The benefits of SMS marketing.

Mobile phone marketing, otherwise known as SMS marketing, is the modern evolution of direct advertising. Direct advertising has always been chosen by companies as a personalized and focused method of reaching new customers and, with the rise of cell phones, SMS marketing has risen in popularity. SMS marketing is perhaps best defined as the practice of marketing products and services using digital distribution channels to reach consumers in a fast, relevant, personalized and cost-effective way.

The most well-known form of digital marketing is SMS marketing, which has expanded rapidly in Europe and Asia. It is thought that several hundred million promotional messages are sent through SMS every month in Europe alone. SMS stands for ’short message service’ and is a communication form unique to cell phones where a short message can be quickly sent to any cell owner. As well as sending material to consumers, advertisers can often encourage consumers to participate in promotional and brand publicity campaigns by encouraging consumers to text a specific number at an event in order to enter a competition, to receive a prize or to have their SMS displayed on a multimedia wall at an event. All of these techniques involves the customer through the medium of SMS and creates brand exposure.

There are many other types of digital marketing. One example is sending texts via MMS, which is a multimedia version of SMS, allowing consumers to receive MMS with color, pictures and video. There is also mobile web marketing, where companies publicize marketing goals through websites accessed by cell phones. Advertisers often make innovative use of SMS marketing such as location-based services where consumers are offered custom advertising and other network-related information and promotional information based on their whereabouts. With the variety of techniques and options available to companies, it is no wonder that a recent marketing survey found that 89% of major brands planned to advertise their products through digital marketing by the end of 2008.

SMS marketing is an example of what is known within the industry as “push” marketing. The concept behind push marketing is that that the business has to send (push) the material to the subscriber in order for the information to be received. This is different to “pull” marketing, a passive form of advertising, where it is customers who seek out the material from sources such as websites or blogs.

There are several advantages to SMS marketing. Primarily, the attraction is that this method of advertising can be personalized to the customer. This is the gold standard in marketing as it means getting the message specifically to the group it’s aimed at, instead of wasting money on an broad campaign. The specificity allowed by this method of promotions, which results in a more cost-effective campaign, is one example why a high return on investment is possible with SMS marketing. Another advantage of SMS marketing is the detailed tracking and reporting of users it permits. Through this form, companies can track how many consumers received their information and also access specific data about each subscriber such as their name, their age, their demographic and where they’re located. This permits a company to raise profiles of their users; data which then guides future marketing campaigns and, ideally, their success.

It is noted in the industry that push marketing, of which SMS marketing is a type, can help build new revenue and brand exposure if it is implemented correctly and sensitively. This is because it makes customers aware of recent events that they may not think to find already and the way the material is written, and even the fact that the information is being sent by a modern, hip medium such as text, can say a lot about a brand and a business.

There are, however, some negatives to SMS marketing. Inherently, it must have a mechanism - the cell - to be able to deliver content. The company, as well, must make use of specific hardware and software in order to deliver the information to subscribers, which can involve considerable costs. Another downside is the fact that SMS marketing is heavily regulated by the telecommunications industry in response to consumer worries about what data and advertising they get shown. Most Western nations have laws in place that compel marketers to receive the consent of subscribers before marketing information is sent to them and must clearly provide them with an ‘opt out’ clause if they request to stop receiving content. If marketers are found to be in contravention of these laws, network providers can block marketing information by marketers.

As mobile technology improves, SMS marketing will certainly continue to gather in relevance.