How brands should revisit mobile marketing strategy for next year and beyond

Mobile phones are a necessity, much like the air we breathe. Until recently, Bangladesh was a low-income country, densely populated with very little disposable household income. Despite that, every 3 out of 4 people has at least one mobile phone. Mobile phone companies and telecom operators have time and again, brought in better, more functional, and more diverse phones and mobile services at more affordable prices. With that, as well as rapid economic growth of the nation, over 130 million people in Bangladesh possess mobile phones. Phones are more than just for communication. People use them in almost every aspect of their life, ranging from their biometric identification to ordering their groceries. Not only has mobile phones become more accessible, but also the services are now cheaper, from talk-time to SMS, making a mobile phone the most cost effective tool for people from all walks of life.
Marketers saw a vast plethora of opportunities for the rise in mobile internet, uses of social media and smartphone technologies slowly becoming cheaper and more accessible to the masses. Also, other areas they have increasingly focused on over the years are increase in mobile internet penetration (which now stands at 60 million, around 30 per cent of the population).
More and more marketers are cashing in on this opportunity, setting aside a larger piece of their budget for targeting their respective customer groups through online marketing strategies. There is a trend in the market towards investing in online marketing strategies, through mobile optimised websites, social media, and apps. This brings us to the million dollar or kotitakar question, how effective is their marketing strategy for the masses?
There are 62.2 million active internet users in Bangladesh. Out of that, 94 per cent are mobile internet users, and 6.0 per cent use internet on the desktop or other platforms. Mobile dominates when it comes to internet uses. However, out of all mobile phone users in the population, 70 per cent still use feature phones, whereas only 30 per cent use smartphones. Around 87.7 per cent of households in Bangladesh has a mobile phone, but despite the rise in use of mobile data, internet penetration was limited to only 4.8 per cent households. Although this data is from 2013, published in 2016 by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, it gives us an idea that despite growth of internet users, mobile continues to be a dominating platform when it comes to ICT penetration per household. Very small portion of the total households in the nation has internet access. Out of those, a staggering majority is in the cities, not in the rural areas.
Brands need to rethink how they maximise their reach. While their efforts to modernise communication channels are commendable, it is more important that they can get their efforts to every household of their target segments. There are not enough internet users, there are not enough smartphone users for all the money spent building smart applications, even less mobile internet users outside the cities for marketers to reach.
Online is not the way to go, but rather offline mobile marketing is. It effectively breaks barriers to reach places where mobile internet is not in widespread use. To understand how effective offline services are, one needs to look no further than the success of B-Kash, a mobile payment service. To use B-Kash to check balance, or transfer money, no mobile internet is needed. Because of this model, B-kash enjoyed massive success by securing 11 million accounts in their first two years of operation and continues to grow at a rapid rate.
One area to penetrate that market has been and will continue to be over the years is value added services. Telecommunications offer value added services to end users such as SMS, MMS, Voice mail, call block, ringtones, medical health services and many more. The largest chuck of how mobile phone users seek medical help or entertainment is through value added services. Such services are contributing to a growing chunk of revenue for telecom operators. SSD Tech, a leading VAS provider is now valued at US$ 65 million (BDT 525 crore). VAS is a tested, proven and future proof concept and a means for brands to ensure two-way communication with mass audience, resulting in much-wanted engagement.
However, VAS is not the only means to tap this market. Some 70 per cent of calls made through Bangladesh cellular network are missed calls. Down here it is a very common practice, which involves a caller making a call and cancelling it before the receiver picks up. And not only is it practiced in Bangladesh, but also in the neighbouring countries. In Bangladesh, several mobile phone users -- like students and low-income people use missed calls extensively as a cheaper (basically free) way to communicate. People also use it as non-verbal communication, for example letting a friend know they have arrived to pick them up. This interesting behaviour of consumers is not restricted to Bangladesh, but also in other countries in Asia, such as Pakistan, India and Myanmar. It has led to the development of missed call marketing, which is employed as a surefire mobile marketing strategy by numerous brands. An innovative campaign of the nature was conducted by Hindustan Unilever. The nature of the campaign was simple. To participate, one had to send a missed call to an advertised number. They were sent an automated call, which contained pre-recorded content carrying a marketing message, which used to drive sales, bolster brand value.
Bringing that very concept to Bangladeshi businesses is a Dhaka-based startup called BuzzAlly (www.buzzally.com). It provides customised, and result driven missed call marketing campaigns to brands, helps them track the campaign progress and also measure the return on investment. Throughout their campaign, they also help collect insights into their clients' target audience and use them in their future campaigns for improved results. Missed call marketing can be used in various manners, with automation technology at its core. A database of potential and future clients can be built, and used for remarketing.
The year 2017 should be the one brands rethink how effective their existing marketing strategies are. They should look beyond the urban, and look at the bigger picture, more effectively target the masses. They need to see how powerful the mobile is, and see how they can make their mark on every household with offline strategies. Brands need to be more customer centric, and opt to serve rather than spam. More often than not, customers are frustrated with brands' attempt at SMS marketing. The traditional push marketing, sending texts to every subscriber is a poor targeting practice and frustrates most customers who treat the messages as spam. It also may result in degradation of brand image. This year the brands should set aside this old and outdated push marketing mobile and lean on offline pull marketing strategies where the end users seek out the brands services through using a simple tool like missed calls.
The mobile phone is more than just a mobile phone. To mobile phone users it is like an extension of themselves so that they can stay social, stay functional. It is their very means to staying connected, and involved with the world. With the Digital Bangladesh now closer to reality than ever before, and mobile phones driving this transformation. It is the right and the best tool to be utilized as a means for engagement, positive brand experiences and sustainable business growth. The question is, how much are you leveraging it at the moment?
The author is the CEO & founder, BuzzAlly and Managing Partner of Beatnik [email protected]. The co-author is the business development associate at Beatnik. He can be reached at [email protected]