1. Convenient and Cost effective- a very timely marketing solution for businesses of all sizes, SMS advertising lets you promote your brand even if you have a small marketing budget, perfect for small and mid-sized business
2. Establish interaction and develop a one on one relationship with consumers that establishes consumer trust and loyalty
3. Permission based -  Ability of consumer to opt in and opt out
4. Increase number of consumers realizing the value of Mobile Marketing during hard times , eg. Mobile Coupons
5. Can easily reach target audience anywhere anytime
6. Can easily be integrated to any existing marketing efforts, add SMS Marketing in your media mix and maximize the results
7. Turnkey solution in creating campaigns. Deploy SMS campaigns with ease.
8. Viral marketing, a plus to your business since most phones are capable of forwarding messages, it is most likely that your messages will be passed on to your clients’ contacts.
9. Track results of your campaign in real time, know which campaigns are successful . Learn from the unsuccessful ones
10. Enables you to run multiple text messaging campaigns at the same time
11. Be in control in creating, launching and managing your own campaigns, it is simple and easy to deploy, it doesn’t require any technical know how.

Mobile marketing is an innovative new dimension in the marketing mix. SMEs are catching up and are now heading towards the same direction as the big companies when it comes to promoting their business. Now with the financial conditions, large companies and SMEs share basic and equal opportunities in using SMS Marketing as an economical promotional medium to still carry out their advertising efforts despite budget cut-offs.

With all the promotional tools provided, Its up to the marketers to decide on how they will translate existing marketing plans into mobile campaigns. There are bunch of platforms, standard programs for different types of SMS promotion, you just have to look around, study your options and choose which works best for you.

Since Mobile Marketing is the youngest among the media channels, marketers are still cautious in using mobile marketing as an advertising medium. Guidelines and metrics are being set to provide consumers protection and for Industry players to strictly comply to.Although there are organizations that look after the regulation of mobile marketing activities, ie Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), the industry has yet to gain the trust of consumers above everything else. In this day and age, technology is easier to access, inexperienced sales people are using it in invasive ways to sell their products and services - think spam e-mails, you didn’t request for it, yet they keep sending you information you don’t need. Mobile devices are considered to be very personal trusted device that, nowadays, we can’t do without. Text messages can sometimes be intrusive, and people do not welcome unsolicited messages sent to their handsets.

As marketers, we already have an idea why people are becoming more and skeptic about using mobile marketing, its time for us to turn this around and make consumers realize that engaging in Mobile Advertising can be of value to them. The consumers are the most valuable segment of the whole Mobile Marketing ecosystem, its high time that we focus on efforts on how we’ll earn consumer trust.

Laura Marriot, President of MMA laid out pointers to consider in attaining Consumer Trust:

Permission and content related requirements

1. Providing sufficient information that allows consumers to make an informed decision on whether to receive a marketing programme is the first step on the road towards consumer trust.
2. Respecting the consumer’s preferences and privacy is also key. Giving them the control to Opt in and Opt out of any campaign.
3. Marketers must also always ensure that the information being provided to the consumer is always relevant to the recipient.

She also stressed that planning and execution of mobile marketing campaigns is also a key indicator of consumer experience. In compliance to the ideology of the Opt in rule, marketers should only send messages to those who opted in and marketers should closely monitor the number of times they will have contact with the consumer who opted in for each program.

Having the right information will equip marketers to plan and implement well targeted campaigns.  Ultimately, the goal here is for consumers to have a positive experience. If this is achieved, consumers will then have a positive reception towards mobile marketing, leading to acceptance and continuous use of different mobile marketing services.

Broadsheets, magazines and publishing companies should start considering SMS or text messages as part of its marketing efforts, such as in promoting upcoming issues, when launching new book series, as well as to get readers’ instant comments, feedbacks, and suggestions.

Integrating SMS mobile marketing in print media’s marketing campaigns will bring competitive advantage to the organization over its existing rivals. How?

• Sending SMS mobile alerts to loyal readers and customers about breaking news and announcements, as well as future events like book sales and new releases makes clients feel important and special
• Keeping readers involved in your publication makes them feel that you value their opinions. This can be done by asking their thoughts on certain topics and issues using instant SMS comments
• Making buyers and followers excited by running contests using trivia questions to test patrons’ knowledge about the publication.

These are just some suggestions, but with the company’s creativity and help of SMS mobile marketing companies providing free text solutions, your campaign of increasing readership statistics will boom within a reasonable period of time.

If you are a handy phone owner, you probably used your mobile phone to send text message to any of your family, friend, or colleague during the following special occasions, to wish them the best as they celebrate these particular events.

• Birthday
• Wedding
• Anniversary
• Christmas
• Thanksgiving
• New Year

At present, the term texting or SMS has gone a long way, thanks to mobile marketing. In fact, a Spanish mortuary thought of combining text, emotions, and mobile marketing, and came up with an SMS service to express sympathy and grief to families who lost their loved ones.

Definitely, SMS mobile marketing has gone a long way, which benefits man. It continues to be the fastest and most economical way of conveying a person’s feelings, as well as the most efficient and effective tool businesses and organizations can use for almost all types of campaigns.

Recently, a mobile company included singers Wyclef and Fergie for its recent campaign, hoping to get more participants and buyers. As for other handy phone manufacturers, they invite celebrities when launching new products in the market.

