By Princewill Ekwujuru

The Chief Operating Officer of HotSauce Limited, a digital marketing firm in Nigeria, Mr. Dayo Adefila has urged licensed operators of mobile money to position their products as brands for better appeal to target customers.

Speaking at the just concluded fourth Mobile Money West Africa Summit, Adefila said it was commendable that most of the operators were 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 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 customers aspirations. Creating top of mind awareness about the services and their benefits is clearly important but as 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 socializing business and creating entertaining and engaging brands. According to him, customers are endeared to a humanized product or service that offers the opportunity to socialize, 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 says 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.