Mediaboss Marketing

Thanks to gender-based marketing campaigns, we finally live in a world where women can use nearly any product that originally would have been outside our realm of ability and comprehension. Because as women are so constantly reminded, if its not pink and more expensive, we simply dont know what to do with it. Behold:

Now, women are finally able to drink the manliest of man drinks: beer. Never mind the fact that women already drink a whole lot of beer, because now we can stop hiding all that shame we werent feeling! MeetAurosa, the beer for her.

The founder of the Prague-based company,Martina mrov, clearly understands the modern female experience, and our struggle to find a low-alcohol beer in a pretty bottle,topped off with an off-putting description about girlhood tenderness.

As you might imagine, Twitter has some thoughts.

After receiving a thrashing online, Aurosaposted a response on their Facebook page. It reads, Beer, wine or any alcohol has no gender. However, the beer industry is largely dominated by men. And culturally, even as more women enter the industry as brewers, pub owners, drinkers, beer can still pretty much feel like a masculine affair.

Now, thats not totally false. Despite being credited with the drinks invention, the Industrial Revolution did turn brewing into a male-dominated industry. And according to a number of polls, about a quarter of American women name beer as their favorite alcoholic beverage, compared with about 54% of men.

However, those numbers change dramatically when you look at the craft beer industry. Women make up about 25% of total beer drinkers, but 37% of craft beer drinkers. Plus, craft breweries far more likely to be woman-owned or run. Clearly, women do want to feel included as consumers of beer, and even more clearly, Beer For Her is not what were looking for. How is a for-women-only beer going to change the culture or beer to include women? Instead, the gender divide, and the message that womenshouldnt be drinking beer is only compounded with this isolation-based, stereotypically girly marketing.

In that Facebook response, the company says Aurosa was never intended to take part in sexism, feminism or the like. Which sounds like the full extent of this companys understanding of gender-based marketing was put it in a pretty bottle. It would make sense, then, that they pissed off a lot of beer drinkers not looking to be marginalized and pandered to.

They also, apparently, didnt even do a cursory Google search to make sure their claim of being the first beer for her was valid. Its not. And maybe they would have liked to have known just how quickly the others before them had folded. They probably could have used the heads up that women do not need or want this.

(H/T Hello Giggles, image: Shutterstock)

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This Beer for Her Is the Worst Gendered Marketing Since the Last Gendered Marketing - The Mary Sue

Marketing budgets are being sustained at a robust rate, but Brexit, political uncertainty, and rising inflation are impacting financial prospects, reveals Q2 2017 IPA Bellwether, released this Wednesday (19 July).

Largest expansion in marketing budgets for just under a year

Optimism regarding company financial prospects lowest in four-and-a-half years

Industry financial prospects turn increasingly negative

Modest growth in ad spend predicted in 2017 before stagnation in 2018

The Report, which has been conducted on a quarterly basis since Q1 2000, showed that over 28% of the survey panel recorded an upward revision to marketing budgets, compared to around 15% that recorded a fall. The resulting net balance of +13.1% was up from Q1 2017s +11.8% and the best recorded since Q3 2016.

Despite an upswing in marketing budgets, there was widespread evidence that higher marketing expenditure was being used as a defensive tactic. For example, as a response to fiercely competitive marketplaces, or to support brands at a time of economic uncertainty, softer demand and slower growth in incoming new work were all weighing on company expansion.

Increased marketing spend was broadly concentrated in the digital space during the second quarter, with the latest survey showing that internet budgets were raised to the greatest degree in just under a decade.

Annual ad spend forecasts through to 2020 are unchanged, driven primarily by an underwhelming performance in business investment, which is forecast to be depressed by the ongoing uncertainty caused by the UKs decision to leave the European Union; ad spend is expected to rise by just 0.6% in real terms during 2017.

Also weighing on ad spend performance will be softness in consumer spending. There are already signs from high frequency indicators of consumption that rising inflation and an associated squeeze on household purchasing power is weighing on consumer spending. This is expected to continue throughout the rest of 2017 and into 2018, and is a primary factor behind the expected stagnation of ad spend next year. A somewhat recovery is then anticipated to take place during 2019 and 2020, with ad spend forecast to rise by 1.8% and 2.3%, respectively.

