A shoe manufacturer ran a text message campaign where passers-by would read directions of the contest from a huge billboard and send in custom designs of shoes in a SMS. A large number of lucky winners were given their custom designed shoes. The company engaged customers through an attractive billboard and the “passion to create” of their potential customers.

An airline company offers a text messaging service on its website for anyone who is interested in confirming the scheduled arrival and departure time of flights. For Departure timings, anyone can text DE (space) FLIGHT NUMBER (space) CITY OF DESTINATION and text it to 51051. For arrival timings, mobile users can text AR (space) FLIGHT NUMBER (space) CITY OF DEPARTURE and send the text message to 51051. The scheduled time is sent in the response message. This kind of service provides convenience for the customers and instructions can be printed on the ticket so the passenger can confirm the flight timings with a single SMS.

A beverage company ran a rewards program with text messaging where customers found unique codes under bottle caps and sent the code in a SMS to a designated short code. The customers received points for each code which could be redeemed for different prizes.

A radio station ran a live text messaging campaign where listeners would text “PumpIt” or “Dumpit” to vote for the songs being played on the show. The RJ ( radio jockey ) kept announcing the results after each song and even read some of the comments sent in the text messages. The radio station was able to engage listeners without use of live telephone calls and create a playlist which is selected by listeners.

Author: Henry Source:http://www.textmarketer.co.uk/blog/2009/09/bulk-sms/sms-marketing-for-the-fast-food-industry/

The fast food sector is notoriously resilient in a tough economic climate. The current recession is proving to be no exception with the largest pizza takeaway companies reporting increases in profits this year. As well as UK consumers dining out less at restaurants, the swine flu outbreak over the summer and the associated media frenzy reportedly had a positive effect on sales.

SMS and the takeaway – a recipe for success

The entire catering and hospitality industry is very well suited to using sms marketing as a way of increasing sales. When consumers ring to order a pizza or book a table, it is almost always their mobile number that they give as the contact number. This means that outlets have a readily available source of customer data that can be used for sms promotional campaigns.
Can I use my customer’s mobile number for sms campaigns?

There’s an enormous amount of confusion in this area. People are rightly concerned that they might end up on the wrong side of the regulatory bodies if they use their customers’ mobile numbers for sending promotional messages. The rules on this however are very straightforward and make a lot of common sense.

If your customer or prospect has given you their mobile number during the course of your discussions, then you are more than entitled to send them a promotional text. You do however need to ensure the following…

• Make it clear who the message is from – (e.g. Pizza land Birmingham)
• Include a contact telephone number
• Include a text opt out in your text (e.g ‘to stop further messages, reply PIZZA to this text) There is more information on Text Marketer’s opt out system later in this guide.
• You are only entitled to send text messages on the same subject as your original communications. In other words, if someone rang to order a takeaway, you can’t then send them a promotional text about car insurance!

More information is available on the Information Commissioner’s Office website.
Targeting your message to the right audience

The more relevant that you can make your offer to the customer, the better the response will be. By segmenting your database into different categories of customer you can then send tailored sms messages to the different categories.
Here are some examples of how you might segment your database.

Regular spenders -Your most prized customers. What do they typically order and what offer would be most appealing to them?

Occasional customers – These customers don’t order from you as often as you would like. They might respond if you make them an enticing offer.

Night hawks – You may have a group of customers that order from you late at night. Why not make them an offer that can be redeemed after midnight.

Early birds -These customers might typically order from you as soon as they get back from work. You might want to send them an offer of a discount on all orders before 7 o’clock.

‘Round the corner’ customers – local customers have lower delivery costs so you can afford to make fairly aggressive offers to this group.
What sort of sms messages work best?

Customers often ask us whether we have any example sms messages that they can use as a templates for their bulk sms marketing campaigns.

Now obviously each restaurant needs to tailor the text message specifically for their own target market. There are however a few golden rules that can help you get the best possible response from your bulk text campaign.

Don’t Use Text Speak
Some of your target audience won’t mind ‘text speak’ at all but a good many of them will be infuriated by it! Text speak can be confusing and can project an unprofessional image.

Don’t Cram In Too Many Points?
A standard text is only 160 characters so don’t be tempted to crowbar in loads of offers. Keep it simple, concise and clear.

