SMS and USSD Location-Based Mobile Advertising in Microenterprises

Technological and financial limitations have hampered the effective advertisement of products and services by microenterprises thus limiting their contribution towards national economic growth. Recent advances in mobile technologies makes the use of location based mobile advertising (LBMA) a viable option in addressing this challenge. However, a majority of LBMA are developed for use on smart and feature phones with inbuilt positioning and program execution capabilities thus leaving out a majority of microenterprises who use basic phones. This study therefore examined the use of alternative positioning methods, namely symbolic and network based geo-location, and device independent system access methods; SMS and USSD, for the development of LBMA for use by microenterprises. The delivery of LBMA services to microenterprises using network based geo-location, SMS and USSD was found to be feasible and practical for microenterprises. The LBMA concepts developed in this work will be useful for both researchers and practitioners seeking to study and implement this marketing approach for microenterprises.