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Transcript of Sms Country Project
Brand Track Research to Identify the Strategic Direction of SMS Country
Introduction to the Company
SMS Country:
SMS Country is among the leaders in the Application 2 Mobile - Short
Messaging Service (SMS) domain. We deliver SMS to about 550 networks in
over 200+ countries. Our SMS Gateway is designed to integrate seamlessly
into any existing software system, application or web-site.
SMS Country has been in business for the past 7 years and have over
500,000 registered online users and over 2000 enterprises using our tools
and services. The company has an industry standard infrastructure and a
dedicated support team to ensure 24 x 7 hassle free services to all its
customers. We have physical presence (offices and local staff) in India, UAE,
Hong Kong and Singapore.
SMS Country caters to the market segment who wish to send SMS from an
internet connected PC (Internet to Person - I2P) or any software application
(Application to Person - A2P). These could include -
Individuals or Retail consumers
Enterprises or Corporate consumers
Software / Internet Applications
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Brand Track Research to Identify the Strategic Direction of SMS Country
The ease of use, ease of integration, zero start-up costs, feed-back through
delivery reports, customized bulk push etc. are features that benefit our users
immensely.
Most of the retail customers use SMS Country's website to compose and send
SMS. They can also use our custom plug-ins, certified by Microsoft, to extend
the capabilities of their desktop applications like MS Excel and MS Outlook to
send SMS. For example, a stock broker can use the Excel plug-in to push
stock alerts to all his registered customers.
Majority of our corporate customers use the API exposed by SMS Country for
their business needs without investing in any expensive hardware or software.
For example, a Cement manufacturer was using expensive tracking
equipment to ensure that his shipments were reaching the designated
resellers without any pilferage or diversion. This process did not keep the
designated resellers in the loop and the resulting improvements were not
significant. The manufacturer used the power of mobile phone penetration
and added the capability of sending SMS using the SMS Country Gateway
and started sending SMS notifications with all the shipment details to his
resellers. This proved to be a cheap and effective solution for his business
need. The manufacturer has now added the SMS notification module to all his
plants across India.
Management Team:
Satya Kalyan Yerramsetti - Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer:
A visionary to the core, Satya provides the driving force for SMS Country's
young, high spirited and motivated team in achieving great heights.
Satya is a serial entrepreneur. During the Dotcom days, he started an online
examination portal, A2Zexams, the first of its kind at that time. He then
managed the Indian Operations of a UK based calling card company,
Ekspertek. This experience and knowledge in the Internet as well as the
Telecom domain was instrumental in carving out the current business of SMS
Country.
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Brand Track Research to Identify the Strategic Direction of SMS Country
He spends considerable time researching on the internet and is a true
believer in the FREE spirit of the Internet (everything on the internet should be
free).
Satya holds a Masters in Management degree from University of Western
Sydney, NSW, Australia and a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering
from Osmania University, Hyderabad.
Raju Kalluri - Co-founder and Director, Technology:
With his quick grasp, expertise and knowledge in the ever-growing telecom
domain, Raju plays a key role in defining SMS Country's technology strategies
and product development in the areas of internet and mobile communications.
Prior to SMS Country, Raju worked with Taruni Techno vision and was
instrumental in developing the Short Messaging Server software which was
leased out to TATA Cellular (now Idea Cellular). He also worked with a couple
of technology companies in the IVR, email and fax space.
Raju holds a bachelor's degree in Civil Engineer from Andhra University. His
hobbies include watching movies (language no bar) and writing comedy
tracks for Telugu movies.
Sanyog Jain - Chief Operating Officer:
Sanyog takes care of the day to day operations of SMS Country apart from
participating in business strategy planning and development. He is also
responsible for all public relations, corporate communication, marketing and
branding activities.
Sanyog joins us from Cognizant Technology Solutions, a highly successful IT
Services company. In six years with Cognizant, Sanyog has played several
important roles in India and UK, key ones being within the Strategic Pursuits
Team and UK Relationship Management team. Prior to that, Sanyog worked
as Maintenance Engineer for a 3X30MW captive power plant for Tata Steel at
Jamshedpur.
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Brand Track Research to Identify the Strategic Direction of SMS Country
Sanyog completed his MBA from IIM Calcutta and holds a Mechanical
Engineering degree from IIT Roorkee. He is an armchair sports enthusiast
and has an interest in development economics.
Ravindra Kumar Yerramsetti - Chief Commercial Officer:
Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Calcutta and BITS, Pilani (Electrical &
Electronics Engineering) alumnus, Ravindra is the techno-commercial man
behind SMS Country. He is responsible for developing and executing SMS
Country's revenue strategy.
Prior to SMS Country, Ravindra worked with Tata Steel in their prestigious
Hot Strip Mill, taking care of the maintenance of High Voltage Equipment. He
also worked with Kotak Mahindra Group in their Securities and Wealth
Management Divisions, handling the investment advisory at Hyderabad and
Kolkata.
Ravindra likes reading books and watching news and sports channels. He is a
big fan of Harry Potter, J.R.R. Tolkein, Sachin Tendulkar, "Super Star"
Rajanikanth to name a few.
Ramesh Thimmana - Chief Technology Officer:
Ramesh's rich and varied experience in a host of technologies and the ability
to work with teams of different sizes, spread across different continents
makes him the right man to lead the Technology Team at SMS Country.
Providing the interface between the Customers and the Technologists, he
ensures the timely development and delivery of products and software. His
attitude to Software development can be summed up as "Be loyal to your
deliveries, everything else will take care of itself!"
Ramesh holds a Bachelors of Engineering - Honors (E&E) degree from BITS,
Pilani. Prior to SMS Country, he spent over eight years consulting in the City
of London for various Investment Banks and Financial Institutions like
Deutsche Bank, Citibank, Barclays Capital, BNP Paribas, and Reuters. He's
also spent a short but valuable time at Party Gaming, one of the biggest
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Brand Track Research to Identify the Strategic Direction of SMS Country
online gaming companies in the world, developing their first ever Mobile
product for the European market.
Ramesh has a keen interest in the economics of football clubs and is an avid
follower of the English and Spanish leagues.
Y. Krishna Murthy - Director, Personnel & Administration:
A post graduate in Industrial Psychology, YK Sir handles the softer side of
SMS Country. Apart from the overall administration, he also takes care of the
HR initiatives of the company like recruitment, training and other such related
activities.
Spending over 30 years in the corporate sector, YK Sir has acquired expertise
in Profit-Centre Management, Project Management, and Corporate Strategic
Planning and HR areas. Prior to SMS Country, he worked in very senior roles
at a host of Companies, both in India and abroad.
He held prominent positions in professional bodies such as President of
Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Trades Association (RATA), Mumbai; Vice-
President of All India Air-conditioning and Refrigeration Association
(AIACRA), Delhi; and Member of Raw Material Sub-Committee of CII,
Mumbai.
He had also been a visiting faculty at Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management
Studies - Mumbai, Mumbai Management Association and Mumbai
Productivity Council.
He is an antiques collector and spends most of his free time hunting for the
antiques.
Board of Directors
Subba Rao Yerramsetti - Executive Chairman:
Apart from being an angel investor in SMS Country, Mr. Subba Rao brings to
this fast expanding high tech field his hard earned experience and business
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acumen. Today, his humanistic approach and business vision guide the
growth of SMS Country.
Mr. Subba Rao began his career in the sales wing of Aries Agro Industries, a
micro-nutrient company and went on to head the Sales & Marketing division.
He then started out on the entrepreneur trial and established an Agro-
Chemical distribution company in Andhra Pradesh with about 600 employees
and 11 offices spread across Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Karnataka and
Orissa.
He also has interests in varied fields spanning FMCG distribution, Telecom
distribution, Micro Financing business, Aqua culture, Infrastructure ventures
etc.
Sekhar Rao - Non-Executive Director:
Sekhar Rao is currently the Chief Operating Officer, India at MACH, a leading
clearing and settlement partner for mobile based transactions. As COO, he
has responsibility for Operations, Business Development, Marketing & Sales,
Client Support and Resource Management.
Sekhar has rich experience in Information Technology, Profit-Centre
Management, Strategic Planning and Marketing & Sales. Before joining
MACH, Sekhar was at Quillis Infotech Pvt. Ltd, an American IT Company in
India, as Managing Director. Prior to this Sekhar had held very senior and
responsible positions both in Private and Public sector corporations in India.
His expertise includes turnaround strategies, identifying and converting big
opportunities along with Domain and Operational Knowledge of several
Verticals.
Sekhar holds a Bachelor Degree of Technology (B Tech) in Chemical
Engineering from Osmania University, India and AMP (Advanced
Management Programmer) from The Indian Institute of Management (IIM),
Bangalore.
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Brand Track Research to Identify the Strategic Direction of SMS Country
Partial list of Clients:
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Brand Track Research to Identify the Strategic Direction of SMS Country
SMS COUNTRY IN NEWS:
Eenadu (Telugu)( 02 august 2009 ) Sunday edition
Koncham Seva Koncham Vyaparam
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Brand Track Research to Identify the Strategic Direction of SMS Country
Andhra Jyothi (Telugu) career-page
Tapana + Nuthanathvam = Vijayam4
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Brand Track Research to Identify the Strategic Direction of SMS Country
BUSINESS INDIA (19-October-2008)
Country for Jain
Thirty-five-year-old Sanyog Jain started in the
mobile advertising of SMSCountry Networks, an
Internet infrastructure solutions company. An IITian
and IIM-Kolkata alumnus, he worked with IT
company Cognizant Technology Solutions for four
years in the UK.