Q2s survey showed that around a third of the survey panel recorded an increase in internet marketing budgets (32%), against a little over 9% of panelists that recorded a fall. That provided a resulting net balance of +22.7%, which was up sharply since Q1 2017s +16.9% and the highest reading since Q3 2007. Within internet, search/SEO (+15.6%), and mobile (+3.0%) both continued to record upward revisions to growth. The increase in spending related to search/SEO was the highest recorded by the survey for two-and-a-half years.

ExchangeWire spoke exclusively to some of the online advertising industrys top thought leaders about what the latest report means.

Wayne St. Amand, CMO, Visual IQ, feels that the positive growth seen in the report is a sign of things to come: Given the measurable impact of digital marketing efforts, its no surprise budgets in this area are rising. Pressure from revenue teams, combined with the need to produce relevant, compelling experiences for audiences as part of people-based marketing initiatives, means online investment will continue to grow for the foreseeable future.

Tom Manning, head of strategy, Forward3D,agrees, citing the overcoming of industry issues as key: The brand-safety issues that have been well-publicised recently were simply a vocal minority voicing something that the industry has been aware of for a long time, even outside of digital activity. As such, the improvements in targeting, measurement, and even the buying platforms themselves, have overcome those issues, particularly for upper-funnel activity, which people are more comfortable investing in digitally now.

Mobile is one of the key drivers increasing internet budgets. Amit Dar, head of strategic partnerships, Taptica,outlines that from this latest Bellwether report, weve seen eight years of expansion in internet budgets; but discerning companies know that mobile is todays sweet spot for reaching digitally savvy customers. Smartphone penetration continues to rise and users have embraced mobile in every aspect of their personal and professional lives.

Tom Smith, head of biddable media, mporium, also points to mobile, as well as search, as strong growth areas in the report. He says: With spend on search up from +15.1% since the last quarter the highest reading we have had since the end of 2014 it is clear that marketers are recognising the growing value of search by making it a vital part of the marketing budget. Coupled with the continued increase in mobile advertising, we can see that the sector continues to go from strength to strength. With 75% of people admitting that mobile is their primary search device, search can be optimised to target consumers at the most appropriate time, when they are second-screening in the moments of highest consumer intent.

James Collier, chief revenue officer, Rainbow, feels that despite growth in adspend, those investing in mobile should proceed with caution: Its interesting to see that negativity around financial prospects is heavily contrasted with growth in consumer and ad spend, echoing the overall political uncertainty in the UK. The shift further towards performance and activation is at once a concern and an opportunity, however, as it pivots advertisers towards short-term gains, but allows room for more investment in innovative ways to digitally market.

And whilst its very positive to see an uptake in mobile, we need to make sure that were focusing on the right consumer experience and the right measures in order to gain true, measurable, business results for brands not just clicks and views.

The fact that digital is tackling problems such as brand safety and ad fraud, is key to its popularity. Gareth Holmes, MD EMEA, Sonobi,says: The internet advertising category is going through a renaissance, due to the fact that addressability has come into the picture and offers marketers ways to reliably reach their audience. It is no surprise to us that mobile is a leader in this category, as addressability is a more likely scenario in this platform.

This is echoed by Gavin Stirrat, MD, Voluum. He outlines that there has been increasing pressure on the industry to meet the needs of advertisers by offering protection from ad fraud, viewability, and brand safety, in addition to providing complete transparency. The first half of the year saw a number of brands pause their digital ad spend, as industry issues were thrust into the spotlight by both Mark Pritchard at P&G, and the Times investigation into YouTube, which followed shortly after. Despite these challenges, the cost-effectiveness of digital has meant that, despite issues surrounding ad fraud, brand safety, and viewability, it remains a vitally important part of the marketing mix.

However, the increase in mobile ad spend shows the importance of this channel. Brands now need to make sure that they are considering in-app advertising as a priority, with apps now representing 20% of consumer media time, across all channels not just mobile. As marketers continue to gain confidence in mobile advertising, it is important that the industry protects this growth from the threat of mobile ad fraud.

Some of the credit for rising digital adspend should go to publishers, according to Ally Stuart, regional director EMEA, Sharethrough. In his opinion:Marketers investing in digital advertising is fitting with the growth and enthusiasm weve seen across the industry investment continues to follow user attention and that lives in digital and, specifically, mobile.

