Guest comment: No rival to the SMS text exists in the market today
- Added:
- Aug 04, 2010
SMS is the obvious “lowest common denominator” mobile marketing solution... yet critics still talk about apps and website and vouchers. Darren Daws, Managing Director at Txtlocal argues why SMS is still the best mobile marketing medium, even on smartphones.
SMS WORKS... it is simple, it works on all handsets and if opt-in, targeted and personalised gets a staggering response. We have case studies showing in excess of 50% response rates.
There are certainly other methods of marketing and communications, but nothing that allows businesses to communicate directly with customers instantly, resulting in a reach rate of 100%.
Of course, there are other options, for example customers can sign-up to receive an email campaign; however the person who fails to look at their PC for the day would miss out on a time-sensitive promotional offer.
It is safe to say that a business cannot rely on the power of SMS alone, but a business that does not include SMS as part of its marketing plan risks missing out on a huge potential to grow and be extremely profitable.
SMS should be used to work alongside other communication channels to deliver the greatest results.
For example, Txtlocal client, and social networking site MySpace used SMS marketing to reach users quickly and easily and to help grow member acquisition rates. SMS allowed members to subscribe or opt-in on the MyspaceTM website, before receiving free text messages to gain entry to their ‘Secret Show’ events with insider information and instructions on how to gain entry.
This example shows how SMS can drive traffic to websites, and also offline activities. It also shows the importance and effectiveness of SMS when delivering information and ensuring it reaches the correct person at all times. The likelihood of a person reading a text is very high, as opposed to somebody perceiving an email as spam and deleting it unread.
Since MySpace launched the service people have subscribed in their thousands and their ‘Secret Show’ events have regularly exceeded capacity with long queues of fans attending.
Amy Bliss, Creative Producer says at MyspaceTM ‘SMS provides a useful messaging platform which is effective and easy to use.’
In the UK 265 million messages are sent each day and according to the mobile marketing association (2010), there was a 23% rise in message sends during 2009. A report by ABI research (2009) predicts that SMS will deliver 83% of all mobile messaging revenues until 2013.
In our opinion, these figures speak for themselves, SMS is still proving itself to be a vital part of the marketing plan and will be for a long time yet.
By Darren Daws
Managing Director
Txtlocal
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