Is anybody in the mood for an article about the recession? I bet you aren’t. And you can just imagine how excited I am to be writing it. Ironically, I pretty much have a free editorial reign, which subsequently suggests I am not obliged to even mention the recession here. But I’m going to, not because I want to, but simply to annoy anyone willing to venture past this paragraph.

It’s a simple test. I think those pushing through the inevitable bore that this article may well turn out to be are either desperate for answers in these trying times, or at least willing to keep an open mind. Let’s dig in then, shall we?

A smart man, evidently, some Vice President of Marketing at some mobile oriented company in the US, Mr. Jim Shilale, released an article on Friday (21st) addressing why advertisers should turn to mobile even during an economic slowdown. While marketing budgets are fed to the shredder, his article highlights key factors on why mobile marketing remains one of the pertinent channels to engage in.

Another smart guy, Michael something, bulleted three of the factors that are essential in your mobile marketing campaigns:

1. Combine the campaign with other channels. [I couldn’t agree more, but then I’ve been saying this for while now.]
2. Make it simple and focus on the consumer experience. [Another valid point. Ironically, I’ve been known to mention this in the past as well. ]
3. Offer an incentive or benefit for the consumer. [Low and behold…what do you know? There are even records of this in my archives too. ]

If you’ve managed to make it this far in the article, and have found a way to excuse my arrogance and cockiness, you would be well worth wondering why mobile marketing would be especially effective during the recession, given that Mr. Shilale’s 3 points have been covered ages ago, long before recession was even an acknowledged buzzword. The answer is that it won’t. It won’t be any more effective, and it won’t be any less. Mobile marketing simply is the best marketing channel to be used in conjunction with any other media format.

I wasn’t lying when I said that Mr. Shilale is a smart man. If you can manage to get your hands on a copy of his article, I suggest you do so. If you’re in a hurry though, and you trust me, then I’ll let you in on my 4 personal reasons why it’s critical for any business to complement their marketing strategy (prior, during and after the recession) with mobile campaigning.

1. Mobile marketing is not experimental. South Africa boasts with a 90% mobile penetration rate, one of the highest in the world. Not convinced yet? Move to point #2.
2. It provides instant gratification. There’s something rather appealing about making a purchase, receiving additional information or even entering a competition without lifting a butt cheek off my couch.
3. Despite economic turmoil, people simply won’t stop reading text messages, watching television, listening to the radio and reading newspapers and magazines. They won’t stop wanting and they won’t stop needing. If you can create a want or fulfill a need and combine it with instant gratification, you’re golden.
4. If Barack Obama does it, then so should you.

Enough said.

Having been booked off for a recurring lower back problem last week had me in stitches (figuratively) about what mobile communications has to offer businesses. A rap on the knuckles from a rather important client made its way via a colleague of mine and that made me realise a couple of things again.

Your clients aren’t really that bothered by you or your welfare that much. It’s a rather unfortunate realisation and seemingly unfair, but if you do a role reversal, you will come to the conclusion that the shoe fits on either foot.

When your service delivery is excellent, they love you in silence, as it is what they have come to expect of you. When your service is poor, or absent as it was my case, they’ll use their own unique way to make their dissatisfaction heard and often times felt.

Damage control is one thing, a strategy I employed during my time off to assure my client that all will be dealt with as soon as I can manage a vertical position. But damage control implies that damage has occurred already and when one client’s dissatisfaction becomes ten or 100 clients’ that control may well be lost.

Mobile communication platforms and automation adds unique value to your portfolio. It is what secures check up visits to a dentist when his client receives a six month check up reminder on his mobile phone. It is what gets these teething clients to actually commit to the appointment when a simple reply text message schedules a booking.

It is the convenience of being able to purchase electricity from your mobile phone by sending a single text message or transferring money from your accounts when you’re out on holiday, far removed from the hassles of standing in banking queues.

Mobile communications platforms are systems built into your business infrastructure and performs these value added services with little to no thought paid to its existence. The recognition is duly paid on the business end of the supplier-client relationship and secures a hassle free communication channel, recurring business and a wonderful opportunity for cross- and up selling.

Businesses lose clients. That’s the reality of being in business. Luckily, they also gain clients as they go along. In a time where the battle with time becomes tougher, it’s refreshing for consumers to know that they have a couple of things less to worry about.

Mobile communication automation is probably something you can do without. It’s probably not even something that most businesses are considering a priority. But it is something I as a consumer place in high esteem when I come across a supplier that understands my need for effective time management.

And when a supplier understands me, a definite loyalty is born from within.

With the US presidential election now concluded and the world at large coming off a natural post electoral high it is South Africa that’s bracing itself for round number two in 2009. And what massive shoes we have to fill. The Obama 2008 campaign has shown us a couple of things:

1. Being connected in 2008 is critical to the success of any campaign.
2. Addressing the masses through all available media channels on a personal level can secure loyalty.

