Mobile marketing takes SMS into the future

Radio show Media @ Safm uses it to keep listeners informed of the contents of the show on a weekly basis. Video rental franchise Video Spot uses it to let tardy customers know when their videos are overdue. The technology in question, short message service (SMS), has been described as an accidental success that`s taken the world by storm.

Telecommunications equipment manufacturer Ericsson suggests that by the end of 2000, SMS was used to send more than 15 billion text messages per month worldwide.

In a roller-coaster ride of industry adoption, what initially started out as a purely consumer product, used to send short personal text messages, was very soon pounced on as a ridiculously inexpensive marketing and advertising medium that afforded business users the chance to touch the consumer in a more intimate manner than through any other direct marketing medium.

Today, mobile marketing is pegged as being one of the cheapest, quickest ways to add another dimension to customer relationship management. It is a communications channel that can very easily be made bi-directional, which means customers can interact with businesses at the drop of a hat.

In addition, it`s being viewed as a foot in the door in marketing to the youth - a notoriously difficult market to capture. The UK`s Wireless Marketing Association has found that while 90% of mobile message users over 45 would prefer not to receive ads, the under-25 market is far more enthusiastic at the prospect of receiving promotional messages. This trend is reflected locally as well; one need only look at the 6.7 million users of the MTNsms.com Web-based SMS service - mostly comprised of people under the age of 25.

Digital Gear, a Johannesburg-based new media advertising and marketing agency, recently won the MTNsms.com marketing contract.

Steven Morris, founding partner of the company, says: "This has put us quite firmly in the mobile space and it`s brought us to the level where we`re now looking at mobile marketing as really integral to what we do on the Internet side. Most of the stuff that we`re doing with MTN at the moment is really an integration of the stuff we were doing offline with the opportunities that mobile marketing presents for us."

The only real difference between mobile and Internet marketing, says Morris, is that the ability to track mobile marketing is not as immediate as it is on the Internet. "But at the same time we`ve seen through MTNsms itself, quite a remarked response to e-mail marketing."

There`s a very grey area about whether people will take to accepting one-on-one sponsor messages on an SMS.

Steven Morris, founding partner, Digital Gear

Digital Gear markets primarily to the recipients of SMSs through the MTNsms.com network, by way of tag-ons at the bottom of every message sent.

"MTNsms sends 33 million SMSs every month, and we`re able to know where those SMSs are originating, and what carrier the mobile message is landing on. So we can do quite specific geo-targeting, based on the mobile number that the message is going to.

"In most cases, the tag-ons are based on who`s receiving the messages, and where they are based. We can add targeting in terms of age and any profiles we catch on our site; we can target based on the person sending the message - unfortunately, we can never target who`s receiving the message.

"The major difference between tag-on advertising and the other forms of mobile advertising that are cropping up, is that it`s a lot less intrusive. It`s a small 34 character text message at the bottom of every message sent, which puts us in a slightly different position to most people with respect to the privacy issue. There`s a very grey area about whether people will take to accepting one-on-one sponsor messages on an SMS."

At the moment, recipients of targeted SMS marketing are open to the idea, says Morris - as long as it`s relevant to them. "But it`s really hard to tell what`s going to be relevant to different people at different times."

Ironically, the mobile marketing medium is the closest in nature to traditional marketing channels. On the Internet side of marketing, you`re more interested in tracking a response than you are in delivery, says Morris, whereas in the mobile space, you`re interested more in delivery than response.

"Your reach and frequency are the criteria by which you measure response."

Reach and frequency of mobile marketing messages is an area in which tech brand consultancy Trigger pushed the envelope in recent months, with its ad campaigns based on the mobile messaging phenomenon.

Gavin Rooke, MD of the company, says that while the company focuses on building and developing the brands of technology-related clients across a number of industries, at the very end of the process, Trigger ends up acting similar to a classic ad agency, putting together traditional media advertising.

"We`ve found that in many cases, either it`s not sufficient to simply use classic media, or in most cases classic media is not right for what we`re trying to achieve. So we`ll build technology-based ROI vehicles which will provide our clients the ability to give their potential clients a very tangible example of what their return on investment will be."

One of the most tangible examples of an alternative marketing channel built by Trigger, says Rooke, is what the company did in September last year for Equinox.co.za, an offshoot of JSE-listed Equinox Holdings.

We`d go into a meeting in the morning, and when we came out, we`d have picked up another 4 000 people. It was frightening, but true.

Gavin Rooke, MD, Trigger

Equinox.co.za offers unit trusts directly to the public. To launch the product, it collaborated with Trigger to come up with a marketing initiative that would pull in consumers on the basis of interactive SMS.

"We wanted to close the gap between hearing the radio promotion and entering the competition, and at that point we realised we needed an immediate response mechanism. The first thing obviously was the use of cellphones, and we decided to run a campaign that delivered a call to action where people could interact from wherever they were, we could shorten the gap, and from that point on kick in with the referral strategies.

