When we hear the words mobile marketing, most small business owners think iPhone apps, Andriod apps, or mobile websites.  They wonder if they need an app to get into mobile marketing.  At some point a small business may need an app or a mobile website, but until then there are other mobile marketing technologies available to the small business.  In this article, I will address the third party SMS/texting technologies that are available and a couple of ways small businesses or nonprofits can effectively connect to their most valuable customers, and even create new ones.  

Mobile factoids first:  In 2011, 7 trillion SMS messages will be sent worldwide from 4.2 billion mobile subscribers.  A whopping 93% of the US population has a mobile phone (293M subscribers) with 97% having the ability to send and receive text messages.   Smartphone users (with the ability to access the Internet) represent 30% of the mobile users and growing fast. Most of these messages, (95%) are opened within 4 minutes.  SMS marketing is permission marketing at its best--you can’t send out messages unless your customers asked for them.

There are two primary ways that a small business can use SMS.  The first is by having your customer opt-in with a special keyword on his phone, thereby becoming a member of your business’s SMS database. This model allows you to send text messages or information to them weekly, usually not sending more than eight messages per month.

Restaurants were the early adopters of this model of texting, sending out coupons, weekly discounts or running contests.   Over the last 24 months however, many other types of businesses and organizations have been using this SMS model, for example healthcare, nonprofits, and entertainment.   

The State of Rhode Island Department of Health, for example, is running a stop smoking campaign that sends out inspirational text messages to members to help them quit smoking.  On an national level to reduce infant mortality rates Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson recently partnered with the US government to provide SMS health alerts  free for pregnant women and new moms, focusing on those moms who were the at the highest risk.  They have over 75,000 members and this number is growing daily.   

The second way to use SMS is to have the keyword a response-only word, so when your customer or potential customer opts-in, they will be sent a text only and not captured in a mobile database. This method is used to tag signage or newspaper/ magazine ads to create an interactive quality.  In all cases you can send one text out or several over a period of time.  

A good market for this second application of SMS is in the real estate market.   Let’s say you are driving past a property that you are interested in, but there is no open house; however, you see that there is a text code on the For Sale sign.  You simply use your mobile phone to opt in and you instantaneously receive, for example, three detailed texts: a YouTube video of the home’s interior, thorough specifications and floor plan information, and the agent’s contact details.  It’s a way to give a flat advertisement extra dimension and added life.  In addition to signage the text code could be added to advertisements and online listings.  Other applications are billboard signage or digital signs in malls advertising a product or service along with a text code which enables users to get more information.

There are many other ways you can apply SMS/texting, the most common for everyone is SMS voting currently used for TV shows like “Dancing with the Stars,” or for running surveys after an event.  But I will save those applications for a future article.  This is a very creative time for SMS applications and new ones are emerging every day.  For more information call Dolphin Global Tech at 239-430-7003.