GraphicMail has just released a new mobile editor that makes it simple for anyone to build and launch a mobile site based on templates, promote it via social media and add location maps - with virtually no programming or design experience required. The self-created mobile site then gets sent out as a link inside an SMS. With 65% of mobile phones in South Africa having internet access and with local smartphone users more aware of mobile advertising compared to their Indian, British and American counterparts (according to World Wide Worx); this should be a winner for all South African SMEs.
"We've designed our
free mobile editor to give small, budget-conscious businesses the same opportunity as what larger companies with deeper pockets and lots of technical expertise have," said Barbara Ulmi, Marketing Head at GraphicMail. "With our mobile editor, if you can point and click, you can build a mobile site."
Mobile site design made easy The new mobile editor browser-based dashboard gives small businesses the ability to capitalise on the
mobile marketing phenomenon; to capture, target and engage with new and existing audiences - and potential customers.
GraphicMail's free mobile editor makes building and pushing a mobile site to customers easy.
Instead of building a
mobile site from the ground up, it is now possible to start off with one of GraphicMail's wide range of templates. The look of the selected template can be adjusted with a single click to match the style of any organisation, and these styles can be edited for those who want to fine-tune their pages. It is also very simple to add brand colours and logos, as well as feedback forms, polls, maps and social icons.
A preview window automatically updates with every change to let you see, in real-time, exactly how your site will look on a mobile device.
Since smartphone users tend to be more purpose-driven than those using a desktop browser, it is important to ensure easy navigation.
GraphicMail users can add a menu button at the top of every page that unfolds some simple, graphic navigation elements. This makes the mobile websites simple and functional, just like they should be.
This innovative product marries mobile sites and push-marketing by way of a personalised web-link within bulk SMS's; enabling a message to be delivered directly to subscribers' phones with a simple click-through from an SMS, getting right in viewers' faces.
The key advantage of this software is that it gives anyone all the tools they need to reduplicate their existing website to make it appropriate for the small screen, removing the need to spend lots of money having mobile sites or apps developed by a third party.
2012 is the year of the small screen Direct marketing technologies for mobile ecosystems have quickly gained momentum as the go-to choice for reaching consumers who are increasingly dependent on their handheld devices for anything and everything.
The latest Mobility report by World Wide Worx's shows that SA consumers are getting savvier and more comfortable when it comes to mobile: About half of Internet access in SA is mobile only, according to Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx. The inquiry found that the amount of time spent online using mobile devices is now almost commensurate with the amount of time spent online via a desktop or laptop.
59% of the 1 200 people sampled now have Internet access of some kind or another, with 27% having a combination of cellphone and desktop or laptop access.
Barbara Ulmi says these staggering numbers present an incredibly valuable, yet potentially overwhelming opportunity for
small businesses marketing:
"The race is on to push out mobile sites as a competitive tool to improve business-to-consumer relationships, but there is also a plethora of devices that need to be supported and, usually, this causes a range of integration headaches and challenges."
"With GraphicMail's service though, you can build as many mobile sites as you want, with an editor that makes it easy to upload text, videos and images - rendered automatically to the appropriate size and weight per device type."
