in that location who wish to
receive them and have the n necessary devices to do so.
Traditionally distribution was targeted through a localized broadcast or more
commonly is specifically targeted to devices known to be in a particular area.
Today with the advancement of technology proximity marketing can be done
using:
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Cell phones- targeting campaigns phone on a particular area
Bluetooth - sending campaigns to Bluetooth devices in the range of a
transmitter.
Wifi - sending campaigns to Wifi devices in the range of a transmitter.
Near Field Communications (NFC) - An NFC enabled phone can read a RFID
chip/tag on a product or media and launch localized content from servers.
Quick Response Codes (QR Codes) - consumer can just scan the QR codes
and it redirects them to websites and promotion contents and information
Uses of Proximity Marketing
Advertising, distribution of media, Marketing campaigns, Gaming, and Social
applications.
Types of Proximity Marketing Campaigns
Push Campaigns - the transmitter send the content and the receiver choose to
accept the content to their device or not. eg Bluetooth
Pull Campaigns - the consumer has the choice of where and when they want
to receive the content buy tapping to receive contents. Eg NFC,
Advantages of Proximity Marketing
- High conversion rates - by running campaigns in well thought out locations
this means you communicate with consumers at the right place and right time
right when they are thinking of making the purchase
- Gives you an opportunity to attract passerby’s out of your store to get inside
and give you that additional sales
- Independence - Most proximity marketing tools do not need to go through
Mobile Network Operators (MNO) networks giving the marketer full control
over their campaigns.
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- Low costs - By neglecting MNO networks this reduces cost of running
campaigns. Also low setup cost and low printing to run campaigns. The
transmitters also do all the work meaning you won’t need additional labor to
run campaigns
- Freedom of choice - consumers have choice when and where to receive
content to you
- High redemption rates - Since consumers have choice to receive content
this means high redemption rates for consumers who choose to receive your
campaigns
In Africa proximity marketing have great potential to earn huge benefits for
companies. eg Imagine customers being invited to tap on a newspaper, or
product package or magazine to receive information or a sales discount, most
people will tap out of fun because they have never done it. This gives great
opportunity to create behavioral change in consumers
To create a successful proximity marketing campaign a company need to
think of the value proposition to the consumers. What is in it for the customer.
This will work to influence the customer to accept the campaign.
Companies have to look at the best ways to engage consumers using their
proximity tools
Companies have to come up with a dynamic approach, that is their campaigns
should work on a number of devices. This will ensure that all their consumers
will be able to participate in their campaigns regardless of the devices they
use.
A good example of a proximity Marketing tool is Bluevibe. www.bluevibe.net
This tool has push factors and supports Bluetooth, Wifi and NFC campaigns.
On the consumers value proposition it offers free internet via Bluetooth and
Wifi. This gives companies to an opportunity engage customers using
whatever mobile devices they have from Bluetooth enabled devices, Wifi
devices and the latest NFC enabled devices. It gives managers remote control
of their campaigns using an online tool named Bluevibe Manager.
Always remember a good Proximity Marketing campaign should support
variety of mobile devices in the market and should have cost advantages and
high redemption rates for you company.
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QUESTION 1
Why should every company that want to survive in the future
consider establishing a mobile strategy to their overall
organizational strategy?
To begin with lets first understand the behavior of consumer in today’s world.
Allow me to start by bringing your attention to a survey carried in 2013 by
Inmobi (a global mobile products and services company) named " Global
Media Consumption 2013" The survey was conducted between people in the
age groups 20 and above with capacity to purchase in 14 different countries
around the globe.
Here are the results of the survey carried:
a) Globally mobiles ranks first in media consumption
On average people spent 7 hours daily consuming media,
1.8hours of the 7hours is spent consuming mobile media and this translates to
above 25% of media consumption daily.
TV had 1.5hours and PC had 1.6hours
This shows mobiles are fast out numbering other forms of media
consumption and Marketers who haven’t gone mobile should review their
strategies and adapt a mobile strategy suitable for their business.
b) Internet access via mobiles is no longer a niche activity and is
increasingly becoming a part of everyone's lives. 50% of the average global
web users now use mobiles as their primary or exclusive means of going
online.
