Text Messaging Featured Article

Embraced by teenagers and grandparents alike, text messaging has become a primary tool for staying in touch, allowing everyone to cross barriers in communications. It has also become the ideal tool for sending relevant information to potential customers.

Consumers are increasingly receiving information from their favorite marketers via text messaging on their mobile devices. Whether it’s an update on a new sale, advance tickets for an upcoming event or a text-based coupon, consumers are signing up for direct marketing messages on their most personal device and marketers are jumping at the chance to use this channel.

In South Africa, the trend is catching on as citizens throughout the country are adopting mobile, even if the smartphone isn’t the first choice. A recent announcement concerning the wiGroup highlighted how the firm has developed a Mobile Marketing Matric to provide marketers with the necessary tools to put their mobile strategies in place.

The key to success for mobile in South Africa and throughout the world is that marketing messages received tend to have a level of contextually-relevant information that no other marketing channel can match. Just offering the right offer via the mobile device is not enough for success, however. Marketers still have to determine what channel or tactic to use at each stage of the buying process. If they get it wrong, money and time are both wasted. The Mobile Marketing Matrix aims to eliminate this challenge.

The point of any marketing campaign is to ensure the right message gets to the right consumer at the right time. When designed and executed correctly, the campaign will keep the brands top-of-mind. With brand-related content, they can also provide incentives necessary to encourage consumers to choose their product instead of the competition. If the marketer knows where the consumer is in the buying process, they can overcome any objections to purchase with the right messaging.

It also helps that text messaging can be used on just about any type of cell phone. As the use of this technology continues to grow in South Africa, it only makes sense that marketers across Africa would want to be at the forefront. This is especially true in Kenya, where the availability and popularity of texting is rapidly growing. Orange (News - Alert) Kenya has designed new text packages for consumers there to stay connected both on and off networks.

As this channel continues to evolve, new opportunities in Africa are helping to set the pace for SMS marketing success throughout the world.