Shane Neman, Ez Texting's CEO, recently presented our case study of Saddleback Church at the DMA/Mobile Marketer Nonprofit Mobile Day:

Saddleback Church has a 360-degree mobile strategy in place that it uses to build a sense of community and increase charitable donations throughout its eight houses of worship.

The nonprofit uses SMS to make its services more interactive and to engage prospective members by integrating text messaging

...

The Church first began mobile marketing via SMS. The church used SMS to poll audiences. This was a means of building a sense of community. However, Saddleback also used the answers it got to segment its audience.

Consumers were asked to text SADDLEBACK to 313131.

Consumers that participated in the polls were asked a question, which they replied to with three possible answers. They were then asked to provide their email address.

Saddleback Church was able to send emails to participants based on their poll responses. There were three variations of the email communication; one for each of the possible poll answers.

Read the entire article at Mobile Commerce Daily

The always informational Textually.org reports:

The Primetime Emmy Awards has added mobile to its repertoire with a new SMS program that engages television audiences in the run-up to its 62nd annual ceremony on Sunday, Aug. 29.

Check it out at textually.org

The Houston Texans, a national football team, have recently announced a two year promotion which ranges from sending injury notifications to updates regarding who just landed a touchdown via SMS messages.  McDonald’s, MasterCard and Whataburger have signed on to sponsor this mobile marketing program and their advertisements will be broadcasted across the field.

Here is a screen grab from one of the McDonald's sponsored polls. 

To read the entire article, click here.

To learn more about mobile marketing, visit Ez Texting.

Being one of the first companies to offer both mobile web and SMS ordering options back in 2009, Pizza Hut is no stranger to the growing popularity of mobile marketing. So far they have offered games to iPhone and Android users, as well as chances to win bread sticks and an application which allows users to order menu items from their mobile phones. This is only the beginning; Pizza Hut expects that the use of mobile will account for 50% of their future sales!

“We want our pizza to become a favorite memory,” Mr. Niccol said. “When I came on board five years ago, Pizza Hut didn’t even have a Web site where people could order pizza. In the future, I see mobile accounting for almost 50 percent of our orders,” he added.

To read the entire article, click here.

To learn more about mobile marketing, visit Ez Texting.

Campbell Soup has recently launched a contest which allows consumers the chance to win $500 by simply posting a picture of the soup’s new label via their iPhone or Android application. For every picture a consumer uploads, they obtain another sweepstakes entry.

“Mobile is an area of great interest to us, as we expand how we use all social media platforms.” said John Faulkner, director of brand communications at Campbell Soup.

To read the entire article, click here.

To learn more about mobile marketing, visit Ez Texting.

With the recent flooding in Pakistan which killed 1,400 people, numerous organizations are stepping up with a relatively new and popular way to make donations. The mGive Foundation and several of their partners have launched campaigns which allow people to text donations which will aid victims. In the past, texting donations has proven to be effective because it is guaranteed that they will arrive to their intended destination. It is also extremely easy and fast, once a person hears about the campaign they simply pull out their cell phones and make the donation. Even Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has made a donation via text message.

“I just texted a contribution myself, because we know from our own experience, particularly in Haiti, small donations can add up to make a big difference,” Secretary Clinton said earlier this week. “Americans have always shown great generosity to people facing crises worldwide. So I urge Americans to join this effort and send some much needed help to the people of Pakistan.”

To read the entire article and learn how you can help, click here.

Mobile Marketing Watch posted an important article yesterday, Nonprofits Ban Together To Petition FCC Over Use Of SMS And Carrier Hurdles. Please check it out:

Washington-based public interest group Public Knowledge has filed a letter to the FCC  on behalf of several nonprofits urging the government body to take action on the state of SMS communication and the fact that it’s severely hindered by “layers of obscure, interlocking bureaucracy” that make it hard to innovate, communicate and connect via SMS.

Some of the nonprofits involved include the likes of the American Public Media, Center for Community Change,  The Humane Society of the United States, Reform Immigration for America and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.  These and other nonprofits have banned together to get behind a petition Public Knowledge filed with the FCC back in 2007 asking that it clarify that text messaging is subject to the same nondiscrimination rules as voice communications.  Though the FCC has yet to act on the petition, more and more companies, groups and nonprofits are coming together in support of it.

Nonprofits care about text messaging because they want to use SMS to advance their mission.   Text messaging could be a great way to reach out to supporters, tell them what’s going on, and even raise a little money in the process, but as of lately they’re learning what Catholic Relief Services found out the hard way – text message campaigns can be fickle, and arbitrary carrier rules are not helping.

Read the entire article at Mobile Marketing Watch.

KFC recently launched a new marketing campaign that includes a football game, SMS messages and a delicious new chicken sandwich. KFC's new campaign includes a free game available to everyone who has an iPhone and includes banner ads that promote their new sandwich.

‘The objective of the campaign is to drive awareness of KFC’s Doublicious sandwich among adults 18-49 years old, while focusing in on adults 18-24 years old. KFC wanted to secure placement in highly relevant consumer areas to drive awareness for Doublicious and help drive lunch-time decision-making among the target audience.’

To read the entire article, click here.

To learn more about marketing via SMS messages, visit Ez Texting.