4 posts categorized "History Of SMS"

Entry By Jason Brick

It seems like just a few years ago that SMS messaging was the king of small business marketing, but times are changing as we watch. The explosion of mobile computing has opened the door for increasingly ambitious electronic messaging. Which is right for your business? Should you invest in new technologies, or stick to the simple, tried and tested?

Implementation Aspects

SMS messaging remains easy to implement. You just need a list and a series of good ideas for broadcast messages. The best results come when you consistently follow the performance statistics of your broadcasts, but making it work remains simple and has a small time footprint. 

Mobile access can mean an extensive overhaul of your website and social media platform to accommodate smaller devices and screens. This isn't free -- or even cheap -- but the added functionality of mobile shopping can mean increased business. 

Advantages of Text Message Marketing

• SMS is easier to use, and less expensive, than richer mobile marketing formats. 
• You can focus on SMS efforts as a stand-alone marketing initiative. 
• SMS performance is an older technology, with more refined and proven methods for assessment. 
• SMS reaches clients who use regular (feature) phones (still half of all Americans). 
• Text messages take less time to load than the images, video and audio that often accompany mobile advertising.

Advantages of Rich Mobile Marketing

• Rich Mobile is sexy. Early adopting consumers may give you more business simply because you're at the front of the wave. 
• Rich Mobile is flexible, allowing you to direct potential customers to content that is most likely to make a sale. 
• You can make direct sales using mobile platforms, and potential customers can get directions or answer simple questions without occupying staff time.

Bottom Line

Every company is different, so the answer to the SMS vs Mobile question depends on your individual circumstances. Consider the following situations when making the decision for your business. 

• Companies with a strong SMS Marketing program in place and a little money to burn can benefit from upping the ante with a solid mobile presence. 
• Retail and similar industries can increase sales by setting up a mobile platform where customers can buy via their phones. 
• A business with a strong customer base that relies on face time -- such as a restaurant or a karate studio -- is likely better off focusing on SMS marketing than on investing in other mobile formats.
• Companies with exiting SMS efforts but no mobile can "split the difference" by pointing to social media platforms via simple text messaging.

Many writers and pundits have been calling for and claiming the death of SMS for well over a year now. iMessage, GroupMe, BBM, Facebook, you name it - they're all supposed to kill of plain old SMS. Has SMS growth been slowing worldwide? Absolutely. Has it even begun to pull back in some countries. Yes. How about the US?

Not so much - according to CTIA's latest (Dec 2011) survey: SMS sent and received: 2.304 trillion 2010: 2.052 trillion (12 percent increase).

Check out more wireless stats over at the CTIA blog.

This is the second post in a new series, The History Of SMS Marketing. Read all entries here.

As we mentioned in our last post, a few critics are predicting that SMS marketing is dying. However, many believe that this form of communication is here to stay because it provides users with immediate gratification and it’s a great alternative to more expensive forms of marketing.

Molly McHugh of Digital Trends is among the naysayers. "It’s been a long time coming, but cheaper alternatives might be putting the final nails in the traditional text message’s coffin," she reportedly says.

However, Josh Malin of Ez Texting says, "SMS is still a dominate channel over marketing on phones; it is short and to the point and can be accepted by all carriers."   (If you recall, our last post indicated that MMS marketing was limited across multiple carriers and therefore struggled for success).

Malin parallels SMS texting to email marketing.  Noting cynics already have made similar accusations about the death of email marketing, Malin believes each strategy has significant staying power.  While it may seem that e-mail marketing and SMS marketing blew up quickly then fizzled out, that is actually not the case.  To the trained eye, it is clear that e-mail marketing and SMS marketing were so popular that their users grew exponentially – in turn, leaving little room for growth.  They quickly reached a point of no return and, as a result, have remained popular and in demand by their current users.

It also may seem that the advent of smartphones is hurting SMS marketing, especially with the popularity of QR codes. But looks can be deceiving.  Smartphone adoption is growing -- out of cell-users.

"Only 40 percent have a smartphone (and that's being generous)," Malin says.  Furthermore, those who do have smartphones do not necessarily use the phone technological capabilities.  The year 2008 marked the first time text messages outnumbered mobile calls.  And as smart phone users are 7 times more likely to receive text alerts compared to a call, experts feel the technology will be widely used for many years to come, according to Mashable Business.

Here are 3 reasons why businesses should employ the use of SMS marketing:

• Wide consumer base.  SMS marketing can open your marketing campaign and customer service capabilities to a much wider audience.
• Widely accepted.  According to the 2011 Mobile Marketing Association Forum, 96 percent of all SMS messages are read and 90 percent of them are read within 3 minutes.  Consumers want to receive these messages.  Once you have received patrons’ numbers, send them invitations to special events, coupons and various offers. 
• Quick and to the point.  While 160 characters may seem like a limitation, it actually ensures that businesses maintain concise information in each text.  Consumers are able to capitalize on the information provided in their quickly received message.

SMS texting provides marketers the concise, instant gratification plug consumers are looking for.  Marketers understand that the need to be in a hurry has enveloped consumers to the extent that they demand the availability of SMS marketing.  Businesses also understand that cell phones are the first piece of technology that users continuously have in their possession, making SMS marketing the quickest way to contact a consumer. Realizing this and running with it, companies such as Ez Texting have made SMS marketing available to companies, so they too, can appeal to the large, instant satisfaction hungry, crowd.

This is the first post in a new series, The History Of SMS Marketing. Read all entries here.

Some have said that SMS marketing is on its way out. Little do they know that this type of marketing will be very hard to push aside.

With the advent of smartphones and ever-changing technology, it could seem plausible that other forms of marketing could develop and push SMS marketing strategies to the wayside. However, text messaging is such an engrained part of our society, much like email (which some predicted would die as well), that it’s likely SMS marketing is here to stay.

SMS marketing, which also is known as short message service, is synonymous with all types of short text messaging.  It is the most widely used texting application in the world with 2.4 billion users and 74 percent of all mobile phone subscribers according to Wikipedia. As part of the Global System for Mobile Communications series of standards in 1985, SMS was a means for sending 160 characters to another mobile user.  Mobile SMS marketing became widely accepted in the 2000s within Europe and Asia, when businesses began collecting cellular telephone numbers to send content.  Since the characters are limited to 160 characters, advertisements are short and to the point and highly convertible. 

What makes SMS marketing so successful is the customers' willingness to receive content.  In order for the marketing approach to work, the customer must willingly provide their information, thus requesting content from the business.  Since customers police their own networks, SMS marketing is going to users who have requested it, and therefore returns a large conversion rate.

SMS marketing is important to businesses and users, because it is simpler than MMS (MultiMedia Messaging Service).  MMS is not accepted by all phones and it is not feasible across all carriers, therefore, it has technical limitations. On the other hand, SMS allows you to reach everyone.  (But we will get into that more in the second part of this series).