Mobile marketing 2.0 hits SA

Johannesburg, 08 Jul 2009

Mobile marketing platform provider Flytxt says it aims to extend its business focus and presence to SA with its mobile marketing 2.0 Neon solution.

Flytxt chairman David Harper says the move is evidence of increasing interest from global players in the South African mobile market. Harper points out that the country's mobile market is "one of the most vibrant" in the world, adding that SA has been a "hotbed" of innovation.

The Netherlands-based company will focus its SA operations on the delivery of Neon, a platform, created by Flytxt's UK and India technology teams in 2007. This patent-pending mobile marketing technology platform helps marketers to unlock the potential of mobile as a direct conversational media tool, according to Flytxt.

Creating conversation

By using live data feeds, real-time communication and micro segmentation, Neon enables marketers to "transform every campaign into a conversation," says Vinod Vasudevan, Flytxt's Group CEO. In this way each subscriber's unique profile and needs are addressed, according to Vasudevan.

Neon has three layers. The first layer is a dedicated mobile marketing database. This is integrated with multiple systems within the operators' environment that retrieve customer data such as the user's mobile phone number, usage profile and transactions details, in real-time.

The second layer consists of various marketing applications, and the third comprises the communication gateway. Together the three layers make up "a full suite of mobile marketing applications in one interface" says Vasudevan.

This level of integration enables marketers to launch simple push campaigns as well as complex interactive and keyword-triggered marketing and advertising programmes more rapidly, Vasudevan claims.

Real-time marketing

Vasudevan says one of the main challenges faced by operators today is tackling increasing churn and lower average revenue per user. “Running life cycle campaigns based on real-time customer data is important for retention management and increasing loyalty.”

He gives an example of sending top-up alerts to subscribers who are at the verge of balance expiry, which will not only help operators to reduce revenue loss, but also prevent inconvenience to customers.

With Neon, marketers can target, for example, subscribers with a prepaid balance of R10 or less. Once the target group is created, the marketer can compose messages, launch them, track responses and measure conversion within minutes.

Consumer privacy

While mobile marketing offers a potential marketing channel, it also poses several challenges. Vasudevan points out that rising levels of spam is a growing concern among customers as well as operators. “Increased competition, subscriber fatigue and government regulation make subscriber privacy and do not contact (DNC) list management an important part of mobile marketing,” he adds.

This is where a platform like Neon is critical for operators, says Vasudevan. With built-in privacy and DNC mechanisms, operators can maintain and apply DNC lists to all marketing communications.

“Operators can also exercise centralised control to ensure frequency management and to prevent message delivery during unsociable hours across multiple campaigns sent by different departments,” he says.

“Unlike generic marketing tools which are mostly designed for message blasting or offline targeting, Neon is a third-generation technology built for mobile marketers.”

By implementing an end-to-end mobile marketing platform like Neon, with multi-channel delivery capabilities on their own networks, mobile operators will be able to build a strong position in the mobile marketing space and monetise their strategic assets, Vasudevan concludes.

The company says it is in talks with leading operators in SA and has partnered with Azu Technology Advisors as part of its local expansion plans.