Categories: Articles

Marketing To Mobile Phones With SMS

I spent the better part of the morning hearing two great speakers present the case for the power of SMS mobile marketing. For those not in the know, SMS stands for “Short Message Service” and is typically the way to send text messages through a mobile device (why everybody is not running around with a Blackberry is beyond me). It’s how we got to sentences like: “c u in a bit, k?” because SMS has a 160-character maximum per message.
SMS is also becoming a marketing monster. Today’s presentation was presented by the Montreal Relationship Marketing Association which is an affiliate of the Canadian Marketing Association.
Impact Mobile‘s Gary Schwartz and LIPSO Systems‘ Vivianne Gravel both explained, demoed and cautioned the crowd about the power, potential and pitfalls.
Key learnings included:
– SMS’ ability to initialize a relationship any time, anywhere
– How SMS can act like a “marketing glue” as it moves customers through mediums (i.e. from print to point-of-sale)
– The simplicity of the technology
– How we’re moving from mobile phones into mobile remote controls
– SMS is growing faster here in Canada than it did in Europe with over 2 million messages per day
Although users must opt-in and the use must have a two-way communication to really lift, SMS – like all mobile services – has a ways to go. Phone carriers have only recently become unified in this space and there is a lot of education to be done. That being said, if you can keep the Spam levels under control, the permission level high, and add in some statistical research that supports the usage and power, SMS can be a new, fresh and engaging way to connect people to a brand that they’re already passionate about. An interesting new (and sensitive) touch point for marketers. How much of this would you like on your mobile device?

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.