Tell Your Audience Who You Are.
This may seem an obvious point but don’t assume your audience will immediately know who the text is from. Within your account, you can change the sender name so that the customer knows who it’s from before the text is even opened.

Have A Strong ‘Call To Action’.
Make sure that you make it clear what you want the customer to do. Don’t just quote your phone number but ask the customer to dial it. E.g Call us now on 080012345678

Use An ‘Attention Grabber’
Try to start your text with an attention grabber that will arouse curiosity and compel the customer to read on. This is usually a single or couple of words, often in capitals. The word ‘news’ is particularly effective.
Can my customers reply to the texts that I send them?

78692-103syYes. Your Text Marketer account has a 2-way module that allows you to receive reply messages from your text campaigns.
In order to receive replies you need to have a unique keyword that is applied to your account. The customers then replies with the keyword as the first word of their reply text.
Responses are stored in you account and can be viewed live. You can also opt to have the responses e-mailed to you or sent to a URL if you wish.
Text Marketer will provide you with a text response number that you need to set as the sender name so that people can reply.
Example message sent from a 2-way account…
“….Fancy a pizza tonight? Call Pizza Land now on 0123 4567890 or reply PIZZA to this text and we’ll call you back to take yor order’”
To set up your account with 2-way, please contact us on 0117 9249207. Setting up 2-way sms can usually be completed in a couple of hours.
What time of day should I send my text campaigns?

The trick here is to time your message to coincide when most people are starting to think about their next meal. Although there’s no exact science with this, between 5pm and 6pm would seem to be about the right time.
I don’t want to ‘spam’ my customers, how often should I send them texts?

The frequency of your sms promotions will largely depend on the type of customers that you are targeting. If you have customers that order from you once a week or more, then they would welcome a weekly offer. On the other hand, infrequent customers, who only order perhaps once every few months, would probably get annoyed with a weekly text. For these customers, a monthly sms campaign is more appropriate.
How can I tell if my messages have been received?

For each campaign that you send, a delivery report is automatically created. This itemises all the mobile numbers that you sent to and provides an outcome against each one. (delivered, undelivered or pending.) Messages that have an ‘undelivered’ outcome indicate that the number you have tried to send to is incorrect or is no longer active.

You can remove the ‘undelivered’ numbers from your database so that you don’t send a message to inactive numbers again; this is a great way of cleansing your data and saving money on future campaigns.
How can my customers opt out from receiving further sms promotions from my restaurant?

Allowing people to opt out from your sms marketing campaigns is vital. There is nothing that will infuriate and alienate your customers more than making it hard work for them to unsubscribe from your text alerts.

Text Marketer have built an opt out service into their standard sms marketing account which is easy to use and comes free for every customer. There are no set up or monthly fees for either the standard account or for the opt out system.

The opt out system works using a keyword that the customer sends to a 5 digit short code. So an outbound text might end with the following…
‘to stop texts, reply STOP’
When the person sends their reply, their mobile number is then stored in a database within the customer account. Every time an outbound text campaign is sent, the system checks the opt out list and removes any numbers that occur in the opt out database. This means that if someone has opted out from receiving messages from you, your account will not allow any further messages to be sent to that number.
text response for restaurantsCan I put a text response option on my marketing and advertising campaigns?

Yes.
If you give people the option, around 50% of them will choose to respond to your advertising and marketing by SMS.

You could create a simple text club that people can join by text. Joining might also give them entry into a free monthly prize draw.

E.g – WIN FREE MEALS FOR A YEAR!
Every month we’re giving away free meals for a year to 2 lucky winners. To enter the competition, simply text MEAL to 88802. (text charged at standard rate)
You will also be automatically entered into our free text club which gives you free news on all our exciting events and offers. GOOD LUCK!

Source:http://www.thebiggestkidnapper.com/understanding-what-is-a-bulk-sms-reseller/
Bulk SMS reseller has many names such as an SMS reseller, an SMS marketing reseller, white label SMS, etc. They all mean the same thing, but are just worded differently. A reseller of bulk SMS is able to market SMS or text marketing services to the many different retail stores, fast food industry, restaurants, churches, schools, etc. How can SMS services help out a retail store? You can inform the retail store that they no longer need to invest time and money into paper advertising. They can now promote their products via their customer’s cell phones and inform them of specials or promotions when they choose. The great thing about text marketing is that there doesn’t need to be much planning; it can be spur of the moment and produce the same results.

