So What Can Short Message Service (SMS) Do For Me? If you’re a business owner or entrepreneur who has relied on traditional methods of advertising, that may be exactly what you’re asking yourself. All anybody seems to do on those cell phones is just chat away with their friends who are just next door, right?
Not exactly…consider the following statistics:
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97% of all SMS marketing messages are opened (83% within one hour)
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A 2010 study found that SMS will become one of the most widely accepted forms of mobile marketing and advertising by 2015.
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American teens text over 6 times per hour they’re awake which averages out to 3,339 texts per month
What these facts indicate is that SMS marketing is a practical and viable marketing tool no matter what business that you are in. Given that people are more likely to have their cell phones with them than the yellow pages, the number of cell phone users climbing each year, and the demographic that usually utilizes cell phones tend to be more affluent with more access to disposable income, it only makes sense to take advantage of this advertising method. One of the ways that CallFire’s system allows a user to narrowcast even further when they create an SMS campaign is to upload a list of
phone numbers either gleaned from the immediate area or made up of the user’s clientele. This way, the goods or services or specials that can be sent out will get to the people most likely to patronize the user’s business. For those concerned about sending out messages to just anybody hoping for a response,
text marketing can be set up to be precisely aimed at your targeted clientele. One of the most popular ways is to offer what is called a
short code opt-in. The business owner would make an offer or a contest available by having people text a word or a quick message to a 5-digit number. When they do this, they electronically give permission to have the business send them notifications regarding new offers or deals in the future. A variant on the same principle is the
long code option. It consists of the same game plan, only the number that is called is a 7-digit number. This type is recommended for customers who would feel more at ease with
dialing a more traditional number or for those who associate the 5-digit number with spam that is unwanted on their cell phone. All of which can add much needed visibility and brand awareness for those businesses who may not have considered otherwise.
