SMS Messaging a New Marketing Initiative for Australian Businesses
Mobile phones are a very common device these days and practically most people in Australia have one. This makes them one of the best mediums for marketing of products and services. If you have a deal or an offer which you would like to share with others, one of the best ways to get people’s attention is to send text messages. Mobile marketing via SMS messaging is quick, easy, cost effective and productive. To enjoy the benefits of SMS marketing, one just has to sign up on the numerous bulk text message sending sites online. These sites allow you to send text messages in bulk to your existing as well as potential customers either free of cost or at low prices. Even though mobile marketing has numerous advantages, still many companies are sceptical. Let us take a look at some of the advantages if you send text messages as a marketing initiative.
1) Personal Touch
The mobile phone is a personal device which people carry with them all the time. Through brand loyalty programs one can get important details like birthday and anniversary of various customers. The feeling that a customer gets, when he receives a personalised message on his birthday from one of his favourite brands or shops, is priceless. Also on that day a special one day offer, deal or sale coupon can be sent via a text message, making it a perfect marketing strategy. It leads to increase in loyalty of the customer as well as a good word of mouth to potential customers.
2) Quick and assured delivery
It is extremely easy to send a text message from a mobile device or a PC. A few simple clicks and the SMS will be sent to the customers. Also, the bulk SMS service providers give a guarantee that the text message would be delivered immediately without fail. Even on the mobile phone we have facility of delivery report to ensure that the message is delivered.
3) Bulk Text Messaging
The bulk text messaging services available online allow you to send a single text message to many people at one go, which is not possible on our individual handsets. This helps increase the reach and reduces the time significantly.
4) Short and Effective
The 160 character limitation of SMS messages can be looked at as a disadvantage or a boon. Writing a short effective message is much easier than a full printed ad or a TV commercial, also it is much cheaper. Moreover, studies have shown that 90% of all SMS messages are read by the recipient. So the chances that a TV ad is skipped, an email ad is deleted or filtered by Spam or a billboard is missed are much higher than a text message ad not being viewed.
5) Limited Resources are required
Very limited resources are required to send a text message. A mobile device and a PC are sufficient and a small amount of money needs to be paid to the bulk SMS service provider. One just has to write a short eye catching ad and the work is done. Thus, SMS messaging is a very cost effective way of marketing and the cost decreases as the number of sent text messages increase.
There are numerous other benefits of mobile marketing like higher response rates, targeted audience, etc. Looking at all of these plus points, it would be to the advantage of various Australian companies to invest in mobile marketing.
Author is an experienced business writer, has been writing in the business world for a long time. The article tells about the features and usage of Bulk SMS Software, online text message, SMS and sms gateways.