Quirk eMarketing will offer two new online courses in August that address current e-marketing trends.
The mobile marketing course will be run under the guidance of the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), according to the company. It will also offer an SEO courseto teach students to optimise Web sites, and how search engines can be leveraged from a marketing perspective.
Both courses run for six weeks and are completed entirely online. All course interaction takes place via the Quirk Learning Centre, says the agency.
“Here students will be able to engage with one another and with the course convenors, as well as download their course material, which includes course notes, videos, a discussion forum, weekly assignments, quizzes and reading lists.”
Mobile takeover
“Analyst group Gartner predicts that by 2013, mobile phones will overtake PCs as the most common Web access device worldwide,” says Quirk.
It adds this trend will be especially significant in SA, where PC and fixed-line Internet penetration are low. “With more than 100% market penetration in SA - 10 times more than fixed-line Internet - the whys for using the mobile phone as a marketing channel are glaringly obvious.”
According to global mobile media company BuzzCity's Global Mobile Advertising Index for the second quarter of 2010, during that quarter, a total of 44 markets each delivered monthly traffic exceeding 10 million impressions per month - an increase from 32 markets in Q1, says BuzzCity.
SA ranks fourth on the company's list for the top 20 most active countries in Q2. It saw growth of 65% from Q1.
WWW Strategy MD Steven Ambrose says mobile technology is fast becoming the dominant technology to which the average person in SA and other emerging markets in Africa have access.
“The low penetration of other Internet access, due to poor infrastructure and the prevalence of old-style fixed-line telecommunication monopolies, has resulted in mobile communication completely dominating the continent. While the fixed-line infrastructure steadily declines, the mobile infrastructure grows exponentially.”
Brett St Clair, SA country manager of mobile advertising platform AdMob, points out that SA is probably the most competitive mobile marketing country on the planet, with 98% fill rate and making up a quarter (250 million) of the billion adverts requested in Africa in March.
“Advertisers have always looked for the most cost-effective methods of talking to the widest audience, and mobile access is almost the golden bullet for advertisers; it is personal, immediate, and often relevant,” says Ambrose.
Addressing trends
Quirk says it is imperative that education and training initiatives are conducted to ensure the skills pool increases so MMA SA member companies have the resources required to deal with the fast pace of growth in the industry.
It will also improve the quality of mobile marketing campaigns conducted by brands and advertisers, says Candice Goodman, who heads up the local MMA council.
Registrations for the mobile marketing course close on 13 August and it will begin on 16 August at a cost of R5 900 per person. The SEO course, at the same cost, will begin on 30 August with registrations closing on 27 August.
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