How A Bulk SMS Reseller Can Market SMS Services

Being a bulk SMS reseller, you can also market these services to fast food chains and restaurants. It can help them out tremendously. Every food store has a slow time. It is during that slow time that companies can turn it into a busy time with text marketing services. They can send out a bulk SMS message to their customers reminding them of their restaurant. Also, they can send out a message that says, come in within the next half hour and receive a free shake, etc. The possibilities are endless. Anything that will drive customers into their food store can be used.

Churches and schools can also benefit from SMS services. As a bulk SMS reseller, you can inform churches and schools that text marketing services can be used to help inform members of their congregation or students at their school of upcoming events, fundraisers, charities, assemblies, etc. It is a great emergency alert tool as well as informative and great for communicating. Learn more on how you can become a reseller of bulk SMS services today.

Author:Tony Dim Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tony_Dim
Mobile text marketing is revolutionizing the real estate business. This text marketing gives different real estate and different mortgage professionals a powerful tool in their marketing practice. The cell phone has become indispensable in the modern era as it gives real estate professionals real-time access to an incredible amount of information.

Most of the change in the past few years has been due to the advent of social networking and associated peripherals including the ubiquitous cell phone. Most of the people in real estate need to be connected to their clients for instant access to information and help with text marketing. For a real estate professional today, we have seen the worst economic downturn ever. Marketing strategies have to be competitive and powerful. Mobile media is relevant and needs a lot of customers for positive engagement. Most customers appreciate the power, dexterity and flexibility of this for their business needs.

Text message marketing

Text message marketing is an incredible strategy for the sheer power and the incredible reach that any realtor has. With a potentially huge database, he can create opportunities unheard of earlier. SMS White Label Reseller program is a marketing tool that functions as a marketing aid for different products in the market, in both online and offline avatars.

Mobile text message marketing can facilitate more proactive communication between realtors and clients, and lead to real-time exchange of relevant information, quotes and more effective networking between existing players in the industry. They can build a network that will prove instrumental to their eventual success in the trade.

The SMS White Label Reseller program assists clients in identifying frequent visitors to their websites and maximizes visibility through affiliate marketing or converting existing prospects into leads.

Mobile text message marketing and text marketing are an incredible addition to the modern marketer’s tools for quick retrieval of information and maximizing sales leads. We are looking at the world’s quickest and biggest network of networked businessmen who are using the power of text marketing and initiatives such as the SMS White Label Reseller Program.

Turnkey SMS text marketing and text message marketing solutions are available from different vendors across North America and Europe. Most are positioned as cost-effective and customized for the needs of customers and clients. Creating recall through Text Marketing or the SMS White Label Reseller program is easy given the dynamism of the medium.

Author:Johnny Mobile Source: http://www.mobilecarriers.ca/2011/03/16/how-to-enhance-mobile-marketing-techniques-in-canada/
A mobile device has always been a personal thing close to our heart rather than PCs. The way of messaging and downloading applications are easy on a mobile. All these features have paid a way for mobiles to reach the peaks of existing media. Almost all the developed and developing nations are on track with these mobile marketing techniques. But as far as Canada is concerned, the case is entirely different. Though the country spends billion for marketing purposes, among them only million is spent for mobile marketing per year. There are several factors that make us to conclude that, “Canada is inactive in mobile marketing”. Instead of searching for those reasons, let us find the ways to promote mobile marketing techniques in Canada.

If you wish to promote your business via mobile marketing, then the primary thing you need to accomplish is, bringing awareness among the people, about the merits of mobile. Generally Canadian technologists and mobile providers do not evangelize the merits of mobile, when a person purchases one. In order to carry out any media initiative, the foremost thing you require is a mobile. Canadians are very much confused about the role of mobile in marketing field, and they still have belief, only in other marketing technologies like email and social media. Hence a proper campaign describing the merits of mobile marketing technique must be organized throughout the country. Ensure that people come to know about the benefits of mobile marketing, on comparing with email and other marketing means.

It is also true that, the conversation is clear and secure on a mobile when compared to other sources. Nothing else other than a mobile could reach the media at the earliest. There are a huge number of mobile phone subscribers existing currently and each one could simply deliver millions of messages within a single moment. This means that, on marketing via mobiles, your business could reach millions of customers within seconds. But most of the Canadian agencies are highly concerned about the cost they need to afford for this process, rather than understanding the significance of each interaction. Spending a considerable amount on mobile marketing techniques is far better than spending small amount on hopeless marketing technologies.