Publishers have also made this change easier by investing in improving their ad experiences. Theyve largely moved away from intrusive, irritating ads especially on mobile and are now reaping the benefits of serving contextually relevant advertising, which is delivering tangible business results. Native advertising is key to driving this trend, where advertisers and publishers are working in partnership to build their brand, while also providing content that can turn emotional and rational perception into sales.

Chris Duncan, MD, Times Newspapers Limited, hopes that quality publishers will be able to stand out: For the publishing industry, we hope that this investment also values the context that advertising is placed in. We also support the growing (and reasonable) demand for consistent auditable third-party measurement from all media companies, including Facebook and Google.

Despite a positive outlook for digital ad spend, some experts are still advising caution. Greg Grimmer, chief operating officer, Fetch says that: Despite macroeconomic trends, marketers still have short-term sales pressures, but we believe they also need to stay focussed on long-term brand health. Advertising is always an easy discretionary cost to cut, but marketers and the advertising industry have to continue to prove the danger of this short-term approach. We need to focus on creating campaigns that drive the imperative business results demanded, while keeping brand health front of mind.

Celine Saturnino, chief commercial officer, Total Media, warns against short-termism when it comes to investing in advertising. There are two key factors fuelling the increased digital investment: the first is the continual squeeze on advertising budgets and the pressure on marketers to prove the value of their investments in a short return period. This trend automatically attracts investment for media that can be tracked more easily end-to-end and where performance has already been proven to work particularly in search, the historical home of ROI focused digital advertising.

The second motivation for bigger digital spends is focused on consumer behaviour. Audiences are increasingly spending more time online and on mobile for accessing and sharing information, researching, and purchasing. Investment typically follows this behaviour and, unfortunately in some cases, to the detriment of other channels that often better support long-term brand development and memorability, such as TV.In general, brands are growing more risk-averse when it comes to channels or budgets that favour long-term brand goals. As an industry, we need to invest in long-term effectiveness measurement and continue to demonstrate that short-term activations are exactly that short term.

Ruth Zohrer, head of connections planning, Mindshare UK, agrees that there is a danger of a short-term approach to marketing investment focused on more immediate wins to justify the budgets. The rise in internet budgets could signal that marketers are directing more investment to channels aimed at sales activation, potentially at the expense of long-term brand building. Likewise, we also need to recognise that technological advances have created new opportunities for internet channels to support brand building strategies, especially for the young.

My recommendation to fellow marketers is to keep calm and carry on. Now, more than ever, we need to create plans that allow flexibility in tactics for the short to midterm to be able to cope with ongoing uncertainty. This must be balanced by a clear strategic objectives that focus long-term marketing investment on nurturing the brand. We no longer have the luxury of favouring one over the other.

Toby Benjamin, VP platform partnerships, Viant, also sees danger on the horizon: Whilst the short-term outlook is healthy, if the IPAs predicted stagnation of ad spend materialises in 2018, then marketers will find themselves fighting hard for every penny of budget. Expect some heated exchanges between CFOs and CMOs. This means its never been more important to demonstrate the direct impact of digital marketing on sales. And its one of the key drivers for the growing switch to people-based marketing, which makes it possible to analyse the impact of digital campaigns on both on and offline sales.

Political turmoil is still an issue affecting ad spend, according to the report. Catherine Maskell, managing director, The Content Marketing Association,says that: Its not surprising that this quarters report reflects uncertainty in the current economic climate, when you consider the turbulent political landscape with Brexit and the recent general election outcome. Although, in response, its pleasing to see that there is an increase in overall marketing budgets and a substantial increase in internet marketing budgets as brands and advertisers move towards the digital space. As the reality of a post-Brexit world draws closer, changes are inevitable and a medium like content marketing will be key in giving marketers new opportunities to increase brand awareness.

Julia Smith, director of communications, Impact Radius, agrees: Its no surprise that the recent election and Brexit have unnerved the ad industry; and the prediction for a stagnation of ad spend in 2018 is not unexpected. However, digital is likely to weather the storm better than other channels, as long as the focus remains on delivering real results and increased revenue from digital marketing spend.

An uplift in performance marketing is likely to be seen in Q4, as will the higher performing video advertising. Mobile and display need to focus on ensuring that the inventory is fraud-free, brand-safe, high-quality, and delivers strong ROI.