COSTA RICA TECHNOLOGY INSIGHT
2008 ( March 6-7, 2008 )
As part of the Indian Delegation, SMSCountry
participated in the Costa Rica Technology Insight
2008, one of the premier communication and
information technology event of the Central
American region. During the course of these two
days, we have interacted with a large number of
individuals and enterprise customers. They helped
us understand the potential of the Central America
as a market, the existing practices and the local
pricing models. We are now focusing our efforts in
catering to this market by forging ties with local
companies and telecom operators.
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Brand Track Research to Identify the Strategic Direction of SMS Country
Hindustan Times ( New Delhi, March 10, 2008 )
Just click 160by2.com and send free SMS!
"On one side were users who wanted free SMS and
on the other side were brands and media companies
trying to reach these consumers. Initially we ignored
them but as the number increased, we realized that
there was a genuine opportunity here, waiting to be
exploited," said Satya Kalyan Yerramsetti, CEO,
SMSCountry Networks Pvt. Ltd.
THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS.com ( 19-Oct-2007 )
Hotmail rewrote the rules of communication via the
internet in 1997 by introducing free personal email.
Taking the cue, SMS Country Networks Pvt. Ltd has
launched a free personal SMS service through its
website www.160by2.com.
THE HINDU ( 14-July-2007 )
160by2.com to offer free SMS
Explaining how SMS can be offered free of cost, Mr.
Ravindra says half the screen of any mobile phone
can be offered for advertisements. Any standard
SMS has 160 characters. If 80 characters are left for
the user, the remaining 80 characters can be
devoted for the ad space.
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Brand Track Research to Identify the Strategic Direction of SMS Country
Andhrajyothy ( 28-June-2007 )
Nowadays youth cannot spend a day or even a half-
day without using their mobile. And, even most of
them use SMS service more than their talk-time. But
it's a costly affair. For every SMS one has to spend
a minimum of 50p, which comes up to almost Rs
250-350 per month. Now you can save all this
money with the Free SMS service from 160by2.
Indian Express ( 21-June-2007 )
An SMS with a scrolling ad! SMSCountry Networks
Private Limited, which is already in the business of
sending bulk SMSs across the globe, has come up
with the novel venture.
The Economic Times (20-June-2007)
The catch being the size of the SMS has been fixed
by the good folk at 160by2.com at 80 characters.
According to Venus Kumar, manager, business
development, "Research shows that 85%-90% of
the SMS messages are less than 80 characters
long. Hence, 80 characters for the user and 80 for
advertisers".
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Brand Track Research to Identify the Strategic Direction of SMS Country
Indian Express (22-May-2007)
The bulk SMS facility can be utilized by schools to
inform parents about meetings. Individuals can use
this service to inform about a marriage or any event
to relatives and friends in a short time.
Andhra Jyothy (17-May-2007)
With SMSCountry’s Bulk SMS service you can
easily send an SMS to your colleagues and friends
anywhere in the world. Especially in colleges and
offices you can get huge amounts of work done with
minimal human resources.
INDIASOFT 2007 (10-January-2007)
International IT Exhibition & Conference. Stop
clicking away your puny mobile keyboard for
messages and shift to the mouse instead.
SMSCountry a new PC to Mobile software promises
bulk smsing over 1,000 SMSs at just one click of the
mouse.
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Brand Track Research to Identify the Strategic Direction of SMS Country
TIMES OF INDIA (09-October-2005)
News Article by Times Of India talking about the
power of Excel Tool and future products that
SMSCountry plans to Launch.
SMS via MS Outlook
Features include messaging multiple recipients
using Outlook address book.
-Sunitha Natti ( Thursday,
July 14, 2005 )
HYDERABAD: SMSCountry, a Hyderabad-based
two-way text messaging application developer, in
December 2004, commercially launched a slew of
mobile office tools that link the desktop to mobile
phone for SMS-ing, no matter wherever you are in
the world.
Indiantelevision.com's Media, Advertising &
Marketing Watch (04 December 2004)
SMSCountry launches pc2Mobile SMS service at Rs
1.49 - Indiantelevision.com Team
BANGALORE: Short messaging portal
SMSCountry.com has launched internet based SMS
service called PC2Mobile. The service costs Rs.1.49
per message anywhere in the world.
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Brand Track Research to Identify the Strategic Direction of SMS Country
Business Standard ( 05-November-2004 )
SMSCountry is aiming big time
SMSCountry.com a Hyderabad based company, is
all set to take its innovative messaging platform big
time.
Deccan Herald (05-November-2004)
SMS through net for just Rs.1.49/-
The facility is expected to be a boon for those who
want to send international SMSs...
Bangaloreit.com Daily newsletter ( 3rd-November-
2004 )
Stalls you must not miss at BANGALOREIT.COM
Here is a list of some stalls, which are the center of
attraction at IT.com here is our list of "most
happening" stalls at the pavilions:..
Awards/Achievements:
SMS Country Networks has been a leader in the SMS messaging solutions
segment. We have been honored with numerous prestigious awards that
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Brand Track Research to Identify the Strategic Direction of SMS Country
reflect our commitment to servicing our customers and an uncompromising
attitude when it comes to maintaining the highest standards. Listed below are
some of the awards and achievements we have earned.
Deloitte Fast 500 Asia Pacific
Recognized by Deloitte as among the 500 fastest growing technology
companies in Asia Pacific for 2008.
SMS Country Networks was 208th in the list of 500
Deloitte Fast 50 – India
Recognized as among the 50 fastest growing technology companies in
India by Deloitte for the year 2008.
SMS Country Networks was 25th in the list.
Best Website of the Year 2008
Awarded by Metrix Labs as the best website of the year 2008 in the
ISP/Telecom category
Winners in other categories include Google, Cricinfo, Naukri, Zapak
and Orkut.
Certified Microsoft Vendor
SMS Country’s Microsoft excel plugin software certified by Microsoft Inc. as a
genuine value added innovation to their software and listed in the Microsoft
marketplace.
Bulk SMS Software’s:
SMS Country's Bulk SMS Gateway can be integrated seamlessly into your
existing SMS messaging system or application through Bulk SMS software(s)
like MS Excel Plugin, SMS APIs and Desktop SMS software. This allows
developers and integrators access to a secure, reliable, high capacity SMS
messaging platform. Developers can build and deploy mobile data
applications through several SMS APIs, using generic protocols.
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Brand Track Research to Identify the Strategic Direction of SMS Country
SMS Country has improved bulk SMS software. It releases the versions of MS
Excel and API Plugins for covering more features on sending SMS in an easy
way.
Microsoft Excel SMS Plugin
Bulk SMS APIs (Application Programming
Interface)
Bulk SMS Desktop Software
Bulk SMS APIs - Application Programming Interface for Automated
Messaging
An Application Programming Interface (SMS APIs) is one way to connect to
SMS Country's Core Messaging Platform. SMS API provides an easy,
efficient and flexible option to integrate with your website / application,
facilitating auto-generated SMS Text messages to be delivered to the
intended recipient’s mobile phones. This method does not require SMS
Country's Software Platform at your Enterprise/Data Center site.
The company offers two different packages of SMS APIs to the clients.
How much currently charging for bulk SMS APIs:
Free Setup inclusive of Sender Names.
This account gives 24x7 (24-hour 365-days) connectivity with the operator
SMSCountry now gives the option of One-Week trial period for testing our
SMS API Service.
SMS Gateway Connectivity - HTTP/S API
HTTP - Hyper Text Transfer Protocol
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Brand Track Research to Identify the Strategic Direction of SMS Country
HTTPS - Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure Socket Layer
Automated Text SMS: Using this feature you can satisfy your customers with
quick transfer of information. This tool is of great help to deliver automated
text SMS regarding Doctor Appointment Reminders, Payment Notifications,
Shipment Delivery Messages, and Bank Transactions over and above a limit
set by the customer etc.
Language SMS: Send SMS in the language of your choice be it Arabic,
Chinese, Urdu, Hindi, Spanish, French, Greek, Russian etc.
WAP Push SMS: This feature enables you to send an SMS that contains web
link, which can take your Customer to MMS-Content on your Web Server.
He/she can visit a web page; download a software, etc. just by clicking the
URL in the mobile.
Picture messages: Picture messages are small images that can be used on
mobile phones as a background image or screensaver. Small black and white
picture messages can be sent through SMS. Colored picture messages
cannot be sent using SMS because they have huge size.
Flash SMS: Flash SMS appears on the recipient's mobile but won't get stored
in the Inbox, unless he or she saves. The user will benefit by just having a
look at the information he/she wants, and there is no question of user
inconvenience. This can be used for advertising purposes for example:
opening of your new branch, your company reaching a land mark
achievement etc.
Unique Features of SMSCountry's HTTP API -
Our HTTP API is one of the best and the fastest ways to deliver SMS
Text messages across the globe.
You can send any type of SMS of your choice and need; let it be a
normal text message, flash message, ring tones, logos and picture
messages.
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Brand Track Research to Identify the Strategic Direction of SMS Country
Our gateway can be easily accessed by submitting values to the HTTP
API Server by the POST or GET method.
You can define your own unique Sender Identification.
You can create and manage sub-accounts with administrative rights
etc.
We also provide you Dynamic Delivery Reports with call Back Script
Option enabled. With this option, we will send Deliver Reports directly
to the URL specified by you. You can also access Delivery Reports
through our website.
You can now also integrate our services into your applications using our Web
Service (SOAP).
SMSCountry now gives you the option of One-Week trial period for testing our
API Service.
Email2SMS Gateway Connectivity - SMTP API
SMTP - Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
With SMSCountry's SMTP API you can easily send SMS to any mobile across
the globe just by sending a simple Email. Our SMTP API gateway connectivity
(also refer Email2SMS) enables you to send emails to our gateway, and we
deliver your email as SMS to mobiles instantaneously.
We also give you the option of Two-Way messaging. With this the mobile
recipients can send SMS replies, which will be routed back to you via email or
SMS.
Using SMTP SMS API, you can send Plain Text & and Language (Unicode)
SMS Text messages.
