The use of SMS as a business marketing and communications tool has mushroomed in recent months. The popularity of the short message service made available to cellphone users has surprised all those involved in the mobile communications business, and the pervasiveness of handsets in the South African market makes it a marketer`s dream.
However, the marketing medium is relatively new, and as there are no fixed guidelines pertaining to appropriate practices, abuse of the system now could lead to a greater impact on marketing down the line.
A disgruntled reader recently brought a specific case to ITWeb`s attention.
Compuneed, a classifieds Web site targeting buyers and sellers of PCs and related equipment, recently embarked on its own promotional exercise, sending short messages to advertisers in mainstream classifieds publications informing them of Compuneed as an additional advertising platform.
Noel Da Silva, the freelance marketing consultant responsible for Compuneed`s marketing strategy, says that although this was his first attempt at using SMS to promote his client`s Web site, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.
Compuneed believes its marketer is justified in his actions, pointing out that the messages were targeted specifically at advertisers wanting to sell goods. Avy Clechanowiecki, a spokesman for Compuneed, comments that since the numbers used have been published in mainstream newspapers, they are in the public domain.
The reader was removed from the Compuneed marketing list, but is upset that he was included in the first place.
Davy Ivins, executive director of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), acknowledges that the matter is of a very tricky nature.
Traditionally, the principles of direct marketing would support the view that if a consumer puts his information where it can be accessed by anyone, anyone has the right to use it - the consumer has the right to request removal from a marketing list put together by those means, but Ivins says, it is more a reactive right.
"The DMA is very aware that SMS is becoming a real marketing medium, just as we`re equally aware that that the general consumer will react much more aggressively to spam SMS than to that received via e-mail or in the post."
"[SMS] Spam is anything you haven`t agreed to receive," says Ivins.
The DMA is attempting to develop self-regulatory guidelines for SMS marketing, says Ivins, with the aim of avoiding a situation where government steps in and bans the use of SMS as a marketing medium.
However, when marketing moves to an electronic platform, it becomes much harder to determine whether the opt-out option continues to be appropriate. An opt-in approach is the recommended approach, says Ivins, adding that the DMA has established an e-business committee whose first task is to work on a code of practise for e-marketing, which will then be extended to include SMS.
A feasible solution to the problem is to create an environment where the consumer receiving an SMS can opt-out at the touch of a button - however, the DMA is still exploring the technical feasibility of such a procedure.
As a starting point, though, Ivins recommends that businesses making use of SMS marketing do so in a way that grows the use of the medium without endangering consumer relations.
"The reality is that there is no legislation or self-regulatory guidelines at the moment."
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