Using a text message to promote a brand or a product, has become increasingly popular in recent years...and with good cause. SMS advertising is a highly effective and direct communication tool. It offers low costs and the highest response rates of any form of advertising, making it a favourite with several leading global brands.

Usually traditional mobile advertising will use bulk SMS to send text messages to hundreds, or even thousands of consumers simultaneously. It is best practise to only send these text messages to consumers that have agreed to receive these ads. This permission-based advertising is one of the reasons why SMS has such high response rates.

As well as letting consumers opt-in to their mobile campaign, brands should allow for regional discrepancy by consumers. It is important to realise that the perceived benefits of mobile adverting and the preferred content of these text messages by consumers is different in different parts of the world. So, although texting is pretty much the same the world over, what consumers want to receive in the message varies from region to region. This point is illustrated well in recent market research which looked at consumers' attitudes to SMS advertising and its perceived benefits in European and African. The research found that mobile phone users in both regions are comfortable with and willing to receive bulk SMS advertising. However, there are stark differences regarding handset usage and content preferences between consumers in Europe and Africa.

Mobile marketing in Europe

In Europe SMS advertising that offered sales discounts or vouchers consistently has the highest response rate by opted-in mobile consumers. Europeans also tend to respond to mobile marketing promoting contests and competitions. Certainly the use of bulk SMS advertising in this region looks set to expand, as more and more consumers are willing to participate in these campaigns. Interestingly, as the use of smartphones increases in Europe, a growing number of mobile consumers are responding to content rich advertising specifically designed for mobile browsing and applications - making this another area of mobile marketing that is gaining in popularity in Europe.

Mobile advertising in Africa

The acceptance of mobile marketing is exceptionally high in Africa - the highest in the world, in fact. Consumers in this region are much more likely to respond to SMS advertising, certainly more that either American or European consumers. Unlike European, however, African consumers do not regard receiving discounts and sales vouchers as the main benefit of text message marketing. Instead, African consumers want to receive relevant brand and product information - this is why they agree to participates in SMS campaigns. Entertainment value was the second most popular reason given why they opted to receive ads on their mobile phone. The use of smartphones is less prevalent in Africa, so mobile browsing and application advertising is not that common (or effective) in this region yet.

When comparing mobile marketing in Europe and Africa, while we find that advertisers in both regions are increasingly using bulk SMS to promote brands or product awareness, the motivational factors for consumers varies. To be effective in Europe and Africa, marketeers need to adapt the content of their bulk SMS advertising to accommodate different regional preferences. There is tremendous opportunity for, and interest in, mobile marketing in both regions. The key to success for global brands will be to create localised mobile campaigns that attract consumers and motivate them to respond.

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