The next vital thing you need to accomplish is broadcasting the message about mobile services, and how marketing agencies use it. Canadian marketers must realize the benefits of using mobile for marketing activities. Each marketer should come forward in taking a risk on launching the mobile marketing technique, at least within a small area. To begin with, hire a mobile agency and market your products and services to a minor set of consumers. Once you attain a success with it, you can enhance your business by increasing the number of consumers shortly. You must also be conscious of the budget you allocate in mobile marketing techniques. Ensure that you deliver messages to the right customers who give you hope.

Author: Rimma Kats Source:http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/messaging/9557.html

Brands and marketers are increasingly incorporating SMS into their mobile initiatives to engage and communicate with consumers. Here are some common pitfalls to avoid.

Industry experts agree that some type of SMS marketing is prevalent to reaching as many consumers as possible. Feature phones continue to dominate the market and many consumers can be reached on them.

“Education and making smart decisions are key to prevent mistakes form happening,” said Jeff Hasen, chief marketing officer of Hipcricket, Kirkland, WA.
“The first place I would go is to the Mobile Marketing Association’s Consumer Best Practices document to learn the dos and don’ts of SMS marketing,” he said. “Second, I would read up on successful and not-so-successful programs on Mobile Marketer and other venues to understand what others have done.

“Third, I would seek out trusted providers. Remember, choosing purely on price will likely lead you to the guys in a garage who started a firm last Thursday. That is likely to lead to failure.”

Here are the five most common SMS marketing mistakes that brands and marketers should avoid.

No. 1 – Avoid not making your call to action prevalent
A simple call to action can be placed on billboards, magazine pages, TV commercials and just about anything else.

“It’s a head scratch as to why a mobile call to action isn’t prevalent in all integrated marketing communications,” Mr. Hasen said.

“There are so many benefits to doing it right – engaging consumers and turning passive activities into interactive ones, making your traditional and non-traditional dollars work harder, and being able to measure effectiveness in real time with such a simple tactic as using different keywords in different media,” he said.

No. 2 – Avoid using SMS as a one-off feature
Instead of using SMS as a way to have consumers participate one time, brands and marketers should come up with an overall strategy to build their databases and have consumers opt-in.

SMS helps build relationships.

Marketers should keep that communication open and send out relevant messages to keep consumers engaged and interested.

“Another mistake is to use SMS as a one-off rather than a key marketing strategy to opt consumers in to a mobile club for future engagement,” Mr. Hasen said.

“Do not let mobile sit on an island – include conversations about SMS early in integrated marketing program conversations,” he said.

Interview several mobile marketing vendors and ask for specific case studies that include results in your category as well as lessons learned.

Plan enough time to smartly create a campaign, allowing a period to obtain a short code and for carriers to review and approve a campaign.

Finally, understand that one of mobile’s differentiators is the ability to optimize a campaign in real time through metrics.

No. 3 – Avoid running a mobile marketing campaign based on price
There are ample examples of companies who spend around $100 on a mobile program through a shared short code only to be disappointed and down on mobile’s promise.

“Often, when marketers think about mobile ad dollars, SMS marketing is overlooked,” said Shawn Schwegman, chief marketing officer at ChaCha, Indianapolis, IN. “With SMS mobile marketing, brands gain extensive reach.

“It is key for brands to reach the right audience and maximize their reach,” he said. “By leveraging SMS marketing, marketers can achieve their goals.”

No. 4 – Avoid bombarding consumers with daily SMS messages
Once consumers opt-in, brands and marketers should take it easy with the amount of messages they send out.

Companies should keep the consumer interested, but not have them text the keyword STOP to opt out.

Value and timing are everything. It is important to understand the target audience and know what they will find valuable and when.

Brands and marketers should understand their market and choose an appropriate time to send the messages out and make it meaningful.

“Text messaging can be a highly effective marketing tool when companies leverage the personal and conversational nature of it,” Mr. Schwegman said.

“For example, branding campaigns may be the best approach to achieving online and traditional marketing goals, yet text messaging yields the highest response rates when approached as part of an interactive conversation with a targeted audience,” he said.

