The evolution of SMS Marketing

In 2005 a company named WHAMmobile form a SMS strategy to promote coupon cards.  Today they power professional sports, radio and more.  How did this evolution happen?  How did it happen in less than 5 years?  I believe there are 5 major components and reasons SMS messaging has been generating such a huge success and marketing results for companies.

First I would like to thank the youth. In 2005 I remember my mother telling me “that phone has made you anti-social, quit texting and put down your phone.”   In 2009 guess who texts me more than any of my friends? That’s right, my 57 year old mother.   She quickly realized that the quickest way to contact me was through a text message. She finally decided for me to show her how to send a SMS message. When she was at work and had a question for me, she could text a question and I could give her the answer. She thought this was greatest innovation in her life. What it does for me is the fact I can send I love you mom once a day, or how has your day been? This made it possible for me to only have to call her every other day, instead of once a day. Win / Win situation for the both of us.    I think parents communicating with their children helped push SMS into the corporate world. Those same parents realized the time that would be saved by texting colleagues and skipping the salutations and getting straight to the point at work. Time is money and SMS Messaging packages saved them on both.

American Idol was the savior of SMS Marketing.    Mobile was taking a huge hit in the SMS Marketing world and companies were quickly dropping off because of the economy and lack of services being provided.   The first night American Idol decided to use SMS Voting, WHAMmobile sold 3 accounts the next day. Guess where these people heard about SMS Marketing, right again! American Idol. The increase in voting for contestant introduced SMS short codes and how they work to millions and millions of people every week. Those millions now wanted a similar solution as American Idol and other popular TV programs. Today it is almost abnormal not to see a SMS promotion on a commercial or program.    Last night Nov 2, 2009 I watched the World Series in commercial alone I counted 32 SMS text promotions.

SMS BOOM!   In 2008 the largest increase in SMS Marketing happened and this was due to the niche marketing strategies by mobile marketing companies. Real estate text message solutions, automotive service updates via SMS, text message coupons and over 300-platform solution created according to WHAMmobile and their experts. Companies where creating ideas and trying to figure out methods of generating huge returns with their marketing departments. This almost takes the sales effort out of SMS Marketing.   WHAMmobile said they actively searched for sales and now they didn’t have enough people to answer the phone.

The Opt-In helped keep the value of SMS Marketing extremely high for the mobile users. The MMA cracked down on mobile spamming, and blasting to phones with no chance of stopping the service.   Now that companies have realized quality over quantity of SMS messages, users love the mobile club or subscription offered by business. If a business uses mobile ethics they will 99.9% of the time have a larger success rate. SMS is not a billboard ad, or TV commercial it is a personal engagement with prospects and consumers.   Companies started to figure this out and mobile users started opting-in and becoming a part of a brand, not just buying a brand.

Small businesses competing with corporations in the mobile space was invisible until 2008. WHAMmobile was the leader in small business SMS solutions. The typical cost to start a short code campaign is around $2,500 if you purchase and own your own short code. WHAMmobile thought it would be beneficial to buy one great code “444888″ and offer it at a small leasing fee for small businesses. This was the smartest mobile strategy they initiated. In less than a 6 months over 500 businesses were utilizing SMS Marketing in their establishments. One of the leaders in the small business-marketing boom was a small pizza establishment called Incredible Pizza located in Conroe, TX. They created a text coupon that was issued to over 5,000 users and redeemed close to 2,600 in less than a year. I don’t believe I have ever heard of a return that high with a paper coupon. Shortly after Bowling Alleys, Doctors, Lawyers, Car Dealers, Pubs, local restaurants and the list goes on, signed up for SMS solutions.

Note: Agencies found the benefit in SMS Marketing and started utilizing the technology to enhance and bring additional value for traditional media.   Clear Channel Outdoor is now powering billboard advertisements with SMS Marketing. The exposure of SMS by agencies like Clear Channels Outdoor and radio broadcast groups really helped the SMS Marketing arena.

Ryan D. Nelson invite you to learn about his Mobile Marketing Company: http://www.Whammobile.com Ryan also want to offer you free marketing tips at http://www.RyanNelsonOnline.com