Explore Panacea Mobile

• SMS as a Direct Marketing Tool

  05 Apr 2011 by Hannah Moore / 1 Comment

  Direct Marketing can be defined as advertising that reaches its consumers without the use of traditional channels, such as television, radio and newspapers. One of the core characteristics of Direct Marketing is that it usually requests a response from the consumer; in other words, it drives some kind of call to action.

  The practice of Direct Marketing was first discovered by mail order pioneer, Aaron Montgomery Ward, who realised that by selling directly to consumers at a low price (i.e. by removing the middle man), he could revolutionise the advertising industry. Although the term ‘Direct Marketing’ was coined only long after his death, and the benefits of his technique were only fully realised much later, Ward is still accredited as the inventor of this specific advertising style.

  Direct Marketing uses a variety of media, including for example, direct mail, e-mail and telemarketing. One of the most cost- and time-effective channels of Direct Marketing, however, is in the use of SMS Marketing. SMS Marketing is the process of sending targeted special offers and announcements to your list of mobile subscribers (be they employees, consumers or patients) via means of a text message. Bulk SMS advertising has been heralded as one of the most effective Direct Marketing medium for numerous reasons:

  Firstly, the ease with which your customers can respond to the SMS creates an interactive communication gateway. This allows for you to get to know your clients better and to track the success of your marketing or promotional campaign. Moreover, it has been proven that individuals are much more likely to read the SMS’ that they receive within a short amount of time, meaning that your message gets across quickly, without you having to wait for days for the effect to take place. This is especially interesting when compared with e-mail read rates, which have dropped to as low as 15% due to the massive volume of e-mail spam that is being sent out.

  The portable and inherently personal nature of mobile phones also plays an important role in this regard. For example, whereas consumers have to remember to cut out their direct mail promotional offers and to keep them on them, an SMS is always readily available since most people carry their mobile phones with them wherever they go.  Indeed, this is one of the main reasons as to why direct mail, newspaper coupons and telemarketing methods are not nearly as powerful as SMS Direct Marketing.

  Cape Town based Panacea Mobile is one of the industry leaders in the SMS Marketing business. Indeed, they cover 819 mobile networks in 211 countries worldwide, and are able to offer detailed tracking and reporting of each message that they send out, thus providing their clients with meaningful information on response/success rates. Moreover, Panacea Mobile offers expert campaign management solutions at competitive rates and a support team that adheres to a 12-hour maximum response time, qualifying them as one of the most competitive Providers around.

  Because the Panacea Team believes so strongly in the benefits of SMS as a Direct Marketing tool and in their product specifically, signing up with them is free. So why not give it a go and try it out? You have nothing to lose and all of the benefits of SMS Marketing to gain.

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• The Art of Writing in SMS Language

  04 Apr 2011 by Samantha Goldberg / 2 Comments

  ‘Hey, Tnx 4 readin dis blog. I hope 2 make it as in4mative as poss. BTW, I’m purposely writin in SMS language – LOL! Cool, TTYL’.

  Whatever happened to proper pronunciation and spelling? Gone are the days in which beautifully hand written letters and eloquent language are the manner in which messages are sent. SMS language (also known as Textese) is a term which has been developed to describe the abbreviations and slang most commonly used due to the restricted amount of characters in mobile phone text messaging (SMS).

  As a person who has grown up being moderately exposed to the technology era, I can relate to SMS slang and this new cultural revolution which  abbreviates words into letters and numbers; however as I have grown up over the years (and as I have a personal adoration for beautiful writing papers and soft spoken English), I have come to realise that the SMS language is undoubtedly wrecking the traditional English language. I find myself writing emails to clients and having to keep backspacing as I replace ‘you’ with ‘u’ and ‘are’ with ’r’. It has become almost ingrained in the way I write and it is rather annoying. With teens acquiring mobile phones at a much earlier age compared to my generation, they are learning how to use SMS slang much sooner than I did, and it is really hard to believe that this second language called Textese is not affecting their school essays and assignments.