In addition to mobile web, the survey study reveals the accelerated usage of
mobile apps and found that an average consumer actively uses 6.5apps
throughout a 30day period.
Mobiles has been thoroughly adopted among users largely because of its
conveniences and on the go factors
Globally 54% of users discover mobile ads via apps, 40% on a search
engine,27% on a retailer website and 23% on a video website
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c) Mobile is now used largely as part of the consumers shopping
experience.
75% say mobile advertising has introduced them to something new.
45% say ads have influenced their purchase in-store
46% say mobile ads have influenced them to buy via mobile
d) Mobile ads are proving to be an effective medium for
advertisers to reach consumers on the go
After seeing a mobile app
80% of user downloaded an app
67% of users visited the web of the advertiser.
52% of users visit the store/retailer/business to get additional information
45% locate an advertiser on a map
37% of users call the advertisers
As can be seen from the survey study results the Mobile commerce space is
growing like no other and will quickly become a playground for innovative
retailers and marketers.
Mobile Marketing presents Companies with opportunities to reach their
customers with speed, relevance in a uniquely personal way that is sure to
get attention and bring returns.
The survey shows the Media game has begun and very soon survival of
companies will depend on positioning themselves well in the arena. Simply
said companies who fail to adapt mobile strategies will lose out to those who
do.
I know some are beginning to ask why have a Mobile Marketing strategy
when you already have a viable Email Marketing strategy, now I am going to
show you why Mobile Marketing is outpacing Email Marketing and why soon
Email Marketing will be replaced with Mobile Marketing:
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Email Marketing vs Mobile Marketing (EM vs MM)
Email has always been a cost effective and simple way for marketers to send
promotional content to large numbers of their target consumers. Over the
years using email has become more difficult as our inboxes are flooded with
Spam and users start moving towards more mobile based technologies.
Advantages of MM over EM
a) MM provide a better way to engage consumers for mobile marketing
campaigns.
b) According to MacAfee Threat report- third 1/4 2009 approximately 92% of
emails are categorized as Spam and are filtered out before they even reach the
intended recipient.
Open rates of emails is 11%
However due to strict mobile messaging regulations, there is very little
content delivered to mobiles without their express consent and this has
resulted in usage behavior drastically different between email and messaging
which creates an opportunity for marketers.
With a well thought opt-in plan that focuses on delivering customers with
value, marketers can send binary content (image,videos,audio) direct to their
customers handsets. Mobiles Messages have open rates of 97% of which 90%
are opened in the first 3 minutes (Frost and Sullivan research 2011)
c) Email do not display on every mobile device and not everyone has email
activated on their mobiles. According to (EmailMonday 2012) only 40% of
users have email activated on their mobiles
Additionally when email is sent to mobile devices the handset ability to render
content varies greatly and the user experience is not always optimized on
every platform. On the other hand MM content is optimized for specific
devices, then delivered even if the user does not have a data plan.
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d) Email addresses are not always accurate, email opt-in usually have wrong
addresses and some emails are never used, contrary when your customers
opt-into a shortcode we are able to capture mobile number, device type and
campaign interest. Also when using proximity marketing the customers
choose to accept your campaigns and no mobile number is needed. Proximity
marketing also have the advantage of immediate reach and high conversion
rates.
MM results in more reliable contact list and fewer opt-outs over time as the
customer who opt-in had every interest to receive the content of value being
distributed.
Also the diligence during the opt-in process ensures that opted in consumers
are more likely to redeem offers sent to them.
e) MM redemption is around 30% while EM is around 4%
Analysis
MM response rates are almost 8times more effective than EM and can truly
help you build your programme regardless of platform or mobile devices in
the market.
Companies can easily add mobile strategies to their existing strategies
including their EM, social networking and other Advertising strategies they
already have and optimize the combination to drive sales.
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NFC MOBILE TECHNOLOGY
IS IT A MOBILE PAYMENT SOLUTION OR A MOBILE
MARKETING TOOL?
First I would love you to think deeply into the above question and come up
with your answer. To do that let me help you with a description of NFC
technology dating back to its origins,
NFC is a class of communications within what is known as RFID( radio
frequency identification) and was designed to allow short range two-way
wireless data communication between devices.