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Brand Track Research to Identify the Strategic Direction of SMS Country
SMTP API is very useful to those who do not have a direct internet connection
but are connected to a mail server (like Outlook), which is connected to the
Internet. Server Maintenance Personnel, Network and Database
Administrators, Companies with firewall settings, Real Estate People,
Placement Consultancies, Corporate Managers to contact their Sales Team
on the move etc. could use this Email to SMS service best.
Note - Make sure your text message does not exceed 160 characters. If it
exceeds the limit, our system will send the first 160 characters as the
message and the remaining characters will not be included. In case of
Language SMS the character limit is 70 characters.
Setting up SMTP API: Configure the E-mail id(s) from which you want to
send the email. The default setting is the E-mail id you have provided during
the registration process. You can change/add more E-mail ids at any point of
time by clicking on the "Edit" link against "Email2SMS" on "My Account" page
(landing page after you logon to www.smscountry.com).
How SMTP API works – Format
User can send an email in the format recipient's mobile number.
Sender's [email protected] with the subject line as the User's
"username" and the body of the email containing the SMS Text message
Our server receives the E-mail, authenticates the User, extracts the recipients'
mobile numbers and the message and then sends out the SMS Text message
to all the intended recipients.
Destination E-mail address:
Subject: Testing Email2SMS
Body of the E-mail: Testing SMTP API feature provided by SMSCountry
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Brand Track Research to Identify the Strategic Direction of SMS Country
MS Gateway Connectivity - XML API
XML- Extensible Markup Language
Quite often the easiest way for two applications to speak to each other is via
XML. SMSCountry's XML API helps you connect to third party API's. We
support only XML over HTTP.
For SMS XML API, we offer the same benefits and features we offer in
our HTTP API.
Download the XML API Setup Document to know how to set up the XML API
and Send SMS, Receive Delivery Reports and Check Account Balance.
SMS Gateway Connectivity - COM OBJECT
COM - Component Object Model
With our SMSCountry's HTTP API you can interact with our SMS Gateway via
the HTTP or HTTPS communication protocol. Since not everybody is able or
willing to implement the whole HTTP(s) channel, we have made COM Object
that takes away all the hassles and makes the task much easier and more
beneficial.
Our COM Object API helps you by:
It exports a rich set of methods and definitions, and makes it easy for you to
integrate SMS sending facility into your programs or ASP pages.
You can send SMS Text messages in Visual Basic (both in early and late
binding mode) and in VBScript (late bound Visual Basic only).
Since the COM Object interface is completely documented, any COM enabled
programming language can be used.
For COM Object API, we offer the same benefits and features we offer in our
HTTP API.
Download the COM Object Help Document to learn how to Send SMS,
Receive Delivery Reports and Check Account Balance.
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SMS Gateway Connectivity - SMPP
SMPP - Short Message Peer to Peer
SMPP is an open standard industry messaging designed protocol to simplify
the integration of all data applications with wireless mobile networks/operators
such as CDMA, TDMA, GSM and PDC. This protocol is widely deployed in
the mobile Telecommunications industry.
SMSCountry supports connections via SMPP Protocol using the global SMPP
3.3 / 3.4 standards. Please visit www.smsforum.net for the SMPP 3.3 and
SMPP 3.4 specifications. Using this connectivity, a client can send large
volumes of SMS messages per month reliably. We offer exhaustive message
reports, balance information and more through a web interface.
Integrate SMSCountry's SMPP API into your Software/ Application and you
will be able to send:
Automated Text SMS: Using this feature you can satisfy your customers with
quick transfer of information. This tool is of great help to deliver automated
text SMS regarding Doctor Appointment Reminders, Payment Notifications,
Shipment Delivery Messages, and Bank Transactions over and above a limit
set by the customer etc.
Language SMS: Send SMS in the language of your choice be it Arabic,
Chinese, Urdu, Hindi, Spanish, French, Greek, Russian etc.
WAP Push SMS: This feature enables you to send an SMS that contains a
link on an internet which can take your Customer to MMS-Content on your
Web Server. He/she can visit a web page; download a software, etc. just by
clicking the URL in the mobile.
Ring tones: Ring tones can be a value added feature for your site, especially
if you are owner of an entertainment website. With SMS Country's HTTP API
you can automatically do this rather than doing it manually.
Picture messages: Picture messages are small images that can be used on
mobile phones as a background image or screensaver. Small black and white
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Brand Track Research to Identify the Strategic Direction of SMS Country
picture messages can be sent through SMS. Colored picture messages
cannot be sent using SMS because they have huge size.
Logos: You can send your own logo, which the mobile user can use as a
background image or screensaver. This way you can easily create brand
awareness that too in the customer's personal space i.e. his/her Mobile. If you
are a corporate head you can ask your employees to keep your company logo
on their mobiles.
Flash SMS: Flash SMS appears on the recipient's mobile but won't get stored
in the Inbox, unless he or she saves. The user will benefit by just having a
look at the information he/she wants, and there is no question of user
inconvenience. This can be used for advertising purposes for example:
opening of your new branch, your company reaching a land mark
achievement etc.
Setting up an SMPP Account
SMSCountry looks at a minimum volume commitment from the client in order
to maintain a live SMPP connectivity account. Also, the client needs to
undergo a SMPP compliance test as per parameters set by our technical
team before one can get the SMPP connectivity.
SMS Gateway Connectivity - Web Services
The World Wide Web is being used more for application-to-application
communication. The programmatic interfaces that are useful for performing
this task are referred to as Web services.
Web services define a standard means of communication or inter-operating
between different software applications, which run on a variety of platforms
and/or frameworks. They are of great use and even a necessity for sending
SMS from Internet or any software application because of their great inter-
operability and extensibility.
Their machine-process-able descriptions also made Web Services more
useful. By combining them in a loosely coupled way, one can easily achieve
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complex operations like - sending Flash SMS, Picture Messages and Ring
Tones.
Desktop SMS Software
Are you looking for a tool that
Saves the time and cost you spend logging into the website
Allows you send to GROUP SMS to your friends, employees.
Gives you the flexibility to send BULK SMS in just a single click
Easily operated right from your desktop.
Then, SMSCountry Desktop SMS Software is the right solution to all these
needs.
SMSCountry Desktop SMS Software is a comprehensive and powerful
desktop tool that enables you to send out SMS from your computer to mobile
phones across the world. You can send messages from the comfort of your
desktop window, all at the click of a button.
Some of the excellent features of our Desktop SMS software -
It allows sending SMS in your own language like Arabic, Chinese, Spanish,
French, Greek, Russian, Hindi, Tamil etc. using your language keyboard or
conversion software.
Our SMS-Excel Plug-in functionality is included in this software. You can
upload MS Excel Spreadsheets and simply send personal customized SMS
Text messages to all your customers. It also has Phonebook facility to store
all your contacts. You can also upload a Text file [notepad] having details of
your contacts into your Phonebook.
SMSCountry Bulk MS-Excel Plugin
SMSCountry SMS-Excel Plugin makes the task of sending Bulk SMS very
easy for our users. SMS-Excel Plugin seamlessly integrates with Microsoft
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Excel® and enables you to send SMS to mobile phones across the world from
your PC using Microsoft Excel.
Plan/Validity Lite Basic Premium
Life Time 10,000 60,000 1,20,000
One Year 2,000 12,000 24,000
6 Months 1200 8,000 16,000
3 Months 700 5,000 10,000
1 Month 250 - -
Per usage 10 - -
Free upto 10 SMS in a click - -
Excel Lite Features:
Rs.0 charge for upto 10 SMS sent in a single click.
Option to pay per usage or monthly subscription.
Allows sending maximum 160 characters in a click.
It allows users to send upto 500 SMS at a single click.
Users can view instant delivery reports for the SMS sent.
Excel Basic Features: All the features of Excel Lite-
It allows users to send upto 1,000 SMS at a single click.
Allows long SMS (more than 160 characters per message).
Flash SMS
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Excel Premium Features: All the features of Excel Basic
Allows users to send more than 1,000 SMS(s) at a single click (max.
SMS depends on the version of Excel)
Allows long SMS (more than 160 characters per message).
Language SMS
Features:
Email2SMS SMS2Email
Keywords Sub-Accounts
Mobile 2 Many Reminder SMS
Dynamic Delivery Reports Phone Book
Sender ID 2 Way SMS
Keyword/Two Way SMS:
Top of Form
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SMSCountry offers you a Two Way Messaging platform which allows you to
receive SMS, besides sending SMS. This allows you complete flexibility in
managing your incoming messages. You can modify/alter or delete these
received messages as per your need.
This facility is available to all our users registered with us. The Two-way SMS
feature works using a 'Keyword' as identifier of your messages. The Keyword
can be upto 4 characters. You can specify keywords (such as abbreviated
form of "Nick Name", "Brand Name" or "Company Name")
Bottom of Form
SMS Push URL Format:
http://domainname/location?
mobilenumber=XXXXX&message=XXXXX&receivedon=MM/DD/YY
HH:MM:SS AM/PM
Domain-name is user website domain (ex: www.160by2.com)
Location is page on user website that will read the parameters pushed by us.
(Ex: keywordresponse.php)
Mobile-number, message and receive don are parameters that we will push
user from our end
Sample URL that finally needs to provide us for integration:
Ex: - http://www.160by2.com/keywordresponse.php
Who can use our Two-way Service?
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Individuals staying out of India & want to stay in touch with friends/relatives in
India.
Any Business Owner who wants to Advertise & capture Interested responses
through Short/Long code.
Any Business who desires to use API to capture responses from their clients
directly.
