Marketing in this age is not what we used to know.
Before, we could only rely on ads that we saw on TV to know what’s hot and what’s not. Once you miss that period between prime time news at 7 and 9 pm, that was it.
Posters weren’t even that popular back in the day. Our elders really did have a reverence for trees, unlike us. Anyway, I digress sometimes.
Marketing nowadays is in your face. If it’s not ads on TV, its ads on radio, it’s ads on the internet, on billboards, on cars, on buildings and in your phone. Marketing companies, agencies and institutions have learnt the art of adaptation, adapting to how quick we move and how quick they can capture our attention. Which is where promotional texts come in.
As a mobile phone owner in this our dear country, no day goes by when you don’t receive a promotional text. Be it from your bank, favourite coffee shop or where you occasionally order a bottie, you just have to get one of those texts.
Here are the pros and cons about this kind of marketing:
As someone who’s not in touch with promos and offers, these texts are a way of springing you back to the reality that is, here’s what’s being offered and here’s how you can get it and you know you can afford it.. after all, it is a promotion.
Other times, it’s a reminder.
Just last week, I got a reminder from my bank about the fact that I should exchange my old Kshs 1000 notes before the deadline
Mshwari also reminded me to save in my Lock Savings Account. Mind you I’m just from a mini holiday, but no, I’m being reminded to save.
Texts are some of the fastest ways to send information; they’re read much faster and much more than emails, which explains why they’re used but they also have some cons.
They can get spammy.
The fact that they’re opened so quick also means they’ll be send as quickly as they’re sent. Imagine expecting an M-PESA message and getting a text from Tala instead………
Which brings me to, they’re not ALL sent by Safaricom. Most people think that just because they get promotional texts that Safaricom gave out their numbers. While it can be assumed, this isn’t true.
So where are they from?
The moment you visit your coffee shop and pay via M-PESA, you’ve basically given these guys your information which they can use for marketing purposes. This doesn’t mean don’t pay for your goods/services via M-PESA. Pris. Continue. But know that when you do, there exists the chance that you will get promotional texts.
You can also give out your information when trying to login to a restaurant’s ‘Free’ Wi-Fi.
But, the power is in your hands and you can stop these promotional texts.
Thanks to Safaricom, you can dial *100*5#, select the name of the service provider you don’t want to get messages from and viola, you’re good to go.
On Prepay, dial *100# (same works for Blaze Subscribers) and on Postpay dial *200#
Select Stop Promotional Messages
This will list all the Premium services you are subscribed to and you can also choose which service you want to be unsubscribed from. This can be anyone from your bank to restaurant to that bar that sends you texts in the middle of the week.
You can also choose to Activate Stopped Promotional texts. This can apply to those texts you used to receive but choose to unsubscribe from BUT you’re interested in getting them again.