Cleverly NFC is designed for use with passive devices- that is devices that do
no require a power source or a battery to operate. This makes it an ideal
technology for use in credit and debit cards for stored value cards and mass
transit applications where it replaces the need to swipe or insert the card into
the reader.
More recently NFC technology has been incorporated in mobile phones
where it is used for loyalty, redemption, access control and more interestingly
for mobile payment applications. NFC is also proving to be a powerful
marketing tool in the mobile horizon and providing interactive engagement
opportunities for mobile users as well as data collecting opportunities due to
its ability to bridge off-line and on-line media and transfer customers from a
print medium (product package, poster, newspaper etc) to an interactive
environment such as a web form.
Now that you understand NFC better what do you think about NFC Mobile
technologies, is it more suitable for payment solutions or for mobile
marketing?
I am going to show you the challenges Mobile NFC face as a payment
solution and the opportunities it has for you the Marketer.
Firstly lets look at what is needed when bringing a new approach or solution
to a problem, In order to succeed and achieve scale the most important
fundamental is that the new solution must ultimately solve a problem or
address a specific need. This combination reflect the value of the solution and
generally determines the level of adoption.
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Other factors that influence adoption to a lesser degree include magnitude of
the problem, usability factors and whether the solution is forced or mandated.
Now looking at NFC as a Mobile payment solution the first challenge is its
short range nature meaning it can only be used as a proximity payment
solution, that is why NFC works very well in both cards payment and
mass-transit applications as an alternative to using cash. Now the question is
would mobilizing NFC payment solution add value to the customer,
remember people are adapting mobile solutions mostly because of the on the
go abilities of mobiles, moreover NFC neglects the mobile Network meaning
it no longer becomes a mobile commerce but a fixed commerce POS solution
Indeed there is little benefit to the customer using an NFC mobile payment
service over an existing card payment method, has to be at the POS and funds
are transacted out of the same payment instrument, the card account.
Could it be that waving a mobile phone across an NFC reader is really much
easier and desirable than waving a wallet or card over the same reader. Also
comes the cost to companies to adapt the NFC system into their payment
system. Their employees should also get training to work with the NFC
technologies. For the process to work phone companies need to accept the
transaction, the banks and payment processors need to be on it too to work.
Another major obstacle is the ownership of the security element of the NFC
transaction ecosystem. The secure system will work like a safe inside the
phone. As we have already seen NFC neglects the Mobile Networks and
usually mobile networks take the security ownerships. How will someone
who stole a mobile be stopped from transacting using NFC
As we can see from above there is a lot of investment needed for a company to
adapt Mobile NFC as a payment solution. Experience also shows that creating
behavioral change particularly when it comes to payments must provide the
consumer with a clear benefit over what they are used to otherwise they
simply wont use it, particularly when they are using a solution that works.
History and human nature tells us that unless there is some demonstratable
reason to change created by a perception of value people will naturally
gravitate towards what they are familiar with.
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Now lets look at NFC as a mobile marketing tool. The short range nature
means it works very well as a proximity marketing tool. You can easily create
NFC tags and start Mobile NFC Proximity Marketing campaigns.
As we have seen earlier on NFC works on passive devices meaning the NFC
tags can be placed on posters, products packaging, newspapers or anywhere
consumers can access the tags and tap to get the campaigns. This makes NFC
a very useful tool for creating Mobile Marketing Campaigns.
A major challenge to the NFC Mobile payment solutions was the initial
investment for companies to adapt the payment solution. Contrary for Mobile
Marketing companies the only investment is the NFC app to create tags.
Companies has an opportunity to use Pay As You Go options on companies
who outsource already established applications to create tags. One example is
SMSP NFC tool on the SMSP platform outsourced by Bluevibe Africa a
partner of Cytech ltd in Africa. ( www.mobile-marketing-platform.com).
Another challenge faced by NFC as a mobile solution was its neglecting the
Mobile Network, but on Mobile Marketing this is a cost advantage as it
reduces the cost of running campaigns as companies wont go through Mobile
Network Operators to run campaigns.
