Continuing with integrated marketing campaigns, Virgin Mobile is on the money with utilising various media formats to engage their clients, empowering them to interact with the brand and virally spread the word to their friends and friends-of-friends.

This short video will explain the campaign and it is noteworthy how they have combined mobile marketing, social media and viral marketing to gain the benefits of brand awareness.

“Virgin is a fun and creative brand. Our goal of the campaign is to strengthen the position and increase brand awareness”.

To strengthen their position they have created a compelling and lucrative commercial that stimulate their clients to participate in the brand and pay the message forward.

[Because] “We believe advertising becomes more efficient when consumers are involved in the making of it”.

Traditional marketing and advertising methods have evolved to where consumer generated content is synonymous with digital word-of-mouth marketing. By enabling consumers to carry the brand to their peers a greater trust relationship is associated with the brand.

Breaking down the individual components of this campaign will explain the effect of the commercial and the outcomes based results.

Mobile Marketing:
Virgin Mobile uses their database to send a text message to their clients to inform them of their latest interactive campaign. The clients are encouraged to visit the Virgin Mobile website and participate in the prank call campaign.

Viral Marketing:
At the end of the prank call, the recipient of the call will receive a text message from Virgin Mobile with an explanation of the prank and an invitation to the website to participate themselves.

All prank calls are also recorded and can be forwarded to friends via e-mail. Each e-mail contains an invitation for friends to visit the Virgin Mobile website and participate in the prank call campaign.

Social Networking:
Consumers have the choice to let others experience their prank calls on the website and have listeners rate the prank.

The highest rated prank call can be used for television or radio commercials among others.

Should they have opted to provide consumers with an incentive, such as the winning of prizes, I believe that the reaction to the campaign might have even been stronger.

Businesses have been slow to adopt mobile marketing strategies and in my post today, I will use real case studies to equip them with the information that would aid them in recognising the potential of mobile campaigns.

The big difference between large corporations such as Coca Cola and your business is that their advertising and marketing efforts on television focus mostly on brand engagement and awareness than on driving sales.

Of course Coca Cola is also smart and use many platforms to launch their marketing campaigns from, including mobile. Frankly, so you can you.

Most businesses need to continuously drive sales and find more ways to engage larger targets more often.

Why would mobile marketing then be any different to television advertising?

Simply because any successful mobile marketing campaign is strictly permission based. That means your target has consciously opted to receive your content.

In most cases, mobile phones are a personal extension of its owner’s persona. Unlike e-mail where pundits find many ways to invade our privacy through unsolicited material, our mobile phones are mostly untainted still.

Let’s view a couple of examples on how mobile campaigns add value to businesses and how others are executed to drive sales.

Optimise client relations and problem resolution

An online recruitment vertical uses software with integrated mobile messaging which automatically notifies registered candidates (if they opted to receive it) of new job opportunities via text messages.

During screening processes, the employer is able to notify candidates on the success of their application by either communicating via e-mail, mobile or both.

Similarly, many companies employ these tactics to add value to other businesses or in a personal capacity. Every day people sign on for services like weather reports, financial indicators, news headlines, sports results et cetera.

It enables these companies to interact with their broader target market by provisioning content utilising various channels.

Driving Sales & Traffic

A well-known wine company is running a competition on the neckers of their wine bottles. The competition encourages people to text their name to the short code printed on the necker. For every 5 people the participant refers their chances of winning increases.

A viral effect is born and soon the number of participants grows exponentially. The winner is announced on the company website 3 weeks later.

Smart marketers will ensure that another unforgettable offer is positioned on the web page on the day of announcement.

Welcome to the mobile marketing blog. We will focus on mobile campaigns ranging from presidential elections to increasing Fried Chicken sales and I will be taking you on a virtual journey where you will gain a deeper understanding on how the mobile market fits in with your business.

We will be looking at target markets and how to approach them as well as the various service offerings that will benefit businesses ranging from Retail to Financial Services.

While single marketing components such as search engine marketing or push sms campaigns are effective, it is important to understand the effect of combining strategies in your business to maximise your reach and optimize your returns.

It is worthy to note that the days of mobile phones used solely for calls are long gone. Savvy businessmen prefer using their PDA’s or mobile phones such as the Nokia N95 for their frequent trips overseas, as mobile technology and functionality has caught up dramatically to where there is little difference between the standard laptop and a high end mobile phone or PDA.

If we open our minds, we realise that today’s handhelds are an access point to virtually any media type available. People use mobile phones to vote in elections, to chat online, find dates, pay their bills and monitor bank account transactions.

The logical progression is then for businesses to capitalise on this trend and use it to their advantage. I will venture a guess that it is possible for most people to manage without their laptops for a day, but deprive them of the luxury (or commodity?) of their mobile phones and their worlds will most probably spiral out of control.

However, my blog will assist businesses who are willing to adopt the new media approach, are aware of the potential in a highly untapped market in South Africa and apply these strategies to their campaigns.

Our blog sponsor, Opera Telecom, enables me to provide you with information pertaining to mobile marketing and your business.

I would like to invite you to participate in the conversation as we grow a community and paint a clearer picture on how technology is something to embrace rather than avoid.

Technology, if understood and applied correctly, is a very effective partner to your business.