VietNamNet Bridge – The increasingly high number of mobile devices in use and
the rapid setback of the traditional marketing methods have both paved the way
for the development of mobile marketing.
According to Nguyen Hoang Hai, Head of the Business Division of VinaPhone’s
Added Value Service Center, Vietnamese businesses have realized the importance
of mobile marketing in their business plans, while mobile network operators have
been aware of the increasingly high number of clients, who can bring fat profits
to them.
A report showed that the number of mobile subscribers in Vietnam is equal to 150
percent of the population. Mobile devices, in the era of technology convergence,
has become an inseparable thing of people.
“Therefore, mobile marketing services, especially SMS marketing service with the
low costs, obviously is an effective solution for businesses which want to cut
down expenses in the context of economic recession,” Hai said.
And SMS marketing has become the new “bread earner” for mobile network operators
when they target the business clients.
VinaPhone, one of the 3 biggest mobile network operators in Vietnam, said 120
enterprises operating in different fields of the national economy are now the
clients of the network, using SMS Marketing service.
However, VinaPhone still thinks that the number of clients is still too modest,
if noting that there are 600,000 businesses in the national economy. “This means
that many enterprises still cannot access the new marketing method,” an
executive of VinaPhone said.
The representative of MobiFone, also a big network operator, has said MobiFone
is developing the mobile marketing system and that it plans to provide the
services in 2013.
“Since it’s an effective marketing method, this would be the tendency in the
future, “ he said. Not only helping advertise enterprises’ products, mobile
marketing also can help classify consumers and measure the advertisement
effective more exactly than other traditional marketing channels.
Especially, mobile marketing is the way that allows businesses bring information
to targeted customers at the lowest possible costs.
Buu Dien newspaper has quoted the lately released report of InMobi as showing
that 75 percent of surveyed people receive much information about new products
via their mobile devices.
InMobi’s survey was conducted on 15,000 mobile phone users in many countries. 59
percent of people, who surf on the Internet with mobile devices would easily
accept the mobile ads like they accept the ads on TV or Internet.
Worries have been raised that SMS marketing would make the spam messaging more
serious. However, mobile network operators have denied this, saying that under
the Decree No. 77, the ad service providers can only send ad messages if this is
accepted by mobile phone subscribers.
“Since March 1, 2013, we have been providing SMS marketing to the subscribers
who register to receive ad messages,” an executive of MobiFone said.
According to the VNCERT, the Vietnam Computer Emergency Rescue Team, tens of
billions of ad messages are delivered every year, which accounts for 10 percent
of the total number of messages, while the number of legal ad messages sent from
the content service firms just accounts for 3 percent.
A survey has found that manufacturers use messages to attract 95 percent of
mobile phone users, while 90 percent of messages are read within 3 minutes after
they are successfully delivered. About 16 percent of smart phone users buy
products because of receiving SMS marketing.
Compiled by Thu Uyen