Also according to Mobile marketing standards this is a great advantage
because customers choose to receive campaigns by tapping on to the tags
themselves. No mobile numbers are required. They can combine NFC tags
with Quick Response ( QR ) Codes in their campaigns.
Providers of such platforms offer training and support which means NFC
Mobile Marketing adoption investment is very low. Mostly all that is needed
is an innovative Mobile Marketer.
So it seems Mobile NFC technology is truly made for Mobile Marketing. The
major challenge so far for marketers is penetration rates using NFC,
especially in most of Africa largely because Smartphone penetration is still
low. So for now companies will have to adapt the X media ( Multiple media)
were they combine SMS,NFC,QR Codes, and Web Forms in their marketing
campaigns.
Interestingly to note is the new SMSP platform launched by Cytech limited at
the Mobile World Congress Barcelona 2013 (MWC13) which have the
16. 16
capabilities to combine SMS,NFC, QR codes and web forms on marketing
campaigns.( www.mobile-marketing-platform.com ) This allows you to
create more engaging and dynamic marketing campaigns and give extra
incentives to customers by giving them the opportunity to choose the method
they will opt into campaigns.
As for me I wait for that day in Zimbabwe and Africa as a whole when
consumers will just tap on magazines, newspapers and product packages to
get promotions and information.
But as we can see there are more benefits to using NFC as a Marketing tool
than any other functions, so its high to time you open an SMSP platform
account and test to see the many things you can do with the platform.
www.mobile-marketing-platform.com.
I believe by now you can see that truly the world arena has changed, but
fortunately the game has just begun and its time you take your stand to
position your self in the mobile space.
Now that we have seen that the latest technology are heading mobile and that
companies that lag behind in taping into the mobile space will be outdone by
those who do. Customer loyalty will be a reward for those companies that
become interactive with their consumers and maintain a personal relationship
with consumers through strategic well planned mobile marketing approaches.
Lets now look at Question 2 :
How can your company join the mobile game and position
yourself in the mobile space?
For Mobile Marketing campaigns to succeed they have to be well planned just
like any other Marketing strategy using any other medias. But for your Mobile
Marketing approach to work I will highlight some guidelines which you
should always follow to create a lasting relationship with your customers.
Remember a successful Mobile Marketing Strategy succeeds at the onset not
at the end.
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Guide 1,
For any new approach to succeed or reach scale it should have value
proposition for the customer. Only well thought real benefits for the
consumer will influence adoption of your campaigns. Don’t think on the view
of your company but always put yourself in the eye of the customer and you
will have a preview of how the consumers will view your campaigns. Think
what will persuade consumers into your campaigns and calculate your goals
in line with customer expectations and needs.
2) Build a compliant database of happy customers by inviting customers to
opt-in to your campaigns. Make sure the customers understand what they will
receive from you and the terms of the campaigns. In terms of Web opt-in make
sure you clearly communicate what people are opting in for to ensure
customer satisfaction.
3) Be honest. Only send what you promised to every customer. This means
you should not send anything to customers using contacts from another
companies database, or from your previous campaigns. This will only result
in low conversion and more opt-outs. To understand this think of how many
times you are bored by receiving many messages from a Mobile Network
Operator without your permission. Allow me to highlight that this is an abuse
of customer information. So always keep this rule of thumb if you want to
maintain customer loyalty. Only send messages to legally obtained opt-in
numbers.
4) Add your text marketing policy to your website for easy access
5) Include multimedia in your campaigns for better customer engagement and
action
6) Follow marketing laws especially for marketing based around alcohol,
tobacco and marketing directed towards children under 13
7) Never send messages at odd hours. Sending messages very early in the
morning or late at night can lead to many opt-outs. Find times which leads to
higher conversion rates. This makes the next point a must or very essential.
8) Have a proximity Marketing strategy. This allows you to communicate to
people who are near your premises and increase your conversion rates.
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You can also visit the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA)
www.mmaglobal.com or Internet and Mobile Marketing Association
(IMMAP) www.immap.com to see regulations that govern Mobile Marketing
and best practices.
Below are just some examples to help you think of something you can
mobilize.
Business cards, vouchers, flyers, coupons, brochures, invitation cards, photo
advertising, promotions, notices, maps, Menus and the list goes on and on.
