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Mobile Marketing - This Year's Must Do

Posted by gcfraley / Category:

By Mark Korschen


The definition of mobile marketing is divided into 2 areas. An advertisement on the side of a bus or cab is one, more traditional, form of this term. The most recent application is text message marketing, meaning marketing communication through text messages.

As a marketer or business owner, knowing that there is a new way to get your message across directly into the palm of your customers hands, you are almost certainly interested to know about this form of communication. Americans use their cell phones constantly, and with eighty five percent of the population possessing one, it is no surprise that this equation generates a direct connection for you to your target market.

Clearly, there are regulations and guidelines that you must understand before beginning with mobile marketing. If executed in the proper way, mobile marketing will be one hundred percent permission based, signifying that your customers have the power to decide whether they will continue to receive your messages. Text messages that are spam are completely illegal, and with that said, the system has developed to keep law-abiding businesses safe from legal action. Your consumers have 2 options to choose from in order to join your list: text in from their cell phone or sign up with the web form.

The messages are sent through a web based software platform, ensuring your mobile marketing campaign is legal instead of the illegal way done through email texting. E-mail texting is free but as a text messaging delivery method, it is completely unreliable as the delivery rates are poor, the speed of delivery even worse, and then your recipients are unable to text back. With a short code and keyword, which is how web based systems work, you save yourself this hassle.

What is are a short code and keyword? Good question. A short code is a 5 to 6 digit number used to send and receive the text messages, while a keyword identifies which account the message should go to. There are businesses that own short codes and lease them out for a very low charge to interested people, who can then ask their potential customers to sign up.

Through mobile marketing you can build a database of mobile numbers to send out messages containing info such as new product releases, event notifications, coupon codes and more. The list can be used as a customer relationship management platform and other information, such as name, age, birth date, etc. can be stored in order to be able to send out highly targeted messages to customers. Also, through this platform you can run mobile contests like the ones you may have seen with Television voting.

However, the aim may not always be to build a database as there is a function that allows a onetime interaction with customers that is equally engaging. Take the example of a billboard. The problem remains, how will I know the effectiveness of my advertisement? An easy way to track your investment in one, something that you could not previously do, is to add a simple call to action like "Text KEYWORD to 46786 and get a free coupon" is a good way to get yourself the answer to the previous ad and spike your target markets curiosity at the same time.

The popularity of mobile marketing is difficult to overlook nowadays and its time you set up your own application of the tool for your business. It's easy, its fast, its reliable, and its likable- start communicating your advertising message via text today!




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