Ideas for Using SMS

SMS is a great way to communicate and there is no end to its uses. From businesses to individuals and groups, keeping touch is easy with BulkSMS.com, by Celerity Systems.

BulkSMS-Banking: SMS services enable banks to provide better customer service. These include sending transaction notifications, balances summaries or statement notifications or information services such as rates and special offers.

BulkSMS-Bid: SMS services extend the functionality of auctions services to the mobile/wireless devices such as mobile bidding and special interest alerts.

BulkSMS-Company: SMS services to help a company stay in touch with their staff and customers by sending meeting confirmations, important notices, incentive messages and product announcements.

BulkSMS-CRM: SMS services which allows enhanced interaction with the customer like promotion campaign, complaint management system, logistics support and supply chain management.

BulkSMS-Credit Card: SMS services to notify when purchases are made, of current balances and special offers.

BulkSMS-Financial: SMS services to send portfolio information, stock quotes, price alerts and news headlines.

BulkSMS-Groups: SMS services to help groups communicate with each other about activities, meeting and special interest information.

BulkSMS-Info: SMS services that send news, sports scores, weather, horoscopes, classifieds and exchange rates.

BulkSMS-Locate: SMS services offering driving directions, yellow pages, street address directory, e-taxi, traffic delays and flight arrival/departure updates.

BulkSMS-Marketing: SMS services to support marketing campaigns and promotional activities via coupons, special offers and incentives.

BulkSMS-Personal Info: SMS services offering reminders for birthdays, anniversaries, festivals, gifts, public holidays, bill payments, meetings, tasks & events.

BulkSMS-Reserve: SMS services for the notification of availability of movie tickets, restaurant reservations and hotels availability.

BulkSMS-School: SMS services to send absentee alerts, special announcements, exam notifications, result notifications, event notifications and parent notifications.

BulkSMS-Shopper: SMS services to announce product availability, holiday specials and mobile coupons.

sms Abbreviations

In order to fit the most information into the message there are some standard accepted abbreviations. They can be very helpful but it also should be noted that since clarity is very important using unclear abbreviation can diminish the impact of the message. Listed below are some of the common abbreviations.

:-( = Sad :-) = Happy :-D = Laughing 2 = To 2B = To be 2Day = Today 2Moro = Tomorrow 4 = For 8 = Ate ASAP = As soon as possible B = Be B4 = Before CU= = See you CUL8R = See you later CW2Cu = Can't wait to see you D8 = Date EZ = Easy F2T = Free to talk F8 = Fate FYI = For your information GR8 = Great L8 = Late L8R = Later LOL = Laugh out loud LUV = Love M8 = mate

MUV = Movie NO1 = No one PCM = Please call me PLS = Please QT = Cutie R = Are R8 = Rate RUOK = Are you OK SHPN = Shopping SPK = Speak SPST = Same place, same time THNQ = Thank you THX = Thanks U = You W/O = Without W84M = Wait for me W8N = Waiting WAN2 = Want to WB = Welcome Back WKND = Weekend WOT = What WRK = Work WRU = Where are you WTG = Way to go XLNT = Excellent Y = Why

conclusion

SMS marketing is an exciting and promising tool. Used correctly it is one of the best ways to reach people at a low cost with a high level of response. With BulkSMS.com, by Celerity Systems, a large investment is not necessary to prove that SMS marketing works for you. A low cost test can be preformed and the response can easily be measured. Let SMS marketing work for you. Let BULKSMS.com show you how.

Making the most from an SMS

In order to to make SMS work it is important to make sure the message is clear and respects the delivery medium. A clear message of 160 characters means that the sender needs to make sure that all pertinent information is included.

Create clear messages. Making sure that the message is clear and concise is very important. A clear message will increase the impact of the message.

Include contact information. This ensures that the receiver will know who the message is from and will allow them to contact you if necessary.

Don't send SPAM. Because SMS goes to phones, which people view as a personal resource, junk messages or too many messages will degrade the value of this communication medium.

There are three general goals that most marketing tries to achieve. These are: increase business from existing customers, gain new customers in established and new markets and improve profits.

The message you deliver will be set by these goals. Determining which goal you want to achieve is key to creating a clear message that impacts the receiver. Before writing the message it is important to determine what action you want the receiver to take. This is also how you will judge the success of your efforts.

To do all this and achieve the marketing goals in an SMS of 160 characters does take planning. Sending test messages to people with whom you are associated but who are not knowledgeable about the campaign can help make success.

Make SMS Marketing Work

SMS is unique as a marketing channel because it offers Low Cost, High Reach and High Retention. Compared with marketing via Email, with it's low retention, or Mass Mailing, with it's high cost, SMS provides a better way to market.

Successful SMS Marketing has to be permission based. Since it is nearly impossible for a person to stop incoming messages it is very important to make sure that the receiver either wants the message or finds the message to be very beneficial. Sending unwanted messages to people could be very damaging to your brand. Working with the customer to ensure they want the message will be a key to success.

There are many ways to get a customer to 'volunteer' to receive messages. Of course the easy way is to offer incentives. Here are some suggested guidelines.

As a starting point offer the potential or existing customer some tangible incentive for giving there mobile contact information. Perhaps offer a discount within the first message.

Once they have signed up and have responded to your incentive, increase the incentive over time. Keep the incentives fresh by offering different types of incentives. This will also allow you to judge the impact of the incentive.

When possible make the SMS as personalized as possible. Using shopping histories, for example, for incentives on like items.

Create a value index and reward accordingly. When shoppers respond to 5 incentives - they receive an additional incentive as a reward.

Always keep in mind that to be successful with SMS marketing it is very important to respect the customer and they way they feel about SMS. With that in mind building a long term relationship will be that much easier.

Marketing with SMS

SMS (Short Message Service) is a text message service that enables messages of 160 characters to be sent to cellphones. SMS's are stored and forwarded so the message will be sent later if the phone is not immediately available.

BulkSMS has expanded the capability of SMS by implementing the ability to send multiple SMS's simply. Whether you want to reach one person or thousands of people, BulkSMS provides an easy, reliable and cost effective way to keep in contact.

Provided SMS marketing is permission based, with the receiver desiring the message, SMS offers one of the highest response rates in marketing. Using this resource wisely is one of the keys to success, as will be discussed later in this guide.

Reaching groups of people on the go used to be difficult if not impossible. Bulk sms messaging is the only communication medium capable of reaching groups of people instantaneously regardless of where they are.

SMS provides several advantages over other forms of communication. Research has shown that SMS has the capacity to acces instantaneously a large number of people with mobile connectivity. Mobile users also show a high probability of reading SMS messages.

Characteristics	Communication Channel
	SMS	Email	Telephone	Fax
Capacity - speed of reach to large numbers of users	High	High	Low	Low
Audience - number of users with access to device	Large	Small	Large	Small
Immediacy - delay before user reads/listens to message	None	Long	None	Long
Targeting - probaility that user will read/listen to message	High	Low	High	Low
Economy of language - succinctly communicate required information	High	Medium	Low	Medium
Cost - spend to reach multiple users	Medium	Low	High	High

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.