Mobile money operators tasked on digital marketing

THE Chief Operating Officer of HotSauce Limited, a leading digital marketing firm in Nigeria, Mr. Dayo Adefila has urged the licensed operators of mobile money to position their products as brands to enable them better appeal to target customers and help achieve differentiation.Speaking at the just concluded fourth Mobile Money West Africa Summit, Adefila said it is commendable that most of the operators are ready with technical systems and agent network but decried the fact that adoption of the service was visibly low even amongst the educated populace.Some of the reasons he adduced for this are inadequate consumer education through focused and sustained marketing communications as well as poor customer relationship management even for those already registered like him but who have remained inactive without follow up by the operator, resulting in further lack of trust and interest in the otherwise very laudable mobile money scheme.Adefila said mobile operators must act and think like brands and should offer values, which connect with the customer's aspirations. Creating top of mind awareness about the services and their benefits is clearly important but also important is the need to devise engagement strategies that would be adopted for the banked and unbanked to help them build more trust in the service as a brand and improve trial and sustained usage.He describes two key trends in today's brand building to be socialising business and creating entertaining and engaging brands. According to him, customers are endeared to a humanised product or service that offers the opportunity to socialise, interact and engage them in conversation with the brand. He said engagement is the heart and soul of successful and rewarding brand building today.On digital marketing, Adefila said it helps brands create interactive channels of marketing communications that are engaging, drive bonding and stimulate sales by consumers. Its use will help mobile money operators across Africa better connect with their target customers because of its ability to reach both the unbanked and banked through diverse yet very measurable platforms such as SMS, social media and online presence. Beyond reach however is digital media's unique ability to help brands build their own unique communities, which they nurture and whose members evolve into brand ambassadors.Adefila further reiterated the immense opportunities of social media as earlier described by Vytautas Paukstys, founder of Eskimi, one of the fastest growing social media networks.
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