[MRMW] The how, why and what of best using mobile for marketing in Africa

After an executive panel led by Oresti Patricios of Ornico Group on investment and growth opportunities for mobile research in South Africa, where Patricios shared the following:

Wow. @Orestaki says the bulk of parents at a needy school he sponsors in Alexandra do actually have smartphones, don't discount them #mrmw

- Rambling Litchi (@Leigh_Andrews) November 5, 2014

Candice Goodman, chair emeritus of MMA SA and owner of Mobitainment, spoke on the first day of the Market Research for the Mobile World conference about making use of smart marketing techniques without using a smartphone. After all, 94% of South Africa's workers own a cell phone, but the bulk of these are 'dumb'.

76% of emails are now read on mobile in South Africa, so we are on par with rest of world, but must give consumer an entry choice #mrmw

- Rambling Litchi (@Leigh_Andrews) November 5, 2014

View the video below for more on the difference between 'smartphone' technology and feature or 'dumb' phones:

Goodman says that in South Africa, all mobile has done is increase marketers' reach, to get them as close to their consumers as possible. She ran through some statistics from SAARF's most recent AMPS release, which she feels proves the oft-quoted Tomi Ahonen's statement that mobile is the seventh mass media channel.

Don't get stuck on smartphone technology in the face of IVR, Please Call Me effectiveness

Goodman says the use of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is effective as it allows for interactivity, is free to the user and allows for easy data collection if the automated voice message doesn't sound like it came from a call centre.

Next, Goodman said if you're considering going the mobile marketing route, remember to ensure your surveys are correctly formatted as we're a mobile-first continent; you can't just expect your users to access a web-based website on their mobile. As proof of the effectiveness of the medium, Goodman said over 40 million 'Please Call Me' messages are sent each day in South Africa. Research shows that nine out of 10 South Africans know what a 'Please Call Me' is, and 64% of those who have received them claim to have heeded the advertising call to action that appears with the message. Goodman suggests using this advertising space to talk about a reward for taking part in a survey, such as instant airtime or mobile coupons like the Checkers Eezi coupons, so that the consumers' interaction has an immediate benefit.

It's all about giving consumers choice of mobile platform to interact on

Goodman says this is all proof that there's no need to panic about not having access to smartphones. A 'missed call' campaign can be effective for activations too, as it captures the number of the interested party and you can then respond accordingly. This shows it's often best not to over-complicate the process.

Rather take the lowest common denominator, and reward consumers for interacting with you. Goodman says you can communicate quite a bit of product information through voice, then include a call-to-action for consumers to complete the interaction in another way, such as by sending an SMS. She adds that celebrities make a big difference as consumers like to feel special by getting a chance to interact with them, as Gloo did with its 'Are you 2 Enough?' DJ Fresh phone-in competition.

Goodman said it's easy to make mobile fun. Use the power of the mobile coupon, and give users the choice of USSD, mobisite, Mxit and SMS to interact with your brand and increase the redemption rate of coupons.

For your viewing pleasure: examples of effective mobile campaigns that worked on 'dumb' phones

Goodman ended her presentation by showing some examples of award winners of the MMA Global Smarties Awards for mobile campaigns. These include the Tastic Red Pot campaign, which integrated with Google Maps to GPS-track the pot's movement in real-time, allowing users to see diary posts and photo journeys at each stop of the pot's journey.

Quirk's Hungry Lion Bigger Burger Banner helped build a brand database by getting consumers to SMS a code to literally grow a burger seen on the desktop, thus enhancing interaction between online and mobile. Goodman says marketers could use this strategy to advertise a survey online that makes use of mobile interaction. Then increase audience interaction by offering rewards like money, recipes and lifestyle tips to increase consumer involvement.

Goodman ended with an example of the 'missed call campaign' mentioned earlier in India missed call example that won a Smarties' grand prix award. The Kan Khajura Teshan radio station was based on consumers placing a missed call resulting in free entertainment like songs, news and jokes, as well as advertising - of course. Goodman punted this as an effective, innovative way of reaching out to a new audience in a fun way.

Goodman ended with the words "mobile is known for being very measurable, but this is also its downfall as you can instantly see if a mobile campaign didn't work."