Impact of Online Advertising in Zimbabwe

The Internet is only one of many platforms on which an enterprise can publicise itself. At present Websites are competing for advertising attention with Print and Television advertising content. Let us seek answers for the following questions:

How much advertising material are web consumers exposed to?
This helps an enterprise formulate effective marketing strategies, which involve their website. DSTV, ZTV, Billboards, Clothing Publications (Labels), Movies, Food Courts, Specific Magazines, Newspapers, just to name a few.

Do webverts ™ (Website Adverts) work?
It is not a matter of just advertising, but an effectiveness measurement has to be put into place. Relevance, convenience, quantity, structure, of adverts should be considered.

What is so different about Webvertising ™?
Marketing gurus classify Advertising methods according to emotions nowadays – Fear and Love being the two extremes. We see this on Television and in Print media. Marketers often make consumers feel as though left out, if they do not acquire their product or service. This does not work on the internet, because they so freely move onto another website.

The most effective extreme is love based advertising, wherein marketers build a sense of belonging that allures consumers. The most common emotion to address on the internet is love, because every consumer wants to belong somewhere. I am a good example. Cabsonline.co.zw and Google.com have given me care and a personalised touch, hence will be loyal to them. We all have our websites we visit because of the loving aspect.

LURING WEB CONSUMERS
When it comes to “Zimboz” (as they are called), cyber strategies that work in the west or east do not apply. There are two issues concerning this subject – What Annoys them and How to promote your website.

What Annoys Zimbabweans?
Zimbabwean web consumers are serious and shrewd people when online. Without education, they can filter SPAM, POP-Ups, and other JUNK MAIL. Anything in these lines will not be tolerated. They value their space and freedom on the Web, to the extent of dismissing any form of deemed violation, whether valuable promotional material or not. My advice to enterprises that want to deploy POP-UP strategies is being very careful. When I worked as a Systems Administrator in a Printing company, I noticed how my network clients so often expressed their irritation in regards to SPAM (annoying email from unknown senders) and POP-Ups (Webverts that flash onto your screen after a web page is opened).

How to attract Zimbabweans
How then, do we attract Zimbabwean web consumers? Try the following:
 Promotions that have incentives.
 Through search engines.
 Advertising on other websites.
 Offline – Build Web oriented marketing strategies that are applicable in brick and mortar set ups. Examples are given in the Examples.co.zw chapter.

Property Websites in Zimbabwe, and Opportunities Available

Database Driven
Most of them are database driven, making it difficult for each entry to be found by search engines like google.com. Most use Cold Fusion, a technology not easily accessible by Google scripts. Google uses Perl. The difference is that Perl dumps information on every query (Client Driven), yet Cold Fusion keeps everything on the server on which the query is being requested (Server Driven).

What has influence these web publications
• Mindsets
o People only read from newspaper classifieds only.
o Who would want to invest in a vibrant website?
o It’s Zimbabwe anywhere!
• Lack of understanding of marketing in cyberspace.
• More of a presence issue, for corporate image issue.

The Technologies Used
Most of the websites were developed by WebDev and Design@7. WedDev is strong on Wed Development (the Database side), hence their sites have that orientation. Design@7 is strong with Graphics, hence their sites have that orientation. Some other sites were developed by small companies, which seem not to understand websites or Internet at all.

Opportunities

What is not fully utilised • Titles – Search Engines maximise on website titles. If you search “real estate in Zimbabwe, or homes, or property” with Google, the results will not immediately produce the above websites.
• Newsletters – Only one website had a newsletter link, where one could sign up for a newsletter. It has been two weeks now, I am still waiting for the newsletter.
• News and Information – Only one website has Newsflashes, but only has one story. Zimbabweans love news. They go on the Internet to look for news of anything, especially Obsessives and Bare Necessities, which are the two target audiences.
• Photography – Each website poorly captivates the properties in question. Their photography is very insufficient

What do consumers want?I believe that the above websites are not really addressing what the consumers want, and some are underutilising their tools.

• Target consumer groups should be understood. There are only two target groups – Obsessives and Bare Necessities. I am an Obsessive, I just want to be notified or given information in good time, of properties available, preferably earlier than other people. Learn how these tow behave.
• Sufficient information to make a decision.
• Seeing the beauty of the property (or worth), commensurate the price. Consumers want to feel good about each transaction.
• A non-technical website.

Effective Business Communication through Websites

In these times of challenging economic conditions, businesses are being forced to find alternative means of communicating with stakeholders, especially customers. On the other hand, the subjects of Internet and websites are no longer painful ones as they were a few years ago. The distance between the consumer and the company is now being made shorter through websites, as more businesses in Zimbabwe are launching their businesses, products, and services on the “.CO.ZW” cyber landscape.

Reaching customers, knowing their concerns over products or services provided, and ensuring return business is are the core concerns of any company, and all Business Communication is channeled into various media in order to achieve this. Without struggling for recognition or dominance, the Internet has become the fastest growing and most effective delivery channel for all Business Communication in the World, and Zimbabwe has not been an exception. Marketing, Product Delivery, and Public Relations are the three most important functions that guarantee business success in the future. To facilitate the achievement of this purpose, websites are the easiest and most cost effective platform to deploy these strategies to ensure success.

For businesses to be effective in the communication – Marketing, Public Relations, Customer Relationship Management, and Product/Service delivery, websites have to be at the core of their strategies. A website has the ability to transform a company’s Marketing Strategies, as it is the fastest platform to deploy promotions and launch products. With a good website, revenues can surge and market share increase in a short space of time. At present it is very difficult to measure a brand’s market share in a short space of time using other media, other than websites. With a website, you are guaranteed enough statistics that help in market share analysis. A company is able to know how consumers behave, and how long they spend on the Internet, so as to formulate effective marketing communication strategies. Marketing on the Internet is often referred to as Online or Web Marketing. We have gone past this stage of ignorance, as the Internet or Website, is an integral part of the “4Ps” of Marketing.

The opportunity cost of not having a website puts a huge dent on effective business communication, resulting in loss of business, inability to acquire market intelligence, decrease in sales revenue, and eventually closure of business. There are reputable companies which are suffering from the pricing blitz only because they did not maximize on the potential of their brands on the internet.

Examples of Effective Business Communication through Websites in Zimbabwe, is in the Retail and Banking Industries. The year, 2007 has brought in some improvements on the “.CO.ZW” cyberspace, as a few companies are now offering Online Transactions from their websites. Several Chain Supermarkets and Hardware Stores now have online shopping facilities.

Effective Business Communication through Websites or Internet can also be achieved through online communities such as eGroups, which are consumer discussion groups, and Newsletters, published weekly or monthly. Examples of these include the Unleash Greatness, a newsletter published by Innov8 – The Motivation Company, and “Youth Encounter Online”, an eGroup for Youth Encounter Zimbabwe.

This article was published in the Financial Gazzette in Zimbabwe, on the 20th of September, 2007.