No. 5 – Avoid being generic
SMS messages should have a personal tone and feeling. It is about having that relationship with consumers.

Just like email or snail mail, if the letter is addressed to someone personally he or she is more likely to read it than a message addressed to “home owner” or “customer.”

Text messages are short, simple and personal and if a message is addressed to a person specifically, they are more likely to read it than if it simply says “customer.”

“We believe the best way to utilize text messaging is to view it as a live conversation in a personal environment,” said Cat Enagonio, vice president of marketing at ChaCha, Indianapolis, IN. “Brands will do best when they view it within the context of the medium.

“A key best practice is for brand marketers and agencies to understand the different mobile products and map their advertising into that which will yield the highest conversion rates,” she said. “Then, test, test, test.”

Author: Kunal Gupta Source:http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/columns/8466.html

What are the key trends with mobile applications and what will Apple, Google, Microsoft, Research In Motion and others do that will affect brands in their marketing and commerce?
Here are the 11 trends that are likely to shape marketers’ strategies including applications.
Your mobile strategy will go beyond the iPhone and iPad
• In 2011, businesses will recognize that having an iPhone application does not constitute a real mobile strategy to achieve their goal of increasing reach
• With more than 1 billion smartphones expected by 2013, this is a growing market with room for many other players such as Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Symbian, HTC and Samsung
• Gartner has predicted that mobile application downloads will surpass 4 billion in 2010 and grow to 21 billion by 2013

Android fragmentation will be a major challenge for all

• Google has issued seven releases of the Android OS (1.1, 1.5, 1.6, 2.0, 2.01, 2.1, 2.2) in less than two years
• Older and lower-performance Android devices experience performance issues
• Original equipment manufacturers such as Motorola, Samsung, LG, HTC, Huawei and Sony Ericsson customize their version of Android for differentiation

Tablets will appear in every home and will need tablet applications

• OEMs such as Apple, Research In Motion, Samsung, LG, HTC, Acer, Cisco, Dell, Motorola, OpenPeak and Viewsonic will all have their own tablets in 2011
• Distribution channels of tablets will diverse – OEMs, wireless carriers, retailers – and many from which consumers can choose
• In 2010, Apple will sell more than 10 million tablets and Samsung 1 million-plus, while Gartner predicts more than 55 million tablets will sell in 2011

The number of active users will be more important than the number of downloads

• Most businesses today do not know what is happening inside their applications, hence only report on the number of downloads
• Improved analytics will enable businesses to optimize applications and the user experience
• Strategies to drive continued usage – which leads to revenue – will become more important than strategies to drive downloads

Social will differentiate the mobile application experience

• Thirty-five percent of Twitter’s active users access the service through their mobile device
• Two million Web sites online – not mobile yet – have adopted the Facebook “Like” button
• Mobile consumption habits are different than online and social will play a role in providing a unique mobile experience

Mobile-exclusive brands and content will have success

• Traditional publishers will launch new, mobile-only brands
• Vertical-focused content will be used to create greater user stickiness
• Mobile applications leverage new distribution channels and, as a result, new discovery options

Paid content will have limited success due to infrastructure

• Outside of iTunes, it is not easy to buy physical or virtual goods on your smartphone today
• Major infrastructure and billing improvements are required for mass adoption of paid content and micro-transactions on mobile
• Billing fees of around 30 percent are not going to work for major retailers and publishers who want to build a premium revenue stream from mobile consumption

Mobile applications and the mobile Web will get hitched and play nice together

• Operating systems creators are making it easier to launch applications leveraging Web technologies and skills
• Applications will heavily leverage mobile Web in applications as a means to scale utility and custom features cross-device
• The average user will not be able to tell the difference between a mobile Web site and mobile application eventually

Applications leverage near-field communications to become mobile commerce tools

• Android Gingerbread, which is the recent release of the operating system, supports an NFC API, generating a lot of interest
• Retailers will leverage NFC in applications to increase in-store purchase volume on a per-customer basis
• RFID chips embedded in smartphones will enable devices to become payment tools in both the physical and virtual worlds

Application security and threats will become important

• Unlike desktops, smartphones often store more personal information that is easily accessible by applications
• Application distribution channels currently do not require security testing, which will be an issue as the number of applications available reaches 1 million
• Developers will need to use techniques such as spoofing, tampering, repudiation, information disclosure, denial of service and elevation of privilege