Continued here:
IPA Bellwether Report Q2 2017 - ExchangeWire (blog)

The digital marketing industry is one of the most exciting marketplaces in which to invest. Yet over the last couple of years, companies have struggled for growth.

The digital marketing space provides opportunities for both startups and veteran internet information providers. Currently, nearly every business that is serious about growth has an online selling plan as a crucial catalyst in its growth strategy.

Small businesses are also finding it easy to join the online selling community thanks to platforms like Shopify (NYSE:SHOP), Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Pinterest and BigCommerce, among others that facilitate smooth entrance into this exciting marketplace.

The intersection of digital marketing with brick-and-mortar selling has led to the emergence of what is now being referred to as omnichannel marketing. This type of marketing requires businesses to integrate their online marketing strategies with their storefront operations in order to maximize conversion rates on various e-commerce platforms.

Today businesses are engaging their customers in more than one platform. We are talking about social media, Web sites and blogs, mobile phones and tablets and TV and radio as well as face to face via their storefronts.

This has been the trend for the last few years as more businesses continue to launch their online platforms to augment sales from mainstream stores. In fact, as of 2015, more than 62% of businesses indicated that omnichannel marketing was a crucial part of their marketing strategy while 70% of the businesses surveyed said they had thought about it, according to AdWeek. These numbers have obviously increased over the last two years as more businesses continue to embrace the strategy.

Some of the businesses that have launched their products and services online have experienced more success than others. And according to research, their successes could be attributed to some very basic, yet crucially important, aspects of running an online business. Reports indicate that while ranking high on Alphabets (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google search and other search engines is important, the period it takes your landing page to load can determine your conversion rates and online sales.

According to reasearch, if a Web site page takes longer than five seconds to load, the visitor abandons it almost immediately. As such, making the landing pages load faster is as crucial for any e-commerce platform as ranking higher on Google. Google shares in this goal and has recently launched new features aimed at speeding up landing pages. Last year, it launched accelerated mobile pages (AMP) and recently added a web-based version of the same in the form of accelerated landing pages (ALP) for ads and landing pages.

The AMP framework helps Web site developers design lightweight pages that load within a second thereby increasing traffic conversion rates. According to SITE123, a Web site development company that allows designers to build free Web sites with no designing or coding skills necessary, most businesses want to take full advantage of the new features launched by Google as they seek to remain competitive in the online marketing space and they want their developers to optimize their sites accordingly.

As the competition increases in the online selling space, this should boost revenue potential for digital marketing companies. In addition, more features like Outstream Video are also increasing the appeal of digital advertising.

Web site users can easily block Google image ads from displaying while they browse. The introduction of Outstream Video has proved to be a little difficult to dodge when it comes to browsing the internet and publishers are liking this change according to a post on Instapage.

From an investment perspective, most of the stocks that operate in this unique digital space have struggled over the last couple of years thereby raising questions over the long-term future of the industry.

For instance, Rubicon Projects (NYSE:RUBI) shares are down about 80% over the last 12 months while Rocket Fuel (NASDAQ:FUEL) is down nearly 90% since 2014. YuMe Inc. (NYSE:YUME) is pretty much the shining light in this category of small players in the digital marketing space after gaining more than 60% since 2015.

Overall, most of the stocks have experienced a torrid campaign over the last few years. This is despite significant revenue growth due to the increasing number of businesses that seek to capitalize on e-commerce success.

Conclusion

The digital marketing space has massive growth potential. Companies are launching new tools to enhance customer experiences while at the same time helping businesses enjoy more success.

The impact of this growth has not been reflected on the bottom lines of most digital marketing stocks, but as revenues continue to increase profit margins will improve.

Disclosure: I have no position in any stock mentioned in this article.

Nicholas Kitonyi

Nicholas has solid knowledge of both U.S. and European markets. His investment style is focused on undervalued plays and growth stocks. As a trader, Nicholas classifies himself as a swing trader and likes to trade GBP/USD, gold and FTSE 100, among other liquid instruments.

Visit Nicholas Kitonyi's Website

Excerpt from:
Is the Digital Marketing Industry a Sleeping Giant? - GuruFocus.com

Marketing budgets and business confidence

Marketers have revised their budgets for digital ad spend up by the greatest extent in almost a decadeas they shift priority to more activation-based marketing amid growing economic uncertainty and a murky outlook.