Email to SMS:
With SMSCountry's "Email2SMS", you can easily send SMS to multiple
recipients from your mail account. This feature allows you to send Bulk SMS
from any E-mail Client/Application to any mobile phone across the globe. So,
you need not always logon to your SMSCountry account or stay connected to
the internet for sending SMS. This feature can be used for:
Sending Error/System Alerts automatically to a group of numbers, whenever
an event occurs (Server error/ down alert for Systems Engineers, ISPs etc.).
Users who do not have a direct internet connection but are connected to a
mail server (like Outlook), which is connected to the Internet.
Send messages/ job details to colleagues, field-based engineers and support
staff, which is away from the office (field force, agents, retailers etc.).
Share the latest information/ appointment reminders with clients and partners.
Note - Make sure user text message does not exceed 160 characters. If it
exceeds the limit, our system will send the first 160 characters as the
message and the remaining characters will not be included. In case of
Language SMS the character limit is 70 characters.
Mobile 2 Many:
Now, with our unique Mobile2Many feature, user can easily send bulk SMS to
contacts in his Phonebook from his mobile handset. Mobile2Many feature
enables user to send SMS to his Phonebook contacts without the need to visit
our website.
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This is especially useful for persons/businesses who -
Are on the move but need to send out an alert/news to their
Clients/Customers.
Are not connected to or do not have access to the internet.
Save on the costs of sending bulk SMS from their mobile phone,
particularly when on roaming.
How does Mobile2Many feature work?
Send a single SMS Text message to SMSCountry Gateway Number
(+919246356765) with the short name of your Group (Group ID) as the first
word in the message. As soon as our server receives the message, it is sent
across to all members in that particular Group.
What does a User need to do to use the Mobile2Many feature?
Configure your Mobile2Many settings: Log on to www.smscountry.com with
"Username" and "Password". On "My Account" page, go to "Mobile2Many
Settings". Set the mobile number from which you would send the SMS Text
message. The default setting is the mobile number you have entered during
the time of registration with SMSCountry. If you wish, you can change it at any
point of time by clicking on the "Edit" link.
Ensure you have created Groups and sorted your Contacts into these Groups
in your SMSCountry Phonebook.
Create a short name or Group ID for each Group in "Mobile2Many Settings",
so that you don't need to key in a long name when sending an SMS Text
message and also save on the SMS character count.
SMS 2 Email:
Our free "SMS2Email" feature allows you to send SMS Text as email (SMS
text email). Just send an SMS to our gateway number +919246356765 with
the recipient's email address as the first word of the SMS. SMS will then be
delivered to the recipient almost instantaneously via an email. Anyhow you
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have to bear the standard charges from your network operator for delivering
the SMS.
How SMS2Email Works
To send the email message - "Rahul, I will be late for the afternoon
meeting." to [email protected]
Simply send text...
"[email protected] Rahul, I will be late for the afternoon meeting." to
our Gateway number... +919246356765
and we will deliver this SMS via email to... [email protected]
SMSCountry Pricing and Coverage:
To Send SMS from SMSCountry, you need to recharge your account with a
certain 'Amount of money' and we would offer you an applicable discount for
that recharge. It is similar to recharging your mobile phone. We offer recharge
packs of various denominations, with each denomination of recharge having a
discount % associated with it.
The specific price per SMS would depend upon the country and network
where you wish to send the SMS. The specific per SMS price can be viewed
below :
No of
SMS
Price Per
SMS
Recharge
Pack
5000 0.15 INR 750 INR
10000 0.14 INR 1400 INR
25000 0.13 INR 3250 INR
50000 0.12 INR 6000 INR
75000 0.11 INR 8250 INR
100000 0.1 INR 10000 INR
250000 0.09 INR 22500 INR
500000 0.08 INR 40000 INR
750000 0.07 INR 52500 INR
1000000 0.06 INR 60000 INR
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Note: Service tax of 10.3% is applicable.
The recharge is valid for a period of One Month from the date of last recharge.
Product Information:
SMS History:
SMS (Short Messaging Service) was an accidental success that took nearly
everyone in the mobile industry by surprise. Few people predicted that this
hard of use service would take off. There was hardly any promotion for or
mention of SMS by network operators until after SMS started to be a
success. SMS advertising went from showing business people in suits
entering text messages to bright pink and yellow advertisements aimed at the
youth markets that adopted SMS Marketing.
SMS was the triumph of the consumer- every generation needs a technology
that it can adopt as its own to communicate with- and the text generation took
up SMS. Paradoxically, it was because SMS was so very difficult to use that
the young people said that they were going to overcome the man machine
interface and other issues and use the service anyway. The fact that the entry
barriers to learning the service were so high were an advantage because it
meant that parents and teachers and other adult authority figures were
unlikely and unable and unwilling to be able to use the service.
SMS is one of the few services in consumer history that has grown very fast
without corresponding decreases in pricing. Usually- even in the case of voice
mobile phones- price reductions in the cost of the phones and phone service
have led to increases in usage. Whilst these factors have helped to bring
younger people into the mobile market, the price of SMS itself stayed steady
because the networks were having trouble handling the volumes of messages
being sent and dared not reduce prices.
A whole new alphabet emerged because SMS messages took a long time to
enter and were quite abrupt as people attempted to say as much as possible
with as few keystrokes. Abbreviations such as “C U L8er” for “See you later”
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sprung up for timesaving and coolness. The use of “smileys” to reduce the
abruptness of the medium and to help indicate the mood of the person in a
way that was difficult with just text became popular.
The introduction of prepay mobile tariffs in which people could pay for their
airtime in advance and thereby control their mobile phone expenditure was
the catalyst that accelerated the take up of SMS. The network operators were
unable technically to bill prepay customers for the SMS they were using
because the links between the prepay platform and the billing system and the
SMS Centers were not in place. The network operators responded with
silence- the prepay literature did not mention SMS at all even though the
prepay phones supported the service. One thing that is certain is that in these
days with the Internet revolution to spread information, the young people will
identify loopholes like this. And they did. Suddenly, millions more SMS
messages were being sent- with some individual mobile phone subscriptions
accounting for thousands of SMS per month alone as they set up automated
message generators. Network operators worked with their platform suppliers
to try and sort this out and implement charging for SMS for prepay customers.
Meanwhile SMS incubated and spread and people were using it because it
cost nothing whereas carrying out the same transaction using voice clearly did
cost. Eventually after a few months the network operators finally got their act
together and managed to implement SMS charging for prepay users- such
that they could decrement the prepay credit by the cost of an SMS message
A mass SMS message distribution campaign was then typically sent out- such
that everyone that had used SMS received a text message informing them
that from a certain date, SMS would be charged for. This led to an immediate
and protracted decline in SMS usage to between 25% and 40% of the pre-
charging levels as people suddenly stopped using SMS or using it as much.
Then something interesting happened- the volume of SMS messages started
gradually increasing again and soon reached its pre-charging levels. SMS
volume growth has continued its upward growth ever since, fueled by simple
person to person messaging as people told each other how they were feeling
and what they were doing- information services and other operator led
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initiatives failed to interest the user community to any degree and never have
done. Whilst it was free, SMS had become an important part of the way that
young people communicated with each other in their daily life. SMS would
have taken off without this prepay factor because it was already being used
before that time- but it would never have taken off as quickly.
SMS growth continued its astonishing growth during the year 2000 in Europe,
a period of time when the mobile industry was trying to dictate the deployment
of WAP. Despite doing nearly nothing else of any benefit, WAP did at least
increase the attention that the mobile Internet received as people tried to work
out services that would appeal to the mobile phone users. Those companies
that survived the WAP debacle started to realize that it was SMS and not
WAP that had the addressable audience of users and the clearer business
case. Advertising and other services based on SMS started to be trialed as
companies realized that people who could use SMS for person to person
messaging would also be able to access SMS based commercial messages.
The next great success for SMS based services was ringtones. Nokia had
started its smart messaging protocol that was built on binary SMS rather than
the standard text SMS. Nokia had expected this technology to be used for
information services and over the air service profiling and it had languished for
years, until suddenly in the year 2000, it found its application- ringtones that
allow users to change the way their mobile phone rang. Because the network
operators were woefully inadequate and unable to offer the ringtone suppliers
fair and flexible revenue sharing, the service providers started using premium
rate Interactive Voice Response (IVR) voice platforms to trigger the
transmission of ringtones. The ringtones market soon became a billion dollar
market- and few of the network operators even offered services- this category
was dominated by independent service providers who advertised in
newspapers and magazines.
SMS was the triumph of the consumer- a grassroots revolution that the mobile
industry had next to nothing to do with and repeatedly reacted to. This is in
stark contrast to the top down technology and industry led approaches to
other non-voice services such as WAP. The industry can learn a lot from SMS
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as it tries to create other nonvoice services- it is no surprise that the only other
non-voice success- i-mode in Japan was also an unprecedented and
unexpected success. The mobile industry would do well to realize that
success for nonvoice involves setting the right environment to allow services
to succeed- ensuring everyone implements the same open standards in the
same ways, putting the right payment and micro billing technologies in place
and recognizing that it takes a while to build a critical mass of usage. The
mobile industry needs to realize that it can either delay the mobile Internet
revolution by refusing to cede control to the end user and application and
service development communities- or this will be taken away from it by the
markets by force. Either way, the nonvoice revolution will arrive- it is not a
question of whether, just when.
"Mobile" or "Cell"
What is correct: "mobile" phone or "cell" phone? Same thing; the word cell is
short for cellular and has been used since Bell Laboratories set up the first
wireless telephony system in 1947. It consisted of a network of low-powered
transmitters, each placed to cover a small region or cell. Commercial cell
phones were introduced in Chicago in 1978 and in Europe in 1981. If you're
surprised to learn that mobile telephony has been around so long, here's
another surprise: Bell Laboratories invented the videophone in 1927.