Just think of any campaign you want to run and mobilize it and you are ready
to start your campaigns. You can adopt Rewards and Loyalty campaigns.
Other option includes using the platform to create independent mobile
payment platforms. And when companies have risks of counterfeit products
EXAMPLES OF MOBILE MARKETING
Business cards
Companies can send mobile business cards to customers. People lose business
cards but don’t lose their phones. Send custom business cards that leave a
lasting impression.
Invitations
Send mobile business invitations. Another interesting mobile use is to invite o
people to receive an invitation app with reminders to constantly remind them
of the invitation.
Sales Promotion
Grab everyone’s attention by sending an exciting ecard announcing your sale
or special promotion and make sure it gets attention right away
Launch eye capturing advertising campaigns to increase product awareness.
Mobile voting and customer feedbacks
Companies may also introduce mobile voting whereby they can carry mobile
surveys to get feedback from the customers or subscriber on their platforms.
This will allow them to tailor their products and marketing towards the needs
of their customers and achieve better sales. The interaction will also increase
19. 19
brand awareness and customer loyalty.
This will allow companies to learn what your customers think and want and
capture their cell info at the same time
Mobile Coupons
Invite customers to opt-in to receive coupons
Photo messaging
Used to advertise a product. Effective when selling cars or real estates
Loyalty and Reward campaigns
Invite customer o opt into your database to receive promotion and campaigns
and you carry your campaigns to them and you reward their loyalty by giving
them vouchers and coupons they can redeem whilst you attain more sale.
Reward loyalty intelligently and strike a balance between revenue increase
and loyalty. Reward can also be used by awarding certain prices and discounts
for every nth customers who ……..
Fight Against counterfeit Products.
Put an NFC tag on all your products and a SMSP generated code on packages
of your products. Customers will verify the originality by tapping onto the tag
or sending the code on the package to a shortcode.
Payment systems.
The SMSP can be used for coming up with Mobile payment system for your
online products and others services.
Near Field Communication (NFC) tags and Quick
Response (QR )Codes
The tags and codes can be placed on packaging, posters, newspapers,
magazines and any place with easy access to consumers.
The above examples are just a preview of the types of campaigns you can
carry.
All you need is to Think Big and Go Mobile!!!
20. 20
QUESTION 3
WHAT TOOLS AND PRODUCTS CAN HELP YOU IN
YOUR MOBILE MARKETING STRATEGIES?
I am going to explain some of the best products in the market to help you
position yourself in the mobile space. First lets look at factors that affect
Mobile Marketing tools/applications:
1) independence from Mobile Network Operator (MNO‘s). This will give
you total control of your campaigns and deployment. This will have cost
benefits on your campaigns, and gives you total control on your campaigns
2) Cost advantages. Low setup and adoption cost
3) Dynamic- support for variety of mobile devices. This allows you to give
your customers freedom of choice to choose the type of media they want to
use and allow everyone to receive the same content regardless of their device
type.
4) interactive capabilities and ability to influence customer participations
5) Easy to adapt the latest technologies and future advancement.
6) Support and training program to help you succeed
7) Relevance to variety of companies in different sectors
I would like you to find Mobile tools which offer Mobile Marketing features
and compare functionality against the above factors and any other factors you
may think of.
After doing a thorough research and comparing different tool with relevance
to developing nations the following tools topped my lists. I must admit I
didn’t get an opportunity to test all the applications and tools out there but
based on studying the products features and specifications and information
available on a number of products I believe the products below are the best in
the market at the moment.
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No1 Bluevibe ( www.bluevibe.net )
a proximity marketing solution that combines Bluetooth and WiFi
marketing. Also equipped with Near Field Communication (NFC)
capabilities. it supports practically every mobile device including the latest
mobile devices produced.
Being the first and only tool that allows you to offer internet via Bluetooth it
allows you to turn your premises into hotspots to offer free internet
services and allow your customers surf internet whilst at your premises and
communicate your campaigns with them at the same time.
Bluevibe also comes installed with simple tools to create your own mobile
applications to help brand your company using interactive mobile apps.
As you can see from the above description Bluevibe use of Bluetooth and Wifi
supports almost every mobile device out there. NFC capabilities allow you to
create a n NFC campaign.