On the other hand, big personalities such as US Presidential candidate Obama, uses mobile phone to interact with supporters for his political campaign. Same with tons of singers, bands, actors and actresses who had their works uploaded as mobile ringtones and mobile wallpapers.

With all these marketing partnerships and endorsements, both parties should always bear in mind that their audience is intelligent enough to distinguish a well-planned campaign from a lousy propaganda. And what does these spectators are looking for? Simple but useful mobile campaigns that will make their lives easier.

If you’re one of the radio stations that are not yet convinced of how SMS mobile marketing can be an asset to your programs, here are some of the many advantages you are missing out.

First, SMS mobile marketing facilitates real time on-air interaction between DJs and listeners, resulting to an increase in listenership and loyalty. Through SMS’ instant messaging facilities, listeners can instantly send in requests, greetings, comments and feedback to their favorite radio jockey.

Second, texting allows radio stations to provide its audience with timely and relative news about their favorite artists, upcoming music events, as well as advertiser announcements.

Third, SMS mobile marketing gives instantaneous on-air traffic for advertisers, who looking for avenues for promotions, thus, resulting to more on-air sponsorships and endorsements for your radio station.

Finally, despite being in demand, there are some mobile marketing companies providing free SMS solutions to radio stations. Most of these companies only require radio stations to sign up to avail of their texting platforms.

In this fast phased entertainment industry, keeping up with the industry trend and technology is one of the keys to stay in the business. And now that SMS mobile marketing is the most recent (and seems like it is here to stay) fad, and you’re still hesitant of integrating mobile marketing in your on-air programs, it’s time to think again. You don’t want to be left out, right?

According to survey, US mobile subscribers prefer using their mobile phones to send text messages, rather than making a phone call. So, literally, these handy phone users’ hands are doing all the talking for them.

Another study revealed that US mobile phone subscriber, from ages 13 and 29, send an average of twenty (20) SMS or text message a day. Another confirmation that the “youth” and the “tweens” market are continuously embracing SMS as part of their lifestyle.

The question here is, is too much texting helpful or harmful to us, especially to the young adult audience?

What can you say about students talking to their friends using text language? You think shortened words will not affect their writing skills and will benefit them in the future? Are they losing the idea of having intimate, personal, and actual conversation with their peers?

However, on a brighter side, SMS facilitates faster (and cheaper) communication, compared to snail mails and emails.

What’s your say on this?

With big names from the food and beverage industry to popular automobiles, as well as from high earning clothing merchandise, mobile marketing has become part of their promotion and additional “come-on” feature to their market. Most commonly used form of SMS technology for profit-driven organizations are SMS Alerts, Message and Feedback, Mobile Coupons, Polls and Survey.

Other than income generating businesses, mobile marketing is also being utilized by tv, radio, and print for its interactive media programs. Also, growing non-profit organizations are using mobile marketing for their fund raising and information dissemination activities.

Besides being industry popular, texting or SMS has also become popular among the popular. Name it! From entertainment personalities, sports figures, to politicians, everybody is using and enjoying the benefits of mobile marketing.

Without a doubt, like it or not, deny it nor accept it, mobile marketing is here, for good.

Besides the campaign message and target, it is important to give emphasis on a brief, informative, and easy to understand call to action. The call to action will provide the texters with important details on how they can send instant message of shout outs to their favorite radio station, how readers can provide feedback to their favorite author, as well as to join participative-themed television programs.

There are three important factors to consider in conceptualizing an effective call to action.

First, know your market. If your market is “SMS literate”, then no need for long and detailed call to action. However, if your targets are first time texters, a simplified step by step guide for sending an SMS is necessary.

Second, have the proper venue to broadcast your call to action. It is very important to have the right spot where you can educate your audience on how they can participate on your campaign.

And third, the frequency on how many times you should mention the call to action on your campaign spot. The more often you mention it, the better.

Remember, no matter how big a mobile marketing campaign is, it will all be put into waste if there will be no proper information dissemination.

By integrating mobile marketing in their current promotions mix, companies are aiming for a higher conversion rate, leading to more revenue generated from sales.

Mobile marketing comes in different forms, with SMS mobile marketing as the most widely used tool in the advertising industry nowadays.

SMS mobile marketing is being utilized by different organizations to promote, launch, and sustain brand loyalty among customers. There are specific SMS or text platforms that suites to what businesses and companies require. The most common of which are:

• Feedback Messaging. It is the simplest, yet the most common SMS campaign being used particularly by radio, tv, and print media, as well as brands to get instant comments and suggestions.

• Polls/Surveys. This platform intensifies the market’s involvement with a particular product or service by getting their pulse on experiences using or consuming a specific service or product. The information gathered from this campaign is relevant to the research and development to provide better offerings.

• Contests. This solution intensifies clients’ knowledge about product or service. It also calls for active participation, resulting to stronger brand recall. Not to mention, an additional marketing come-on to stakeholders, anticipating for the prize.

• Discount Coupons. It encourages buyers and patrons to maximize their purchasing powers. This SMS solution persuades the market to spend their money, purchase an item, and try new offerings.

• SMS Alerts. It keeps targets updated of the latest and upcoming goods, services, and events, such as sale, product launch, and free samplings.

Among the proposed key SMS solutions, Discount Coupons and SMS Alerts directly influence the consuming publics’ buying power. In fact, a survey revealed that about 37% of the respondents said that they are willing to take action to advertising-based SMS campaigns if there’s an incentive waiting for them, such as coupons. However, with the warm acceptance of the market, expect the 37% to boom in years to come.