My advertising industry colleagues tell me that this vague, non-existent call to action type of advertising is, in fact, ‘brand building’. Other people would venture that it’s art, created to win awards and has little commercial merit.
Things are quite different in the mobile advertising space. Mobile marketers need to be bold when it comes to asking for product or service purchases from a cellular consumer.
Because mobile marketing is about supporting consumer behaviour in ways that are personalised and relevant to the individual shopper in their time of need, we’re not afraid to talk about the rands and cents.
This clear pursuit of real purchasing behaviour is paying dividends. Forbes Magazine says it is ‘difficult to overstate’ the importance of mobile marketing. The obvious reason for this is the fact there are a whopping 35 million mobile users in South Africa alone, with another 900 million or so throughout the rest of the continent’s 54 recognised countries.
That’s quite a market, and it’s becoming more accessible. People can use their cellphones for more than just calling and texting. Mobile data prices have declined from about R700 for half a gigabyte of cellular data in 2005 to just over R150 a gigabyte (on Telkom Mobile, for example). The wide availability of quality smartphones, new from leading retailers, is also boosting the total audience for mobile campaigns.
A lesser-known reason why mobile marketing in South Africa is set for continued stellar growth is the recent limited commercial launch of a brand spanking new nationwide LTE-A wireless network.
LTE-Advanced represents a major enhancement of the Long Term Evolution (LTE) mobile communications standard. Owner Multisource has already invited a small number of clients to trial the new LTE-A network and, interestingly, for the local mobile marketing sector, it’s already public knowledge that Vodacom has concluded an agreement to roam on the new network.
It’s great news that local mobile networks are increasing capacity through smart roaming agreements, as mobile marketing specialists work with clients to develop even more engaging and data-intensive campaigns. This is driven by the fact that social media posts that include video and images produce 650% more engagement than text-only posts.
Most clients new to mobile marketing tend to equate mobile campaigns with SMS, and that’s perfectly acceptable. The text message was the original mobile marketing tactical instrument and with SMS coupon redemption rates as high as 30% to 50%, it remains a vital part of any mobile marketer’s arsenal.
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