Available as a software solution and hotspots it give you a cost effective
choice. Hotspot comes with Online and standalone modes, the online modes
allows you to offer free internet and in most developing economies this will
be an attraction to give consumers all the reason to get near to your business.
The Bluevibe product come with full support and training to make sure your
Mobile marketing strategies go live and succeed. Almost any company will
find a reason to smile with Bluevibe.
It also comes with an easy appcreator which is a very easy and efficient tool
that companies can use to create interactive branded mobile apps and
brochures.
What I loved most about Bluevibe is that it is the first and only tool that allows
Bluetooth web access. In developing countries where mobile broadband
penetration is still low and most people don’t have high tech devices Bluevibe
will give companies a real competitive advantage. The Wifi support makes it
advanced at the same time to support advanced tools which have Wifi
I would love to mention that this is a must have product for any company
anywhere in the world.
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Bluevibe stands on no 1 cause it is hard to find a competitor with similar
capabilities and fulfill the consumer value proposition and allow companies to
carry proximity marketing campaigns at the same time. Surely this is a must
have and it gives you power to manage your campaigns online from anywhere
in the world using a web tool named Bluevibe Manager.
Bluevibe allows companies to create mobile Website and also set local
website on hotspots. To see all the function you have to use it yourself to fully
appreciate my words.
SMSP Platform ( www.mobile-marketing-platform.com )
SMSP –a powerful mobile marketing tool used to design, create and
manage SMS based services and campaigns. Allows you to invite your
customers to Opt-in to your campaigns and keep them in your database
using SMS and you will communicate your campaigns directly to people
who have opted in.
Allows you to carry a range of services, campaigns and promotions using
SMSes. The 2013 version turn SMSP Platform into an X Media or Multi
Media Platform by combining SMS,NFC, QR codes and web forms on
marketing campaigns. This allows you to create more engaging and dynamic
marketing campaigns and give extra incentives to customers by giving them
the opportunity to choose the method they will opt into campaigns.
Another reason why this platform comes second on the lists is its cost
advantages. All you need is to log in to start a campaign. You can log in using
your Gmail and hotmail. There are different License options to choose from.
(To see these options go to www.mobile-marketing-platorm.com and go to
Licence Options). It also comes with support packages to ensure you succeed
on your strategies.
Believe me this tool is suitable to engage customers anywhere in the world at
any time and in ways that are sure to get attention.
It comes which many tools that helps you plan your campaigns and it can be
tailor made to meet your requirements
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My third and last tool I am going to discuss is for those who want to send a
bulk or group SMS to all their customers at the same time.
PROSMS (www.prosms.gr)
- A web based tool for offering Mass or Group SMS from the internet to
Mobile phones. Allows you to communicate with all or a group of
customers with a single SMS.
The above tools are produced by Cytech Limited and are available in Africa
through Bluevibe Africa located in Zimbabwe. Bluevibe Africa also provided
Mobile Marketing consulting services and also provides Mobile Advertising
services and consultancy services.
Below here are some Questions to help you understand Mobile Marketing
and to answer some of the Questions you will be required to do some
additional research
.
1. Define Mobile Marketing and explain ways your company can benefit
from Mobile Marketing
2. What are the benefits of using proximity marketing?
3. Why should every company that wants to survive in the future consider
establishing a mobile strategy to their overall organizational strategy?
4. How can your company join the game and position yourself in the mobile
space?
5. What are the guidelines/rules of the mobile game?
6. What tools and applications can help you to go mobile?
7) What is NFC? And why is Mobile NFC a very influential tool for Mobile
Marketing?
8) What QR Codes and how can you use them in Mobile Marketing.
9) Give a list of 10 things your company can mobilize
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11) What are the main factors influencing people to go mobile from the
traditional mediums?
12) Write a short essay analyzing between E-Marketing and M-Marketing
13) Write an essay explaining how your company can adapt to the mobile
Game and the benefits that awaits your company from the adoption?
14) Explain how your company can use Bluevibe and SMSP platforms and
the benefits they will gain.
Below is an area to write some notes you will want to use
NOTES ON MOBILE MARKETING
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