Powering Your Business With Mobile Marketing

Mobile technology has profoundly revolutionized the way we live, work, and play. Today, you can do several things just by the touch of a button on your portable tech-enabled device. As a small business, for example, you can transfer money to suppliers located in distant places without visiting your local bank. On a personal level, you can now enjoy a thriller movie without setting your foot in a local theatre. From laptops, smartphones, PDQ machines, to smartwatches, mobile technology is woven virtually in every aspect of our lives. The possibilities are infinite, even though visionaries continue to push the boundaries of innovation.

In the African context, Kenya is one of the countries that realized the value of mobile technology early on and followed through to take full advantage of the prospects it conferred. As of 31st March 2021, the number of active mobile subscriptions stood at 62.0 million while internet connections stood at 43.7 million which puts Kenya in third place in continental ranking (CA, Sector-Statistics-Report-Q3-2020-2021). Indeed, these numbers are a clear indication of the potentialities of mobile technology.

Despite the impressive statistics, many SMEs are yet to fully leverage the opportunities brought about by mobile technology. Some of them include phone calls, messaging, internet access, gaming, and GPS navigation. All these amazing features can be used to propel your business performance through what is called mobile marketing.

Mobile marketing
So, what is mobile marketing? Well, to put it simply, mobile marketing is the promotion of products and services through portable, technology-enabled devices like smartphones, tablets, or smartwatches. Given the portable nature of these devices, mobile marketing provides one of the highest reach rates and hence it should be part of your overall business outreach strategy.

In case you haven’t deployed a mobile marketing strategy before, don't worry. We are going to look at a few options that you can consider in supercharging your current marketing efforts. Some approaches include SMS (text) marketing, geo-marketing, and in-app marketing. Let's delve into each in turn for more details on how you can leverage them for your business.

1. SMS Marketing
Short Message Service (SMS) marketing is arguably one of the most popular strategies in the mobile marketing toolkit. It is a pioneering technology that came before the proliferation of the messaging landscape, which is mostly dominated by instant messaging (IM) services.

Unlike in the past, the cost of sending text messages is relatively lower thanks to wide adoption that has conferred the benefits of economies of scale. Nowadays, you can blast SMS to your customers. The goal varies depending on the nature of the business. It could be anything from offers, alerts, to conducting surveys.

To get started, you need to have a well segmented contact list. To increase the success of your mobile marketing through text messaging, ensure that you have permission from recipients. You can obtain consent through a simple opt-in request. It is important to note that the industry regulators, Communication Authority (CA), and Office of the Data Commissioner, have strict measures on the use of personal data. Therefore, blasting without permission can cause serious legal problems if reported. This comes on the background of increasing concern for misuse of personal data by corporations.

With your goal in mind, you can craft a message in about 160 characters, then send it out using the platform provided by any bulk SMS service provider of your choice. The message can include a link that redirects to your website or app. You can also track the link performance. At a fee, the bulk SMS service providers will provide a sender ID. It can either be a short code or shorthand name of your company. Pricing for each text message depends on the mobile network and the number of contacts in your database. In Kenya, the cost per SMS ranges between Ksh. 0.25 and Ksh.0.75 for local blasts, and Ksh. 3.29 to Ksh. 12.76 for international blasts.

High deliverability, open rate, and engagement rates have made SMS marketing such an effective tool for digital marketing. This is because most people have their mobile phones with them virtually all the time. It is hard to ignore notifications of incoming text messages. However, with the increase in information overload, customers are finding it challenging to cope with constant alerts. It is for this reason that SMS marketing is perceived to be bothersome, especially if one did not consent to receive promotional messages. Most customers are opting out, muting, or blocking the sender IDs altogether. Others, report the sender IDs as spam which means they won’t be delivered to the inbox thus won’t be seen. Even so, if you decide to pursue SMS marketing, be judicious. Ensure that you get permission, and don’t send too many text messages in a short period.

2. Geo-Marketing
Geo-marketing is another powerful way that you can use to reach your customers. From the face value, it sounds like complicated stuff. But it’s simple. Also referred to as location-based marketing, this tool employs Global Positioning System (GPS) function on smartphones to deliver promotional messages to potential customers within a specified vicinity. Location-based marketing has witnessed considerable growth in recent times due to the growth of connected devices.

For it to work, the potential customer must have opted in to let an app access their location. This way, they may get messages in the app or push notifications based on region or proximity to a store. The communication is sent through your customized company App, or Google My Business App. Geo-marketing is popular for restaurants, supermarkets, and fashion stores.

3. In-App Marketing
Of late, you must have seen a surge in the number of apps available on the various mobile application stores. Many businesses are increasingly pivoting to digital channels. Certainly, it is a wise decision, given the fact that consumption of digital media has increased markedly since the start of the pandemic. It is one of the post-COVID-19 behaviours predicted to stick permanently, or at least for the foreseeable future.

In-App marketing works in two ways. One, you can have an app that makes it convenient for your customers to interact with the business and get real-time feedback whenever they experience a challenge. Through your app, you can be sending push notifications with messages that trigger action. If you are running an offer, for example, you can send a promotional message via the app informing them of the same.

Two, you can employ in-app advertising opportunities to reach your target audience. This applies when you don’t have an app of your own, or if you have one but still want to expand your visibility. Such applications usually have a massive following and often provide entertainment, information, social networking or all the utilities combined. They include social media, games, and news apps among many others. Think of ads that you see on Facebook, Angry Bird, Ted Talks and Opera News just, but to mention a few. The ad formats vary. However, common ones include display banners and short videos.

Final Thoughts
Delivered directly to the palms of your hands, personalized marketing has never been so direct and simple. Nonetheless, mobile marketing remains a largely untapped marketing frontier despite its immense potential. As you may have seen from the above discourse, there exist so many opportunities that SMEs can use to build enduring brands. And in building exceptional brands, there’s a need to create a seamless experience for the customer across all the channels. This calls for the realignment of your offline and online channels, from the store to the website. Mobile marketing, therefore, is a critical plunk in augmenting customer experience with your business.

Perhaps not expressly stated, but equally important is the critical role of customer analytics in marketing. As a business, you need to collect, collate, and analyse data to draw out key insights that will inform your mobile marketing strategies. Other innovations happening further afield like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning will continue changing the mobile marketing landscape. Chatbots and voice search capabilities are the early fruits of these modern technologies. Indeed, there’s no doubt that mobile marketing will remain a prominent feature in all business marketing plans as the race to a digital future takes shape.

Stephen Osomba currently serves as the Lead Partner, Communication & Marketing at SMD Consulting Associates where he helps SME clients deliver value by adjusting the solutions to each company's mission, product, strategy, and industry.