TXT NOW Text/SMS Message Marketing

Text messaging has become one of the latest fads of today. It just makes life a little easier, not to mention that it is a whole lot more fun than talking on the phone. Text messaging is quick, simple, and best of all silent. Why is silent the best? Well, say, for instance, you are in a meeting, someone has an important message for you that you must get right away. Would you rather someone call your cell phone and interrupt the meeting or send a text message that not only allows the meeting to keep going uninterrupted, but also gets the message to you right away.

Text Messaging and Teens

Text messaging is probably the most popular in the teen generation of today. With “texting” you can send fun, cute, or flirty messages right over the cell phone and go on about your day. Teens are really into the text messaging thanks to the ability to shorten messages with fun abbreviations, as well as the fact that they can be personalized with pictures, graphics, music, icons, and even video.

Why do teens and texting go together so easily? Well, teens have come up with a variety of reasons for text messaging. For example, if they are in trouble with their parents and cannot talk on the phone, they can send a quick text message to all of their friends, letting them know not to call. Perhaps a girl or a boy has a crush on another person, well instead of being shy and embarrassed to pick up the phone and call, they may send a text message instead.

For teens texting is just fun, new, and exciting.

Text Messaging and Business

Texting is not just for the kids however. Today businesses are using it more often for a variety of different reasons. They can be used to communicate with family, friends, partners, colleagues, and even customers and clients. Let’s take a look at some of the great ways text messaging and business go together:

*Meeting Reminders
*Appointment Reminders
*Important Business Information for employees
*Business Contacts
*Confirmation
*Advertisement
*Promotions
*Sales
*Sales Confirmation

In business, it can be of great use. You can, with permission, send new promotions, advertisements, and sales to the cell phone of your clients and customers. This works well, especially if you have permission to send the messages, because not everyone appreciates telephone calls in their busy lives. Furthermore, clients and customers may not have the time to listen to a lengthy telephone call, telephone message, or even read any mail you might send. A text message is quick and to the point.

Text messaging is a great way to follow up with a potential client or customer as well. For example, after the initial meeting with a potential client, you could send a text message thanking them for meeting with you and provide your contact information.

There are so many beneficial advantages to using text messaging within a business that it would be impossible to list them all. However, it is important that you understand just what texting can do for your business, clients, and customer service.

Text Messaging and Family

Along with the teens and businesses, texting with family is a great value as well. Text messages can work great within the family to remind loved ones of appointments, dinner, schedule changes, or even just to say hi. Many families use texting just because it is easier than trying to reach each other on the phone, particularly if one is at school or work at the time.

You could text message dad to remind him about soccer practice. If your rehearsals end early, you can text message to let your parents know it is time to pick you up. If you are wondering what to get for dinner, you can text message the family to ask for suggestions. If you need your husband or wife to pick up something on the way home, you can text message them to ask them.

Text messaging essentially makes everyone’s life easier. Most all cell phones today feature text messaging capabilities. Furthermore, most cell phone companies offer a variety of packages, that include text messaging. Why wait? Start messaging today.

Author: Adrian Adams

According to the data from Communities-dominate blogs, the frequency of txt / sms messaging is mind blowing!  Here are some numbers to put the 2.4 Billion (with a B) mobile phone users worldwide into perspective:

• 800 million automobile owners
• 1.3 B people who have a fixed land line
• 1.5 people own televisions
• 1.4 Billion people have credit cards
• 850 million people own PC’s
• 1.1 Billion people have Internet accounts
• 85 million people own iPods
• 200 million gaming units were shipped in 2006
• 300 million digital camera were shipped in 2006

• There are 2.7 Billion Mobile Phones in use right now
• 950 million mobile phones were sold last year world wide
• In 2006 the subscriber base grew from 2.1 billion to 2.7 billion.

This is not a segment of the market that can be ignored!  To reach the mobile phone subscribers quickly & effortlessly and provide them with the information that they want and need right now – you have to be able to communicate with them on the medium they know and love:  Their PHONE!

USA has reached 75% penetration for mobile phones
* The Western European average per capita penetration for mobile phones is already 110%
* Italy, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Israel have penetration rates at about 140%
* China adds 6 million phones every month, India adds 7 million phones every month.
* Finland, Norway, Denmark and Portugal – each countries with 120% or more penetration rates – Mobilephones are less than 6 million units total.
* SMS Messaging Is Biggest Data App On Planet
* On the internet there are about 1.5 billion e-mail boxes, maintained by about 800 million people.
* 1.8 billion people are doing SMS texting.
* Last year over 42% of Americans were active in SMS already
* E-mail is opened in 24 hours and replied to in 48 hours.
* SMS is read within 15 minutes on average and responded within 60 minutes.
* 65% of e-mail is spam, less than 10% of SMS is spam.
* In South Korea five separate credit card services are available on the three mobile networks
* In South Korea almost 100% of credit card based point-of-purchase sites accept payment via mobile phone credit (and charge) cards
* Two years from launch almost 10% of South Korean phone users watch digital broadcast TV on their phones
* The Pop Idol formats have earned a windfall of over 700 million dollars out of text messaging votes
* In 2005 already half of all phones sold were cameraphones so cameraphones outsell digital cameras by more than 4 to 1 .
* There are 3.2 Billion to 3.8 Billion radio users.
* 73% of the population now uses the mobile phone as their portable clock.
* 2.7 Billion phones in active use. There is a subscription for 40% of the planet’s population.
* The mobile telecoms industry earned 725 Billion dollars last year.
* Global music industry earns 16% of its revenues from mobile phones (mostly ringing tones);
* Videogaming earns 14% of its global revenues from mobile.
* Mobile telecom growth in dollar terms, from 2005 to 2006, was 105 billion dollars.