Fragmentation across operating systems and device will grow exponentially

• Operating systems: Apple iOS, Google Android, Research In Motion’s BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Hewlett-Packard’s Palm, Samsung Bada, Nokia Symbian and Intel MeeGo
• Device: smartphone, feature phone, tablet, smart televisions, automobiles, netbooks, laptops and browsers
• All large players who are not going anyway anytime soon and will all have their own play to attract applications to drive differentiation

Author:Ricky Rudolph Source:http://www.topezinesarticles.com/marketing/sms-advertising-effective-advertising-channel/
There are numerous advertising tools available in the market, however only innovative stations are in demand nowadays. If the company has come up with a new product, it is essential to make sure that individuals are conscious of this as well as for that not like Sms marketing. Since levels of competition are increasing along with every day, you should note that Sms is the best method to get in touch with the people in particular and that as well at nominal costs. Looking at the developing need for Sms advertising, a number of programs will also be rising, which bulk Sms India is the most popular. To be able to boost the product sales, company tests numerous business methods because looking for revolutionary marketing strategies work ideal for the company. It is important for that companies to understand it does not matter exactly how good the merchandise is, if it’s not marketed correctly, no success in product sales can be skilled. To improve the actual visibility of the item, bulk Sms could be of great help and to get this, companies can employ bulk Sms service.

Individuals, today are more tech experienced and look for easier methods for getting information about certain service or product. To focus on such needs from the customers, companies should adopt Sms marketing because the advertising tool. Different tools are available in the market; nevertheless mobile marketing is the trendiest device among all. With technical advancements, situations are additionally changing and something this kind of alternation in the company marketing is actually mass Sms Indian the affordable as well as effective type of marketing any kind of product or service.

Advertising via sms help the businesses supply bonuses to the customers as well as potential customers to state just how much you worth their support. Sms marketing strategy allow the businesses touch base increasingly more customers through investing less money and effort including sending SMSs in customized and personalized form. Mass Sms support is the most preferred use of cellular advertising as it suits big group.

Short texting support became popular within 2000 as well as since then businesses possess began tapping the potential for the mobile moderate to transmit over the marketing messages in order to large target team. Marketers can make utilization of mass Sms plan to improve this process associated with delivering messages. Sms marketing is viewed as a simple funnel, nevertheless earlier many spam communications had been additionally sent to the users that continued to become peaceful irritating for the customers. If the companies wish to give more increase to the company consist of bulk Sms Indian as one of the marketing activities.

The revolutionary and classy marketing funnel promises a quick company process because the entire thing is actually automated. The actual communications sent to the customers are well created as well as organized keeping in mind the advantages of the users. The actual Sms must be tempting enough in order that it will get all the attention as well as results in call to action. Sms marketing is really a brand new strategic method to marketplace goods and services within the cost-effective manner and contains additionally profited many companies until day. This process will benefit the businesses and is here to stay.

Author: Mike Johnson  Source:http://www.singaporearticles.com/sg/why-mobile-marketing-is-so-effective-in-canada/

Is there an exact term to describe a marketing strategy which involves mobile and portable devices only? There is, and that term is “mobile marketing.” It is nothing but the distribution of promotional and advertising messages to customers by means of wireless networks. These days, there is hardly a single person in North America, who doesn’t own a mobile device. Having a mobile these days has become a habit in our daily living. Knowing the need for mobiles in our day-to-day life, several organizations and agencies started to use it for marketing purposes. This is how technique got its existence.

Though North America is the continent most involved with mobile marketing, Canada doesn’t have a full-fledged involvement in this field. Canada being the world’s second largest country spends almost more than $19 billion per year for marketing purposes. But among this $19 billion, only $5 million is spent each year on mobile marketing. The very same $5 million is spent by a single marketing company in the US. This doesn’t mean that, there are a few numbers of mobile users in Canada. Comparing to US, Canada also has equal number of mobile users, texting more than 20 billion times per year. It is also estimated that about four million Canadians use mobile web more than once in a week.

Part of the reason could have to do with the global recession. The invention of this style of marketing happened to coincide with the deteriorating economic conditions around the globe, and Canadian businesses could not justify additional expenditures for a while, as the economy was destabilized.

