Advertising through text messages on mobile phones has a large potential in a country like the Philippines where cell phone penetration is high and the local population is eager to embrace new methods of shopping.
More importantly, SMS-based advertising can also be a more cost effective way to capture new clients compared to traditional media’s shotgun approach, according to officials of mobile marketing firm Out There Media.
“Mobile advertising can influence and amplify what a company is doing in the traditional space,” said Out There Media country manager Rafael Alunan, pointing to the company’s successful work with online apparel store Zalora.
In the case of Zalora, the objective of the company’s mobile campaign was to maximize awareness of the brand, and to encourage subscribers to shop at the online store.
“Our consultative approach to mobile advertising allows us to work closely with our clients and to use insights from our platform to allow them to tap into new markets,” Alunan said. “By maintaining an open channel of dialogue with the customers, we developed a formula that gave us a response that exceeded all expectations.”
In a short period, the company was able to increase the response rate to Zalora’s online advertising by 150 percent through that use of its mobile advertising platform.
“It’s all opt in-based and the potential clients are encouraged to participate with the rewards points they get,” Alunan said.
New markets tapped by Zalora include male subscribers and subscribers from the “C1” social group, which includes individuals in supervisory, clerical and junior managerial, administrative or professional roles.
Out There Media initially targeted both women and men at a 70/30 ratio and subscribers in the A and B social groups, which include those in high to intermediate level managerial, administrative or professional roles. It, however, changed its tactics to include a greater percentage of men, and subscribers in Philippines’ C1 income bracket, due to an unexpectedly high rate of response from those demographics.
One of the message versions sent out to subscribers prompted them to respond in order to receive a discount voucher for apparel from Zalora, with a follow-up response directing the subscriber to the online store and a call to action, encouraging them to share the voucher with their friends. Lower income and older subscribers were attracted by the clear financial incentive.
Out There Media paid special attention to the youth segment, which proved that it required a special approach.
“Interestingly, the responsiveness of customers went up during pay day,” Alunan said. “Insights like this help us streamline and deliver a successful campaign for our clients.”
During the briefing, Out There Media CEO Kerstin Trikalitis expressed optimism about the Philippine market’s readiness to embrace mobile advertising, along with the rest of the Southeast Asian region.
“The response from the Philippine market is amazing,” she said, describing the feedback from the company’s tie up with Globe Telecom Inc. “People respond to ads sent to their cellphones if you know what they need.”