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As an SMS entrepreneur that has been studying and basically immersing myself in text messaging for the better part of a year, I figured that I might as well extend some of this internal knowledge outwardly. This post will give a basic overview of the technology and an explanation of how SMS can and should be used for marketing purposes.

First, SMS stands for short message service, but it is basically what we mostly have come to know as a text message. Each message is allotted 160 characters of space that many marketers have now come to realize can be utilized for marketing purposes. The advantage of SMS or text marketing over traditional, even online marketing, is the direct response that it offers. It is delivered through one of our most closely guarded possessions, but with this direct and personal connections comes issues of becoming too personal. Marketers must respect the relationship between consumers and their phones and make every campaign opt-in (permission-driven) and also deliver each message with an opt-out mechanism that is clearly noted in the message. This will help combat the SPAM effect that many have come to fear from mobile marketing.

SMS marketing is carried out by promoting the text call-to action in your other marketing material. This is important because SMS lists should be compiled and not purchased. If you already have a database of cell phone numbers, you can use this but you must provide immediate opportunity to opt-out from these lists. Consumers should be aware of the possibility of mobile marketing form your company when these lists are being compiled. When consumers opt-in to your consumers through a keyword and shortcode (ex… text abc to 12345) they are consenting to receive these messages, so compiling these lists using a shortcode and keyword for coupons, polls, contest, etc. is a great way to build your opt-in list. Once these lists are captured, you can now market freely to these consumers. Try our interactive demo for a sample mobile message campaign (Text EnMobile to 59925).

There are a number of uses for SMS marketing. Text messages can deliver simple alerts for products or services, coupons and discounts, polls, quizzes, contests, or direct links to a mobile website (WAP-wireless application protocol). One of the core benefits of SMS marketing is the ability for direct response, so providing a direct response and interactive feature in the form of polling or contests is one of the more unique and impressive features of mobile. Also, the ability to directly embed a phone number or web site into a text message again provides direct response that is not possible from many other forms of marketing. It is important that you use the directness of these SMS messages to drive a consumer to some form of fairly immediate action if you want to best utilize SMS.

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