In the IPAs latest quarterly Bellwether survey, covering the second quarter, 32% of respondents said they increased their internet marketing budgets, versus 9% that recorded a fall. That means an overall net balance of 22.7%, up from 16.9% in Q1 and the highest level since the third quarter of 2007.

That growth in internet ad budgets has also helped drive marketing budgets up. Some 28% of the survey panel recorded an upward revision to budgets in the second quarter, compared to 15% that said it had fallen, resulting in a net balance of 13.8% seeing increased budgets.

That was again higher than the 11.8% recorded in the previous quarter and means the majority of marketers have been increasing their budgets for almost five continuous years.

On the surface, the corporate sector seems to be in good health, says Paul Smith, senior economist at IHS Markit. Our headline data shows that underlying budget growth is being sustained at a robust clip, extending a current record sequence of expansion to just short of five years.

Companies report that product demand remains positive, underpinning the expansion of marketing budgets, particularly for use in the digital space.

Search and SEO saw some of the biggest increases, with a net balance of 15.6% of marketers planning to increase spend, the highest level in 2.5 years. Main media advertising also saw a net balance of 9.8%, but this was down from 10.7% in the previous quarter.

Among the sectors to see declines are direct marketing, market research and sales promotions, which saw the biggest net balance reduction at -10.7%, the weakest level since the same quarter seven years ago.

Paul Bainsfair, director general at the IPA, says the figures suggest marketers are seeking out more activation-driven marketing but he warns against brands shifting too much of their spend away from campaigns focused on brand building.

While it is good to see spend up in internet, it is worth remembering that IPA studies have consistently shown that the most effective marketing results from a 60:40 brand building (emotional) to sales activation (rational) ratio, he explains.

While marketing budgets have continued their run of growth, Smith cautions that there are threats on the horizon that will weigh on ad spend growth in the foreseeable future.

Marketers are becoming increasingly concerned about the financial prospects for both their businesses and their industry. While 30% of the survey panel are more optimistic about their own companys financial prospects, more than 20% are less confident meaning a net balance of 9.8%, the lowest level since the end of 2012.

On balance we think the threats to the outlook are real and will weigh on ad spend growth in the foreseeable future.

And perceptions of the wider industry prospects fared even worse. While 14% are more confident, 26% are less so leading to a net balance of -12.6% and marking the second lowest reading in 4.5 years.

Smith says: Brexit and government paralysis were widely noted as key threats to future industry performance and by definition are likely to weigh on marketing budgets over the coming year. Marketers are concerned that the terms of Brexit remain unclear, especially in areas such as regulation and trade, while political uncertainty is seen as adding to fears in the private sector to invest.

While Smith admits it is notoriously difficult to quantify the effects of political uncertainty, what is clearer, he says, is the impact of rising inflation on company costs and household incomes. The IPA has kept its annual ad spend forecast through 2020 the same, but there are suggestions it could lower expectations if the next update from the Office for Budget Responsibility predicts a slowdown.

On balance we think the threats to the outlook are real and will weigh on ad spend growth in the foreseeable future, says Smith.

Higher frequency indicators suggest that private sector consumption is already on the slide, and marketing executives are indicating to us that recent budget expansion has been partly defensive in nature to protect market share and sales in a softening economic environment.

Read more from the original source:
Digital ad budgets see biggest rise in almost 10 years - Marketing Week

The name Ope Banwo certainly rings a bell both in the entertainment and Internet community in Nigeria. This is apart from his primary constituency, which is the legal profession, where he holds a PhD.

Many Nigerians, especially those in the movie and music industries will readily remember his exploits as the founding Managing Director of Dove Media, where he made a strong statement with his activities that Nigerian movies can make mega money if things are done rightly during the production process and distribution.

With an aggressive approach, Dr. Ope Banwo was able to revolutionalise the production and distribution process of the Nigerian movie industry.

After his exploits in the movie industry, Dr. Banwo, who is also a Chattered Accountant, took on the Music Industry with Stingomania Records, combining music label, recording and artistes management in an aggressive way hitherto strange in this clime.

Aside managing and developing budding music stars, the US registered legal practitioner also managed established music and movie stars under the Stingomania management outfit.