  But enough of me complaining and being a boring old grown up, let’s have a look at the art of writing the SMS language. There are no standard rules, pretty much anything goes, whether you shorten a word by making use of numbers (eg: later = l8er or tomorrow = 2mro), whether you just use the first letter of the words in sequence (by the way = BTW) or whether you make symbols for words (love = <3 , the symbol represents a heart), it is all acceptable. Use should be aiming to use the fewest number of letters possible. The SMS language is usually used as individuals try keep their messages in the 160ch limit, however the origin of texting clearly came from a desire to type less, and to communicate more quickly (also known as LAZINESS).

  So if you do get a text message in times to come (whether it be from your daughter, grandson, pupil, classmate or girlfriend) and the message seems to be in a foreign language, DON’T PANIC because there are many websites out there which provide long lists with 1000’s of abbreviations for you to use in order to translate your SMS.

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• Multi Mobile

  31 Mar 2011 by Jacoba Budden / No Comments

  We were having dinner with friends last weekend when my phone rang and I noticed the number of mobile phones on the sideboard: we were four people but there were six phones at which point I remembered that my son Richardt has two (or is it three) because of his job as does my friend Alan. In my wined up state, it dawned on me that I’d seen it often and that it’s become normal in the business world today; I’ve seen quite a few execs with both iPhone & Samsung (or Blackberry etc) to separate family & business or business 1 from business 2. Thinking that this is typically South African I did a bit of online research, only to discover that most of the adults in Europe have 2 phones and that it’s typical in the Industrialized World, including the USA (which lags in mobile phone adoption). One American mobile phone subscriber in every 6 is the proud owner of two phones. In the Communities-Dominate Brands Blog I discovered some more really fascinating stats (you may have noticed I’m a bit of a stats junkie):

  • Out of 4 billion mobile subscribers at the end of 2010, 3.1 billion were unique phone owners whilst the other 900 million were second and even third subscriptions.
  • The installed base of mobile phones in use is 3,4 billion so 600 million subscriptions are only SIM card pre-paid subscriptions (owner has one phone & swaps between 2 or 3 networks by inserting the appropriate SIM card).
  • The penetration rate in Europe today is at 115%, in USA it’s past 90% and in Italy, Hong Kong, Israel, Portugal and Singapore it’s past 130% and growing briskly.
  • For me the most interesting stat of all is the one for the developing countries:
    • Ukraine is at 140%
    • Russia is past 130%
    • Chile has passed 120%
    • Colombia is at 110%
    • South Africa, Malaysia and Argentina are at 100% and growing strong!

  It seems to me that the rest of Africa will soon reach 100% and I believe her countries will pass the mark at dizzying speed for reasons I’ve already given in previous posts but, more specifically, because landlines are just horrible, communication is essential and businesses are increasingly faced with SMS as the only option for communication, advertising & marketing. Like it or not, pretty magazines & newspapers are just not going to do the job. Since Africa’s growing at breakneck speed (despite all her setbacks), she’s going to become one of the biggest economic opportunities of our lifetime and already the wise & astute are there. No, of course the iPhone & smartphones won’t be part of that because there aren’t too many contract accounts and most of the users will make use of pre-paid accounts (making the designer phones out of reach of the masses) but they will become part of the digital online crowd and they will be using cheaper phones and SMS will be the way to get in touch with them.Twitter & Facebook won’t be effective because one needs to spend some time on those sites for marketing to work and in the African situation that won’t be the case – not only because phone sharing won’t allow it. That’s just how it is. Now that I think about it, there may even be a market for second hand phones and Nokia is big in Africa with Blackberry for the wealthier and then, of course, I’m waiting to see seriously cheap phones that have decent batteries because electricity, when it’s available, is super expensive. I also believe the solar powered battery charger is going to do well on the African continent as will cheap waterproof or dustproof phones that can fall off camels & ancient bikes or onto rocks, withstand tropical storms & thick mud and can be banged about a bit. They would, also, have to be sturdy since phones are often shared and if I were a designer, I’d look at making SIM card removal easy and creating a phone with multiple personalities, passwords and memories.

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• Thinking Mobile Conference 14-16 April, 2011

  28 Mar 2011 by Hannah Moore / 1 Comment

  

  The second annual Thinking Mobile Conference, themed ‘Relevant, Valuable and on Time’ is sponsored by SABC Mobile and is set to take place at the Industrial Development Corporation in Johannesburg from the 14^th to the 16^th of April this year.

