SMS Marketing - Innovative solutions for high business performance

SMS marketing is a highly cost-effective and wireless way to increase sales by promoting products, services or businesses via SMS text messages. Although there are various definitions for the concept of mobile marketing, no commonly accepted definition exists. In this article mobile marketing is considered as sending SMS text messages to cell phones of people to convert people into prospective customers.

The reason for the great efficiency and popularity of mobile marketing is that people are more and more active and dependent on their mobile phones. We keep our cell phone in arm reach and don’t move without it. It’s also true that people generally read every business SMS message they get, unlike junk mail, spam or adverts which can be ignored. These facts make mobile phones essential tools for advertising and marketing purposes.

FACTS: Did you know?

94 % of SMS messages are viewed
62 % of SMS messages are remembered
22 % of value added SMS messages are forwarded

The forecasts still show impressive growth in SMS marketing. Most of the biggest brands are already taking advantage of this innovative marketing channel.

Advantages of SMS marketing

- Most of the SMS messages are read within a few seconds after receiving.
- People take their mobile phones everywhere so it is the most appropriate channel to reach your target at anytime, anywhere.
- SMS messaging allows direct contact with your customers and generates high response rates.

Potential disadvantages of SMS marketing

- The message has to be short (the text should fit into a standard SMS that is 160 characters) so you need to compose the text efficiently.
- People tend to respond to unwanted texts negatively. Make sure that you have their permission for texting them and you keep up with privacy and data protection rules.
- Under the E-commerce regulations, you are required to make it clear who the message is from and commercial communications must be clearly recognizable as such.

How to introduce SMS marketing

For sending out your marketing SMS messages you can employ a mobile phone agency. In this case you can choose from various packages and it is advisable to try the service before you buy. One of the drawbacks of this method is that you cannot see into the sending process. Therefore, the support is also questionable.

If you don’t want to rely on a third party you can also choose to build your own SMS system that is based on a powerful SMS gateway software. Therefore the SMS system will be in your infrastructure and you can control the sending process, as well. After you setup your SMS system you can start using SMS messages in endless ways.

Methods for SMS marketing when you use an SMS gateway software

1. Short code: You can use a short code that can be set as a sender ID. This way you can send your promotional messages with this code. It is also possible to receive messages to this code. Therefore you can ease SMS sending for people because they only need to enter a few digits instead of long phone numbers. Short codes are ideal for SMS games or premium rated services.
   
   
2. Email to SMS and SMS to Email messages: These methods allow you to complete your email marketing with efficient SMS marketing. When you send out a promotional email there is an option to send a notification SMS at the same time. In this way you can be sure that the recipient will know about your email in time. Similarly, when you send out an SMS message you can also forward the text to the email box of the recipient. These methods ensure multiple ways to reach your target people.
   
   
3. SMS voting: You can launch SMS voting campaigns during which people can send their votes to you via SMS. It can also be SMS polling when people send their answers via SMS to you. With these mobile options you can achieve higher response rates than ever.
   
   
4. SMS games: Similarly to SMS voting, you can also launch SMS games as a complementary marketing tool. For example you can make SMS betting service during which people can bet for example sport events, etc.
   
   
5. SMS notifications, reminders: Besides sending promotional texts to people you can also offer them some SMS service regarding your products. For example, you can let them subscribe to SMS notifications when a new product or service is released, etc. You can use SMS notifications and reminders in endless ways after you setup your SMS system.

A successful SMS campaign needs to be instant, personalized and have a "call-to-action" force that will result in immediate gratification. These conditions can easily be achieved and maintained if you implement mobile marketing based on the right SMS Gateway that is able to meet the requirements.

To get more information, please visit the following websites:
The Ozeki NG SMS Gateway website
The best site about SMS integration

Ozeki NG SMS Gateway
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