It is however a wonder that, after a recoil, he resurfaced in the relatively new internet marketing arena in the Nigerian space.

Though a lawyer and chartered accountant, he has been championing the cause of internet marketing in a nation where many only go online for social media interactions.

The recent upsurge in the number of Nigerians taking to online marketing and raking in impressive income, in all modesty, is partly due to the aggressiveness with which Dr. Banwo approached his latest love, online marketing. This is the approach he has always used for everything he has been involved in! Though many Nigerians, especially those who have attended his Internet marketing classes in parts of the country, are aware of his impressive exploits in online marketing, Dr. Banwo recently achieved a major feat when he came up with a revolutionary software that has lately redefined Mobile App creation, MOBIMATIC.

Aside the creation of this software, done in conjunction with another Nigerian, he had a product launch on JV Zoo with MOBIMATIC, making a whopping N158,670,000 (One hundred and Fifty Eight Million, Six Hundred and Seventy Thousand Maura) during a five day launch. That has continued to dominate discussions when its comes to first time product launch on JV Zoo.

Intent on giving Nigerians, especially, youths, an opportunity to exploit the several opportunities and the mega money available in online marketing and mobile app sector online, Dr Banwo, in this interview, talks about the MOBIMATIC software, why he is hosting an executive presentation of the software and mobile apps built with it in Nigeria and how Nigerian youths can take advantage of it to better their lives and start living their dreams. He also delved into how the internet provides an answer into the youth unemployment crisis in the country. Excerpts

What is Mobimatic?

Mobimatic is a revolutionary mobile app development and business platform.

With Mobimatic you have a robust mobile app Software that makes it Super easy to build Apps for Business while providing tons of cool Features to make building awesome apps as easy as Drag and Drop.

Mobimatic also provides great Mobile App business setup to enable you earn from the Mobile App Business.

At the moment, hundreds of businesses and Mobile App Agencies across 50 countries use Mobimatic to greatly reduce the time and cost it takes to build high performance Apps.

From drag-and-drop development to app store submission, publishing a mobile app for businesses has become very easy with all the tools you need within reach.

What makes Mobimatic unique

The different features added to the Mobimatic software makes building a mobile app a unique experience.

From the social features that allows you to add a realtime Chat, or allow user posts sharing and comments in just a Click to setting up Loyalty Cards and Discount and Coupons and Scratch cards for Business.

Aside these, Mobimatic also allows you to have beautifully displayed images, videos, feeds and Podcast easily, while you can also build a native ecommerce in mobimatic or display Products from third party ecommerce solutions Setting up sever functions like Radio, Job Portal Click to Call, Contest and much more becomes integrated. With Mobimatic, you can now say goodbye to building different app per Platform.

With a Single click you can build apps across platforms that look and feel and above all, perform amazingly.

The Mobimatic Product Launch Miracle

From all indications, the five day launch of the Mobimatic Software on JV Zoo was a miracle. A miracle many established launchers have never had in their careers.

As a first time product launcher on JV Zoo, I was not expecting to have a six figure launch especially a huge six figure launch, raking in over $430,000 that translated to N158,670,000 over a five day period. We however achieved this.

The Mobimatic Miracle is a function of both doing the right things as well as having the right product. The Mobimatic software is indeed a revolutionary one that allows a total novice to build a mobile app in minutes. You do not need any technical background to build a mobile app you can sell up to $3000 to third parties for their businesses.

Of course such a great opportunity cannot be overlooked by any forward looking person. That, I think, is one of the reasons the launch was so successful and has made the software to continue to be in high demand. Why the Executive Presentation in Lagos, Nigeria?

Now this is the important aspect. I must confess that I am not the first or only Nigerian involved in internet marketing or product development and launch online. There are others who have been doing well with online marketing or product development. The difference, however is my resolve to empower Nigerians, especially youths based in Nigeria to take advantage of what the internet offers. I have been in the forefront of preaching the gospel of internet business in the country for about four years now and I must confess that a lot of young Nigerians are beginning to wake up to the reality that they can rescue themselves from poverty and joblessness by embracing these opportunities.

For me, the Mobimatic software provides Nigerians businesses and youths a great opportunity to move to the next level.