"It ended up in an incredibly successful campaign that hit 256 000 people, of which 76 000 entered telling us nine profiling details about themselves, out of which 50 000 then provided us with ongoing permission to talk to them.

"We`d go into a meeting in the morning, and when we came out, we`d have picked up another 4 000 people. It was frightening, but true."

A Cape-based start-up company which has also brought a great deal to the mobile marketing industry is Clickatell. Describing itself as a wireless solutions company, Clickatell was one of a handful of trailblazers offering mobile marketing solutions to the corporate sector.

Clickatell gained its foothold in the industry after launching the first phase of its offering in November 2000, and by March this year it had international client registrations from businesses, Web sites and individuals in 182 countries.

The first phase of its offering was a client software application that allowed users to send SMSs directly from their PCs, and a primary revenue stream was developed in selling advertising space on the Clickatell PC application. That has since fallen away, says marketing director Danie du Toit, primarily because the business usage market is more lucrative in terms of messaging volumes.

"We see ourselves as an enabler, a facilitator of technology. We`re also bringing a number of new advancements to the market that - to our knowledge - we`re the first in the local industry with."

Flash SMS is a far less intrusive way of marketing; the message is not embedded four levels deep in the cellphone memory

Danie du Toit, marketing director, Clickatell

Such advancements include the little things, like offering branding to clients in the form of a name that will appear in the recipient`s message box - so instead of the string of numbers that usually identify a business sender, a recipient could tap into his message box to see messages from Cadbury or BMW.

Another popularly adopted advancement is flash SMS, which Du Toit says has a distinct advantage over normal SMS, in that when sent, it displays immediately on the mobile handset screen, and unless the recipient saves the message, it is automatically deleted.

"It`s a far less intrusive way of marketing; the message is not embedded four levels deep in the cellphone memory."

A critical aspect of successful mobile marketing lies in understanding the potential for intrusiveness of the medium - after all, most people carry their mobile phones round the clock - and respecting the need for the consumer`s rights to decline receiving messages.

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has compiled a draft set of guidelines relating to mobile marketing, in an effort to safeguard the marketing industry from those with too much gusto and very little sense who would not demur from sending SMSs to recipients at all hours of the night - as happened in the early days of mobile marketing.

Among the guidelines are the following best practices: Messages should clearly indicate who the sender is, and should be subject-relevant. SMS messages may only be sent to recipients who have given permission for their cellphones to be so used, and the recipient should be allowed to opt-out at any time. Only legitimately obtained cellphone numbers may be used, and spamming is anathema.

We see ourselves as an enabler, a facilitator of technology.

Danie du Toit, marketing director, Clickatell

Despite the need, there is currently no anti-spam authority catering to the mobile industry. Davy Ivins, chairman of the DMA, says it will be going ahead with trying to raise industry awareness of its guidelines, and in establishing a structure to deal with mobile marketing complaints and feedback from the public.

"It wouldn`t have any regulatory power, but hopefully peer pressure would encourage marketers to adhere to the best practices suggested."

The future of mobile marketing will largely be determined by the degree to which industry adopts the enhanced message service (EMS) standard. EMS adds powerful functionality to SMS - for example, using EMS, mobile phone users can add images, melodies and animations to their text messages.

Alcatel, Ericsson, Motorola and Siemens announced earlier this year that they will implement EMS, and work together to ensure interoperability between their products and also in the evolution of the EMS standard.

Because the EMS standard is open, operators and content suppliers alike will be able to introduce new value-added services such as screen savers, images and ring melodies that can be easily downloaded from the Internet.

EMS messages are sent over the same infrastructure as regular SMS messages, which means businesses that see a return from SMS marketing can keep investments to a minimum and deploy the service relatively quickly.

It is viewed as an important evolutionary step between SMS and full multimedia messaging service (MMS).

[The structure] wouldn`t have any regulatory power, but hopefully peer pressure would encourage marketers to adhere to the best practices suggested.

Davy Ivins, chairman, Direct Marketing Association

Frost & Sullivan forecasts that by 2006, 65% of wireless subscribers will be willing to accept marketing alerts and promotions. This will be largely dependent on 3G networks being in place and the types of marketing campaigns that are run being relevant and valuable.

The report states that complementary technologies such as Bluetooth and voice recognition will help enable network operators and advertisers to deliver more interactive, compelling and emotionalising campaigns and alerts to subscribers when, where and how is most convenient. 3G network technology and devices will have to be reliable, with a critical mass of subscribers for advertisers and big brands to devote a significant amount of their budgets to the wireless channel.

For now, mobile marketing is not so much about interacting with your customer, as it is a tool that aids in keeping brands at top of mind. The admonishment against overuse or abuse is strong - irritation is just as easy a thing to accomplish as impression.