SMS campaigns & promotions

Mobile advertising is an increasingly important part of the marketing mix. SMS interaction has long been at the heart of mobile advertising practices, offering a reach and simplicity that other mobile formats cannot offer. 

Whilst rich mobile media formats can offer more TV-like creative options, marketing is often about reaching the widest possible audience with your message. And so only high quality SMS can offer the near universal demographic and geographic reach to enable the largest mobile advertising and marketing campaigns. SMS is available on every handset and is globally ubiquitous, making it the ideal channel for mass-market, global marketing campaigns. Moreover, mobile is a personal device, specific to its owners, and thus messages can be targeted to an individual user level.

The dialogue nature of 2-way SMS also means that the channel can be used in truly interactive campaigns, allowing direct responses to marketing messages from the consumer to the brand.

Response rates are the measure of return on investment in marketing campaigns and lost or delayed messages impact negatively on that metric. High quality SMS transmission is therefore vital to ensure optimal ROI in any marketing campaign. Moreover, lost or delayed messages can quickly damage consumer perceptions of a service and its associated brand, making quality more important than ever.

An SMS gateway provider offers great flexibility and reach for a whole range of mobile advertising and marketing disciplines:

• Mobile ads – The distribution of advertising messages directly to consumers’ handsets

• Text-to-win campaigns – Sales promotions requiring consumers to text a number in order to compete for a prize

• Virtual gifts – The distribution of virtual gifts such as ringtones or mobile content can be facilitated via SMS

• Mobile catalogues – Rich mobile content such as mobile catalogues can be distributed via SMS

• Couponing – Fully redeemable coupons and vouchers can be distributed directly to the handset using standardized SMS barcode technology as part of marketing campaigns

Any company looking to reach consumers on the move with their marketing messages can deploy SMS interaction campaigns and promotions. FMCG brands can reach a mass market audience with mobile ads or text to win campaigns whilst higher-end brands can facilitate personalized and targeted communications with their potential customer base.