http://www.mobivate.com/mondays Fresh news, ideas, reviews and feedback every Monday from the Mobivate team to share with the world. en-us Thursday, 23 February, 2012 14:51:36 AEST Thursday, 23 February, 2012 14:51:36 AEST RSS Feed By Mobivate Fresh news, ideas, reviews and feedback every Monday from the Mobivate team to share with the world. http://www.mobivate.com/mondays Monday, 20 February, 2012 00:00:00 AEST 1329656400 mobile internet penetration there is certainly one of the strongest in the world right now. Having a Mobile Internet site is essential to being successful there. In Africa most users are still accessing the mobile internet with a feature phone. This means that legacy content is still relevant, that's a great cost saving! This presents a strong business case for mobile banner / text advertising in this region. The effectiveness of this type of advertising is still being realised today globally. Gartner predicts mobile ad revenue will be US$3.3 billion in 2011. This will sky rocket to $20.6 billion in 2015, more than doubling each year. It will continue to grow thereafter. The real advantage here is that this method gives advertisers the ability to feed off what their target audience enjoys. For example, if consumers are reading an article about music then a content provider could advertise a music / ringtone service. This is targeted but one of the major benefits is that it is also timely.]]> http://www.mobivate.com/mondays Monday, 13 February, 2012 00:00:00 AEST 1329051600 Premium rate sms (PSMS) provides organizations with an easy mechanism to charge mobile phone users either by adding charges to the subscribers monthly carrier bill or by deducting credits from their prepaid balance. All that is required is for the user to either send or receive a sms. Premium rate sms became the primary billing model to charge subscribers for downloading content to their mobile handsets. Customer demand for content was high, billing via PSMS was easy and mobile content space was not heavily regulated and mobile content providers made lots of money. Soon regulations started to intensify, the advent of smartphones and app stores resulted in reduced demand for mobile content and revenues generated by premium rate sms reduced significantly. Nevertheless PSMS still remains a legitimate and relatively easy mechanism to charge customers and is now being used by companies like Facebook to buy Facebook credits.]]> http://www.mobivate.com/mondays Monday, 6 February, 2012 00:00:00 AEST 1328446800 Vcard generator. Users may also be able to send an email or SMS after scanning a QR code. QR codes are gaining alot of popularity. The time to dowload a good scanner to your phone has finally arrived.]]> http://www.mobivate.com/mondays Monday, 30 January, 2012 00:00:00 AEST 1327842000 shortcodes and premium billing sms services have been available in Ghana for years, MTN and Vodacom now breathe new life into the mobile market by being the first two networks to introduce MT billing premium SMS in Ghana. Together these two networks hold more than 66% of the Ghana mobile market. Ghana has a population of 24.72 million people, 19.89 million of whom are connected on at least one of the networks, meaning that Ghana’s mobile penetration rate exceeds 80%, according to the latest statistics released by NCA, the local National Communications Authority.]]> http://www.mobivate.com/mondays Monday, 23 January, 2012 00:00:00 AEST 1327237200 Bulk SMS could be an ideal mechanism for advertising various related events (sporting, parties, concerts etc) that will be taking place. So where event organisers want to offer discounts and do general promotions about their special events, bulk SMS could be perfect! Mobile content services could also prove to be a big hit during this time, and again bulk SMS could provide an ideal channel for advertising some unique Olympic based mobile content, consumer products / services (retail and other) and more. So whether it is Europe, The Americas, Australia, Africa or Asia, bulk SMS could certainly prove to be one of the most reliable and cost effective channels to consider for promoting all things 2012 Olympics.]]> http://www.mobivate.com/mondays Monday, 16 January, 2012 00:00:00 AEST 1326632400 bulk sms. Kenya has a low level of internet penetration and a relatively unreliable postal system which makes communication somewhat difficult and expensive. Kenya does however have an increasing level of mobile penetration, making sms an ideal channel for communication. Bulk sms is an efficient and cost effective way for organisations to connect with their customers. The uses for bulks sms in Kenya are limitless and range from improving education in farming, agriculture and schools, improving healthcare by allowing 2 way communication for people living in rural areas and business communication whereby Government Ministries, utilities and banks use sms as a notification tool. Better communication leads to better lifestyle and welfare so the sooner sms is adopted, the better it will be for Africa, Kenya and its people.]]> http://www.mobivate.com/mondays Monday, 9 January, 2012 00:00:00 AEST 1326027600 Bulk SMS. Twitter, Facebook and Whats App all require 3G, wi-fi or wap access as well as the corresponding applications. Mass messaging is not handset dependent and can be sent to any phone anywhere in the world. No matter what anyone says, Bulk SMS is here to stay, well at least for the next 5 years!]]> http://www.mobivate.com/mondays Monday, 2 January, 2012 00:00:00 AEST 1325422800 mobile content has drastically changed over the past years. 5 years ago it was common practise to send a customer random content item via each MT billed message, once they were subscribed; now people offer their customers content portals, where subscribers can choose their own content - ringtones, games, wallpapers or videos. These content portals can be adapted to both, MO billing or MT billing models. In a country where messages are billed on the MO, each content item would have its own keyword. The subscriber sends a specific keyword to a shortcode and receives the content item in return. If MT billing is possible, subscribers will receive ‘credits’ with each SMS. Customers can then use these credits select a content item they like.]]> http://www.mobivate.com/mondays Monday, 26 December, 2011 00:00:00 AEST 1324818000 mobile content opportunity is that more than 65% of the population is below 25. The mobile subscriber base in India is reported to be approx. 650 million subs. This in itself is an achievement. The market is ripe for mobile content investment and innovation, where advertising is pitched at a reasonably low cost. This is in comparison to many other countries around the world. In 2010 Facebook announced a partnership with one of the mobile operators to deliver sms based features to users. Many content providers are now looking to cash in on the huge subscriber base with local content e.g. Bollywood etc. Also the usual suspects in terms of ringtones and sports content are also generating good revenues. This provides a potentially lucrative opportunity for bulk sms, as well as premium sms and chat services in this country. The market is certainly showing promise for those who will take the time to explore this territory.]]> http://www.mobivate.com/mondays Monday, 19 December, 2011 00:00:00 AEST 1324213200 Bulk SMS is a widely used tool for communication between businesses and their customers. It's quick, easy, cost effective and more importantly businesses are able to communicate with their customers anywhere and anytime. More recently businesses, now aware of the advantages of using bulk SMS are using it for Mobile Marketing more specifically lead generation and customer acquisition. Whilst SMS, being limited to 160 characters, may not be as content rich as other forms of advertising such as TV, email, web, radio and print, it does have relatively high response rates. Respond rates tend to be higher because generally people read their SMS messages, as opposed to emails and other forms of marketing which many people ignore. Businesses using SMS and mobile marketing need to make sure they do not send unsolicited messages as this may annoy customers and have a negative impact on the businesses' brand. It is important to have an opt-in mobile database and a virtual number where customers can opt-out of any future sms marketing. In summary using bulk sms for lead generation and customer acquisition can be very effective and lucrative but it does come with certain risks that businesses should not ignore.]]>