Though businesses are beginning to experience a more regular incidence of cash-flow now, they are still slightly hesitant to try this revolutionary new way of holding a discussion with their customers and keeping their clientele informed and updated with the best available medium for the purpose. Perhaps this makes Canadian businesses “late-adopters” when it comes to marketing strategies.

However, once Canadians get a feel for what this strategy is about (actually communicating with customers and not spamming them with constant messages) they’ll begin to see that Canada is ready to put this great new technique into play, and enjoy the success that the rest of the world is already enjoying with this form of marketing.

Author: Andy Marken Source: http://www.marcommwise.com/article.phtml?id=583

While on recent trips to Europe and the Pacific Basin, we were able to see first hand the progress on-line gaming, on-line video and a new aspect of cellular communications called short messaging services (SMS) have made. Already a number of service providers and advertisers are experimenting with the new advertising "opportunity." Then, just a few weeks ago, my wife and I decided to have a quiet and relaxing evening so we went to see a recent movie release, The Shipping News. I got the eerie feeling that SMS had suddenly been raised to a new level. The bar had been raised and I didn’t even know I was running the race.

In case you haven’t seen the movie allow me to give you a quick summary as it relates to personalized messaging.

An individual walks down the street and when he or she makes contact with an intelligent messaging machine, the individual is bombarded with custom tailored holographic messages regarding his clothes, his finances, all of his or her personal concerns. The science fiction movie was obviously designed to entertain but as I left the theater I wondered how soon would sci-fi become reality!

Already on-line video gaming has become a major industry as Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft rush to deliver interactive works that individuals from across town, across the country or around the globe can use to join together and play. The subscription model is being offered on desktop systems, go with you notebook systems and in several areas on cellular phones. People of all ages are signing up and logging on.

Cameras, Cell Phone are merging

The combination of cell phones and digital cameras is growing rapidly. The combination is already well established on the Pacific Rim and in Europe. It is only now gaining traction in the U.S. as people find it fun and useful to capture and share personal moments and images. Sony, Canon, Matsushita/Panasonic and many other leading camera manufacturers already see the combination solutions as the next wave of communications sales.

It is interesting to note that the still camera/phones and services have been rapidly embraced by the consumer.

At the same time, manufacturer’s efforts to combine digital video cameras and cellular phones together have failed to develop any level of significant interest. This is probably due to a combination of factors including cumbersome size of the video phones, high cost of the units as well as the high cost and reliability of video communications bandwidth.

There are also stronger reasons that video cell phones have not been embraced and that is the lack of a compelling reason to use the available technology…yet. People everywhere want to capture and share individual moments, memories and ideas. No one has developed a compelling need to widely and continuously share on-going activities.

Just as videophones were introduced in the 40s and 50s and were described as ‘cute and cool’ people quickly tired of the idea. While the videophones remain a mainstay of the sci-fi movie, Internet video conferencing has still not gained widespread usage despite the availability of industrial-strength broadband services and low-cost web cameras.

Compelling Solution

Individuals, small firms and global enterprise departments need compelling requirements before the technology and service will be widely accepted and used. While a number of research firms have noted the rapid acceptance of the technology in the pornography industry, we doubt if such applications and sales will encourage individual users and firms to accept the technology based on that “strong recommendation.”

However, service providers around the globe have begun to embrace and promote the video cellphone solution because it does provide a sharp upswing in on-line service (hence revenues). Only in very limited numbers have people accepted the value proposition for video cellphone delivery but photo transfer is growing rapidly.

By the same token there are other consumer trends that must be considered:

• Growing numbers of people are deciding they would prefer to pay for internet radio services that are subscription based, not advertising supported
• Internet users are purchasing and using programs and services that filter or block out drop-in, drop-down and ‘sticky’ promotional activities
• Consumers are purchasing DVD recorders and similar PVRs (personal video recorders) that enable them to cut out interruptive ads

Slow Launch
When the concept of short message services first arose in late 2000 it garnered very little attention. It took more than nine months for individuals and organizations to realize the value of sending short, sometimes cryptic alphanumeric messages. Today people men, women and youths routinely put their cellphones on “stun” in meetings, classes and other activities where answering the phone would be disruptive and prohibited. They are still able to communicate stay in touch and as we say all too frequently, multitask.

With the growing popularity of written messaging, service providers saw a new opportunity to increase revenues while advertisers saw a new and hopefully more productive means of reaching consumers.

