Clickatell Offers Mobile Marketing Solutions as South Africa Prepares for Soccer Spectacular 2010

Redwood City, CA & Cape Town, South Africa: June 2, 2010 – As South Africa prepares for the arrival of millions expected to enjoy the games opening next week, businesses are finding new ways to offer services to customers, especially via mobile messaging. As athletes, fans, tourists, and residents prepare for the highly anticipated games, one thing is certain – everyone will be carrying a cell phone – everywhere they go. And, if businesses connect with their customers via real-time mobile messaging, their phones can act as their “guide” for services such as hotel and rental car services, credit card POS alerts, airline updates, and news on which teams are winning and losing.

“South African Airways, CNN, Metropolitan, Zipcar, Continental Airlines, HotelZone, Safarinow, and Fairmont Hotel are just a few examples of customers using Clickatell SMS to reach prospects, alert customers, inform readers, provide loyalty points, and offer on the spot services,” said Clickatell CEO Pieter de Villiers. “Businesses adding mobile messaging as an innovative marketing channel find that they can initiate immediate connections with customers at a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing such as physical mailings and broad advertising campaigns. Mobile experts abroad continue to tout SMS as the prevailing mobile channel to reach all kinds of people, all around the world.”

People are benefiting from the ability to use their mobile phone to transact, receive banking alerts, record travel information, book reservations, and more as they travel. It’s no surprise that large and small businesses are connecting with customers and prospects on a daily, and often even hourly basis, via mobile messaging.

According to global analyst firm Frost & Sullivan, “Mobile messaging services lend themselves well to multiple use cases and serve a wide range of communication, entertainment and informational requirements. Simplicity (ease of use), ubiquity, cost-effectiveness, suitability in both consumer and enterprise communication environments are some reasons for the continued popularity of mobile messaging services – particularly SMS.”

The adoption of SMS by the travel, tourism and hospitality industries are at the forefront of innovative communications, able to target customers, anytime, anywhere. Mobile messaging enhances customer service and makes information more accessible, especially as people count on their handy mobile phone for information, including travel updates, luggage assistance, information alerts, improved customer service, car rentals, parking assistance, directions, directory services, health alerts, safety services, and more.

To illustrate existing SMS success programs, as well as to help businesses get started today, Clickatell has published its latest guide for businesses, “101 Uses of Mobile Messaging in the Travel, Tourism & Hospitality Industries.” Read more about how SMS is used to create business value: download the guide today.

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About Clickatell
Clickatell enables businesses, governments and communities to leverage the ubiquity of mobile messaging to inform, alert, notify, transact, interact and share information. Delivering mobile messaging solutions since 2000, Clickatell is a global leader in mobile communications specializing in SMS messaging as a services across 815+ mobile networks in 220+ countries, Clickatell serves 12,000+ customers including many of the Fortune 500, leading governments and communities globally.