The mobile application, launched in February by Cape Town entrepreneur, Brandon Wilson, via Google Play and the Apple App Store, is also available to Android and IOS users to download – for free.

Endorsed by Tourism South Africa, it is the first of its kind to provide a fully comprehensive mobile marketing application in the industry. The differentiating factor is that it engages customers from every spectrum through freely exchanging services and products of value to others.

Vendors have a choice to list in one of 15 main categories, such as ‘sleep’ (accommodation), ‘eat’ (restaurants), ‘do’ (activities), ‘see’ (attractions), ‘wine & beer’ (wine farms and craft beer venues), ‘shop’ (retail, arts and crafts), ‘beauty & relaxation’ (spas and hair salons), and so forth. Each category has a sub-category to help the customer find exactly what they are looking for, anywhere in South Africa. An example is: Eat - Vegan, Healthy, Italian, and so on. These listings are all free for businesses to list on the platform.

Users of the platform can further narrow their search by looking exclusively for a service or product located within a 500km radius. In addition, they can find a special service or project offering specials, promotions, news or events.

As a vendor or merchant, one has the ability to communicate specials, promotions, news and events to a broad range of individuals, who are ready to buy, through this platform. This is easily done following the ‘Promote’ page on the website. All one needs to do is complete the fields required that will be visible to the public, and the potential customer will find the relevant icon next to one’s listing.

The Awesome South Africa team is able to upload specials, promotions, news and events using a control panel, which is uploaded to the platform in real time, easily promoting ideas based on demand.

All one needs to do is to firstly ensure that one is listed prior to creating the ad of one’s choice. This is free. Anyone with access to the platform can list their product or service. If one wants the full benefit of this platform by adding special promotions or specials, the annual cost for this marketing tool for one’s goods and services to get one’s business out there is only R899.

This can be seen on the ‘Promote’ page, which will be placed on the platform. Ads must be sent every Tuesday and Thursday, and preferably two to three days before one’s promotion starts. The idea is for the merchant or vendor to partner with Awesome South Africa to promote this free mobile application to the public in order for them to receive one’s ads with a click of a button. By placing the promotional tent card at one’s front desk or reception area with a QR code, one can instantly grows one’s customer base to take full advantage of the specials, promotions, news and events, 24/7 365 days a year.

There are four types of ads, one price for one year, and listing as many times as possible during one’s subscription.

For more information on Awesome South Africa, click here.