Mobile Marketing on the Rise

Does this look familiar? What you’re seeing above is called SMS or Text Message marketing, and right now it’s taking the world of advertising by storm.

2011 is a very important year for online marketing, we’re in the middle of a major shift in the way people view and accept ads in their daily lives. With the rise in popularity of mobile devices like iPhones, iPads, Android phones and tablets, mobile advertising is becoming a very important tool for businesses of all sizes. Mobile devices let businesses connect with customers on a much more personal level. Instead of having people see your advertisement passively on a search engine, newspaper or television, where it’s quickly seen and forgotten, a simple short message can be delivered right into the palm of their hand, read, and responded to instantly. They only need to sign up to your list by texting a simple Keyword to a 5 digit shortcode.

A single text message has proven to be over 1000% more effective at generating a response than an e-mail, and display advertising (billboards, newspaper, pay per click).

So how is Mobile Advertising better? Let’s take a look at a 3 very real problems that many businesses face when advertising in the digital age.

1. Problem: Thanks to how easy it is to advertise on the internet, most people are bombarded with advertisements so often that they’ve become desensitized to advertisement. They only buy what their friends recommend, or they only buy from people and businesses that they already trust. How can I grab customers?

Solution: Mobile Advertising makes the customer the first point of contact. This means that they saw your message, liked it, and decided to opt-in to your offer. Now that they’ve signed up to your list, you can send them new offers at any time, you’ll be able to create a steady stream of business from clients who love your product or service.

2. Problem: Advertising is expensive, I need at least $500 before anyone will even run my campaign.

Solution: Mobile SMS Marketing is early, and it’s still much cheaper than its alternatives. Maintaining a messaging list of just 300 interested customers will cost you less than $150 a month. Whether you’re trying to fill an appointment slot or sell a product, sending an enticing offer to 300 people will get you a response, in fact the average response rate for mobile advertising ranges around 10%-20%. To compare, the average response rate on a pay per click campaign is 2%, e-mail is 3%, and display advertisements like billboards are well under .1% (1 in 1000).

3. Problem: My advertisement campaign didn’t work. I just wasted $500 on a campaign and got nothing in return.

Solution: With SMS Marketing you will always get something in return. Your subscribers will be people who already interested in your product or service. Best of all even if you send out a message that doesn’t get the response you want, you still have your list, so just try again.

Those are just a few problems that business owners face when running a modest campaign that mobile advertising can help alleviate.

With the increase in demand for mobile marketing, Variable8 put together a text message marketing service for our clients. We also help our clients get started by providing free promotional business cards for them to hand out that feature a short message, keyword, and shortcode.

Give us a call if you’re interested in learning more about how Text Message marketing can help your business.