Mobile Advertising Vs Permission Marketing

I looked at my phone and saw an icon of an envelope blinking, indicating that someone had sent me a text message. I thought it was from a friend who wanted us to party but after reading it, i found out that it was from a local company promoting their product. Am sure you must have received a text or a call from a company promoting their products. Mobile advertising is a new marketing trend in which organizations use the cell phones as a medium to pass promotional information to their potential clients. Organizations buy bundles from of phone numbers from mobile service providers and use them to send text or make calls to persuade and convince the phone owners to make an immediate action towards their products. Mobile advertising is effective since it is fast and there is a guarantee that the text will be read or the call will be answered. However, it is so disturbing to receive texts and calls from unwanted persons. Here comes the idea of permission marketing. As an example, i got a text from a company promoting products that help in loosing weight. I found it so disturbing since am not in need of loosing weight, so i had to delete it immediately. For an organization to send texts to different people, it must be having the knowledge of the people in terms of their unique needs, tastes and preferences, so as to send the right message to the right person, something that many marketers ignore with the assumption that the information will trigger an immediate or a later action. These companies should get the permission from their recipients before sending them texts. In countries where advertising laws and regulations are strictly adhered to, it is enforceable at law to sue such companies. Therefore, organizations should consider their potential clients first before sending them unwanted texts, which will save them from spending much on consumers who ignore their messages. As Chris Harrison, a marketing maverick, puts it, "I have two mobile phones at present, on different networks. I must receive and ignore at least six promo messages a day". Also, it will save them the cost associated with lawsuits, if at all they are sued.  

Winning and Retaining customers

It is the dream of any organization to win and retain customers, thats where the marketing function comes into play. To win a customer your product must be enticing enough to lure them into purchase. By this i mean, the product, be it a service or a good, must have a competitive advantage so as to position itself first in the mind of the consumer, whenever a need arises. In a bid to retain them, alot of inducing features/activities can take  place so as to induce them to make repeat purchases hence creating customer loyalty. For instance, discount in prices has been widely used to keep customers with different organizations. Lets take a look at the banking industry. Banks are well known for their great customer service. All around the world, banks are engaged in attracting all potential clients, from as young as ten years old kids to great grand parents. They come up with exciting features to cater for the different age brackets in the society. In Kenya, we have Jumbo Junior for kids, bankika for the youth e.t.c In a bid to win customers, banks are going the extra mile to open accounts for free for their clients, and depositing some amount of money as a start-up capital. They also go ahead to charge less on withdrawal of cash over the counter, free ATM withdrawals, free balance enquiries, and also they offer low interest rates on loans and mortgages to their loyal customers, just to retain them. Personally, i take this as a big stride ahead of any other bank still taking their potential clients for granted. Take this as a stepping stone to your organization's success, whatever the industry. What enticing products, services or features do you have to induce existing and potential clients to do business with you? What incentives do you have to make them stay with you? I live the question for you to answer.    

Boosting Brands Through Social Networks

From the Egypt and Tunisia to Libya revolution in Africa, the Arab countries have had their better part of the social media. Among the commonly used social networks, Facebook and Twitter have been widely used to mobilize civilians and organize meetings, where they would protest against the people in power. Also, to a large extent, reality shows like the Big Brother Africa and Tusker Project Fame have created pages on the networks to mobilize viewers to vote for their favourite contestants. Many companies have followed suit. The CocaCola, Mr. Price, Barclays bank, to name but a few, have opened up pages on these sites so as to get to know what people are saying about their brands. Through this, the company is able to exchange information with its customers, therefore bringing about brand understanding. The social networks also enhance viral marketing, whereby consumers on a company's social page help in passing on a brand's message to other potential consumers, hence creating awareness and minimizing the cost of advertising.Theoretically, most marketing books stipulate that customers with good or bad experiences with a company share it with 10-15 others. With the social networks, thousands of people can read  a post or a tweet describing their experiences. These social networks are here to stay, with many others being introduced day in day out, and it is an organization's responsibility to embrace this new trend to attract, win customers and boost their brands online.