As a business, either small scale or a large enterprise, you do not need a big budget to get an amazingly working mobile app to reach both existing and prospective customer. While any youth in Nigeria, with an eye of doing things for himself and improving his life can take advantage of this software by simply identifying a need and filling the gap with a mobile app he can build with Mobimatic.

That explains why I have decided to present the software on Sunday the 23rd of July at the Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos to the Nigerian audience. Starting from 4pm, we shall be presenting this wave making software and six apps that have been made with it. There will also be testimonials from other users across the globe who are taking in thousands of dollars using Mobimatic to build mobile apps.

The lunch, where the presentation with be made is free but CEOs, Directors, Product Managers and all that other executives willing to attend will have to text their names and their organisations to these numbers: 08076244694 or 08068148300. This will confirm their attendance and also enable us reserve their seats. The confirmation text has to be done latest by Saturday July 22.

First internet summit

We have several initiatives that we have started because I love to innovate. We did the first internet summit last year, the African Internet Business Summit, which took place in November and soon, I will be launching the first internet school in Africa American Internet Business School in Lagos. It is the equivalent of Lagos Business School but for internet businesses where people can go online and learn different aspects of internet business like how to do social media marketing, reputation management on the internet; customer management, how to sell products and services on the internet. People can get certification in these different areas. Many of the companies employing people to manage their social media or sell online do not have trained people so we are setting up that school to provide capacity-building for individuals as well as companies on internet business-related subjects. We are partnering with foreign professionals who are experts in this field to provide the curriculum, the training etc and then we put it online and people can register as students and take courses and get certified.

Awards

To encourage internet businesses in Nigeria, Afrinet instituted two awards. We feel that one of the ways to develop internet business in Africa is to start to recognise people who are doing great in internet business. So we are organising the first dot.com awards in Africa, the Nigeria dot.com awards. The idea is to honour people in different areas of internet business like the best bank online, best newspaper online etc. We will bring together internet business professionals from within and outside Nigeria to do research online to get us the best in different categories like entertainment blog, news blog, best newspaper, best internet service provider, best insurance company online etc., about 25 categories. We will then narrow down to the best four or five in each category and the public will vote.

Two Awards

There are two awards in each category one is called Viewers Choice. Here, the candidate with the most votes from the public wins regardless of whether he is number one in terms of visit or not. In other words, the person that the public voted as number one based on their experience. Then there is the Practitioners Choice award i.e by the African Academy of Internet Business People. They will critically look at all the finalists and pick the best based on criteria we will give them. They will also come up with their own winner, so each category will have two winners. Of course, it is possible for one person to win both awards but one will be based strictly on voting from the public while the other will be based on technical evaluation by the technical crew.

Free Training

We also organise periodic trainings for youths. I did a freelancing course at Ajah, Lagos for unemployed youths because I believe that government should focus more on training the youths. If you can provide training that will cost little or even free training like I did, and the average person can learn how to do freelancing online, they can get to the point where they can be making $500 to $600 monthly in less than six months. So they dont need to apply for jobs.

There is this man I trained at our summit last year, now, he is making more than $4,000 $5,000 on the average every month, just doing proofreading online for people all over the world. So rather than complaining and waiting for government to create jobs, people can go online now and get jobs from all over the world. Today, you can stay here and get clients from Bangladesh, Australia etc., so you can employ yourself with minimal training at minimal cost to the government. Government should focus more on training people to be self-employed online. I feel that is one of the biggest solutions to unemployment among the youths because anybody can go to a cybercaf and learn how to do legitimate business. Anybody can get a laptop and employ himself; they dont need to go complaining about President Muhamadu Buhari and unemployment in the country just because they have submitted applications everywhere for non-existent jobs. If they can take three or six months to learn legitimate businesses online, they can be liberated and that has motivated me as I see people who have been unemployed for four, five years starting to earn their first $100 online.

I am not saying that people will become millionaires overnight, that is a myth, you have to work hard to get there but I believe that the average person can become self-employed and can make N50,000 to N80,000 a month within three months of learning this business. That is why I am committed to internet business capacity-building in Nigeria. I feel the Press can point attention to this area, organise free seminars.

It is not all about making money for me because I believe that as you grow, our business will also grow and that is why I do a monthly free training.

Continued here:
Ope Banwo returns with a Bang! Launches Wonder Mobile App Building Software in Lagos - Daily Post Nigeria