Find out how to get information into the hands of your customers by contacting TxtNOW today!

SMS fuels the growth of the mobile Internet
By ICTWorld, 22 February 2007

The advent of the mobile Internet has not slowed the growth of SMS. If anything, SMS is fuelling the mobile Internet.

“Accessing the mobile Internet using hyperlinks sent via SMS is the norm for delivering rich mobile content, applications or services. Evolving cell phone design and new business models has led to the convergence of these technologies,” says Dr Pieter E. Streicher, MD of Bulksms.com, a wireless application service provider.

Early handsets only recognised a phone number. Then phone enhancements identified an e-mail address or Internet link in a message. Today, phones automatically highlight phone numbers, e-mail addresses and Internet links in a SMS. There have also been improvements in the handling any type of Web site as phones have their own browsers.

“In the days before the mobile Internet, if a phone was not WAP-compatible then it could not display content. Now, all you need to do is click on the hyperlink within the SMS to access mobile content,” says Streicher.

The mobile entertainment industry has led the way in delivering music, videos and games using SMS hyperlinks. Businesses are catching on to using SMS as a cost effective and efficient means to deliver content to mobile phone users, download applications, or initiate viral marketing campaigns. In the latter case, consumers access rich content (such as an advert) via an SMS link and send on the campaign link to their friends. The benefit to the consumer is that the link is sent at the cost of a SMS rather than a MMS.

A good example of a business model maximising on the integration of SMS and mobile Internet is Jamble, a South African social networking service. Users access Jamble by sending a SMS to a shortcode. A WAP link is delivered to the user’s phone and the user clicks on it to open a page on the mobile Internet.

This WAP page allows users to subscribe to Jamble and begin creating a network of friends, send messages or use instant chat, share photographs and video clips, or download wallpapers and tones. Thereafter, Jamble provides alerts to new messages by sending an SMS with a link.

According to Streicher: “The cell phone is all about the immediacy and convenience of mobile communications. The integration of SMS and the mobile Internet takes this a step further by providing consumers with a ubiquitous means of accessing mobile content, applications and services.”

Snapple Builds Mobile Market
Source: Frost & Sullivan

One example of how well mobile marketing can succeed was a campaign that Enpocket put together last summer for the beverage company Snapple.

The campaign, under the promotion name “Snaffle,” involved the printing of 225 million bottle caps with numbers that could then be matched with winning Snaffle numbers. The winning numbers were announced on TV, on the Internet and delivered via text messages to handsets. Prizes included a trip to Australia.

Enpocket delivered the SMS alerts to customers who opted in to the campaign. The alerts were timed during the lunch hour, identified as the peak purchase time for Snapple.

Enpocket says 90 percent of all consumers who received the alerts opened them and an estimated 33 percent of those who participated bought additional Snapple products as a result.

Click here to learn how your company can benefit from TXT/SMS Marketing.

Cell phone plans, choose the best deal.

Cell phone has evolved to be one of the most important part of life. Most businesses require their officers to have a cell phone. Even individuals need cell phones in going about their daily lives. This is why acquiring this important gadget require intelligence to avoid inappropriate expense. Finding the most reasonable cell phone plan is one requirement in choosing cell phones intelligently. Because of the very large number of network services in this country, it may help you to research and assess their offers before deciding on a cell phone plan.

Before you decide to buy a cell phone, you may want to decide first whether you want a prepaid cell phone service or a traditional cell phone plan. If you decide on a prepaid cell phone service, then no problem, no credit check, you just need to pay outright and immediately you have your phone. Some cell phone companies even offer free cellular phone unit when you acquire a prepaid cell phone service from them. However, when you want a cell phone plan, you may need to choose from a by minute charging or by the second charging. Both charging process have positive and negative points. You need to assess your usage frequency and requirements before you decide on a cell phone plan. You may research on the performance like if they have enough towers to reach you wherever you are. There are different cell phone plans for family and national use. There are also cell phone plans for regional use. All of these have their own benefits although there are also their disadvantages. For prepaid cell phone plans, there are cell phone units that may not have the capability for this connection.

Other cell phone plans like family plans, this is advantageous for family use and small businesses. There is free access for emergencies. In addition, for family plans, it is cheaper to call the other cell phones included in one billing. There are also discounts for the airtime usage of family members using this cell phone plan. For national plans, this cell phone plan includes free long-distance charges. There are no roaming charges for this cell phone plan and it is another advantage. For regional use, this cell phone plan may require you to pay long-distance charges but the airtime rates may be cheaper.

Cell phone plans may be beneficial is you can acquire the once that have the benefits you need. The manner of usage is an essential requirement, if you do not need it as much and just for emergencies, prepaid cell phone plan could suit you well than traditional plans where you need to sign a contract with the service provider.

Prepaid cell phone plans are often preferred; however, for travelers the traditional plan with no roaming charges and no long-distance charges might be best.

All of this notwithstanding, in order to make full and effective use of your cell phone, you may want to set some guidelines in your usage. If you want your cell phone for your business, you may need to make sure you turn it off when you need privacy. Being available every time may not do well for you. Reserve sometime for yourself and never allow people to disturb you during this time. If your business partners know they could reach you even late at night and on weekends, they will be annoyed if you suddenly change this behavior. Having a cell phone and being available all the time may not be healthy, thus, you have to be wary not to allow people disturb you when you need to be alone with or without your cell phone.