How SMS is building business

The following case studies are real. They are excellent for generating SMS marketing ideas for your business. We can help your business in a similar fashion.

Case Study 1. Dunkin Donuts

A two month mobile interactive ad campaign in Italy has resulted in a 9% increase in sales for Dunkin Donuts, according to the two companies that created it.

As a result of an SMS-based marketing campaign, customers were able to get coupons for Dunkin Donuts goods by using their mobile handsets to respond to advertisements displayed on store notice boards, billboards and on the radio.

By sending a short message to the published numbers, users receive an immediate reply featuring a free gift coupon or special offer exchangeable at local outlets.

Sales were reportedly up 9% within the first three weeks of the campaign. By enticing consumers to request special offers, Dunkin Donuts ensures that they achieve a great consumer push without running the risk of breaking down the client relationship by contributing to the wealth of 'spam'. SMS is the perfect way to tap into a vast market of mobile phone users in an environment plagued by a lack of standardization and interconnections.

By ensuring that the power of the SMS medium is put to good use in an ethical way and one which doesn't encroach upon users' privacy is something which was key to the success of campaigns such as this one with Dunkin Donuts.

And Dunkin Donuts' Italian franchisee GianLuigi Contin says that the SMS marketing solution has been a positive brand-building experience: "We are directly reaching our targets with a message they can understand. Cellular coupons are not cute promotions, rather they are serious marketing tools that not only extend the brand but are also directed towards the people we want to reach."

Case Study 2. MacDonalds boosts sales using SMS

When McDonald’s Australia ran its first SMS voucher campaign in Bundaberg, Queensland, in September, it saw very healthy SMS voucher redemption rates.

This redemption rate was aided by the design of the voucher campaign, which was integrated with a competition run through a local radio station. Listeners entered the radio competition by SMSing in their name. In reply, they received a confirmation of their entry with an SMS voucher attached. They could take this voucher to either of the two Bundaberg McDonald’s restaurants and receive one of three offers. Additionally, the customer was asked to reply to the SMS voucher with a “Y” to receive more McDonald’s offers, which most recipients did.

McDonald’s was able to send out further vouchers just before lunch time.

Because every phone number is unique. McDonald’s collected names in their campaign, next time they may choose to ask for age, allowing better targeting and response rates.

Because of the infiltration of mobile phones in society, it is a perfect promotional entry tool and voucher/coupon delivery and redemption mechanism.

Case Study 3. SMS marketing helps McDonalds

Marketing products to mobile phones using SMS messages has been proven to increase sales, according to a test study carried out in Sweden.


Named e-street, the project signed up 2,500 mobile phone-users in the town of Lulea to receive SMS messages of special offers from 150 local organization.

After the volunteers were sent an SMS for a McDonalds burger offer, 25 per cent of the targeted users took up the offer.

The McDonalds in question broke its turnover records during the test period and it jumped to the top of the McDonalds league table in Sweden.

Case Study 4. Hilton uses SMS with success
 
The Hilton Hotel group has successfully used SMS messaging to increase guest numbers to its hotels and build customer loyalty.
 
The hotel sent out important marketing messages such as specials and promotions directly to its members’ mobile handsets.
 
SMS allowed the hotel to get the messages out instantly and at the most appropriate time of day.
The use of SMS as a direct marketing tool resulted in a 10-25% uptake of offers sent out by the hotel and proved to be an integral part its direct marketing and loyalty strategy.

The Psychology of Sales & Marketing

Did you know that when people make a purchase, they generally buy "with their emotions and then justify their decision with logic later on'?

What? You didn't know that? If you truly want to succeed in business, you need to learn and understand how using psychology can "set you apart from the rest of your competition and take your business to the next level.

Psychology can be applied to all aspects of your sales and marketing efforts and will give you that all important "edge" over your competitors.

People desperately want to feel cared for and understood more than anything else, and the businesses that understand this vital pyschological factor will gain a major advantage over their competitors.

How you can read the minds of your customers?

Yes, you are right. You can read through your customers and guide them to where you want to get them. Today, recent advances in behavioural sciences have made it possible to read between the lines and understand the human behaviour with more clarity.

Every customer is different and needs a different approach to sales. Gone are the days where amateurs thought that the only way to sell is to give a canned sales pitch. You have the benefit of choosing the solutions sales methods that help you understand the actual needs of the customers.

Techniques like the Self-expressive method, Personality Style Flexing, personal style at work and off work, Communication pattern audit, Behaviour analysis, Objective analysis, emotional literacy, learning styles and stages and so on help you to be more productive on the field with your customers. These are scientific methods and hence you are sure of reaching your targets and probably surpass it.

The role of a professional salesperson is much like that of a doctor. It is necessary to diagnose the situation and prescribe a suitable treatment. It is necessary to understand the customer’s mind to determine the right prescription.

Many sales professionals are master communicators and have the ability to talk their way through just about any situation but lack the skills to use their natural demeanor to their advantage in a presentation. Other sales professionals have the skills to build powerful presentations but lack the communication skills to reinforce their message.

The Effective Sales professional is able to look for and identify levels of client acceptance. And he realizes that it is only through tracking and responding to these levels that the sales may precede to the close.

The ability to understand one’s selling style, the pattern of one’s behaviours, as perceived by clients will determine how much influence you have on them. If a Sales professional is seen as being more concerned about the client (client focus) rather than product (product focus), will in the long run be more successful than others.