There is a definite heightened expectation for election 2009 in South Africa. It’s obvious that the broad availability of information and the sheer pace through which this information is delivered to our monitors have underpinned the importance of using electronic communications to spread the word.

Having said that, the DA and the ANC both have been utilizing the internet and mobile channels to gain momentum for a while now, but it is profound how ordinary their efforts appear when compared to the massive global appeal of the US elections.

The IEC have made it that much simpler for people to check whether they are on the voters roll for the upcoming elections in 2009 by either visiting their website and locking in our ID numbers or sending a text message with the ID to receive your status on your phone.

This is great progress considering the reluctance people had to previously go through the efforts to check their status, not to mention voting. There seems to be something like a national surge of responsibility and voting is top of mind of the masses.

Of course, the masses referred to here are those elite few that have the luxury of the internet. Less than 10% of the South African population is connected to the internet, which may or may not explain the IEC’s lack of urgency in getting their website compatible with various web browsers. Regardless, my point in question is whether we’re enabling the already enabled.

While Obama 2008 has shown how the internet could facilitate a ridiculously loyal following, one has to wonder what the respective parties in South Africa have in mind. My mind has been made up to whom my vote will go, but then to be truly honest, I was pretty much born into it. How many of the candidates have made the effort to communicate their message on a more personal level?

It may seem incomprehensible that a candidate should address me personally, but then this is the age of Me, Myself and I. And while the US have an internet penetration level much higher than South Africa, we have the unprecedented advantaged to be one of the highest mobile penetrated markets in the world.

Yet, we haven’t witnessed any form of mobile campaigning that is worth noting. Is that still to come? Our candidates are ready, speeches polished, Windsor knots perfected, but who will they address?

In the mobile phone, the political parties in South Africa have arguably the most valuable tool to swing votes known to man. And while the extravagance of the mobile phone might be slightly diminished compared to the internet, it is by far the biggest reaching communications platform we have to our disposal.

Something to think about the next time you pollute my boulevard with your yellow posters.

Cricket is a complicated game, or so we’re told. Many men will concur that the agony of having a wife or a girlfriend sit through a cricket match is almost worse than the fight on a weekend about why you simply cannot commit to any extramural activities with her.

Trying to explain the seemingly simple concept behind the three ways of scoring runs off the bat, the no balls, wide balls, bouncers, yorkers, off spinners, leg spinners, googlys, doosras, off cutters, leg cutters, seamers, inswingers, short of a length, full tosses, slower balls, out swingers and reverse swingers and…are you still paying attention honey? Of course, most of these deliveries also have some sort of variety.

You’ve not only lost her attention, you’ve also lost your patience and she lost her temper. I believe no cricket match can ever be fun with women in close vicinity. Until this past weekend, that is. I didn’t watch cricket though, I went camping. (Which I don’t enjoy doing, by the way)

While we were busy preparing our breakfast on one of those gas thingies with the black pan thingy, one of my friends dropped an egg. Quick as a flash I moved to my right and pulled off the most sensational catch of the day, much to the delight of the immediate crowd. (Mostly women of course)

Without skipping a beat, my friend remarked: “Catches win matches!”

And there it was. Cricket, one of the most complicated sports known to mankind, explained in its simplest form.

I’ll be very careful before I start comparing businesses to women for fear of either being labeled a chauvinist pig or worse, an idiot, but the resemblance between the general cricket knowledge of women and the average business’ knowledge of technology is rather apparent.

Business decision-makers ask for simplicity, marketers think the amount of technological jargon they use reflect their IQ’s, where in fact it achieves quite the opposite. A marketer worth his or her salt is one that comprehends the decision-maker’s understanding of technology, the objective of the marketing campaign and has the ability to employ the simplest method to achieve the optimum goal.

Mobile marketing can be a confusing nut to crack. Especially when digital marketing specialists and mobile communication gurus get there heads around an idea. You can almost bet your bottom dollar Bluetooth will come into play, a Mobi site for extended brand presence will be thrown into the equation, applications built around new models of phones, mobile social networking platforms and location based services are among the more popular terms used.

If you’re a key decision-maker, the one with the million dollar sign-off signature, and you understood the above paragraph, I’m happy to say that you’re one of the elite few. For the rest of you, think about mobile marketing as another way of chatting to potential clients.

You have a message; you have their numbers; send it to them. Rinse and repeat. Technology in marketing is confusing and scares a lot of people. However, with the new millennium came vast technological prodigies and they carry with them the power to change.

You as business decision-maker unfortunately have no option but to adapt or die. If you’re overwhelmed with the idea of mobile marketing, maybe it’s time to change your marketing agency.