In several European countries and in certain markets in the Far East service providers have offered customers the option of opting-in to lower their monthly cellular costs or maintain their present service and block the unsolicited messages.

While the messaging services are still in their infancy, most service providers and advertisers are struggling to develop a promotional model that will be acceptable to consumers to ensure they resubscribe to the service. Unfortunately because of the misguided activities of some of the service providers and advertisers the results to date have been far from encouraging. According to the limited studies by CTIA and InfoTrends noted that resubscription was less than 20 percent, hardly a vote of confidence by consumers.

Deteriorating Into SPAM
The initial sign-up rate service providers reported was excellent the concept of lower on-line costs is certainly compelling. However, it would appear that consumers quickly tired of the interruptions and barrage of spam.

While the flood of message servicing and service provisioning is only just beginning, at least two entrepreneurial software developers are already selling cellular message blocking software. Undoubtedly this software was probably developed by the same people who have developed and offer the on-line filtering solution for people who don’t want to endure drop-down, drop-in and sticky on-line ads.

Properly developed, executed and monitored; SMS offers some interesting opportunities:

• Service providers will suddenly have a new opportunity to produce bottom line profits
• Marketers will have a very focused and control means of reaching the individual consumer in a controlled manner and with a controlled message

Is it any wonder when I watched The Shipping News I saw the seedling that could well become the mighty oak of controlled, everywhere intrusive advertising messaging?

Weighted Control

While the concept is only just beginning to emerge, it has already gained its unfair share of detractors. Consumer groups and governmental agencies in a number of countries are closely examining how the control:

• the recipient from being “trapped” into receiving advertising messages he or she has no interest in receiving just because they activated their phone
• the recipient who chooses to opt-in for the free or advertising supported service only receives a certain “class” of messages and is not forced to endure undesirable messages
• that the cellphone user only receives a specific level of short message ads based on his or her phone usage patterns and volumes
• widespread distribution of short messaging activities without prior agreement from the cellular user

As service providers seek out new revenue sources to lower their overall costs and improve their bottomlines, SMS will gain more widespread use. The challenge for both advertisers and providers is to implement the messaging technology based on a well thought-out and staged introduction program. Widespread implementation will only cause a pushback by consumer groups, corporations and governmental agencies that will position the SMS as an unnecessary, unrequested and undesirable intrusion.

Consumers will paint the implementation as a greedy solution for “companies” to tap into additional and unnecessary profits. Companies/corporations will take the position that it is an invasion on the company’s paid staff time. Governmental agencies will strike back based on their knee-jerk response to the first two sets of complaints placing greater restrictions on the service providers.

Minimize Impact

The implementation of SMS will come to pass and it will serve either as a valuable advertising tool or another mark against firms’ ill-planned efforts to reach the consumer just prior to his or her moment of purchase. It will go through a long period of mis-use and abuse until sophisticated monitoring and measurement has been carried out to profile the cellular user and his or her wants, needs and objectives.

All of this information is already available. Developing the selection matrix properly without abusing consumer trust will be vital. Organizations that abuse the data will face major pushback by consumers and governments. Their actions could dramatically impact the entire industry while it is still in its infancy.

But if the program is slowly and methodically rolled out it will become something that is ubiquitous much like the customized holographic messaging in The Shipping News and it will be with you even without your realizing its existence. Unfortunately, greed will probably overcome caution and both service providers and advertisers will bumble into delivering short messages over cellular to the point where governmental (local, regional and global) control will begin.

The challenge will be to develop and nurture opt-in opportunities that really appeal to and benefit the cellular user. Organizations like eBay and business procurement/distribution operations should be the first to develop and carryout these service provisions. They will deliver a benefit to the consumer/user, to the advertiser and the service provider. Then as the acceptance increases, added offerings can be implemented in a staged and controlled manner.

Steady, Successful Implementation
If we don’t do this in a planned manner we will most certainly see a reenactment of Apple’s famed 1984 ad. Restrained implementation will be difficult but if the effort isn’t well thought out and executed it may appear in a form and shape as well as under a governmental control that can hurt the entire industry.

The overwhelming impulse to move too quickly and too aggressively in the name of profits, will probably dominate the discussion and the industry will face yet another set back. The ability to make it succeed, fail or be dramatically restricted will be in the hands of the service providers and advertisers.

The path selection is ours to take!!!!