  The Conference is aimed at providing people with knowledge around how to, in a practical way, apply mobile marketing techniques to their business entities or non-profit organisations. Companies already making use of mobile marketing will be able to fine tune this component of their marketing strategies; whilst those that aren’t yet accustomed to ‘thinking mobile’ will find answers to questions such as “How and where can I start integrating the use of mobile marketing into my advertising strategy?”, or “What is the value of mobile marketing in today’s competitive environment?”.

  The event has been expanded to run over two days and will include plenary sessions and practical workshops, as well as panel discussions hosted by distinguished industry representatives such as editor of Stuff magazine, Toby Shapshak (whose talk is titled ‘How Powerful is Mobile Really? The confusion around user statistics and whom we should believe’). There will also be an exhibition which is open to the 200+ marketing delegates of the Conference, as well as to the public. By allowing public access to the exhibition, the aim will be to provide consumers with a chance to experience the various benefits of mobile marketing in a fun and entertaining way.

  Some of the specific topics that will be covered in workshops and in panel discussions include the following:

  • Mobile and the legal implications (The POPI Bill)
  • Mobile Commerce
  • Mobile Technology (current & future)
  • Cell C - Nike Football Project (case study)
  • Personalized Priority Messaging
  • Targeted Relationship Building with Mobile (customers, business partners & staff)
  • Turning Mobile Mechanics into Mobile Marketing
  • Building Interactive Mobile Communities
  • Integrating Mobile in an Overall Marketing Strategy
  • Mobile in Media (television, radio & print)
  • Mobile in Health & Beauty (including Insurance)
    
  • Mobile in Hospitality & Tourism
  • Mobile in Retail & FMCG
  • Mobile in Sport & Leisure

  The event is open to any individual or organisation that seeks empowerment in the mobile industry. Tickets are normally R4999.00 per person and include access to the plenary sessions, the exhibition, the workshops, panel discussions, lunch on each day and a cocktail get-together on the first evening. However, early bird tickets are still available until the 31^st of March for R4500 per person, all inclusive. Group booking discounts also apply. For more information on how to book or get involved, visit http://thinking-mobile.com. You can, of course, also SMS ‘Mobi’ to 31771. Standard rates apply; free SMS’ don’t (although you probably know that by now).

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• The Mobile Market – Some Interesting Stats

  24 Mar 2011 by Samantha Goldberg / No Comments

  Back in 1980, the number of cell phones in the world was a mere 11.2 million — or just two cell phones per 1,000 people. There are currently 4 billion phones in use, with approximately one to two thousand users being added every minute. Of the 4 billion, 1.08 billion are smart phone users, the other 3.05 billion are SMS enabled phone users, while the mere remaining 950 million phones which are out there are not SMS enabled. People are spending more time on their cell phones than ever before. It is predicted that by 2015, mobile internet users will be more prevalent than desktop internet users. Mobile devices are becoming the primary point of contact for business interaction with consumers, whether it be through SMS interaction or through mobile internet sites such as group buying sites, property sites, auction sites, junk mail sites, or social media sites. One half of all local searches which are performed are done through mobile devices. If you happen to be in the 1.08 billion users group and you own a smart phone, you will be well aware of today’s modern age mobile technology. The mobile phone offers a unique media platform, which is capable of achieving an interactive, personal, and affordable advertising and communication interface.

  Some other interesting facts which have been observed among mobile phone stats are 86% of mobile internet users are using their phones while watching T.V. (who would have thought an individual could actually be distracted from T.V.); 91% of mobile internet usage is to socialize whether it be over Facebook, Twitter or Youtube (Over 1/3 of Facebook’s 600 million (and growing) user base is making use of Facebook mobile) (50% of Twitters 165 million users make use of Twitter mobile) (200 million You Tube views occur on mobile devices per day); and our last stat for now must go to WOMAN POWER with woman aged 35 – 54 being the most active group in mobile socialization.

  With the knowledge that there are 4 billion mobile phone users around at the moment who are carrying their phones around almost all the time, one can conclude that mobile phones are a marketers dream. Especially for companies looking to use the SMS aspect of the device, since 3.05 billion users only have SMS capability on their phone. Companies and marketing specialists should really take a more thorough look into benefits of using Bulk SMS gateway companies to get their product or message out there.

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