Numbers
Most numbers on a phone keypad have letters assigned to them. For
instance, the letters for the number 2 are a, b and c. But there are no letters
assigned to the numbers 1 and 0. These numbers remain unassigned
because they are so-called flag numbers, kept for special purposes such as
emergency or operator services. Previously, Q and Z were not included on the
keypad, meaning that you could not dial a word such as Quincy. Q is now
assigned to the number 7 and Z to number 9.
History of SMS Messaging:
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The history of SMS messaging started in the 1980s when telecommunication
experts started discussing the technical specifications of sending short
messages between mobile phones thru a network. This would be known later
as GSM services.
These technical discussions culminated in the sending of the first ever SMS
message over Vodafone GSM network in the United Kingdom on December
3, 1992. It was said that Neil Papworth, an engineer of Airwide Solutions, sent
the first SMS message from his personal computer to Richard Jarvis of
Vodafone. The message was a short and sweet "Merry Christmas".
This initial success was later followed in the succeeding year with the
successful deployment of SMS messaging services in Norway and UK. In its
early history, SMS messaging growth was very slow as GSM customers were
only sending 0.4 messages per month on the average. The reasons for the
slow growth were: billing fraud, inefficient charging setups, and non-existent
interoperability among the telecom networks.
When these initial problems were addressed, and with the efficient
implementation of pre-payment schemes, SMS messaging usage took off in
the year 1999. The teenagers were credited as early adopters of SMS
messaging followed by adults and business people.
It was now all history, SMS messaging was said to be the triumph of the
consumer. What started as a technology used only for alerting a mobile user
of a stored voice mail or technical applications such as telemetry, SMS
messaging is now used by all segments of the society.
The high learning curve in using the SMS messaging services spurred a new
form of SMS communication which gave rise to abbreviations and acronyms
to save time in typing the messages over a small keyboard. Curiously, most of
these abbreviations are understood by the majority of the population.
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Today, SMS messaging is not only a part of GSM but also available on other
networks like 3G. Unlike in its infancy years, SMS now is being used in a wide
range of applications: from ringing tones, to information services, American
Idol voting, and even fortune telling. Recently, businesses started using SMS
broadcasting thru the Internet for its marketing campaigns. Using web-based
SMS providers like www.clearsms.com, business owners must have
recognized the advantages of SMS over other mode of communications. SMS
messaging offers the fastest form of transmission; it can reach areas
unreachable by voice services; and at minimal costs.
In its 15-year history, SMS messaging has gone far and wide and deep.
Commercially, SMS is a massive industry worth over 80 billion dollars
globally. In the coming years, we should see other applications of SMS
messaging especially in the areas of business development and marketing.
When that happens, make sure your business is not left behind.
Free SMS Texting - Its Pros and Cons
Free SMS Texting services are everywhere these days. It seems like every
week a new online SMS texting service appears to get a share of the SMS
market. This sector has become VERY competitive over the past few years.
Here are some of the things that you need to know before you engage the
services of free online SMS texting.
Free SMS texting, as the name implies, is a free service for sending SMS
messages thru your PC and your Internet connection. The main reason why
this service is very attractive to most businesses is because it eliminates the
cost factor in sending text messages. It is free and you don't have to pay
anything, ever.
Sending SMS messages from your PC, also, has the added advantage of
quickly composing the text messages to your recipients because it is definitely
a lot faster to type your messages from your PC keyboard than from the tiny
keyboard of your mobile phone.
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But having it free has its disadvantages. Not all SMS text messages are
actually free. Some service providers charge the recipient some fees for
receiving the message. If you are using a free SMS texting service for your
business, make sure your partners or clients are not being charged for
receiving your text messages.
Almost all free SMS texting providers require you to register to avail of their
free texting services. Once you register your own mobile phone number and
the mobile phone numbers of your clients, you get spammed SMS messages
regularly. You can just imagine how frustrating it can be for you and your
clients to receive spam messages.
These free SMS services also do not provide for sending bulk SMS
messages. Even if some of them spam your mobile phones, they don't want
their services abused by other spammers as well. If you are sending a
promotional message to 1000 clients, using a free SMS service will take you
ages.
Finally, free SMS texting sites, are often overloaded so your messages get
delayed or remained undelivered. If you have a critical announcement to
make, you don't want to take the risk of your messages not being received by
your clients.
So, there you have it. Now that you've been given the highs and lows of free
SMS texting, the next step is up to you. For businesses serious enough to
reach new heights thru the use of SMS texting, taking the free option to SMS
texting may not be the best choice for you. Take this information and make
the best choice on your next texting campaign.
Sending Bulk SMS Made Simple
SMS, or text messaging, is constantly evolving. There is a wide array of SMS
services available, ranging from transferring funds, utility payments, sending
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love notes, receiving your daily horoscope, and a lot more. Text messaging is
proving to be very lucrative and this resulted to stiff competition among the
telecom companies. This free market competition benefited most of us since it
rewarded us with more widespread SMS text messaging platforms and
applications.
But have you tried sending bulk SMS thru your cellphone? If you were the
coach of a basketball team, and you need to announce the next practice
schedule, you will first create a group list in your cellphone, then retrieve each
player's mobile number from the phonebook and store it into the newly
created group. Of course, this is manageable for 12 players. No sweat here.
Let us take another scenario. You are the Club President for a dog training
club in your city and you have 50 members. All of their numbers are recorded
in your phonebook. If you need to invite them to attend a dog show, you just
create a group list, retrieve each member's number from the phonebook and
store it into the newly created group. Sending bulk SMS to 50 members will
take a little bit of time. This task, though not extremely difficult, takes a bit of
effort to complete.
Let us take our example to a grander scale. You are the owner of a
Montessori School and you need to send bulk SMS to the parents and
teachers of an impending storm scheduled to hit the land by the next morning.
If there were 350 parents and teachers, it will take you some time to do that. If
on another occasion, you only need to send to the 230 parents excluding the
teachers, you will create another group and extract the relevant numbers
again. Sending bulk SMS thru the cellphone is proving too burdensome as the
number of mobile phones increases.
Text messages do not always have to be sent from mobile phones. A variety
of options are available to the sender. Yahoo Messenger and AOL Instant
Messenger have options to send messages to cell phones, all for free. There
are also web-based applications, like Google Send to Phone, which allow you
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to send SMS messages to mobile phones in the U.S., but these are not
designed to send bulk SMS. Again, most of these sites provide free SMS
services.
If you have a need to send bulk sms to a group of people regularly, then your
only option is to go for web-based bulk sms providers. Aside from being
cheaper than sending messages from the cell phone, SMS transmissions are
extremely fast and reliable. Add into it the facility to import mobile phone
numbers from a text file and its scheduling function; subscribers get maximum
flexibility and ease of use. Since the computer keyboard is definitely faster
than the cellphone keypad, you get to accomplish tasks quicker, simpler and
easier.
Technology is constantly evolving, that is for sure, especially in the field of
SMS technology. Next time, when you need to send bulk SMS to your friends
to play team sports, think about how simple it would be to use a web-based
system to do the job faster and cheaper.
Bulk SMS - a Revolution of Mobile Phone Industry
Short Message Service or simply the SMS is
revolution of mobile phone industry. SMS are often called the Text Message.
SMS started to get huge popularity during the initial days of 21 century. After
seeing the rapid popularity of SMS, companies decided to do marketing of
their product through SMS. But since they are targeting a large mass to whom
they will start to campaign about their product. So it will be an irritable
situation to send SMS to the people individually. They started to think about
some tool by which they will be able to send the promotional SMS in bulk to
campaign about their product. Following this idea a new concept was
developed called ‘Bulk Short Message Service’ or the ‘Bulk SMS’.
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In this short article you will come to know about some basics of Bulk SMS, its
features, and some of its general information. At first you should know the
definition of ‘Bulk SMS’. In short ‘Bulk SMS’ is a special type of system by
which an institution or an organization becomes able send or receive a large
volume of SMS i.e. SMS in a bulk. That’s why this concept is known as the
‘Bulk SMS’. The Bulk SMS do follow a special channel of particular bandwidth
limitation. Delivery reports can also be gathered if the Bulk SMS sender
wishes to gather.
Now, followings are the some important features of Bulk SMS for you. The
most obvious and useful feature of Bulk SMS could be found from its name. A
single SMS could be sent to number of users using the concept of ‘Bulk SMS’.
The Bulk SMS sender could set the number of recipients. The number of
recipient may be set to 1 or to some other huge digit. A unique sender
Identification tag or ID Brand is generated for each and every user. Every time
the sender has to use that ID brand while sending Bulk SMS.
The group functionality is also an important feature of the ‘Bulk SMS’ service.
The reputed companies are using the ‘Bulk SMS’ system to promote their
product due to its low cost nature. It is seemed that the cost of
sending Bulk SMS in million is 20% to 30% less than the printed media
campaigning. The network coverage of these types of ‘Bulk SMS’ operator is
quite good and the network area is also very huge
Now some of the basic and common advantages of ‘Bulk SMS’ system for
you! Though this service has the biggest use in field of product promotion by
companies, though it can be used in some other purposes too. This system
can be used to send number of messages to the cellular phones of many
individuals at any instant. The other advantage is the low cost factor that is
mentioned already earlier in this article. These days bulk sms, SMS
Messaging to friends are becoming a favourite time pass to youth.
Now, if you want host a business and want to campaign your own product in
the mass you may go for the ‘Bulk SMS’ system because this is a latest
weapon in the field of business competition.
