Make Your Brand Personal:

Typically, cell phones are only used to communicate with family, friends and coworkers, combined with its physically in your pocket, makes mobile highly personal. This means that once the user invites you in, your message will not only be read, but highly anticipated.

The results are in:

Response rates are averaging 12%, compared to 2% of traditional media. And some campaigns have been as high as 40%! This is largely due to the easy of entry that cell phones bring. No forms, waiting on hold, or trying to remember long URLs.

In recent years, it has been a common sight to see people with their eyes totally fixed on the small screens of their mobile phones, their fingers nimbly hammering away on tiny keypads in a bid to send a text message across town -- or even across the nation. The use of text messaging, or what is also commonly called SMS or short messaging services, is a global phenomenon that has swept the telecommunications industry off its feet and changed the way people communicate with one another.

For business owners, learning how to leverage the allures of mobile marketing through text messages or SMS would be to their added advantage, eventually resulting in higher returns for the significant dollar investments they have allocated for advertising. The result would be a more cost-effective marketing campaign for their brand, product or services that has a better response rate and lesser vulnerability to SPAM than emails and other online tools.

An Outlook of Text Message Advertising in the Current US Market

Text message marketing, in its most basic sense, is the sending of advertising or promotional information about a product or service through text-based messages sent through a mobile phone or a personal computer with an internet connection. Most mobile phones and networks have this built-in feature and service, while a wide variety of applications and providers make it possible for computers to send multiple text messages at the same time to various recipients.

There are approximately more than 2 billion people in the world that are using or have access to mobile phones, with over 270 million of whom reside in the United States towards the end of 2008. The use of text messaging for communication has been astounding, with over 300 billion messages sent for the year 2007 in the US alone. These figures grew at a staggering rate of 450% from subsequent years and have continued to balloon to an amazing rate of over 110 billion per month in 2008.

Mobile users are using text messaging 70% more than voice calls, with a typical user sending over 350 text messages per month as compared to only 200 average calls using the same subscription. This information are significant statistics that businesses can take advantage of, particularly with 80% of consumers keeping their mobile phones with them at all times and reading 94% of text messages within 15 minutes upon reception.

Surveys have shown that if given a choice, 37% of US adult consumers would be more receptive in receiving ads through text messaging than the traditional radio, TV or even email. The American public have seen the power of text message marketing have with successful campaigns such as the very popular American Idol voting process or the My Coke Rewards engagement campaigns from Coca Cola. Knowing these figures, it would be safe and wise to assume that it is now time for your business to jump into the text message bandwagon as well.