The platforms of choice for a digital marketing executive

As digital channels become the primary means to reaching a variety of audiences, Grant Lapping at digital media and data consultancy DataCore Media has listed six of the most useful platforms currently in the market. The lists includes well-established providers as well as some challenger platforms. 

Lapping is the Managing Director at DataCore – a marketing and advertising consultancy based out of Johannesburg. The firm’s broad suite of services includes search engine optimisation, web analytics, paid social media, affiliate marketing, media buying and a number of others.

DataCore operates in a segment that is increasingly drawing attention in the South African market, as a growing body of brands recognise the value of digital channels to promote their marketing needs. Marketing technology (MarTech) and data capabilities have become prime commodities in such a scenario.

As South Africans go into a spending crunch, brands have also begun to recognise the value of investing in marketing during turbulent times. Lapping has listed some of the channels through which businesses in the country should look to disseminate their products and services.

In first place for Lapping is a new platform by the name of Moya Messenger, which is digital app designed to facilitate communication without paying for data, provided that the user subscribes to a prominent mobile network. In second place is Teads, which is a mobile video platform designed to provide geotargeted content from platforms such as CNN, the Washington Post, and Forbes, among others.

The next three on Lapping’s list are relatively prominent platforms to different degrees, namely Snapchat, Vodacom On The Line and Verizon Media. Snapchat’s “feeling-based” content provides a creative avenue for brands to distribute short and impactful content.

Vodacom On The Line allows ads to be attached to missed call messages that the receiver can view without paying for data. Verizon Media, meanwhile, is the avenue best suited for native advertising formats. Lapping’s sixth choice is Geo-Location, a platform that allows for branding content to be tailored based on location.