| p>Mobile (SMS) marketing is the act of sending | | | | phone numbers. This can be as simple as adding a line |
| spam-free, personalized marketing messages to | | | | to your sales receipts, putting a sign-up form on your |
| receptive consumers through their mobile phones or | | | | counter, or adding a simple form to your website. If |
| handheld devices. It has been widely used in Asia and | | | | you give your clients an incentive to join, such as a |
| Europe for several years now, and is only now | | | | special 'VIP' offer, before you know it you will have a |
| beginning to take hold in the U.S. | | | | database full of people interested in what you have |
| Mobile marketing is the next stage of customer | | | | to say and offer. |
| intimacy, delivering marketing messages to the right | | | | Once you have a subscriber list, you have the |
| individuals at the right time. Marketing to your | | | | opportunity to send them any updates, company |
| prospects through a SMS marketing campaign will | | | | news, special offers, and more instantly. If you are |
| build your profile and will, in much the same way as | | | | sending a coupon, you may want to send them a |
| email marketing, prompt a direct response from | | | | slightly better deal than you do on your weekly ad or |
| prospects that might otherwise have been hard to | | | | coupon. This makes them feel as if they are part of |
| reach. | | | | a more 'exclusive' club...and increases the chances |
| If you're advertising in the print medium at the | | | | they will eventually purchase from you. |
| moment, consider how background your ad is. Hardly | | | | Statistics have shown that SMS messages are more |
| anyone reads display advertising, and of those that | | | | likely to be read than other marketing media, and |
| do happen to be caught by your ad, only a fraction | | | | have a notably higher response rate across targeted |
| will be interested in what you have to offer. With | | | | marketing campaigns. Studies show that 95% of all |
| SMS marketing, on the other hand, you have direct | | | | text messages are read within minutes. Furthermore, |
| access to the prospect, and their undivided attention | | | | with the technology increasingly more accessible and |
| for the few seconds they read your text. Provided | | | | cost effective, more SMS marketing campaigns are |
| the targeting is sharp and the content of the | | | | preparing to hit the mainstream in the United States. |
| message effective, the response rates from a SMS | | | | Even the smallest of businesses can now afford to |
| marketing campaign are significant. | | | | adopt this vastly underutilized, yet effective, |
| Mobile marketing allows for instant contact with your | | | | resource. |
| customers. The first step is to have a way to collect | | | | |