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Advantages of Bulk SMS:
A solo SMS can be forwarded to a number of users which is the most
valuable feature of the Bulk SMS. The number of beneficiary can be
determined by a sender. Highest number of receivers can be amplified to an
enormous digit number and can be limited to least single recipient. Unique
sender identification tag produced will be made available to each and every
user and the identical ID brand will be used by dispatcher while sending Bulk
SMS. The group of functionality of the Bulk SMS is another significant
attribute. Due to its little price tag, many alleged companies bring into play of
Bulk SMS for promoting their product. It is anticipated that you can set aside
up to 30 % of the full amount used up for printed media campaigning, with the
help of Bulk SMS. For distribution of Bulk SMS, it is extremely dependable
upon the network coverage, for good distribution of Bulk SMS. Bulk SMS used
for purpose like citation, directions, and promotional campaigns. For
distribution of a message to numerous number of mobile phone users
instantly, Bulk SMS is used. An additional major advantage of Bulk SMS is its
little price factor as affirmed earlier.
At the present time youths make use of SMS and Bulk SMS to friends as
much loved time pass. Bulk SMS method is the most up-to-date bludgeon
used in the cut-throat competition business, to crusade for your product in the
market.
The advantages of Bulk SMS in business are on the spot delivery of
messages, time cutback, price effectiveness, and immediate quantifiable
response from the recipients. The Bulk SMS can be dispersed without any
geographical restrictions with guaranteed delivery to the receiver. The user
gets a chance to subscribe on the meticulous website for text messages
connecting for specials and promotions. In Bulk SMS, to obtain a message it
does not require to be switched on the mobile unit and the user will get the
message when the unit is on air. The reply time for the Bulk SMS will be
within 48 hours following the user get the message, as the majority of the
mobile phone users use their phones most of the time and messages are
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tartan prior to deletion. The bulk SMS can drive to the recipients’ mobile
phones by the sender subsequent to typing the SMS text. A vital thing to be
paid attention is the number of characters used in a SMS need to be restricted
up to 160 characters for a single credit.
BulkSMS-Service.com is one of the leading Bulk SMS service providers in
India. Today’s requirement demands to communicate clearer, faster and
cheaper. Our bulk sms service meets the requirement in full. Visit
www.bulksms-service.com for exciting bulk sms packages.
COMPETITORS DETAILS:
1. INFINITY VENTURE:
(http://www.infinityventure.com/infinityI/aboutus.htm)
Founded in November 1999, Infinity is India's first institutionalized angel fund
which brought together Indian entrepreneurs and overseas entrepreneurs
together - to fuel growth of start ups in India. Infinity closed fund raising in
February 2000 and has invested in about 18 companies - mostly in Series A
or Seed round.
The core investment philosophy of Fund I has been -
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a) to invest in technology companies; be it services or product or internet
related companies
b) follow a research based methodology to identify potential investment areas
and understand emerging technologies/market;
c) generate deals proactively through vast network within the Indian and US
technology market and
d) and be very engaged with every portfolio company - by nominating a
person, either from the pool of Infinity advisors or Infinity Partner, Principal,
whose strengths best match the requirements of the portfolio company.
2. Silpi Soft solutions Pvt. Ltd.: (http://smssilpi.com/)
Silpi soft offers cost effective commercial applications in the modern
communication universe that is supported by robust technology and 24/7
technology support. We provide our users a magnificent solution for one - to –
one messaging, individual or personalized bulk SMS through its gateway,
ideally supporting any Text or Microsoft Excel files from your Desktop.
Our global data security standards offers a trusted environment, specializes
as a campaigner, assisting you as a quick communicator. Your Sale and
Advertising campaigns will strongly indicate a sense of customer support and
care.
Our Group Messaging feature has a high speed delivery with features like
annual scheduling; phone book upload and down load directly from the
desktop; and delivery status reports plus much more. Our focus is customer
centric and user friendly technology.
3. GupShup: (http://www.smsgupshup.com/)
GupShup is mobile group SMS service that allows users to create mobile
communities and broadcast messages to them. GupShup is growing rapidly
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with thousands of groups on topics such as finance, entertainment, lifestyle,
health, sports and technology.
The SMS GupShup platform is a simple, yet powerful, platform for building
communities. With over a million communities formed, SMS GupShup is
clearly a proven way to engage your customers, fans, employees etc. It
enables instant, 2-way communication and interaction with your customers on
the mobile medium. Communities are essential marketing tools for managing
the entire lifecycle of the customer relationship: from building awareness,
generating interest, initiating action, driving repeats to generating referrals.
The community can be either public or private. Public communities are ideal
for consumer brands that want to engage their customers and new prospects
to build loyalty drive repeat purchases and word-of-mouth referrals. Private
communities are ideal for enterprises to send special offers to existing
customers address support issues and send transactional messages.
4. ValueFirst: (http://www.vfirst.com/aboutus.php)
ValueFirst empowers its customers to communicate between varied
IT back-end systems and mobile phones using SMS Services.
ValueFirst provides a unique, end-to-end, global carrier-grade
mobile data service. Its mobile data service offering includes "plug
and play" application licensing and hosting. Employing a partnership
with Mobile operators and a clear focus on SMS mobile messaging.
Value First’s Mobile Messaging Platform is capable of delivering
SMS services to virtually any CDMA/GSM mobile handset.
ValueFirst combines signaling information from the mobile world
with innovative applications running concurrently on its own IT
applications platform and thereby pave the way for mission-critical
international messaging services.
Value Proposition:
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ValueFirst provides end-to-end mobile data services from back-end
integration to application hosting to dedicated connectivity with the
SMSC's of multiple GSM/CDMA operators in host of countries
ValueFirst understands the specific messaging requirements of its
customers and has a bouquet of services and products targeted at
the corporate, SMEs and the professionals
ValueFirst caters to a variety of messaging requirements of an
organization ranging from mobile marketing , intelligent pushing of
messages to intelligent processing of incoming SMS
WORK SCHEDULE
Work in our project was mainly divided into four phases
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Brand Track Research to Identify the Strategic Direction of SMS Country
PHASE A: GENERATING LEADS
In this phase we were told to generate leads from our natural market. I
collected names, phone number of most prospective clients. Then I divided
these data into different parts based on the business of the client. This helped
me doing need analysis of the client. I also collected some references from
those clients. Then I created database in which I recorded all the relevant
information about the clients.
PHASE B: TRAINING
PRODUCT TRAINING: A product training of 5 days was given at
SMSCountry Network Private Ltd. Bangalore Branch following topics was
discussed:
About SMSCountry Network Private Ltd.
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PHASE A
GENERATING LEADS
PHASE B
TRAINING
PHASE C
SELLING OF BULK SMS
AND SERVICES
PHASE D
WORKING ABOUT THE
PROJECT
PRODUCT TRAINING
INFORMATION ABOUT THE MARKET
Brand Track Research to Identify the Strategic Direction of SMS Country
What is the Bulk SMS is all about.
Selling Skills
Bulk SMS Market
Various Bulk SMS Products offered by SMSCountry Network Private
Ltd.
PHASE C: SELLING OF BULK SMS PRODUCTS OF SMSCOUNTRY
NETWORK PRIVATE LTD.
“Patient, Perseverance, Persistent, Professional”
These are the 4Ps which acts as the key words in unlocking any sales figure
Flow chart: Sales process
DATA BASE COLLECTION
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CALLING CUSTOMER
APPOINTMENT
CUSTOMER PROFILING
NEED ANALYSIS
ASSIGNING BEST PRODUCTS
FOLLOW UP
CLOSING THE DEAL
DOCUMENTATION
ACTUAL SALES
REFERALS
AFTER SALE FOLLOW UP
Database in my case comprised of mainly:
References from my own natural market
Secondary references
Due to the shortage of time I preferred to use cold calling as an option, since
the conversion ratio is known to be extremely high.
Customer profiling helped me in exploring the need & requirement of each
individual by having 100 forms as customer database. While profiling the
customers we emphasize on the following parameters:
Consultancy
Real Estates
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Education Institutes
Financial Institutions
Retail Outlets
The Process that I followed in the company for pitching the product to
the customer is as follows:
The questions which I would normally ask are:
1. Do you know about Bulk SMS?
2. Are you looking for any Bulk SMS Services i.e. Related to Promotion
and Advertisement?
3. If yes, then could we fix an appointment so that we could make you
aware of the various products that SMSCountry Network Private Ltd.
has to offer?
After fixing an appointment we would visit the prospective customers and
explain them about the product which would suite their requirements. Apart
from this while pitching for Bulk SMS Service we would show them a chart for
the comparison of various products which is as follows:
WE ARE HERE TO HELP YOU OUT
Three Most Important Questions:
Where Do I Target?
Will My Business Grow?
Will I Get Responses?
Need analysis: During need analysis we found as we move through different
stages in Business, our uses priorities changes.
Selling consists of three sub-phases in it. These are:
Information about the product
Convincing the customer
Finally closing the deal.
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During my job at SMS Country Network Pvt. Ltd. I met around 100 people for
selling in which I converted ten clients and fifteen are in process of the
company in the month of June.
LEARNING
LEARNINGS FROM TRAININGS
From SMS Country Training, I taught a lot about Bulk SMS, Bulk SMS
industry, different types of products, its features and benefits.
LESSONS & LEARNING’S FROM THE SELLING EXPERIENCE
Be patient : In Bulk SMS industry conversion ratio is normal. If you meet
100 people there may be a chance that you may not be able to convert
even a good number of customers, but by meeting 100 people you will
face 100 different situations which will enhance your skill of selling as well
as need analysis. Lastly, remember those 100 people can give you 1000
references.
Don’t sell like you buy: It is a faulty assumption that your prospects
respond similarly to the type of sales approach that works for you.
Treat Your Customers like Royalty to Gain Loyalty: Remember the rule
20% of the loyal customer gives you 80% of your total business.
Understand the difference between features and benefits of the product
Good sales people create and demonstrate strong value propositions for
why their clients will want to engage their services.
The best way to improve your win ratio is to stop bidding on stuff you can’t
win
Maintain ethics, service, and hard work towards the customer to build a
long lasting relationship to generate repeat sales.
Driving demand and building a solid, predictable sales pipeline is at the
very core of every sales effort.
