Definition of SMS Marketing
With more than 2.4 billion active users worldwide, Short Message Service (SMS), or text messaging as it is also known, is the most widely used data application on earth. In Western Europe, almost 80 percent of all mobile users actively use SMS on a regular basis, while in the U.S., that figure is only 49 percent, but growing steadily. Compared to other marketing channels, mobile marketing is cheap per marketed individual. Its other advantages include being time- and location-specific, instantaneous, discrete and spam-free.
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History
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Commercially launched in the U.K. in 1995, SMS text messaging didn't come into its own until 1998, when text messaging was available across all four major U.K. mobile networks -- O2, Orange, Vodafone and T-Mobile. With a simple "Merry Christmas," Neil Papworth of the Sema Group sent the first text message to Richard Jarvis of Vodafone on Dec. 3, 1992. Since this simple holiday greeting, literally billions of messages have been sent and received.
SMS' Exponential Growth
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Offering convenience and ease of use, SMS text messaging's exponential growth has been impressive. SMS opt-in marketing campaigns that create a powerful two-way instantaneous link between a business and its consumer should help fuel this growth even further. As mobile users recognize SMS' inherent ability to give them access to information instantly, these figures should only increase.
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Opting In
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Opting in to a mobile campaign is a key criteria for mobile marketing. Mobile marketing is primarily a "pull" media model, meaning a consumer must sign up for the service rather than the traditional "push" media model, which gives the consumer no choice in whether they want to be advertised to or not. Mobile marketers must spend money advertising their services to get users to sign up, but if they do the potential is huge.
SMS' Advantages
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Making it illegal to send a text message to someone who hasn't opted in to the service has created a spam-free environment for SMS. According to a survey conducted by the Opinion Research Corporation, among people under 30 years old, 91 percent of received SMS messages are responded to within an hour by the recipient. SMS marketing's unique advantage is its ability to laser-target a relevant message to an oftentimes primed individual. Its ability to do one-on-one advertising anytime, anywhere to any individual with a mobile phone is superior to any other marketing channel currently available.
SMS Marketing Campaigns
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Creating an ongoing relationship between a business and its customers is the most important SMS advantage. For example, in a form of dynamic pricing, mobile coupons can be sent out to opted-in customers to help fill restaurant tables or venue seats that might otherwise have gone empty. SMS Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems can track guest lists at nightclubs and, when a manager recognizes it's going to be a slow night, he or she can entice customers into a club with offers of his choosing.
Virality
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The most effective marketing messages are those that require the least amount of thought on the part of the consumer. Unlike emails, which are not always read or even seen immediately, SMS marketing is usually read by the recipient instantly and, in many cases, responded to immediately. SMS also has the potential to go viral, i.e., one person who receives an SMS message can forward it to his or her list of contacts, who can then forward it to their list of contacts, increasing marketing efficiency exponentially.
Limitations
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Limiting users to 160 characters might seem like a huge drawback to SMS marketing, but with the increasing prevalence of smart phones that can link to fully interactive experiences on the Internet, the character limitation is almost a moot point.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit a new customer calling image by graham tomlin from Fotolia.com
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Comments
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sms marketing is great challenges to low developed countries..