The most successful sales professionals win more business by working
smart and carefully assessing the viability of each opportunity at the
beginning of the sales campaign.
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Value — perceived or real, personal or business — is the only thing that
separates one product or alternative from another
Sales are a numbers game, but in Bulk SMS sector the quality of client
from whom the sales is being generated do matter.
LESSIONS FROM DATA COLLECTION AND DATA ANALYSIS
For data collection we went to various people which helped us to get different
views of them about Bulk SMS Industry.
Data analysis helped us to gain confidence as this was our first project based
on primary data.
Data analysis helped us to know which techniques to be used.
MY ACHIEVEMENT: I sold Bulk SMS solution to ten clients in Bangalore
Research Literature
This research elicits the use of advance and modern techniques to map Brand
awareness amongst the target group, expectations and perceptions of
customer that determine the buying behavior.
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This research maps and portrays the following aspects:
Brand Awareness
Brand Associations
Customer Expectations
Customer Perception
Customer Preferences
Identification of Strategic Gap
Identification of Strategic Direction
Understanding Brand awareness in the lime light of competition and
identification of brand associations is of prime importance to build and sustain
a positive brand in the market.
Advises, on the various aspects which woo the customer into making
purchases identifying strongly with customer satisfaction which leads to
establishing of loyalty and competitive edge in the market
Identification of strategic gap and devising marketing and sales programs to
bridge it will significantly enhance the company’s market share, competitive
position and mindshare.
This research lays the foundation of framing a strategy to address the various
business aspects relating directly to the end customer.
Specific Stratified sampling technique was used to ensure a maximum
accuracy of the collected responses.
Purpose of the Project
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Brand Track Research to Identify the Strategic Direction of SMS Country
Aim: To determine the Strategic Direction of SMS Country Networks Pvt. Ltd.
Objective: To carry out actionable brand track research
Determine level of Brand Awareness in a competitive sphere
Map Brand Associations to elicit customer expectation and perception
Map Customers Preferences towards buying the product
Identify and determine the Strategic Gap
Research Actionable
Determine and craft Strategic direction
Scope and limitations
Our studies are mainly confined to Bangalore only so there may be
variation in consumer behavior due to geographical factor.
Research Design
Methodology
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Brand Awareness
Brand Association Mapping
Customers Preference Mapping
Identification of Strategic Gap
Brand Track Research to Identify the Strategic Direction of SMS Country
Type: Primary research
Nature: Qualitative Research
Questionnaire design
A combination of open and closed ended technique was used, which
also includes close ended maps for capturing better customer
responses.
Pilot Testing
The final questionnaire evolved after many stages of reformulating and
restructuring. A pilot test was conducted with a sample of 25
respondents prior to conducting the actual interviews. This was done
mainly to test the result orientation of questionnaire and know whether
the respondents interpreted the question as intended. Errors and
Confusing words were modified and certain explanations were added.
More questions were added to get the responses about the required
variables.
Likert Scaling:
Likert Scaling is a uni-dimensional scaling method. The basic steps in
developing a Likert or "Summative" scale:
1. Defining the Focus:
As in all scaling methods, the first step is to define what it is you are trying to
measure; Because this is a uni-dimensional scaling method, it is assumed
that this concept of measure is one-dimensional in nature. User might
operationalize the definition as an instruction to the people who are going to
create or generate the initial set of candidate items for his scale.
2. Generating the Items:
Next step is to create the set of potential scale items. These should be items
that can be rated on a 1-to-5 or 1-to-7 Disagree-Agree response scale.
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Sometimes you can create the items by yourself based on your intimate
understanding of the subject matter. But, more often than not, it's helpful to
engage a number of people in the item creation step. For instance, you might
use some form of brainstorming to create the items. It's desirable to have as
large a set of potential items as possible at this stage, about 80-100 would be
best.
3. Rating the Items. The next step is to have a group of judges rate the
items. Usually you would use a 1-to-5 rating scale where:
1. = strongly unfavorable to the concept
2. = somewhat unfavorable to the concept
3. = undecided
4. = somewhat favorable to the concept
5. = strongly favorable to the concept
4. Selecting the Items. The next step is to compute the inter-correlations
between all pairs of items, based on the ratings of the judges. In
making judgments about which items to retain for the final scale there
are several analyses one can do:
Throw out any items that have a low correlation with the total
(summed) score across all items
For each item, get the average rating for the top quarter of judges and the
bottom quarter. Then, do a t-test of the differences between the mean value
for the item for the top and bottom quarter judges.
Higher t-values mean that there is a greater difference between the
highest and lowest judges. In more practical terms, items with higher t-
values are better discriminators, so you want to keep these items. In
the end, you will have to use your judgment about which items are
most sensibly retained. You want a relatively small number of items on
your final scale (e.g., 10-15) and you want them to have high Item-
Total correlations and high discrimination (e.g., high t-values).
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5. Administering the Scale. Now, we are ready to use your Likert scale.
Each respondent is asked to rate each item on some response scale.
For instance, they could rate each item on a 1-to-5 response scale
where:
1. = strongly disagree
2. = disagree
3. = undecided
4. = agree
5. = strongly agree
The final score for the respondent on the scale is the sum of their
ratings for all of the items (this is why this is sometimes called a "summated"
scale). On some scales, you will have items that are reversed in meaning
from the overall direction of the scale. These are called reversal items. You
will need to reverse the response value for each of these items before
summing for the total. That is, if the respondent gave a 1, you make it a 5; if
they gave a 2 you make it a 4; 3 = 3; 4 = 2; and, 5 = 1.
Data Collection
Nature of Data: Primary Data
Source:
Visit to branches of different companies: We visited different branches of
different companies for getting information about products distribution
channel etc.
Technique of Data Collection:
Questionnaire based Interviewing was used for collecting customer responses
Sampling technique: Specific Stratified Sampling
Rationale of Sampling:
Where the population embraces a number of distinct categories, the
frame can be organized by these categories into separate "strata." Each
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Brand Track Research to Identify the Strategic Direction of SMS Country
stratum is then sampled as an independent sub-population, out of which
individual elements can be randomly selected. There are several potential
benefits to stratified sampling.
First, dividing the population into distinct, independent strata can
enable researchers to draw inferences about specific subgroups that may be
lost in a more generalized random sample.
Second, utilizing a stratified sampling method can lead to more efficient
statistical estimates (provided that strata are selected based upon relevance
to the criterion in question, instead of availability of the samples). Even if a
stratified sampling approach does not lead to increased statistical efficiency,
such a tactic will not result in less efficiency than would simple random
sampling, provided that each stratum is proportional to the group’s size in the
population.
Third, it is sometimes the case that data are more readily available for
individual, pre-existing strata within a population than for the overall
population; in such cases, using a stratified sampling approach may be more
convenient than aggregating data across groups (though this may potentially
be at odds with the previously noted importance of utilizing criterion-relevant
strata).
Finally, since each stratum is treated as an independent population,
different sampling approaches can be applied to different strata, potentially
enabling researchers to use the approach best suited (or most cost-effective)
for each identified subgroup within the population.
There are, however, some potential drawbacks to using stratified sampling.
First, identifying strata and implementing such an approach can increase the
cost and complexity of sample selection, as well as leading to increased
complexity of population estimates. Second, when examining multiple criteria,
stratifying variables may be related to some, but not to others, further
complicating the design, and potentially reducing the utility of the strata.
Finally, in some cases (such as designs with a large number of strata, or
those with a specified minimum sample size per group), stratified sampling
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Brand Track Research to Identify the Strategic Direction of SMS Country
can potentially require a larger sample than would other methods (although in
most cases, the required sample size would be no larger than would be
required for simple random sampling.
A stratified sampling approach is most effective when three conditions
are met
1. Variability within strata are minimized
2. Variability between strata are maximized
3. The variables upon which the population is stratified are strongly
correlated with the desired dependent variable.
Advantages over other sampling methods
1. Focuses on important subpopulations and ignores irrelevant ones.
2. Allows use of different sampling techniques for different
subpopulations.
3. Improves the accuracy/efficiency of estimation.
Permits greater balancing of statistical power of tests of differences between
strata by sampling equal numbers from strata varying widely in size
Sample Size: Defined as N (N=100)
Sample Category selected:
Consultancy
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Education Institutes
Event Management Companies
Jewelers
Distributors/ Wholesalers
Financial Institutions
Category Number: Defined as c (c= 6)
Sample Distribution
Segment Categories Collected Rejected Selected
Consultancy 32 2 30
Education Institutes 27 2 25
Event Management Companies 13 3 10
Jewelers 16 6 10
Distributors/ Wholesalers 15 5 10
Financial Institutions 16 1 15
C=6 Nc =119 R = 19 N=100
Customer Profile:
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Brand Track Research to Identify the Strategic Direction of SMS Country
Consultancy30%
Education Institutes25%
Event Management Companies
10%
Jewellery Outlets10%
Retail Outlets10%
Financial Institutions15%
Customer Segments
Research Description
Brand Track Research:
Brand Awareness: In general, means the extent to which a brand associated
with a particular product is documented by potential and existing customers
either positively or negatively. Creation of brand awareness is the primary
goal of advertising at the beginning of any product's life cycle in target
markets. In fact, brand awareness has influence on buying behaviour of a
buyer. Brand awareness can be measured by showing a consumer the brand
and asking whether or not they knew of it beforehand. However, in
common market research practice a variety of recognition and recall
measures of brand awareness are employed all of which test the brand
name's association to a product category cue, this came about because most
market research in the 20th Century was conducted by post or telephone,
actually showing the brand to consumers usually required more expensive
face-to-face interviews (until web-based interviews became possible). This
has led many textbooks to conceptualize brand awareness simply as its
measures, that is, knowledge that the brand is a member of a particular
product category, e.g. soft-drinks. Examples of such measures include:
Brand recognition - Either the brand name or both the brand name and
category name are presented to respondents.
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Brand recall - the product category name is given to respondents who are
asked to recall as many brands as possible that are members of the
category.
Top of mind awareness - as above, but only the first brand recalled is
recorded (also known as spontaneous brand recall).
Brand recall
Brand Recall is the extent to which a brand name is recalled as a
member of a brand, product or service class, as distinct from brand
recognition.
Common market research usage is that pure brand recall requires
"unaided recall". For example a respondent may be asked to recall the names
of any cars he may know, or any whisky brands he may know.
Some researchers divide recall into both "unaided" and "aided" recall.
"Aided recall" measures the extent to which a brand name is remembered
when the actual brand name is prompted. An example of such a question is
"Do you know of the "Honda" brand?"
In terms of brand exposure, companies want to look for high levels of
unaided recall in relation to their competitors. The first recalled brand name
(often called "top of mind") has a distinct competitive advantage in brand
space, as it has the first chance of evaluation for purchase.
Brand Recall for SMSCountry
Brand Awareness TOM Unaided Aided
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Brand Track Research to Identify the Strategic Direction of SMS Country
SMSCountry 25 20 40
Infinity 7 10
Ghup Shup 15 15 10
Silpi Soft Solution Pvt. Ltd 20 22 40
Value First 18 15 10
Insight Consultancy Services 5 8
Mvaayoo.Com 10 10
SMSC
ountry
Infinity
Ghup Shup
Silpi S
oft Solution Pvt.
Ltd
Value F
irst
Insight C
onsulta
ncy Se
rvices
Mvaay
oo.Com0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
25
715 20 18
5 10
20
10
1522
15
810
40
10
40
10
AidedUnaidedTOM
Result:
TOM
Company Name Total
First Rank SMS Country Network 25
Second Rank Silpi Soft Solution Pvt. Ltd. 20
Third Rank Value First 18
Un- Aided:
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Brand Track Research to Identify the Strategic Direction of SMS Country
Company Name Total
First Rank Silpi Soft Solution Pvt. Ltd. 22
Second Rank SMS Country Network 20
Third Rank Value First 15
Ghup Shup 15
Aided:
Company Name Total
First Rank SMS Country Network 40
Silpi Soft Solution Pvt. Ltd. 40
Second Rank Value First 10
Third Rank Ghup Shup 10
Conclusion:
SMS Country has the highest TOM Awareness and Overall Brand
Awareness amongst the competitor’s brands.
Silpi Soft Solution Pvt. Ltd. is closely positioned to SMS Country in
Tom Awareness and Overall Brand Awareness.
Recommendation:
SMSCountry Networks has to endeavor to enhance its brand awareness
amongst the target group, to maintain its competitive edge in mindshare.
Indication: An understanding of results later in the research will help us map
the favorability of customer association with SMSCountry.
Brand Concept Mapping:
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A new technique, called Brand Concept Maps (BCM), is proposed,
which elicits first and higher order brand associations while overcoming the
limitations of existing techniques. For example, the BCM technique requires
no specially trained interviewers, can be used on large samples, and can be
used to compare and contrast consumer segments. The BCM technique
produces an aggregated map from a sample of individually-produced maps.
Brand Concept Maps: A New Technique to Measure Brand Associations
Brand network maps are important because they help answer the
following questions with regard to brand assessment and protection:
Which brand associations are more or less important?
Which brand associations are directly linked to the brand and which are
indirectly linked to the brand?
How can stronger associations and inter-connections between
associations be built?
If a brand association changes in the network, how does it affect other
associations?
Steps to Creating Brand Concept Maps
There are three stages in the creation of brand concept maps:
Elicitation: The elicitation stage involves eliciting brand associations from
consumers and answers the question: “What is the list of associations
consumers have with the brand?” Responses are open-ended and retained if
stated by at least fifty percent of respondents.
Mapping: In the mapping stage, consumers use the set of brand associations
to make a network map of how they see the brand. Respondents view a
concept board which contains a separate card for each association culled
from the elicitation stage and are asked to select cards that, for them,
represent the brand. Respondents are also able to add concepts that do not
appear on the concept board by writing each additional association on a
separate card. Respondents then connect the concepts, making a map of the
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set of concepts selected, using one, two, or three lines to indicate the
perceived strength of that connection (where three lines indicate a very strong
connection and one line a weaker one). Associations with direct connections
to the brand (those that are physically and mentally seen as closest to the
brand) are called first-order associations. Associations with indirect
connections to the brand, less central to the brand mental map but
nevertheless important, are called second-, third-, or fourth-order
associations. Finally, respondents rate the brand on a 1-10 scale from very
unfavorable to very favorable.
Aggregation: The aggregation stage involves aggregating individual brand
maps to produce a consensus map of how consumers see the brand. Two
measures, in particular, are used to produce the consensus map: frequency of
mention of each association and number of interconnections found between
brand associations.
Brand Associations First Order Second Order
Solution √
Types of product √
Salesman √
Reliability √
Delivery to Entire Database √
Delivery on Time √
Service Offering √
Software √
Priority √
Trust √
No Hidden Costs √
Positive Brand Image √
Word of Mouth √
Previous Experience √
Brand Association Linkage: Defines the strength of perception with which a
customer associates with brand attribute.
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Strength of Interconnections:
Scaling Score Linkages Strength
0-.9 0.5 ----------------- Weakest Linkage
1-1.49 1 Weak Linkage
1.5-1.9 1.5-----------------
2-2.49 2 Strong Linkage
2.5-2.9 2.5-----------------
3 3V. Strong Linkage
Determination of Strategic Gaps based on Brand Concept Map:
Customer Expectations Customer Perception Strategic Gap
2 2.5 0.5
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2 1.5 -0.5
2.5 2.5 0
2 2 0
2 2 0
2.5 2 -0.5
2 2 0
2 2 0
2 1.5 -0.5
2 2 0
2 2 0
1.5 1.5 0
0.5 1 0.5
0.5 1 0.5
Interpretation:
Strategic Gap Score:
-0.5 The Customer Brand Attribute Perception of SMS Country is below Customer Expectation
0 The Customer Brand Attribute Perception of SMS Country is matches Customer Expectation
0.5 The Customer Brand Attribute Perception of SMS Country is exceeds Customer Expectation
Identification of Strategic Direction:
The Strategic Gap Score with Negative values have been identified as the
direction of strategic planning and execution.
Indication: Results will be sketched based on conjoint with the findings later in
the research.
Brand Attribute Preference towards buying the product:
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Solution
Types of product
Salesman
Reliability
Delivery to Entire Database
Delivery on Time
Sevice Offering
Software
Priority
Trust
No Hidden Costs
Positive Brand Image
Word of Mouth
Previous Experience
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
17
18
16
18
18
18
16
17
16
14
16
15
14
13
Interpretation of Score:
Scale Favorability
0 to 5 Very Weak
6 to 10 Weak
11 to 15 Strong
16 to 20 Very Strong
Data Analysis
Conjoint of Strategic Gap Score and Brand Attribute Preference
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Solution
Types of product
Salesman
Reliability
Delivery to Entire Database
Delivery on Time
Sevice Offering
Software
Priority
Trust
No Hidden Costs
Positive Brand Image
Word of Mouth
Previous Experience
17
18
16
18
18
18
16
17
16
14
16
15
14
13
Solution
Types of product
Salesman
Reliability
Delivery to Entire Database
Delivery on Time
Sevice Offering
Software
Priority
Trust
No Hidden Costs
Positive Brand Image
Word of Mouth
Previous Experience
-0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6
Strategic Gap WeightsSolution 17 0.5 8.5Types of product 18 -0.5 -9Salesman 16 0 0Reliability 18 0 0Delivery to Entire Database 18 0 0Delivery on Time 18 -0.5 -9Service Offering 16 0 0Software 17 0 0Priority 16 -0.5 -8Trust 14 0 0No Hidden Costs 16 0 0Positive Brand Image 15 0 0Word of Mouth 14 0.5 7Previous Experience 13 0.5 6.5
Cumulative Score -4
Result:
Since the Cumulative Strategic Score is a Negative value, it suggests that the
Strategic Gap has a strong negative impact on Brand and Customer Equity.
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Indication:
This result indicates the need of strategic planning and execution to bridge the
gaps and neutralize the negative impact.
Conclusion:
The findings of the research impress upon certain aspects of SMSCountry’s
strategy which needs to be focused upon.
Brand Favorability
Conjoint Findings
Brand Recall
BCM
Brand Attributes Buying Preference
Suggest that SMSCountry harbors a strong positive brand image composed of positive & negative brand association linkages. However, the negative brand association linkages happen to be present in the areas of strong customer preference towards considering and buying the service.
Brand Attribute Vs Pricing
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Brand Track Research to Identify the Strategic Direction of SMS Country
Right Solution Provider for Bulk SMS
Reliability
Service Offering
Trust
Pricing
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
19%
15%
24%
21%
21%
Customer Perception - Degree of Importance to BSMS Offering
Percentage
The above finding shows the magnitude of intentions of a customer towards paying a price for the SMSCountry Offering.
Correlation Table:
Strategic Points Positively Correlated POA
Priority Delivery Pricing Customer Education
On-time Delivery Pricing/ Server
Up-gradation
Customer Education
Investment in IT/ ITES
Types of productsAwareness/ Customer Education
Generate Customer Awareness/Experience
Note of Confidentiality: The Above correlation table is a derivative of the internal business process, service delivery and design equipments. Hence their depiction is out of the scope of this project.
Recommendations:
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SMSCountry Networks needs to upgrade IT/ITES and Server facilities.
Build and sustain the Brand Awareness levels to maintain an edge in share of mind
Devise appropriate plans to generate customer education and awareness for the factors indicated in the Correlation table.
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